# A toddler poop question



## clicksab (Oct 15, 2006)

I know, it's gross. But I have become very suddenly aware of my DD's poop as we approach potty learning, and I'm concerned. So I needed to ask other toddler mom's what's normal so I don't call my doc and sound like an idiot!

My DD does not have what I think of as "adult" poop. She has, at best, pasty poop. Most of the time it's not even that thick. Honestly, it's just never really changed, so I never thought about this being a problem until recently! But she's never had turds (really, is that the best word I can come up with?) and I can't imagine potty learning with really loose watery or pasty poop. I kept thinking it would change after we got a hold on her allergies, or when she stopped bfing (which she did, but only for a week), but she still has the same nasty poop! Is this normal? Should I be concerned?

I've only brought DD to the doc three times in her life. I feel almost silly calling to ask if her poop is normal. But if this is a sign of something being wrong, I'd really like to know!


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## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

You can't gross us out. We are moms.

Ds has only had a few formed (good alternative to turd







) poops in his life. I'm not worried about it. I don't see the problem with this and potty learning. Since you mentioned food allergies it does make me wonder if you really got them all. Not sure what process you went through but a simple blood test could give you all the allergies with out going through alot of elimination, food journals, etc.


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## mama_daba (Dec 7, 2004)

how old is she? is she still nursing and if so how much? my son is almost 17 months and his poop has a range. sometimes it is more grownup sometimes it is a lot softer it seems to depend a lot on what he has had to eat and how much he has been nursing. as he gets older his gut gets more mature and his poop gets more and more grownup

we have done relaxed ec with him and the texture of his poop has never had any negative affect on his ability to poop in a potty or the toilet versus a diaper. this past week he has suddenly been wanting to poop in the toilet to the point where he is almost pooping exclusively in the toilet and it is so much easier than the alternatives.


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## mama_daba (Dec 7, 2004)

i had one more thought. i had a friend who's daughter had really pasty sticky poop from a really young age and it turned out to be because the mom had had to take heavy antibiotics early on and they had damaged the gut flora. they used probiotics and the poop got better.


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## tanyalynn (Jun 5, 2005)

My daughter's poop got better after we cut out our allergens (just gluten and dairy for us, short list) but she still tends to get yeasty poop, too squishy, and sometimes (now that it's in the toilet--PLing wasn't an issue) it looks sort of feathery or it tends to fall apart. She still needs a lot of probiotic foods to keep her poop brown (it tends to be too light in color) and appropriately firm. I don't think a supp would cut it for us, but if we eat kimchee regularly (we make it at home, so yummy) then her poop looks good (you know).

eta: the two sites I use to read about poop are...
http://www.enzymestuff.com/rtstools.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale

eta2: it's harder to tell with diapers, I'm still not sure if my son's poop is great or not, but it seems better than my daughter's at this age. As long as the urgency isn't too much, PLing should go as straightforward as it ever does, and then once you can see poop in a toilet, it's easier to trouble-shoot.


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## clicksab (Oct 15, 2006)

Thanks for the replies! To answer questions:
-My DD is 25 months old.
-We are still nursing, but she's gone as long as 5 days without nursing, and I saw no changes in poop
- I'm 99% sure we have a good handle on her allergies. They're IgE allergies, and we've had the blood testing done.
- Honestly, my issues with the poop and potty training is more about the total gross out factor to me. Having to clean out squirty poop from a little potty makes my pregnant self want to throw up.









Thanks for the websites, I'll check them out!


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## mama_daba (Dec 7, 2004)

well for potty training you can skip a little plastic potty and just get a seat reducer. in some ways a plastic potty can be really convenient but my son has no interest in using one so we just use the toilet with a seat reducer.


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## mumkimum (Nov 14, 2006)

I notice my dd's poop ends up more of the pasty style when she has been eating lots of fattier foods (read loads of cheese, bread and hardly anything like a fruit or veggie).

FWIW, when you're doing PL you may the poop to actually be more 'normal' and formed than you can realize in a diaper.


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## Holiztic (Oct 10, 2005)

From what I can tell DS has a very healthy gut and no food allergies/sensitivities and we started seeing turds (yes, I say it too!) around 16 months and now (23 months) they are mostly adult-like turds. He still nurses A TON (5 days without nursing!?!?! DS rarely goes 5 hours!).

I do not know how much variability there is within the "normal" range, though, it could all be healthy and normal at this age.

Definitely a worthy question for the doc!!


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## crazyrunningmama (Dec 16, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *clicksab* 
- Honestly, my issues with the poop and potty training is more about the total gross out factor to me. Having to clean out squirty poop from a little potty makes my pregnant self want to throw up.









Thanks for the websites, I'll check them out!

I was grossed out by that too, and also it doesn't make sense to me to teach a skill and then have to make them change it at some later point. With one of these:
http://www.target.com/gp/search/181-...t_adv_XSGT0173
and a stepstool you're good to go. Good luck and congrats on the BFP.


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## clicksab (Oct 15, 2006)

Maybe I should just turn this into a potty learning thread, lol.
My question to those who went straight to the "big potty" with a special seat is, doesn't that mean your toddler was "hogging" the bathroom a lot? I guess my biggest hesitation is that there are 4 adults in this house and one toilet (and I'm pregnant and needing to pee every hour, already). As she's just learning to use the potty I don't want there to be a lot of frustration from the adults in the house about how much she's in there, because I fear she would sense it and it would only hinder the process. Does that make sense, or would she be on the potty much less than I'm imagining?


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## tanyalynn (Jun 5, 2005)

My daughter didn't have a lot of time sitting on the toilet, but the smell and yuck factor while pregnant combined to make me put the whole thing off til my son was 2 mos old and life was sorta stable again (and I wasn't nauseated all the time). And she was old enough by then that the whole process was pretty fast--she'd been ready for a while, we just needed practice (and that was with the too-squishy poop, it was before I realized we had a gluten issue).


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## iris777888 (Apr 3, 2007)

We started our DS off with a potty seat which went great, a little later tried to introduce a potty chair and he hates it. All kids are different. He's not on it for lengthy periods of time, usually 5 mins max. The only problem comes if an adult is using the bathroom and the toddler has to go. They aren't very good with waiting, as they don't have that ability to control. So it's really more an issue of how long with the adults be hogging the bathroom.


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