3 Yr Old Popping in Bathtub

I would think he is just being lazy and doesn't want to get out. If he really enjoys his bath, and he poops, then take his bath away from him and tell him only babies poop in the bathtub, so is you are a big boy then you don't get a bath. Then just wipe him down every night until he learns his lesson.

It sounds as though the warm water may be relaxing him. Try giving him raisins and/or prunes. Apple juice is also great for constipation. Good luck! :)

Lazy?!? Hardly, a proper comment to your baby with constipation issues. You and he are fortunate that he has bowel movements. And is intelligent enough to know that using his finger helps. Not sure how yummy those chews are, but Glyco Lax is recommended by our dr.s at Children's Hospital, it is a powder,non-gritty, no taste and mixes in well with ANY liquid. My son will be 4 in a month and I still get to change poop diapers. So, believe it or not, pooping in the bath doesn't seem so bad!

The water in the tub changes the pressure on his stomach and makes passing much easier. This is actually a method used to help when a child (or even an adult) is impacted or severely constipated. Think about it: natural child-birth in a pool or tub was very popular (and still is in many areas) because the pressure on the body is much lessened and there is less pain. Further, your child putting his finger in this area with absolutely stimulate his bowel movement. All of the suggestions to increase fiber (Miralax is a powder that can be added to liquid or food that loosens stool and is very effective - just make sure you check with your pediatrician first).

My son also went through a faze of pooping in the tub when he was potty trained. First and formost remove him from the tub and clean it, staying in can make him very sick. Second the warm water relaxes him and his body thus allowing poop to come out easier. If he is putting his finger in his butt than he is stimulating his anus which will also make the poop come out. If you are having problem with him being constipated you may want to also get a stool softner, we have a prescription, but I do know that they also sell childrens stool softners over the counter. Also you may want to keep him on a high fiber diet rather than the chews and keep using the softner for awhile as he probably had a hard stool and is now afraid to go and thus became constipated. When he gets use to it being soft again it should solve the problem. Trust me when I say it is important to get on it and stay on it as my 6 1/2 year old is going through another bout and was starting to have accidents at school. Good luck!

if hes constipated, maybe being in the warm tub water helps him poop. he's more relaxed. i know my doc when my kids were constipated she suggested a warm bath to relax them and the butt muscle and they nomally would go after thier baths then. well he might be exploring his body and just found his butt hole. just tell him not to play with his butt he might hurt it. good luck

Well, you have to remember, he will not know why his body is doing this as he does not recognize the signs fully. He is still learning to know when he has to go. I recommend putting him on the potty before you put him in the tub. I would also push the tub time up a bit as his schedule allows to see if he will go on the potty.

The finger may just be him exploring his body? Check with the ped on that one.

As for constipation: I do not understand why anyone would recommend fiber to a child. Fiber 'fills' up the stomach also meaning he will feel full and not eat as much for you. This could also be why he is pooping at a different schedule and it is hurting his bottom (and why he is putting his finger there - thought just came to me on that).

When a child is constipated, diet and water are your biggest things to fix. Usually it is not enough water intake (mostly milk) and they need more fresh fruits/ veggies and less meat. You can also get around ANY Over the Counter Product for Anyone by rubbing the belly a specific way and in doing so; this helps Anyone eliminate with ease. I rub my son's tummy all the time and now I had to teach him how to do this as he is in preschool (I told him it would be rather hard for Mommy to go to school and help him there. Now he's being goofy by adding the tickle at the end as I did! LOL~)

Good Luck!

Make sure you stay in the bathroom with him the whole time. You could use this time to clean the bathroom, talk with your son or even sit and look at a magazine. The reason is, if you are in the bathroom with him, I would assume that he would be less likely to poop or do the finger thing. I think this is a little kid experimenting - probably not a total accident.

Hi T.,
It very well could be that when your little guy gets in the tub, He and his bowels relax because of the warm water. A lot of kids go through a phase where they try to hold the b.m. because it feels "yucky" to go and it sounds like this may be happening to him. My son used to pee in the tub when he was little and I would put hin on the potty before baths and thake several glasses of warm water and poor it down the front of him so the water would hit his "spots" just right and it worked every time. Now this may be more difficult with the pooping but you could give it a try. If all else fails you could try putting a little swimmer on him at least that way if he does go the swimmer is going to catch it.
Good luck.

A friend of mine has a child with the same issues. She got him an over the counter stool softener to put in his drink 2x a day and that solved the issue. (It's flavorless powder) Warm bath water helps a constipated child so that is why he is going in the tub. Good luck!

This might sound kind of weird, but our son was having similar problems. Just as a fluke, he was examined by a chiropractor and found out that one of his vertebrae was so out of place it was affecting other bodily functions, pressing on the nerves. Anyway after about 8 adjustments, no more problems.

My son did the same thing for awhile. He was just really relaxed in the nice hot water! Bad news - it's a pain to clean up. Good news - it does stop! Maybe he is consitpated and the bath water helps - maybe increasing his fiber is the way to go. It's one of those things that won't hurt him to try. Good luck!

I actually think the warm water is like a laxative. My friend and I were talking last night, my daughter was 4 last month and her daughter will be 4 in January and every time they take a bath both of our kids need to get out to poop. Whenever my daughter seems constipated I throw her a the tub and voila, she has to go.

Have you tried putting him on the potty before? It might be the warm water of the bath thats stimulating him to go. If he won't go before then you need to sit and watch him so you can get him out when you see the signs that he's trying to go in tub.

I think he just isn't sure how to explain that the bath makes him relax to help him poop. However, my ped recommended using Plum juice, not prune juice for constipation. Plum juice isn't as harsh on the baby's system. It works really well for my son, and is more like a stool softener than laxative. Prunes always makes my son have a lot of BMs rather than 1 big one during the day. If you don't like your children having a lot of sugar, cutting it with water still works good and you can by it with lower sugar as well. good luck!

Is he popping before or after he sticks his finger up his butt. My youngest had problems when she was an infant with getting very constipated. After talking to the doctor, and taking into consideration another medical condition, he told us to stick either a small portion of a baby laxative in her butt or a thermometer in her butt. I believe he also told us that warm baths might help. The concept of putting something up the butt seemed bizarre, but the end concept is that natural instinct when something goes up the butt is to push it out apparently. Warm baths also relax the muscles. If you son is constipated during the day, but in a warm bath the muscles are relaxed enough plus with his putting his finger up his butt that could be enough to make him poop. Can't tell you why he puts his finger there though - maybe he feels a lot of pressure (think about when you really have to go) and by putting his finger there it relieves the pressure (and now he has probably figured out that it makes him poop which feels better).

Give him fiber AND LOTS of LIQUID/WATER. If you are giving him fiber but not enough fluids, that will constipate him further. Avoid bananas and cheese (more constipation from these), but give him lots of other fruits/veggies.