My 4yr old son only poops in his sleep… HELP!
Okay so I (39F) am a “seasoned parent,” I have 4 wonderful kids (18F, 16M, 6F, and 4M) but this is the FIRST time in my parenting life I’ve had to conquer this battle and I’m at a loss of what to do.
My youngest (4M) has been fully, no issues, accident free, potty trained since he was 2 years and like 3-4 months old. However my wife and I cannot for the life of us figure out how to get this kid to poop in the toilet, he’s done it maybe 5 times in his life. Not at any fault of his, or ours, it’s his “schedule.” Like a lot of people he’s very regular, so regular in fact that every night (unknown to the exact time because we’re all sleeping) he poops WHILE HES STILL SLEEPING. I emphasize the “while he’s still sleeping part” because everyone goes straight to thinking he wakes up, does it, then goes back to sleep. This is not the case. He is a very heavy sleeper and is passed TF out and poops, I’m guessing it’s because he’s in such a relaxed state.
He’s getting upset because he really wants to sleep in underwear and doesn’t want to wear his “night time undies (pull-up)” to bed anymore, but we keep having to gently remind him that until he’s pooping in the toilet and not in his sleep he has to keep them on to keep his bed clean. We in no way shame him or get mad at him, but he’s showing an obvious disappointment in himself every morning when he wakes up and needs us to get him cleaned up. How do we “retrain” his body’s natural regulation?
We have about a year and a half until he’ll start kindergarten but I’d hate for him to begin school knowing he still struggles in this aspect. Especially since it’s starting to weigh on his self confidence and the only ones who know about this are us, siblings, one of his aunts, and grandparents who are aware because he sleeps over. I can’t even imagine how he’ll feel if he starts kindergarten and it somehow gets mentioned.
Has anyone else gone through this and successfully helped their child change their bodily routine? Any advice, or tips are welcome. I’m literally begging for the unsolicited parenting advice right now!