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My nearly 4 year old will only poo in my house, and with me. She goes to her Daddy's ( I'm a single Mum) every Sat night and waits until she is back with me on Sunday evening before she will go to the toilet.

This is not ideal but we manage. When he takes her away for a few days however it becomes a bigger problem. She has been with him now since last Friday so has not been to the toilet since thurs. It's now Monday and she is due back with me tomorrow pm or WEds pm. So far she has not been to the toilet since thurs pm. 4 days and counting.

I really need advice I can give to her Dad to help him encourage her! I am not there so there is only so much I can do. He is now saying he is going to cancel the weeks summer hols he is supposed to have with her in July until this is sorted out, and seems to expect me to sort it out.

Any advice really welcome!

Thanks!!

It's obvious that your child isn't comfortable around her father. I read somewhere before that only when a child is comfortable and happy will they freely use the toilet. I notice this myself when i have friends over. Ds won't poo until the following day. This may or may not be the case for you, just my two cents!

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Ask him to be more loving and patient with her, and encourage her, like 'honey would you like to do poo poo ...would you like to do poo poo in half an hour....' you know the way we talk as mummies, children are comfortable, its up to him to talk about it in a no big deal and soft way that makes her feel safe about it. Really his side that needs to work. ask him to talk through it, like 'daddy can help you clean youself after, no worrys, daddy doesnt mind...' or maybe she's good at cleaning herself. My son still prefers me to help him anyway still at four.