Constipation can delay toilet training

Constipation may be the source of toilet training resistance in children, who tend to have more difficult temperaments, but treatment could ease the transition. Researchers from the Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston found that several factors were seen as contributing to delayed toilet training, which children typically transition into by age 3. A comparison of children who had difficulty in toilet training and children who had made the transition easily found the former tended to be less adaptable, prone to negative moods, and were less persistent. Lax or strict parenting was not found to be a factor. One study found that more than half of both groups of children were constipated, but hard, painful stools were more common among those who had trouble toilet training. It was unclear if constipation caused the difficult toilet training.

A second study found that constipation often preceded the difficult toilet training. Earlier and more effective treatment of constipation may be a potential treatment option for decreasing the incidence and duration of stool toileting refusal. A key indication that a child who avoids toilet training does have bowel control is that the child hides or demands a pull-up diaper when he or she needs to void.