It Hurts When I Poop!: A Story for Children Who Are Scared to Use the Potty Paperback – Picture Book, 15 May 2007

Really good book for helping children understand how we poo and why you can’t just hold it in. Bought to help my two and a half year old son who withholds and along with other books about poo seems to have really helped. He certainly asks to read it and is now proud when he does a bowl movement on the toilet when previously he didn’t want to talk about it. It is quite long and detailed so younger children or those not quite so aware of how the body works may not understand the story but I’d always leave it a while and try again in a few months as it is a great book for helping with holders. I also never drew comparison between him and the book character, I let him realise that on his own.

Bought this book for my 3 and a half year old as he was withholding and getting really stressed about going to the loo...and stressing us all out too. It's the best money I've ever spent. He read it twice the first day and the following morning got up and grabbed the book and said he needed to go to the loo...and did! 4 weeks on, we still use the book occassionally when he needs a reminder but the change in his behaviuor is huge and he understood the book straight away - perfect for 3-4 year olds and a great relief to have found such a simple solution to our problems. The only downside is the American language 'trash', 'poop', etc but a bit of rewording was easy and well worth it for the positive effect.

This is a strange one to review: I didn't think it was that good, but it instantly struck a chord with my stool-withholding 2.5 year old.What I liked about it: it's a brilliant idea. I'm a firm believer in using books and stories to work through children's problems, and for a problem so common as stool-withholding there is surprisingly little good material out there. The book started off promisingly. The idea of telling a story within the story, and using the dirty house as a metaphor, is also interesting.What I didn't like: the language just wasn't appropriate for a smaller child. I don't just mean the Americanisms (which the reader can easily change), but statements like a "taking control" or "being the boss of your house" just didn't mean anything to my son. Some pages could be much better layed out for a non-reading child, such as the list of 'good' and 'bad' foods. (I also didn't like this putting down some foods as 'bad', because children can easily get frightened by them in this context - and cheese etc. are all perfectly healthy and important foods for them to eat, overall). The last 4 pages are also confused, in a narrative sense - the boy is at the doctors', then he is back at home, then he is at the doctors' again, and then home.So I didn't read it but rather told a more simplified story to match the pictures, and my son was (and still is) completely taken with it. When we now talk about how he has to try to do regular poos he always talks about Ryan and wants me to tell the story again. So I suppose I have to praise it, even though I think it could have been much better executed.

This book is okay, I don't regret getting it. Buy I really hoped it would be much better. I got it for my 2 year old son, who has struggled with constipation since he was baby. He has been on medication for it most of his life. We've recently started toilet training which funnily enough seems to be helping and I bought this book to help support us through this stage.The graphics in this book are really bland and didn't really grab my boys attention. Improving these alone would make the book much more enjoyable.I also think they could have made the book a bit more concise for young readers as I find my boy struggles to make it to the end without losing interest (he's only 2 though, so maybe this is aimed at older kids). I really like that it tried to explain what poo is and where it comes from, I think my son gets the basic concept now which is pretty cool. I'm not sure how I feel about the lists of foods in the book that are bad/good for making poos soft. For example, cheese and apples are fine if not eaten in excess and as part of a healthy diet. I think it's important to make children aware of food, but I would be worried that he would blame certain foods for his problems - which is definitely not the case for us anyway. The book explains that some of these foods are still good for you and suggests eating less in the 'poop plan' at the back but in the story it just lists them as foods that make poo hard.So I would say it's worth getting, as there seem to be so few books that cover this problem, but it could be better.

Good content although will use and re write some info linked to my own child in relation to certain foods.Illustrations could have been bolder and less fussy, but overall brilliant thought out story

My daughter loves having this book read to her, it’s definitely a favourite bedtime read. It is good at explaining how the body works. My only negative would be that some of the wording is very American, so I find myself having to change some of the words so my daughter understands.

my daughter had been potty trained, but she suddenly was afraid to poo on the toilet. bought this book and never looked back.it explained where poo comes from and why we need to get rid of poo. it gave a story that kids would understand.i still read it now and again to her and she is nearly 5..

My 4 year old little boy often has trouble pooing. He responds really well to things he has heard in books so thought I’d give this a try.Only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I think it’s American from a language perspective but I just slightly changed the story to suit our specific circumstances. I’ve noticed a difference and the language my little boy uses now, he’ll often say his tummy hurts which is a sign he just needs to go to the toilet.Would recommend for any child struggling to poo.