Ask a parent what toilet training involves and you’ll hear about stickers, accidents, a three-day method someone swore by, and a chart off Pinteres...

She uses the toilet all day, then at four o’clock she asks for a nappy, takes herself off to a corner, and poos standing up. If that is your house, nothing has gone wrong. Here is why the nappy feels safer, and the best way through it.

Your toddler goes stiff, up on their toes, and tells you very firmly that they do not need to go. That is poo withholding, and it is fear rather than stubbornness. Here is what starts it, the signs worth noticing, and the steps that break the cycle.