How to adapt to Western Toilets from Indian-style toilets?

Question

I am an Indian and have been using Indian style toilets for all my life, Now that I have a knee injury, I am forced to go to Western Style toilets. I find it really hard to empty my bowels in western toilets. I keep myself seated in there but with no results for long durations. Any suggestion is welcome on how to adapt to this.

Answer 1

Raising your feet up about 20 cm and leaning forward helps a lot. It puts your body into a position more like squatting, aligning the tubes for more productive pooping, but your weight is still firmly supported by your buttocks on the seat. If you don't have something to rest your feet on, just raise your knees by going on tiptoes (up on the balls of your feet).

I found this out when my children were young, and we had a small one-step stool handy.

Edit: See LINK Paragraph 8, for confirmation. (Thanks Commenter!)

Update (Sept 16, 2016): This Squatty Potty is apparently now a thing!

Answer 2

I'm kind of impressed that our site now has both ends of the same toilet question! While this is quite humorous to discuss about toilets in a site that we usually talk about travel, hygiene is indeed part of traveling.

I'm from Sri Lanka, where the majority of culture is similar to India. But China, India, Sri Lanka, and many of the Asian countries do have the squat toilets.

I have used the worst imaginable one to the most advanced ones you can imagine (thanks Japan!). So here is a little guide to get use to those "western" ones. I'm not going to compare how effective each of them are, but this should help you to get started.

• You are supposed to sit there like a chair. That is why your doctor/others want you to use the western one, because you don't have to squat. Your weight is given to the bowl part.
• Other than the way you sit, the only difference is how you clean yourself after you do your thing.

Toilet papers

You will be grateful to them in the winter.

There is a nice guide dedicated for this here: How To Wipe Your Butt

Hand showers

In some countries, you will find a shower next to the bowl. Use it as you would use water buckets in squat toilets.

Bidets

Again, a nice guide here: How to Use a Bidet

Electronic Japanese toilet

You can find them in many places in Japan, and in some other countries too. It's basically same as bidet, but you can control the nozzle positioning, water temperature, water flow, etc. I heard many people call this "Japanese", but I have seen them in many other countries.

---

• After use, do not forget to clean the bowl. Pull the lever or press the button to flush everything.
• Try to keep the floor dry. Do not spill water on the floor.
• Toilet papers are not supposed to be flushed with the bowl, but lookout for exceptions that are usually marked with some notice on the door or somewhere inside the toilet. This is more important in China. If there is a note that says to put toilet papers in the bin, take it seriously. Some toilets are connected to terrible sewage systems. The last thing you want to happen is see the toilets get blocked and overflow.

---

I'm in a two-month trip to India, and having traveled several thousands of kilometers, in Indian trains, my honest thought is that it's just a mental barrier. 1 out of 4 toilets in Indian trains are western ones, and are usually vacant. I can use almost any toilet known to the mankind without eating any special food to release the digesting system. Just go for it. You will get use to it quickly.

Answer 3

As I can see, your problem is not the sitting part - I mean we all know how to sit on chairs - hence western style toilets do not require special training to sit on.

The problem as I understand from your question is the difficulty of emptying your bowels while sitting, particularly this part:

I find it really hard to empty my bowels in western toilets. I keep myself seated in there but to no results for long durations

The real missing element here is squatting. Squatting while using squat toilets helps in pushing the bowels, which makes you put less effort to achieve the same result. Sitting does not have the same effect on bowels, and you need to compensate for that, especially for people who have been used to squat toilets for all their lives.

You can always squat on a western style toilet (bad idea do not try), but since that's not an option due to your knee injury, here are some tips that might make you get some results, splashy results:

1. Lean forward, as much as you can. This is as close as it gets to squatting.
2. Use your abdomen muscles to squeeze, push push push.
3. Breathe.
4. Repeat No. 2.

Answer 4

We had a similar issue with the MiL, as her house had a squat toilet and ours has western style toilets. It is in big part a mental thing, your mind telling your bowels that you are not in the right position to go.

A couple of things that helped with her situation...

1. Don't sit upright, like in a chair, rather lean forward with your elbows on your legs. This aligns everything in similar fashion to squatting.

2. Eat something that loosens the stool (we gave the MiL prunes to eat), this way the need to go overrules the mental reservations not to.

In the long run she had us replace her squat toilet, as she found the western toilets more comfortable at her age.

Answer 5

(This answer assumes that your knee problem is from the strain of bearing weight on a bent knee, and not from simply bending the knee, such as when lying down.)

Use a small step stool around the base of the toilet. That will mimic the stance of squatting, without the strain on your knees.

The following link is to a product that also uses simple illustrations to explain why squatting is better than simply sitting (basically, squatting opens up the colon more than sitting):

"The Squatty Potty"   (I have not tried it, but it seems practical.)

Answer 6

Squatting is the natural position for vacating the bowels and since you're conditioned to it may I suggest raising the feet slightly to compensate?

One tends to lean forward and adopt a 'thinkers pose' - progressive clarity of thought is often to be found at these times... do not waste this! Enjoy the moment and relax.

And, with the bowels active in a state of constant motion and you will pass stool eventually. The change to a sitting position is negligible after a couple of jobbies.

Perhaps you could merge the two and create a medium for us all?

(Finally, smoke a cigarette if you must. I swear this helps).

Answer 7

This solution is not focussed on the physical details of using a western toilet, but approaches the problem "from the inside".

From anecdotal evidence I know that drinking coffee shortly after / while smoking a cigarette gets most people to empty their bowels in no time. I'm not trying to persuade you to start one of these habits, but if you already drink coffee and smoke cigarettes you could try timing them together to see if it yields a desirable effect.

Happy sitting!

Answer 8

Consider using a foot stool when you are on the toilet to keep your feet elevated. The result should be kind of like this. It doesn't put your weight on your knees but puts your body in the more familiar position.

Of course, you could also consider getting one of these:

Squatty Potty The Original Bathroom Toilet Stool, White, 9"

Answer 9

If you are accustomed to squatting and must use a Western style toilet (there are also circumstances where squatting is simply not possible e.g. the toilet is insecurely mounted, there is a grate above the seat leaving no room) try changing your sitting position to find the best one.

One position which is advantageous is moving slightly forward on the seat and pressing your back against the rear seat (Careful, sometimes the seat comes off ☹). Massage and press your bowel slightly with both arms. Move a bit back and forth with your upper body. Put your legs (if possible) to the side and give slight downward pressure to imitate squatting.