I'm just about to go crazy. My 2 1/2 year old son has got a new habit and any and all suggestions on how to break this would be greatly appreciated. He is not potty trained yet, we have tried, but he responds that he doesn't pee in the potty he wears diapers. My oldest son was right at 3 when he was potty trained so I'm not going to push the issue just yet. Back to the subject at hand. My son has recently starting putting his hands down the back of this diaper after he goes #2. Until today he hadn't wiped it anywhere, he just came to me and wanted to wash his hands. I've tried explaining we don't put our hands in poop, and that it is gross. Today he did it when we were outside, then wiped it all over the inside of their play house. I punished him by making him go upstairs to his bed. I just don't know what else to try. It is so gross and I don't know what the best way to handle this would be.
Onesies would be the way to go! At least then he couldn't get his hands into his diaper. Keep telling him that it's gross and punishing him if he does it. Sounds like he found something new and interesting (gag) and wants to explore it (gag again). Good luck!
My babysitter had a little guy who did this. She put a girls one piece bathing suit over his diaper and under his clothes so he could not get into his diaper. It seemed to work for her. Another option to try, if he says he won't go in the potty because he wears a diaper....stop putting him in diapers. It might be messy at first, but it might do the trick.
Don't have advice, but thought I'd share my current experience. My daughter is almost two. She has started grabbing herself and just saying "ewwwww" over& over again when she has a rather dirty diaper. Or..... She just takes the position for her diaper to be changed. This happens at home or target..... :) some say it means that they will be easier to potty train & that I should start . Since they are so "aware". Good luck and try to keep a little humour & take pic to tease him with later :). The one piece clothing would be my choice too!
Hi,
If it was me facing such a problem I would take the diapers off of him and if he makes a mess like that again have him clean it up. That would cure that behavior pretty quickly I'm guessing since he doesn't want it on his hands (he wanted you to wash it off). Potty training used to be a quicker affair before we started putting them in the overnight diaper pants.
I would also give him such a time-out for putting poo on the walls of his playhouse or better yet have him clean it up, with supervision and assistance of course. He is obviously testing boundaries since you had already told him putting his hands in poo was gross. Good luck.
Put him in clothing that makes it more difficult to get to it. Onesies, and overalls should help. Fortunately, I had 4 kids, and none of them did this. Good luck to you! Since he is so close to being ready, you might invest in cloth diapers or a diaper service. A service will clean them for you, and since it shouldn't be long, there won't be as much expense. He won't enjoy feeling wet for very long. Disposables do such a great job of keeping kids dry, too good a job.
Good luck.
R.
My little girl started doing that at about 18 months and smearing it EVERYWHERE. I ended up giving her cool water (not super cold) baths and told her that was what had to happen to get the poop cleaned off. Giving her pleasant warm baths, just about her favorite thing, was rewarding her behavior so that had not been helping. Since your little guy is primarily just getting it on his hands, I would try to come up with some unpleasant way to wash his hands- maybe gently scrubbing them with a nail brush or very very cold water, just taking a long, long time or making him sit still to soak his hands in soapy water. I would definitely not let him use fun kids' soap or wash in the usual way. Just make it something he doesn't like that is directly associated with the poop excavation activity and then do that every time he does it. I also think it helps to act non-chalant- like everybody knows this is how it works- that way he won't get any thrill out of your reaction. My daughter didn't like the consequences and would stop doing it for a few days and then try it again. I kept up the consequences and the behavior stopped in a couple weeks. Good luck!
Hi, M., One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the clean-up effort. He's not too young to clean up his mess(walls,playhouse, etc.) Of course, he can't do a great job, but the task of cleaning---without any fussing from you, just direction-- will be a lesson. I do this with my granddaughter, and it works very well. "Oh, you made a mess. Now you have to clean it up. Here's a rag, wipe it off, you missed a spot, etc." That goes for spit, juice, crayolas, anything that is deliberate. It teaches responsibility, and takes the stress out of it for you. Poop isn't yucky to kids, it's just a curiosity with something new. Good luck---we've all been there!
I absolutely think punishing is proper in this situation. He doesn't realize that it's not something he should do, and just a little talk doesn't get the message through a lot to 2 year olds. I would say a spanking or atleast a stern "NO!" and timeout every single time is going to be needed.
He's ready for potty training. Tell him he's too big for diapers, they are for babies and he's a big boy. I use training pants with mine. They are plastic on the outside and cloth on the inside. Gerber makes them and you can buy them at Meijer. We've been using them for about two months now and she's having good days and bad days, mostly good days. She knows that diapers are for babies and she is a big girl. She's only just two, so we're going slowly. I reward her with a stamp on her body part of choice for using the potty. At first the reward was for sitting and trying, now it is for actually using the potty. We went to Hobby Lobby and picked out the stamp, she chose Elmo and she loves to show her Daddy all her stamps when he gets home. On a good day, she's practically covered with red Elmo's. Good Luck.
You aren't pushing the issue, he's ready to potty train, he's just stubborn. There's a difference between not ready and stubborn:)
Check out 1-day and 3-day methods. You can get books and DVDs from the library to learn these easy methods. My 2.5 year old just finished and is almost fully trained with just a pee accident a day - much better than poop everywhere:)
