Help with Wiping

My oldest son just turned 5-- and still has a hard time 'reaching'. And he often needs me to help clean up after the fact, but we're getting there. I think it all depends tho' because my 3 year old does a really really good job, so who knows (he does a kind of side wipe to reach, my 5 yr old just isn't getting that technique)

I was just told a good trick tho to make it easier, if you don't want to spend the $$ or risk your toilets from getting clogged with all those 'flushable' wipes. If you spread a little bit of vaseline on the toilet paper (if you trust her doing it on her own, my son is pretty good with it) it does a good job of cleaning like the wipes. Just a fun tip I wish I would have known about when we started training my oldest :)

My 2.5 yr old is potty training now, and she wipes herself. I just started with teaching her to go it from the back.

She does a pretty good job of getting in there...and unless it's a "messy one"...I pretty much leave her be. :)

I have a 4 yr old boy, and he too has been potty trained since 2 1/2 and he still has some issues with wiping. He has to wipe himself at school with no help from the teachers, so we don't help him at home either. So...there are times when underwear get thrown away or rinsed out when the wiping job hasn't been good enough. I think my older son was about 5 by the time he was able to wipe appropriately.

My son is 5 now and just started to be able to wipe himself without having accidents. Even though he is a boy, I have him only wipe from the backside. We currently live in Japan. Japanese style toilets (Washlets) have a function to use water to clean after a poo. He uses that, wipes with toilet paper, and then with a wipe. The wipe occasionally going into the toilet is our biggest problem. At least he won't flush it if he accidently puts the wipe in the toilet. Thank goodness for disposable gloves! My son didn't start potty training until he was almost 3. It has taken almost 2 years for him to go from recognizing that he needed to use the toilet to being able to do everything on his own. Every child is different, but it might still be a little early for your daughter. You can offer her to try, but I wouldn't expect her to be able to do it yet. If she can't reach back there yet, I would probably put it on hold. Just keep her toilet experiences positive, and she will ask you when she is ready. My son asked me if he could try by himself. I'm not sure if the washlet function exists in the States, but you could have her wipe with toilet paper first and then with one or two wipes until she doesn't see anything on the wipe. When my son first started wiping himself, he used two wipes. Now he can finish with only using one. It did take him a few months to master this. He can sometimes still have an occasional accident. Keep it happy and it will come sooner and easier!

I don't recall what age she was when she mastered the skill, but I let her try from the get-go, and just touched up her job as needed.

My daughter will be 5 in about two months and I still have to help her. She is getting much better at it, and I would think around her bday I will stop having to help.

I don't think she could even reach until she turned 4. There is no way my 3 year old son can wipe himself, his arms just aren't long enough,

My daughter is 4.5. She still can't reach well enough to do a good job wiping.. but she is getting close. We've had the "always wipe from front to back" discussion a few times and I let her try from time to time to see if she's able to do it.
My son was 5 before he could really reach around to wipe himself.