My 13 mth old daughter has starting pooping during bath time. It happened once about 2 mths ago, and then again about one mth ago. This past week she has done it every time we bathe her. We are afraid it‘s becoming a habit. How can we stop it? I know sometimes kids have phases they go through, but my husband works some nights and it’s really difficult trying to get the tub cleaned and the bath water restarted by myself with a very active and mobile baby running around.
A little background info, we bathe every other night as part of our bedtime routine. She is normally a morning or early afternoon pooper. In fact she hasn’t gone any night this week except the nights we have been in the tub.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Sometimes the warm water relaxes the muscles so it is easier to poop.
One day when my daughter was constipated the bath is what helped her go. We were potty training so when I started to see her push I sat her on the potty and she pooped in it.
if you can tell when she is going to poop or she tells you try putting her on the potty. According to Potty training 1-2-3 you can potty train pee and poop separately.
13 months olds don't really understand most of the hang ups we adults have and talking is not going to help much. Talking is often more for the adults comfort than the childs, while not to be dismissed, there are more reasonable ways of working w/a child than too many words.
First of all, she may require more liquid in her diet or more veggie or fewer congestive foods (ie cheese).
We should all poop about the same number of times that we eat meals. So she should be pooping two to three times a day.
The relaxing stimulation of the water maybe part of the reason she finds herself pooping in the tub. Try putting her on the training potty before the bath and reading or singing with her to make the experience relaxing.
This is a phase and perhaps you can schedule the baths w/your husband is around. This is not something that will last and certainly not something to make yourself upset over.
It's probably not intentional, she's just relaxed by the water. In fact, my 3 year old had a serious case of constipation and the advice nurse had me put her in the bath and rub her feet to relax her and hopefully she would go...do not punish her.
My kids have gone through the same thing around that age! With my daughter, I learned to watch her and know when she was going to poop, then I would pick her up and hold her over the toilet, and she would go! It was great while it lasted. Good luck!
You are probably going to think this is just too gross. I agree that it can be gross and it's texture and odor are unpleasant. We believe that because of the way we've been taught. For a great many people who live in poverty poop is just a part of life and "no big deal." As a child neglect investigator I've been in homes where you have to watch where you step because of the animal and baby poop on the floor. I could smell it but the occupants couldn't. And they seemed to be no more sick than the rest of us who don't allow poop on the floors. That does not mean that I approve of poop out of the toilet, just that having one's baby poop in the bath water is not unhealthy.
When my grandkids did that and the poop was solid I immediately scooped it out and went on with the bath. No need to change water, sterilize the tub, etc. My grandkids did it perhaps 3 times each.
What makes poop unsanitary is for the baby to have an intestinal illness. The poop then has bacteria or virus in it. These germs are harmless until they have sat for awhile giving them time to grow. However, everyone in your household has already been exposed to your familiy's set of germs. The germs in the poop are the same ones to which you've already been exposed.
Besides the poop won't be in the water long enough to dissolve. I suspect that if you tested the poop immediately after it's been passed you'd find less germs in it than on any other place in your bathroom.
The big push to washing hands after using the toilet is related to major illnesses such as hepatitis, worms etc. which your family doesn't have. Yes, it's good to wash your hands after using the toilet but it really is no big deal unless someone is sick and you do not want to pass germs along.
We wash our hands before meals because our hands pick up bacteria from the things that we touch, that others who are ill, have touched. Touching the ground is a way to pick up germs and possibly worms. That is when we wash our hands before using the toilet.
If we don't make washing hands a habit we are likely, especially for children, to not remember to wash them when we need to do so.
As a society we have placed so much concern about staying away from germs that we are unable to build up a resistence to the ones we inevitably come in contact with. Just as we now have ineffective anti-biotics because the bacteria has become resistent to them we are now having more sick kids because everything in their home is so sterilized that their bodies have not built up a resistance to the common germs that exist everywhere.
I'm not saying we should not keep things clean just that a bit of poop quickly removed from the bath water does not mean that we have to empty the water and sterilize the tub.
My grandkids only pooped in the tub 2-3 times each. Perhaps keeping the situation calm and normal helped them not to do it for the excitement. I did calmly tell them poop goes in the toilet as I put it in the toilet but I didn't scold and I didn't expect them to be doing it again. The situation is one of those it's "no big deal" issues.
I agree with the posters who mentioned using a little potty in the bathroom. My 16m daughter is a predictable pooper, usually just before her morning nap. I took advantage of this starting around 12m old and put her Baby Bjorn little potty next to the changing table. I put her on it when I changed her diaper before her nap and to my surprize she actually pooped in it! I think it was the combination of the same time of day every day, and the squatting position is a natual one for pooping. This worked about half the time. At 13m your daughter might not really understand or be able to control her pooping, but it is the perfect time to start getting her used to sitting on a little potty and making the connection. This way when she is ready for actual potty training she will already be comfortable with a potty seat and using one.
My daughter is 17m now and really doesn't have a certain time to poop so that doesn't work anymore. Now I have the potty in the bathroom and I put her on it before bathtime and she almost always pees at that time. I usually also sit on the toilet and pee with her if I need to go so she gets the connection. She also comes into the bathroom with me when I need to go during the day and sits on her potty (dressed) and says "pee pee". She says this when I change her diaper too so she's starting to put 2 and 2 together. Im hoping to be able to officially PT when she turns 2, but we'll see how it goes. My Mom said she PTd me when I was just after 2 and I picked it up almost immediately. Once I found out there was an alternative to a wet/poopy cloth diaper I was all over it. I use cloth diaper at home with my girl and I am hoping it will be similar with her.
Baby's change their routine without telling you and part of the pooping in the tub is a relaxation thing. But even if she has always been an afternoon pooper that may be changing. It usually happens when you seem to have the perfect routine. I think the best thing to try is move bath time to a different part of the day when its less relaxing for your little one. I have gone through the pooping in the tub and its not pleasant.
Bathe her in a small tub and take her out the minute she poops and rinse her off in the tub or sink. Then she is done bathing. Shampoo her head before she bathes in the tub.
As soon as she stops this behavior you can return to the tub bathing.
You could also wash her off on the changing table without a bath for a while and give her a chance to forget her pooping behavior.
Or bathe her in the morning for a while.
Just some suggestions.
It's not something she is doing on purpose is right. She is relaxed is right. Talking to her each bath time to let mommy know when she needs to poop, so you can help her get on the potty, is just an extra bath time routine you need to ad for a little while. Just explain that pooping needs to done on the potty & when she is in the bath she just needs to tell you and you will help. That way she knows she's not in trouble. Make her help you clean the tub if she does it again, though she's young enough she might enjoy it.
Your small child needs a gentle understanding talk about where we go. She might be ready for a potty try on the potty because she does not like the poop in her diaper.
My daughters actually trained themselves not to poop in the diaper around that age. The urine training went quickly at age two. No pressure is the best.
Is she actually 13 mos. old because you also say 6 month miracle.
A six month old is too young to try the potty but many 13 month olds will do their poop in it.
Ha ha.. My son did this same thing EVERY time he got into water (bath or pool) for almost a year. I never really found a solution until he was about 2 because he was too young to understand. So, when I would take him to a pool he would always have a snug diaper on with a replacement close at hand. In the tub I would fill it up with a little water, let him poo, clean the tub out and start over. I really think that the warm water was relaxing and made him have to go. My son wouldn't poop for 1-2 days sometimes, but ALWAYS in water. Just keep saying that it's gross and she will eventually get it. Good luck!
