My daughter has recently been potty trained and is doing great. What we and she are having problems with is teaching her how to wipe after a bowel movement. Her arms are to little to reach from behind and i know girls are supposed to wipe from front to back which she tries but it's messy. ANY suggestions would be WONDERFUll.
T.
Children don have the manual dexterity to be able to do this until around six years of age. In my child development class, the instructor said the flushsable wipes are the best way to go.
My son had lots of problems, but they are never going to learn if you don't let them try. It can be messy at first, but it doesn't take long for them to get the hang of it. My biggest thing was preschool, since they don't wipe their bottoms for them there, so I wanted him to learn the proper way so he wasn't walking around with a dirty bottom all day. When we were learning I let him wipe first and then I always followed up. In the beginning, he was barely able to do anything, but it only took a couple of months for him to do an adequate job. He is 4.5 now and I don't even have to check. He does a very good job. Just be very supportive. To even get him to try I had to "leave" a friend's house and have her talk him through it that first time. Before that, he didn't even want to try, so it was hard to teach him. I explained to the friend what was going on. We were playing at their house when he said he needed to go. I waited for him to get started and told him mommy had to run a quick errand and I would be right back. While I was "gone" (just outside) I heard him call to my friend that he needed help and she just very patiently talked him through it for me. I then came in (returned) and checked his work (which wasn't very good at the time, but applauded the effort joyously). We do keep flushable wipes on hand for especially messy wipes, which he will use as needed, but not everytime. It was easier for him to wipe without the ring on the seat since it gets in the way of his arm when it is on. Like I said though, the only way she is going to learn is lots of practice, so let her try each time and eventually she will get good at it.
you will still need to help her for quite a while but you should allow her to do the best she can while you watch.
I have a boy around the same age and I definitely would not let him wipe himself. He is too little to do something like this (in my opinion) and since he cannot see what he is doing, I really don't want him doing that. I would wait until they can master this better before letting them wipe themselves. He calls for me when he is done and I go and wipe for him.
those flushable wipes are helpful - it seems so much easier to clean up than with dry paper.
I dont remember the exact ages but my son potty trained abt 4 1/2 and would call for me to wipe after for a while, probably another 4-6 months?? but he hasn't called for me in a long long time and in fact if I go to check on him when he's been taking a long time in there, he'll say go away!
Just be supportive, encouraging, and hang in there - one day you'll realize you haven't done it in a while, hooray!
Flushable wipes are great! Also, tho, it is important that you go behind her and clean her up most of the time, still. Although she may successfully wipe at times, she'll probably need a little help for a bit longer (maybe even a year or so), which is totally normal.
Well, like I've been telling my 3 year old - practice, practice, practice! We buy the flushable wipes, which help. I helped her learn by having her hold the wipe, and then I guided her hand so she would know how to do it herself. I do have to remind her to go front to back. She forgets that part, but otherwise is doing a pretty good job. They will not wipe for her at preschool (which I can understand, and really I don't want someone else touching my kid there!), so I figured that she just had to master this skill. So now I don't help her do it anymore, I just tell her "front to back!" as she runs off to the potty. I think you've just got to show her and then let her do it on her own! (HOWEVER, I do still help her wash her hands, because... well... when they wipe by themselves...) =)
I wiped up poopy butts til my 1st son was about 4 & then would let him do it but 'checked' to be sure it was all clean. I'm sure all you moms can visualize this! So, I also say keep it up for her til about K. But I also DO NOT recommend those 'flushable' wipes. I put that in quotes cuz truly, they aren't flushable. We had a plumber out to unclog our toilet cuz of those wipes. He told me to stop using them unless I wanted frequent trips from a plumber. Good luck!
Have her wipe once, then you wipe her once. As she starts to get better at it (and her arms get longer!), have her wipe twice before you wipe her once. Eventually she'll be at the point where she can do it independently.
Hi T.,
My son is only 2 1/2, so I don't let him wipe by himself, but he sometimes likes to practice by wiping AFTER I have wiped him. So, he's already cleaned off properly by an adult, but still gets to practice the motion and work on building the skill.
Might be worth a try. Get rid of the mess for her and let her practice on a clean bottom until she gets the hang of it.
HTH
T.
There was a thread about this at mothering.com's discussion boards a while back and as I recall, most parents said that their kids needed help wiping til an average of five years or so. My own five year old still can't figure out how to balance on the toilet seat and not fall in and at the same time wipe himself, lol.
It is hard because you're right, their little arms just aren't long enough. I had to wipe for my granddaughter until she grew a bit. don't have any other suggestions!
