Diaper Digger - help!

pierogi25

Hi mamas,

And here I am again, asking for advice and help. DD is 3 yrs old and high functioning ASD....not potty trained yet.

About a year ago we had a diaper digging situation. We tried reprimanding her when we caught her digging and playing with her poo...we tried lukewarm showers (not cold, that would kill me) and just gave up trying to break her of the habit and put her in onesies (and no shorts, always pants or capris) underneath her clothes. 

That worked. 

Tried potty training, working veeeeeery slowly on it, just putting her on the potty when we know there's a good chance she will go, rewarding her when she does with a cookie. Preschool in Sept said they will also work on potty training her.

After almost 4 months of wearing a onesie with no incident, we thought she'd forgotten. Took her onesie off today because she spilled on it. Aaaaaand....digging again.

I know in Sept we will start hardcore potty training and that should help...

But did anyone else experience this? Any words of advice?

TIA!

brlindy

I have absolutely no advice, but I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone.  We have a similar situation with our DS that he is constantly putting his hand down the front of his diaper and well...doing what little boys do when they stick their hand down their diaper.  He was doing it so much that he would often end up pulling his diaper down so far that when he did pee he would pee completely out of the diaper.  Anyway, we've been doing the onsie thing for a couple of months now and it's definitely a temporary solution to the problem.  He's a pretty big 2 year old and the 4T onsies are getting snug on him. 

So yeah, no words of advice but I wanted to commiserate with you about having to put my toddler in a onsie also.  :-) 

Spockles

brlindy:

 

He's a pretty big 2 year old and the 4T onsies are getting snug on him. 

Just curious...where do you find onesies that are in toddler sizes? I haven't found onesies bigger than 24 months and DS has been out of those since before he was a year old. lol

MirandaHobbes

Spockles:

brlindy:

 

He's a pretty big 2 year old and the 4T onsies are getting snug on him. 

Just curious...where do you find onesies that are in toddler sizes? I haven't found onesies bigger than 24 months and DS has been out of those since before he was a year old. lol

I know DS had a onesie that was Carters brand and 3T

brlindy

Spockles:

brlindy:

 

He's a pretty big 2 year old and the 4T onsies are getting snug on him. 

Just curious...where do you find onesies that are in toddler sizes? I haven't found onesies bigger than 24 months and DS has been out of those since before he was a year old. lol

I order them from amazon they are the gerber brand which means they are probably closer to a 3T size...but they are the easiest ones for me to find. 

pierogi25

Thank you auntie - I was hoping you'd answer to this!!

The cold shower method was recommended to us by a few parents of typical children, and it worked quickly on said children. But the first or second time we did it with DD, she HOWLED and screamed and sobbed....it made me feel horrible to do something like that to her. I just couldn't do it. We tried lukewarm - not cold showers, and those were still a punishment, but since then we stuck with onesies. Yes, somewhat cowardly, because I couldn't bear to hear her scream with so uch fear whenever we'd turn the shower on. The onesie is a temporary solution. I'm assuming and hoping that potty training will help eradicate the behavior.

 

Do you think we should completely take the onesies away and really enforce the cold shower aversion behavior?

As for not starting PTing hardcore, it's something that I want to do - with DH's help, but I feel like primarily I'd be more equipped to handle this (DH still gets squeamish about changing an especially poopy diaper) and the summertime is the worst time for me to start a "rpoject" because my job gets one trillion times busier in summer (I'm a children's librarian and my sole purpose at my job is to prepare for summer activites and reading). 

DH is going away for a boys weekend in a week or so...maybe I'll try PTing then. Auntie, how did it work with you - did you just keep your DS in underwear for an entire morning? PTing an ASD kid is an entirely different thread. 

I can definitely see the controversy in giving schools the reigns in PTing. I see both sides - as an overstressed, overworked mama of a SN kiddo, it's a Godsend to have someone tackle this for me. At the same time, it's a parenting thing, and giving schools the nod to do it blurs that line between school and parenting. 

Thanks for the advice - I definitely do NOT want her to be the poopy kid - she;s going to have a hard enough time making friends without having that hinder her as well. :-/

pierogi25

Thanks, ladies - it helps to know that I'm not alone in my little digger. I hate putting onesies on her all the time - it can't be comfortable in the summertime. On a positive note, she does have eczema and the onesie does not allow her to scratch the bejesus out of her back and tummy, so that's good. But still...not a fun phase. 

pierogi25

Thanks auntie - you always give a good well rounded picture of the whole situation.

To clarify, I realized my post mentioning DH's squeamishness made it sound like he DOESN'T do poopy diapers - he does, sometimes more then me. What I meant was that he still gets grossed out by it, while I'm more of a "eh, poo is gross but it is what it is." Believe me, if this was a man who refused to do poo diapers, he'd be kicked to the curb already!

We have been doing what I assume is preliminary PTing, where we put her on the potty every morning around the time when we realize she would normally go. She gets a reward for doing something in the potty, and she "gets" that. Maybe it's time for the next step - we have 2 weeks left before school starts. Thankfully, she has never diaper dug in school, because we dress her in clothing that prohibits it - no skirts, no dresses, onesies with t shirts and capris or pants. She hasn't figured out how to get in there - yet - so I feel like the clock is ticking on how we can eradicate the behavior. 

The idea of abuse in any format, TERRIFIES me (as it should anyone). She is a pretty little girl, she can't tell us something is wrong. You're certainly right. I have met the aides in her room - she has 2 aides, one teacher, all 3 have been working at the school for 15+ yrs - and the way the room is set up, there aren't any "blind areas", so those are my saving graces - if something were to happen, someone would see it. Maybe that's a naive thought, but it's the only one that keeps me sending her to school every day, which she needs...otherwise I'd be perfectly happy keeping her home with me 24/7. It's such a scary world out there for any child, and an SN kid has a whole new set of fears. 

pierogi25

PS I know abuse is a very real situation especially with SN kids...and, bah, now it's all I can think and worry about :-/

Poppywedding

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