poo poo poo

Cookie_monster_7

OMG The most difficult thing I have to deal with with my dd is her tendency to play with her poo. She is nearly 3 and I have been dealing with this problem for a year now. Maybe 10 or 12 times in the last year I have found her with handfuls of her poo, spreading it on her toys/book/herself.

I have tried everything I can think of to get her to see that it is wrong....time out, confiscation of a favourite toy, explaining why it is not something she should do, even shouting at her, showing disappointment, anger, ignoring her. Nothing works.

Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions about what I could try please?

Apricot

How is she getting hold of it? If she is still in nappies perhaps its time to potty train? If she is doing it from her potty then you just need to ensure that you are always watching her when she uses the toilet. If she doesn't get the opportunity she can't do it.

alm721

No words of wisdom, sorry, just wanted to let you know you're not on your own. My son is 3 and a bit poo obsessed, and will always try and get his hands in it (still in nappies). We have dogs and my hubby is always merticulous about clearing up after them however one of them must have been in the garden this morning before he took them out. This afternoon my son ran in with a poo covered baby wipe and his hands covered in dog s**t! He was clearing it up like daddy does!
If anyone has tips for stopping this I'd be grateful too.

Cookie_monster_7

princessleah_ wrote: »

How is she getting hold of it? If she is still in nappies perhaps its time to potty train? If she is doing it from her potty then you just need to ensure that you are always watching her when she uses the toilet. If she doesn't get the opportunity she can't do it.

We are potty training but over the last year I have always found her with it when she has been left alone for a nap or after bedtime or if she has just gone off playing somewhere in the house. She does it in private. She likes to poo in private, always has held it in since she was about one until she could do her poo out of eyeshot which I always thought was strange. My MIL used to say to her "oh thats a stinky poo" which I was really cross about and told her to stop but hopefullt that's not had too big an effect on her.

fernliebee

Not a real solution but now it is winter you could put her in all in one sleepsuits again so she can't get her hands in her nappy so easily, but at 3 chances are if she is determined she will get in anyway!

As you are beginning potty training too, you could start by rewarding her for telling you when she has a dirty nappy, that way she may get into the habit of telling you straight away to get a sticker rather than wanting to play with it. When toilet training my DD I used to give her stickers for telling me that she needed to go rather than for the wee itself after a while, as she hated me reminding her/ asking her if she needed to go, so I changed tact, never asked her and whenever she asked me/ told me she needed she got a sticker, it was the turning point for us. Good luck with it.

VK-2008

have achat with family gp they may have some suggestions too help

elliebobs

Again, just to let you know that you are not alone. My friends little girl (now 6) also used to play with her poo. In the morning my friend or her husband would come into the girls room to find it smeared everwhere. Walls, curtains, hair, nose, ears etc etc, no where was safe! She just didn't like the feeling of it in her nappy so would remove it. Nothing they tried worked unfortunately but I'm pleased to report that she did grow out of it.

Apricot

Cookie_monster wrote: »

We are potty training but over the last year I have always found her with it when she has been left alone for a nap or after bedtime or if she has just gone off playing somewhere in the house. She does it in private. She likes to poo in private, always has held it in since she was about one until she could do her poo out of eyeshot which I always thought was strange. My MIL used to say to her "oh thats a stinky poo" which I was really cross about and told her to stop but hopefullt that's not had too big an effect on her.

Another thought, when she does this do you give her a bubble bath? Just perhaps she sees this as a reward afterwards (if she likes baths that is) - if thats the case maybe a quick shower would be better?

pinkpig08

Have you thought of using one of those shaped toilet seats rather than a potty? Then at least she won't be able to reach it afterwards. Don't know whether it's feasible for you?

WestonDave

To be fair the wanting to be alone isn't unique - we used to laugh about our youngests (age 3 1/2) growled "go 'way" if we went into the toilet whilst he was in mid flow - it became a bit of a family joke for a while and he's grown out of it.

In terms of a solution its going to be hard to lay the law down too hard whilst you are wanting to make progress with potty training, so you may be better off (given that its not that frequent - yes once is too often but averaging once a month is better than once a day!) biting your tongue for a couple more months and then trying to move her fairly quickly on to using the toilet rather than the potty (may involve buying or letting her choose a special seat) so that the poo isn't available for her to get her hands on.

delain

Play Doh!

My twins have autistic tendencies and did this a LOT. And no, potty training wasn't really an option as they were doing it at night, so the potty would have been used and then raided, so they had nappies. and they were scared of the toilet.

As soon as the fantastic leader of their nursery and their portage worker gave them some play doh they stopped. Quote:

'All they know is that it feels nice and squishy and that it's easy to find' :eek: :eek:

'Smearing' as it's known is very much an autistic behaviour.

Does your DD have any other social issues? ie obsessive traits.