Help!! I'm at Wits End!!!!

Updated on May 09, 2007
L.C. asks from Normal, IL
22 answers

My daughter is 26 months old. Ever since she was about 18 months old she got into the habit of taking off her diaper. We tried everything to keep it on. Someone suggested putting duct tape around it and we did that and it worked. Well now she has figured out how to take it off even with the duct tape. She will rip the diaper and then shred it in her crib. I am so tired of this behavior. I am not made of money so I can't do laundry everyday to wash her sheets and frankly I am tired of cleaning up that disgusting mess. I want her potty trained! How can I accomplish this? I am at my wits end. HELP!

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L.L.

answers from Decatur on

Don't worry my daughter did the exact same thing. I was doing loundry and cleaning her crib constantly. I went and bought those big baby pins with plastic on them and I would put her in a zip up onsie when I put her to bed or a nap. At the top where the zipper goes up I pinned it. It works awesome. She couldn't get the pins undone to take her diaper off. This summer you could get those thin zip up onsies. Eventually after a few months you can stop using them and she won't even try to take her onsie off. I called the pins oweees so she knew they would stick her when I was changeing her clothes and diaper. Trust me it works. L. in Clinton .

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S.L.

answers from Tulsa on

You could try using a blanket sleeper. Put it on backwards and zip it up. If it is too warm for her, cut off the long arms and legs so she doesn't get too hot. Hope it helps;-)

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S.M.

answers from Columbia on

My son did that too. Made me nuts! He also seemed to figure out every trick. One he didn't figure out was when I put him in footie jammies that zip up in the front. After zipping them on him I wrapped duct tape under his armpits with the ends overlapping behind him. The spot where the tape ends met and overlapped is just below his shoulder blades on his back. He simply couldn't reach that spot to get the ends of the tape. I made sure it was fairly snug but not tight so he was unable to wriggle out. I used the full width of the tape too, leaving no jagged edges for him to get a tear started on. Good luck!

1 mom found this helpful
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W.B.

answers from Kansas City on

hi L.,
I am a home child care provider and one of the little girls I watch (she is 19 months old) was doing the samething. the reason why we believe is because at Mrs. W.'s house (me) she can't play in the baby swings or get in the walker or anything that has to do with the "baby". So over the last few weeks she started taking off her diaper, well mom decided maybe if we moved to pullups it would help and to our surprise it has.
The other thing you could do is safty pin her onesis together this way even if she gets the snaps undone it wont come off completely. you could then either safty pin her shirt to her pants or safty pin the zipper of her pajamas to them. hope this helps W. mom of 4.

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J.C.

answers from Oklahoma City on

Hi L., My name is J. I have a 5 almost six year old son and 2 almost three year old daughter and a 1 almost 2 year old daughter. My 21 month old got into the habit of taking off her diaper to and so I decieded to let her start sitting on the potty and also putting her in pull-ups her sister still wears them so I put her in them one day and she thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And it also stopped her from taking it off. Now her and my 2 1/2 year old are potty training at the same time. WOO HOO!!!! So it is just a suggestion but maybe you could get her the dora pull-ups or the mermaid pull-ups which ever she likes and maybe that would help. Maybe she would think that it is cool enough to leave it on. BLESSINGS, J.

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S.B.

answers from St. Louis on

Take a deep breath. Sounds like people recommend putting the diaper on backwards, onesies, or pullups. Might be time to start potty training. Here's other advice. http://www.hotqa.com/newborn-baby/239-dmt123.html
Good luck!!

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L.H.

answers from Enid on

Hi L.! My daughter was the same age when she decided she didn't want to wear a diaper anymore. She wanted to be a big girl and wanted to go on the potty. I bought her some big girl panties and told her if she wet them the pull ups would go back on. She started going on the potty that day and never had even one accident. May be your daughter is ready to be a big girl. Buy her some panties and see how it goes~!

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N.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

I'm laughing.. I know its not funny... I mean it is because I've gone through the same thing with my daughter. She's been taking her diaper off since she was barely a year. She's 19 months now and still LOVES to take it off. But she also learned to undress. So if I leave a diaper on with shorts on over it, she'll take the shorts off. Sometimes with a onesie on, she'll figure out how to get the velcro loose on the diaper, and shake it out the leg hole!!! Its crazy!!! So I let her run w/ one off for awhile each day.. I put a onesie on or something so shes not sittin her naked toosh everywhere. I also got pullups for during the day. She wears those most of the day . SHE LOVES PULLUPS!!!! She gets mad when I put a diaper on her, but she will gladly let me put on a pullup. She has a potty in the bathroom just so she will get used to seeing it and she loves to go in there when I go and pull her pull up down and sit on her potty like a "big girl". Its so cute. I know shes way too young to potty train, but she'll be better acquainted at least :o).

Pull ups work wonders!!!! btw... i did the duct tape thing too LOL.

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A.E.

answers from St. Louis on

i am a first time mother a six month old boy so i might not know alot but the way my dad told me to potty train is to spend a full day or so and about every half hour take the child into the bathroom and sit on the toilet and see if they go even if they go once still take them in their the rest of the day i am not for sure if it will work with your child but he said it worked with me my sister, brother and nephew so its worth a shot. now until she is potty trained im not sure what to say about her taking off her diaper sorry i just hope she doesnt give u this much trouble as a teen good luck let me know if this works or not

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J.R.

answers from Kansas City on

Potty train her! If possible take 2-3 days and really start training. Try to stay in a non-carpeted area and let her roam with no diaper, panties etc. Everytime she begings to go, put her on the potty and really praise her for going. Do some kind of reward system that SHE would enjoy (m&m's, stickers, etc.) Make a huge deal about it everytime, even if she tries and doesn't go. Be consistent keep taking her every 1/2 hr. to hr. She's old enough that it probably will be easier than you think. We used this method and we had my daughter trained in 2 days.(pooping and sleeping w/o wetting may take a little longer) Good luck!

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J.K.

answers from St. Louis on

Hi, I don't have any new advice for keeping her pjs on, but I do agree with Jessica R's response on 3/10. We did it a little different, we just put big girl undies on with no pants. She hated the wet feeling. It took 3-5 days, with lots of cues to go to the bathroom. Pooping was harder, because she would hide behind a chair, but I cought on quickly and started watching her like a hawk! I recommend not using pull-ups. At least for my daughter, they were absorbant enough that she didn't care if she wet in them. If we had to make a quick errand I would take her to the bathroom and then tell her that she couldn't go potty in her carseat and she never did. Good luck to you!

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B.S.

answers from Rockford on

DITTO WHAT JESSICA SAID! GOOD LUCK!

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D.A.

answers from Kansas City on

I don't know if this will help you but I used to put my son in zip up jammies and either put them on backwards or used a diaper pin so he could not get them off. If he was unable to get the pajamas off he could not get access to his diaper. At 26 months my child was not ready for potty training so that was not an option for us.

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R.

answers from Kansas City on

L.,

Check out this web site - http://www.3daypottytraining.com. This may be just the thing that you guys need. Good luck.

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J.W.

answers from St. Louis on

Have you tried putting them on her backwards? My son did this for awhile, but it passed as I'm sure this will too, hang in there mamma!

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R.K.

answers from Bloomington on

Have you thought about getting her cloth diapers? At the very least you won't waste money on shredded disposables. Cloth diapering is very easy; both of my babies are in cloth. Here's the webaddress to a local business http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com

R.

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N.M.

answers from Lawton on

Hi L., My daughter used to do that when she was smaller. I put onesies on her then and I still do it. SHe is 20 months. Your daughter is at an age where she really should be ready to be potty trained. I'm trying too but Sarah won't even say pee pee or poop or give me any clue that she wants to be potty trained. Try putting a colorful cardboard on the back of the bathroom door and everytime she goes potty on the potty chair give her a sticker to put on the cardboard. Also try setting a timer to go off every 30 minutes and tthen tell her OK lets go potty. Good Luck.

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S.H.

answers from Wichita on

I have a 7 month old so Im not to the potty training stage yet and I dont really know what Im talking about, but have you tried cloth diapers? Maybe the safety pins would be harder to get off? If the duct tape worked maybe you could put the seam of the duct tape in the back? Hey, maybe duct taping mittens on her hands to keep her from taking the duct taped diaper off will work. Sorry I dont have better advice but maybe this will help!
--S.

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K.C.

answers from Wichita on

We had this same problem with our son at this age. What we ended up doing was a few different things. Putting a onesie on him and then putting pants over it. We also started putting pants on him that buttoned instead of snapped. He had a harder time trying to figure out how to undo the button, then a snap. This worked for a time, until he learned to suck in his tummy to slip the pants off. LOL As for duct tape. Dont' just use strips, go completely around her.

I hear your pain. Nothing worse then waking up in the middle of the night and having pee or poop everywhere.

Good luck :)

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S.H.

answers from Oklahoma City on

hey im a sahm of a 26 mo old and a 7 month old when my oldest waas about 14 months old he would do the same thing but i just started making sure he had pants on and he would leave it alone until he figured out how to undress. but by the time he learned that he stopped taking his diaper off. i tried doing the footsie pjs that zip up and even though he couldn't unzip them (i dont know how) he still got his diaper off. talk about disgusting try having a kid get a poopy diaper then take it off and let it slip down the leg of his pjs without any one knowing. oh it drove me nuts but if i just had sweats on him or pj pants and a tshirt he didnt think about it. my suggetion is just leave her in clothes and if just having the clothes on doesnt work then use a long shirt and pin it around her knees. but maybe out of sight out of mind might work. also if she's only doing it whenshe wakes up in the morning she might just be bored being in her crib with nothing to do. try putting some toys in her crib(after she falls asleep so she doesnt play with them at bedtime) or let her start sleeping in a big girl bed so she can play when she wakes up. ive had my son in a toddler bed since he was about 20 months old. and when he wakes up he usually just plays with his toys.
good luck
steph

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E.M.

answers from Lawton on

My son does this too. I am in the process of starting the potty training. I found that if i roll electrical tape all the way around the diaper and make sure it connects in the back and the put on pants or a sleeper he cant get to the diaper. His doc recommended it. May be worth a try.

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T.S.

answers from Columbia on

Use clear packaging tape. She won't be able to find the end of it and it's not as easy to shred. As far as potty training goes, use pull-ups and ask every 15-25 minutes if she has to go potty. You sit on the big potty and have her sit on her potty... she will want to imitate what you do. That is how I'm doing it right now and it's going pretty good. No more diapers. At night, use a fresh pull-up with the rubber pants over it. And then put some jeans on her with a belt.... that way she will stop messing her bed. Make it a belt she won't be able to figure out... that should fix her wagon... good luck and God Bless!

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