My son toilet trained at 2 years 4 months. Since that time, we've wiped him every time he's gone #2. At school, I think the teachers do too, but I can't really get a straight answer from him.
I'm kinda ready to not be doing that anymore (still wiping the one in diapers, that's enough for me!).
He turned 4 in April. Do you think he has the coordination and understanding to do a good job?
When did you have your boys wiping, and how did it go?
Thanks!
My son is almost 4 and I have him wipe, then call for me to wipe. Most of the time, he does a great job! You could start doing that, then gradually back off when you see that he is consistantly doing a good job.
Now is a great time for him to start. You can get flushable toddler wipes which help with the transition, as they are better at cleaning than just regular toilet paper.
My 4 yr old wipes most of the time, unless he has had a particularly messy bowel movement. I always check his work before he pulls his undies back up. There is a learning curve, but he will get the hang of it.
I am sure every child has a unique time when they are ready. For some reason, my son's magic age was around 5 1/2. He would hold it all morning long at kindergarten and get home so I could wipe him. This literally became such a big pain in the butt for him that he began wiping on his own so that he could go when the urge moved him. (Or is it when the movement urged him?) Regardless, he did when he felt ready and capable. I wish you luck!
N.
I think my son was about the same age. I did not even realize that he could do it himself, until my girlfriend watched him for a few days one week and she made him do it himself. She supervised and then told me about it. She explained about not using too much toilet paper because of breaking the toilet and it is wasteful. We explained about not touching everything in the bathroom and getting yourself clean is the number one task at hand right then. We talked about how gross it would be to have poop on you and smell bad and that is why we try to do a good job. We told him to wipe until he saw no more poop. Just talk to him very basic. Of course we talked about washing hands very well and reinforced the not touching everything before washing hands so we don't spread germs that could make us all very sick. As I said, we supervised for a few weeks and then let him have a go at it. It has been about a year now and there are times he will ask us to come and check him because he feels like he needs help. We check on the situation and continually tell him what a big boy he is and we are proud of him. I think he is proud of himself too. He still tells people that he can do it by himself which makes for some funny conversations sometimes.
At 5, I would say my son was an independent wiper. I say go ahead and bat "clean up" for awhile.....it's worth it to know they are clean, right?
I am so GLAD you asked this. I have a six year old and a four year old...who have been potty trained for about four years total between the two of them.... And we still wipe both their behinds!
I had been meaning to ask..but it is one of those things I just ''HAVEN'T'' gotten around to doing...I figure I would when it got really annoying.
Enough with the non-helpful response...I am going to go read what others have said now!! Thanks for reading my mind:)
I know most schools don't wipe, that's why most expect kids to be potty trained before going. I swore by the flushable wipes when my kids were little. I just taught them they used one wipe, then wiped again with toilet paper to make sure they didn't miss anything.
Honestly though I didn't worry to much about it. And maybe that was a bad thing, but my kids showered every night and were also taught to wash there themselves, and honestly if they aren't getting clean, you'll know when you do the laundry.
At school, they will not wipe. They expect the kids to do that on their own. Just get some flushable wipes, I know Pampers has some, or Kandoos. Then show him how. Explain that he needs to wipes where the poop comes out so he can stay healthy and clean. It might take a while to get the hang of it and may need to reach between his legs rather that behind until his balance on a giant potty gets better
My son turned four at the beginning of this month and wipes himself. Never pushed it, I would just talk to him about it when hubby and I wiped him, and now he does it on his own.
That's so funny you asked this. Just last week my hubby & I were discussing it. My son turned 4 last week & for some reason HE decided he was going to start wiping himself. We let him & he tells us when he's done & we check him. I figure after a few weeks of this we will just let him do it all by himself & if we come across any problems (dirty underwear ect.) we can also go back to checking him.
I am still wiping my 4 yr old, but I have him try it by himself first. I want to be sure he is clean! I guess I see it as brushing their teeth-they need to learn to do it themselves, but you don't want cavities to form. So, brush for them after they brush themself!
It was so darn cute when I walked in on my 3 yr old trying to wipe himself! He was twisted and turned in the funniest way to really get himself clean!
Good luck!
