As some of you may know I have an autistic daughter, this is relevant because she is three and still in diapers. The problem is she is taking them off. We usually use Huggies brand, but have switched thinking the texture is bothering her. No luck. She is removing her diaper which sometimes causes feces smearing. Which is pretty unsanitary I would think. I’m trying to find not only advice on behavior adjustments beyond what her therapists have tried, but also any clothing idea’s that would prevent her the access.
I tried farmer overall things but she can manipulate her diaper through the cloths and the result is unpleasant. Any diapers like chastity belts out there? 
Oh dear. This was not something we ever had to deal with, with Dweezil (mild autism, ZERO interest in potty training, developed encopresis once we finally did get him out of the diapers for a while). Well, he fought diaper changes pretty vehemently for a while but never actually messed with the contents at least (which was a relief, as he wound up being in them until nearly 7 years old).
Duct tape? Seriously. I imagine it’d be a pain in the neck to get it cut and applied during a diaper change but it might make the dipes harder to open. The downside is of course it would be harder for you to access them when needed.
Alternately, what about Pullups or similar? You can tear open the sides when you need to change them, but if the problem is your daughter pulling open the tabs on the Huggies, that might work a bit better.
Can you use diaper pins or safety pins to reinforce the tabs? Or is it that the way diapers fit allow her to pull them off?
It probably wouldn’t work but I am now picturing a toddler wearing a diaper with little rainbow suspenders. Awww.
Oh, jeez, my (not autistic) daughter is going through the same thing right now - so you don’t necessarily have to pin this one on the autism. It’s such a drag, isn’t it? I found that putting the diaper on backwards confounds her most of the time. I keep switching it up, hoping that it’ll keep her confused. It works about 80% of the time.
Does she do it only when there’s feces in her diaper, or any time? I’m don’t know her communication skills, but maybe train her to pat her diaper or ring a bell or blow a whistle to let you know she needs a change? If it’s only when there’s feces, maybe she’s getting to the age of not liking the feel of it. Or maybe she DOES like the feel of it, on her hands, in which case maybe it’s time to bring out the finger paints and play-doh for squishy sensory time.
I’m seriously considering the duct tape, actually.
Maybe it’s time to try potty training? How serious is her autism? I mean, does the doctor think potty training is in her future? Good luck. That must be very frustrating.
She is low-medium functioning, none of her therapists think she can be potty trained yet. She doesn’t even use utensils, nor most other things yet. If she removed them just when they where wet/stinky I would try potty training but she just removes them anytime she can. WhyNot hit the same thing that one of her therapists think, its texture sensory issues.
I’m going to try the duct tape suggested by Mama Zappa see how that goes.
On another topic toward you Mama Zappa and any other parents that may have suggestions. Masturbation, continuously any ideas to divert her? Her therapists think its best to lose that battle to fight others. Me? As long as she isn’t hurting herself, I don’t care, but it bothers the hell outta my wife.
My daughter did this a few times - lovely isn’t it?
What worked for me was putting panties on over the diaper - or training pants.
I don’t know if that would work though - good luck
What about trying out plastic swim pants? We have to use them in the pools here and they are a pain to get off. Good thing for us is that she’s not old enough to take her diapers off yet.
Have you tried cloth diapers? Does she try to remove her clothes too? She seems to be tactile defensive and maybe the feel of the huggies is what she dislikes or even the sound it makes when she moves. If cloth is out then try the pull-ups, they feel more cloth like and also are thinner and less obtrusive to wear.
My son is 8 and learning disabled, non-verbal and blind, but they say not autistic. He still has things he does not like to touch but has improved alot in the tactile area. I took him to the mall at Chrostmas time and he signed ( he does sign languga, go figure) that he wante milk. I had to buy some at the food court and all we had was a styrofoam cup to drink from. He touched it and refused to hol;d the cup, so I held it while he drank. He is almost potty trained, just refuse to go for me it seems. I will tie him on the potty for 15 minutes and he will get off and go in his pull-up. So hang in there
Tights and body suits – like ballet clothes? A friend of mine who has an autistic daughter has found that she (the daughter) actually likes the feel of the close-fitting clothing and, as any former student of ballet can attest, that’s a hell of a lot of challenging clothing to get out of during a potty emergency. Why not play it to your advantage?
This is what we did with my autistic son, training pants, not panties.
As for the masturbation, that didn’t become an issue until puberty hit. And when it hit, it hit with an explosion. :eek: For some reason, we thought he was only doing it at home, so we weren’t concerned. Until, the very embarrassed female bus driver brought him to the door one day, "Um, Mrs. Belfry… um… we have a problem. " :o Now we set aside “play with the weinnie” time. He’s not allowed to do it away from home, and only in his room with the door closed and once a day.
Have you tried pull-up style diapers?
The name brands are easy to strip apart but the cheaper ones seem much harder for little hands to rip off. If she’s used to taking the diaper off by pulling the tabs it could help.
I went through this with my little girl and the pull-ups have confounded her so far.
I have friends who are duct taping the diaper onto their child for this very reason, not yet potty trained, keeps removing the diaper. (No autism, though.)
They swear by it, they just make sure they finish up with the lose end at the back!
My son is 12, very low-functioning autistic, and we do use duct tape, on Huggies Overnights Pull-up (the ONLY thing that fits). It’s easy for us to tear, but he hasn’t quite figured it out yet. You’d be amazed at how quickly you will go through a roll though. So, if it works, find a cheap source! We found it for $3 a roll at the farmers’ market, but places like Harbor Freight probably have good prices.
SO not looking forward to the masturbation thing. He likes to twiddle it around a bit, but, no, um, how shall I say this delicately…no “sproing!” just yet.
My daughter is only 3, so I REALLY fear the future if we cannot control it now(masturbation*). As for the duct tape worked today, so a huge thanks!
- Our therapists all insist to not think of it as masturbation but as a something like an itch on us we enjoy scratching. They say to call it masturbation is to liken it to a sexual process where to her it’s a pure, it feels good so I will do it process.
As an aside when she turned three we started getting free diapers through my work insurance so that’s a huge savings on my family. I have found out some state programs cover diapers, as well as a few private insurers. Check with yours if your autistic child is over 3 years old and still in diapers.
I’m just WAGging from the peanuts gallery, but maybe she’s pulling them off so she can masturbate? In which case providing other stuff that feels good sounds like a necessity…
This is what we did. Not ballet clothes but spandex or onesie type things.
And we have the masturbation thing, too. In fact, several years ago, we had comments from caregivers at one particular place. They said she was having “seizures.” After a thorough, and intrusive, neurological workup came up negative, I asked them wtf. When I pressed them for a description of the seizure behavior, it became clear that she was doing a bit of “humping” at school. We explained the situation, pointed out that school employees were not required to submit to our daughter’s masturbatory efforts, and suggested that they redirect her to more adaptive behaviors instead of writing it up as a seizure every time.
Actually she doesn’t masturbate when she gets them off. Her style is sitting on her sippy cup and rocking back an forth. And when she takes it off and it’s a stinky, she thinks THAT feels good in her fingers.
I appreciate the words from everyone, knowing you’re not alone is a help as well
This will only work for bedtime - but you can put feet pajamas on her - but backwards - so the zipper is in back. Tough to wangle out of that.
Ours humps things. For a while she would hump the thigh of pretty much anyone who let her get close enough. In fact, that was the only way she would go to sleep. It was hard to explain to strangers, but the alternative was much less pleasant. She’s also had her hands on more breasts than I have. And she’s only seven!
We weaned her from masturbating on live targets by offering her inanimate objects that worked for the purpose (mostly in her bedroom). Once she started using those, we’d direct her to use them whenever she tried to hump someone.
Sigh.