Ah… this starts early, huh? When we were toilet-training Moon Unit, and she was dry all the time during the day but needed pullups at night, she’d usually load up her trousers about 10 minutes after we changed her for bed. She clearly had the control (this was at age 3ish). Then we caught her going to her bedroom to put herself in pullups when she wanted to take a dump. Then we suggested that if she felt the urge, maybe she ought to choose to set on the toilet at that point.
But hey - your situation could be worse. They could choose to go WHILE YOU ARE CHANGING THEM. Which is especially horrible if your kid is in the “projectile poop” stage of development. That really, er, stank (and necessitated a fair bit of extra housework).
Ours, when he was a wee one, was a difficult little guy to change, due to his struggling and un-cooperating.
One day, while preparing the little fellow to be oohed and aaah’d over at a formal party, my somewhat overbearing Mom-in-Law saw me struggling with the little guy on the change table and came over, pushed me aside, and set out to show me how it’s done. She started off in her pompous way “Pay attention, and …” – when the little fellow gave her a free projectile-poop facial.
The stream was truly epic - his force and aim, astounding. The splat hit her fair and square in her wrinkly mug, and then dribbled in a stinky, slimy trail, to puddle over her nice expensive outfit. Some stray dribbles and chunks hit the wall beside her, but she absorbed most of the blast.
In my head, I was busy making snarky remarks like “will this be on the exam?” . In reality, valuing my life, I was helping to clean up.
I saved the plastic wrappers from bread and used them. Perfect shape for the diaper bag I had (big rectangular thing) and I could fit six or eight diapers in there, after rinsing and squeezing out.
When my kids were small enough for diapers, I lived in the country and there were no daycares per se - but there were ladies who “kept children” in their homes. These ladies were accustomed to cloth, so didn’t bat an eye about rinsing and storing them in the plastic wrappers. I just tossed them all in the diaper pail when I got home.
What it all boils down to, IMO, is what’s easiest for the parents and best for the child. I was in a situation where water and electricity were cheap, and I lived far enough from town that making an emergency run for paper diapers (as we called them) was a lot of trouble. For that matter, I had a clothesline and only had to dry diapers in rainy weather. Also, I have a feeling that disposables were proportionately more expensive back then - a lot of “poor” folks thought so anyway.
EJsGirl, unfortunately I have run into people like that (leave poopy disposables around). One girl I knew back home borrowed a friend’s car. After she returned it the owner discovered several dirty diapers stuffed under the seats.
Yep - mine does it too.
Always has.
Completely and utterly uninterested in potty training, and so damn willful I’m not even going to try til she is. Little turkey.
I don’t know any parents that do it either, I just find them on occasion on picnic tables, rest stops or parking lots. (I’m not really thrilled with seeing (and smelling) a poopy diaper in the ladies room either.) I am assuming this is where the baby was changed and not that some folks are carrying used diapers around to deposit in odd places.
Huh. Never had any trouble with that, but it sounds like your nephew is a unique case if he is having rashes with both kinds.
Well, back in the day we didn’t take children that were still in diapers out so much that it was a frequent issue, but those times that we did we rinsed it out and then wrapped it in a plastic bag that was for that purpose - it had some kind of deodorant thingee in or with it (we’re talking over 35 years ago so the details are a bit hazy). If we were in or near the car, it went in the trunk.
If I had a diapered kid now, I don’t think I could leave a diaper of any form in a public garbage unless I had a way to wrap it up. Poop & pee not exactly germ free.
Modern cloth diapers should never ever be subjected to chlorine bleach, and should be washed using the mildest of detergents and in far lesser amounts than you might think. Just FYI.
You shake solid wastes out into a toilet (which you’re supposed to do with disposables before trashing them, too) and wrap them and put them in a waterproof bag to go home to your diaper pail. Easy peasy.
Eh, once you have a baby, your poop-avoidance instincts go way downhill. That or you go completely insane. You will at times be covered in shit, pretending otherwise is wishful thinking. If you’re lucky, you’ll never get any on your face. Of course, that pretty much guarantees that the little tyke will projectile vomit into your open mouth, so you’ve got to pick your poison.
To the OP, another possible way to explain it is to remember that the bowels are closely tied to the emotions. When we’re tense or stressed our body will naturally slow down the digestive process, including the intestines. But feeling utterly relaxed, content, satisfied, etc., can trigger a bowel moment, at least for some of us. Looking through a box of old photos never fails to send me urgently to the bathroom. I also sew, and I lurve fabric, so browsing the fabric store also sends me rushing into their restroom, never fails. I know for sure it’s not a conscious or willful decision on my part; it’s just physiology doing its thing whenever I feel totally relaxed.
The little Torqueling, at just under 21 months, is showing signs of readiness for potty training: when she has to poop, she goes and hides somewhere, like behind the couch or in the pantry. And then she reappears with an odor cloud wafting around her…
Anyway, the “looking for someplace private” indicates to me that she’s connecting the urge with the act, so I guess I need to go buy a book or a video or something.
Sometimes I get the urge to go and then it intensifies when I go running. And then, like right after, I go. And um…(TMI?) it all comes out really easily and feels good. (What the hell, nothing’s private here.) Ah…anyone else?
. In reality, valuing my life, I was helping to clean up.
