It is so strange and out of character for him because he's really been such a wonderful kid so far. We often marvel at how easy we have had it with him. He has slept through the night (as in 10-14 hours) since he was 7 weeks old, he happily eats anything we put in front of him, he asked to start potty training at 18 months and did so without so much as a bribe. Then recently, after being potty trained for nearly a year without much trouble, he has decided to stop trying whatsoever. It began with him using his bodily functions to get out of doing things he didn't want to do. If he doesn't want to go to sleep, he poops his pants and then admits it so that he will get to stay up a little longer while we clean him up and change him. If we put him in timeout for some reason, he wets his pants in retaliation. We tried ignoring it and making him sleep in his messy pants, but he developed a terrible diaper rash. We tried taking away Elephant, his comfort companion, on the nights he wouldn't go on the potty, but he stopped caring. We tried positive reinforcement, praising him for the times he didn't have an accident and giving stickers for every successful potty trip. Still no luck. On Monday I shared my frustrations with some friends from church and was given the suggestion of cleaning him off with a cold shower every time he deliberately went in his pants. This is day two of that experiment and so far today he has had five cold showers (plus two yesterday). Each time he defiantly looked us in the face and told us what he was doing, then cried as we led him to the shower. It's been a long day and now he's finally in bed (with a diaper on) and my wonderful husband is mopping the entire house while I wash disgusting laundry for the second time today. I really don't have the energy for this. I can't even bend over anymore let alone wipe up the floor, lift Liam into the shower, and make him change his clothes five times a day. I know it's just a power struggle and he is testing his limits because he's stressed about the baby coming, but I don't know how to deal with this. Do I continue with the cold shower method? It's only been two days. Do I give up and put him back in diapers until he's ready to be a big boy again? Please, any ideas would be appreciated.
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| Oh yeah, and this is what he did today instead of napping - that's three full packs of wipes. |
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| The cute face is deceiving, he's stocking up on watermelon so he can pee on the floor two more times in the next hour. |
Honestly, I'd pick my battles on this one and just put him back in diapers. It's not the end of the world. He'll get back to the potty eventually and by then you'll have more energy. I'd continue to pour on the praise when he chooses the big boy route, but you don't need to create extra work for yourself right now. Just my 2 cents! ;) Also, he is getting close to three, I have to tell you my kids went NUTS there for a few months!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Leah on this. It's annoying that he's going back to diapers, but you don't want to wear yourself out. He might see once he's back in the diapers why he wanted to be potty trained in the first place. You could try training pants for awhile so if he does decide do the big boy thing he can easily do it.
ReplyDeleteJack has been going a little nutso lately too. Lots of whinning and "No Mine!" and just general boundary pushing. It's trying for sure. I feel for you.
Bless you Hannah. There is no easy answer or quick fix. But you will get through this. I thought the shower idea was a good one but obviously that didn't work. Is there any way to take the power struggle out? Just calmly change the clothes/diapers. Act like it is no big deal, accidents happen. Pray for strength and calmness. God can provide what you need at this time. Have you thought about praying with Liam? Asking God to help him not have accidents?
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