Help a Friend. Her Daughter Is Smearing Poo at Every Nap

I have a child who has exhibited a lot of sensation-seeking behaviors. If consequences for the action don't work ( cleaning up own mess, extra long nap time, losing favorite sleep toys so they don't get messy, etc.), I would have an O.T. evaluation done to see if this youngster has some type of sensory integration disorder. It is quite possible that she is sensation seeking if the behavior continues in spite of everything mom has tried. And the behaviors of sensation seekers will continue even in the face of punishments if their sensation needs continue to be unmet. It's worth a try. . . we had an outstanding O.T. in Texas who was able to dismiss my son from treatment in just over a year, and he is now a totally different child. . .

I would dread putting this child down for a nap each day in anticipation of what I would find after the nap! At three years old, this little girl KNOWS that mom does not like when she "smears her poop" and that it is not a good thing to do. My son at 2years old would constantly tip over the dog's dish and we would have little pebbles of dog food EVERYWHERE! He knew at 2years old that I was very unhappy at the mess he made. But that never stopped him from tipping that bowl over a few times a day! I finally smartened up.... and instead of my cleaning it, I had my 2 year old clean it. He definitely did not want to clean his own mess, but I kept bringing him back to HIS MESS and he was not allowed to play with anything until ALL of the dog food was back in the bowl. He screamed and cried as he cleaned. (It may sound a little harsh- It hurt me to watch him be so upset. But we both learned very good lessons that day. My son at 2 years old learned that there are consequenses for his behavior and I learned that I can love my child AND discipline (teach) him to respect and be obedient-yes even at 2yrs old! Afterward, He NEVER tipped over the dog's dish again! Praise God! I suggest- if the bed and the little girl are already covered in poop, give her a bucket and let her clean up her own mess. Work for children is a great deterent for unexceptable behavior. And at three years old she definitely knows this is unexceptable. I have no insight into why she chooses to do this- maybe she just doesn't like the feel of it in her diaper. So she takes off the diaper afterward and smears away! Maybe if your able to stop the smearing behavior she'll understand that the best place for poop is in the potty and not on the walls.

When my daughter was 2 she would take her diaper off which lead to amessy crib. I put her diaper and pj's on bakwards and soon she stopped and outgrew it.

OMG!! YES!!! we called them " sh** storms".. Despite being potty trained to pee on the musical potty since 12 months, she would not go poop in the pot until 31/2 -4 yrs old and then ONLY in the potty at home...
Aside from just being on top of her during nap/bed time, there was no stopping her... it was a phase and it simply played itself out..
however, the poop smearing and reluctance to pooop in the potty is not uncommmon with kids with sensory issues.. my daughter is 10 now and DX'd as aspergers w adhd and sensory integration disorder.. of course we didnt know it back then, but as i got to speak to other parents with kids with sensory issues i found I was NOT ALONE!! lol
try getting her to sit backwards or forwards on the toilet with her feet up so she can see her body in action ... it was like watching labor... "here it comes!! PUUUSSSHHHHH!!!" until she finally delivered a healthy bm!!
Then of course, reward her handsomely immediatly and each time you can get her to do it... my kid got ice cream every day for 2weeks because i was so grateful that the sh** storms were over!!

I also recently found this online for a friend having similiar problems...seemed interesting & worth a try

In my classroom right know I am working on three six years being potty trianed. We made a box and divided it half, with a icon of pee (yellow side) and poop (brown side). EVERYTIME they go pee the get a small tressure, and larger items are saved until they go poop. When they go poop in the toilet they get the bigger tressure.But we try to make it fun and when they have acciedents we remind "It okay, but next time in the toilet and you can have your tressure." The items will deffer depending on the child. The school can carry this over to. It helps if everyone is on board

HANG IN THERE!!! GOOD LUCK!!

I am way beyond this stage, but my daughter took her diaper off every time we put her to bed, usually she didn't poop, but she wet the bed every time and it was a pain. I started using the old fashioned diaper pins--the ones that are hard to un-pin--in addition to the tape and then she couldn't get the diaper off. It was an easy fix. Of course in your friend's case, where there's a will there's a way, so this might not help her.

I would not nap her till she poops, preferably in teh potty but in the diaper if that is what she is comfortable with.

Other than that there is not much to do. Even at teh point where the little girl knows that this behavior is wrong, it's not like a three year old is gonna think "Oh I better not do this or I will get punished" It's a phase, it will pass.

try asking your friend to give her daughter a sip of coffe about 30 minutes prior to her nap,

its a natural laxative, and should encourage her POO to come Before her nap,

My son wakes everytime her poos

so I would use this when i needed a long nap.

ahahah!

M

Even if the child does not want to poop in the potty she is way old enough to understand that playing with her poop is not acceptable. The baby monitor needs to go back in the room, and mom needs to see to her child as soon as she starts making noise. The backwards sleeper sounds like an excellent idea! However, if mom feels it's not an option then she needs to have a firm talk with her daughter. Tell her that she is not to play in her diaper, and poop, and that if she does she will get a spanking. I don't mean beat the child, but certainly one firm pop on her thigh would get the point across.

my daughter is four now and did the same thing. She seemed to just grow out of it. We also came to find around the same time she grew out of it that she needed glassess ( so ensory issue sounds typical), but it really could just be anything. The one thing i did do when having to clean her up was it was in the shower so she didn't feel rewarded with a bath, and she was not allowed to watch bc she started telling me "ok mommy now you clean up". so i would just be sure this is not a game either. good luck to your friend i know how very frustrating it is.

My oldest daughter is 3 and a half and at about 2 and half she started doing the same thing. What I did was buy her one piece outfits that were difficult for her to undo and started making her wear them for nap time and bed time. I think we did this for a few months before trying normal pajamas again. She has never smeared poo since. You could even buy footless zip up pajamas and turn them backward so she can't reach the zipper. See if she gives up this practice. I hope this helps.
L. P

First of all you need to tell her to get rid of the diapers. If the mother knows what her poop schedule is then she should put her on the potty until she goes. That eliminates the problem. Potty training is not about what the child prefers, it is about using the toilet.

I sure hope her mother is disciplining her after these little episodes? I know that if my kids did it then it would only happen once because the discipline would be serious. That type of behavior, although not unheard of, is unacceptable, not mention a health hazard.

Oh man, my daughter went through this and I cried and gagged every time I had to clean it up! It was horrid, but I figured a couple tricks out...first onesies! I would make sure that she had a onesie on with pants or shorts that had a drawstrings, that she could not get off. Secondly, don't give her milk to go to nap, water is better, and less likely to give her the urge to go #2. Also I would try to feed her a big breakfast and have her run around a lot and even stall her nap where possible, so that she would make her #2 before she napped. I also had to discipline since she was 2 years old. I hope your friend can over come this, and I am sure it won't last too much longer!

My neice did this. My sister tried putting onesies on before nap time, but that only helped until she figured out how to get around those. Taking her out of diapers was not an option because she would wet the bed during her nap. She finally resorted to duct tape around the diaper (obviously not on the skin, but just working as extra reinforcement so she couldn't get the diaper off, similar to the diaper pins someone suggested below). It was the only thing her daughter couldn't get through. Good luck!

I would suggest putting her in a onsie and a blanket sleeper for the nap - and put the blanket sleeper on backward. She'll have a heck of a time trying to get at her diaper if she's in a blanket sleeper zipped up the back.

But I also think that at 2 yrs, 10 months, she can be told that this is unacceptable behavior and that there can be a consequence for it. If she's able to understand that other behaviors aren't allowed and that there are consequences for them, this can be added to the unacceptable list. This isn't like when a 13 month old discovers that they can paint with what's in their diaper.

Good luck to your friend.

This is a tactical response to not wanting a nap. Be sure to clean your child up and them promptly put her back to sleep.

Good luck!
W.