AIBU to ask for nappy advice...

[CarrotFingers]

Reposting from Potty Training as no replies.

DS is very nearly 3. He's not shown any interest in learning to use the potty/toilet apart from the odd wee in the potty at home, and one isolated wee in the toilet at nursery. All fine - we're not rushing him, he's got a new baby sister and we've got a house move on the horizon so we're keen not to add another layer of stress to his life at the moment.

However - he doesn't tell us/nursery when he's done a poo, meaning he's now got a sore red bum. We check his nappy regularly as do nursery but it's often not until we see him tugging it or looking a bit glassy-eyed and distant that we realise, he'll have done a huge poo in his nappy but not told us. I think it's basically a chore for him to stop what he's doing and lie still for 30 seconds to have a fresh nappy on, so he puts it off as long as he can.

Does anyone have any ideas how we can encourage him to let us know? We gently explain every time it happens to let one of us know, and that it's giving him a sore bum, but he always looks away, starts squealing or starts talking about something else.

Not very helpful I know but surely you can smell it. I could smell that my son had gone immediately! I know it's different in nursery as so many children but even so!

Sorry but I agree with PP. How can you not know that he has done a poop?

Some kind of reward system seems obvious. I am surprised you can't smell it too, tbh.

We have a non verbal older child still in nappies and we tell by the smell and often the slightly altered behaviour around the time of a bowel movement.
If your son isn't bothered about a poo in his nappy, he may not tell you.

At nursery they should be giving set changing times for all surely which are regular enough to catch it.

At home, try an hourly alarm to remind yourself if you really can't smell it. Or get the potty training done. It took us about a week at that age and needs to be done sooner or later anyway.

At

Yep, you would think you could smell it! Sometimes you can but certainly not always. Yesterday he was playing in the park, we checked him before we went to play and he was clean - he had a good play, I checked again and then carried/chased/piggy backed him back to the car and it wasn't until we were putting him in that I realised that I caught the tiniest whiff. He lied when I asked if he'd done one, and struggled while we changed him in the back of the car. And he's started going at times that aren't his usual times, which hasn't helped. I've told nursery today to be vigilant for stealth poos.

I might have to start being more firm about the potty, we do leave one out and suggest he uses it, same with the toilet. He sees me and DH use the loo, he's got a book about a boy who uses the potty, but has shown next to no interest in using one himself.

I think the potty has perhaps been too subtle and in the background, I might leave it in a more obvious place and suggest he sits on it every so often.

Have you actually tried him in pants? Ds 2.9 not particularly keen - put him in pants this week end and not one accident. .
Been shopping and he had a nap and went 5 hours without a wee!! Pull ups to ds have been an easy option to wee /poo!

Reward systems haven't worked for him, we've tried one only recently with regards to him staying close to us while out (he's a bolter).

I haven't justhad, I could certainly give that a go. Can't hurt to try!

I let ds choose some Peppa pig pants and he loves them!! And his delight on flushing his efforts down the loo is hilarious!!

My DS is nearly 3 and I just don't think it's an issue being in nappies, he's not ready and I really don't want to push him and be clearing poo from the floor as opposed to a nappy. From all I've read it seems that leaving them later is far easier and more reliable than pushing a child that isn't ready.

DH and I do though spend a lot of time loudly announcing when we need to use the 'potty'!

My son was very resistant to potty training but was physically very ready - he was about 3y 8m.

I got a load of potties (3) so they were always in easy reach, put him in pants and just allowed the carnage.

It took about 3/4 days. The first day he just wet himself continually. I would say 'oh look - you did a wee in your pants - let's try the potty next time'. Same with poos.

Over the next few days he got the hang of it on his own. He had a few accidents at nursery (both wee and poo) but has been dry overnight from day one.

I'd let him get messy and he'll start to get it. I found pull ups useless.

In the meantime you can get metanium white barrier cream which might help with soreness from any poos that do get missed?

Thankyou for all the advice. I think he leaves it/lies about doing a poo as he just doesn't want to stop whatever he's doing and get changed - he'll put up with the discomfort rather than take the time to get clean. He wriggles and whinges when he does have a new nappy on, so it's obviously something he doesn't like. He used to 'go' morning and evening for months and never needed changing when we went out, but it can be any time now.

I will definitely give pants a try, he's at home with me on Wednesday so we can go pick some pants then, and see how he goes.

bunloaf yes, we got some of that for baby DD which we've used on him since it became red, they do a spray one now which is good Nursery use Sudocrem.