Decorating with poo

[SaffronCake]

My toddler girl has taken to smearing her poo everywhere.

Pic from TwitPic

Usually it's when she wakes up in her room, which with 2 naps and overnight gives her 3 opportunities a day. She's averaging once a day, some days we have none, others we have 2, or even once three. Often the first I know she's done it is the smell hits me, she's bloody stealthy. Doesn't matter what I dress her in, she will get it off.

It's on the 2 cots and one bed (her sisters too) the sheets, the teddies, the carpet, the wall, the mat, the toys, the radiator, the door, the stairgate, the window (she climbs too), the blinds, and worst of all her little sister, her hair, her face, oh Jesus I can barely even describe the vileness.

My friend lent me a carpet washer- even that's not fully clearing the smell anymore. I can't keep doing this. It's 2 hours for a quick clean up, 4h worst so far. We just can't go on. I've even tried contacting Jo Frost.

HELP ME PLEASE Mumsnet.

is she in nappies?

how long has this been going on for?

what does GP say ?

NB not clicked your link

Just to say that lots of pics of your kids available on your link - just checking you don't mind?

Have you tried a baby giro fully poppered but back to front? Baby monitor so you can hear and grab her the minute she wakes up? Could she nap in her pushchair or on the sofa instead? Sleep in a playpen ( can you even get them anymore?) on something soft but washable for a while?

I'll have another think......

*babygro

Would a cot shade thing be any good or would she get out of it?
www.snoozeshade.com/snoozeshade-for-cots

My god that's disgusting -sorry! Have you spoken to a gp or health visitor? How old is she? How is she getting out of the cot to smear it everywhere? What have you tried dressing her in I'd be inclined to get a zip up suit and put it on backwards shell never get a zip open that she can't reach. I've also heard of people putting washable nappies on backwards and using the old nappy pins with the push down tops at the back! Was there a trigger to when it started maybe an illness or something?

Ps Grobag sleeping bags are zip up they have them available up to the age of 10 so size won't be an issue and you can get them in different togs for different seasons - put it on backwards over a pyjama suit also on backwards

Oh you poor thing, that's horrible!
How old is she? Old enough for a reward system and/or potty training?
I'd discuss with your health visitor.
Could you fasten mittens on her somehow, to make it harder for her to use her hands?

Thanks for replying, sorry, I kept refreshing the page but I was reading 1 of 1 as 1 post, not one page (idiot me).

To answer the questions so far..

• She is 22 months old today.
• She's in nappies.
• It's been going on a month. Reached end of tether today.
• My of my GP and HV I'd bet on the HV getting it. She's been away but tomorrow I'm straight there.
• I don't mind about the pics of the kids, thank you for looking out for us though.
• I've tried every item of clothing I can think of, even a snowsuit, she's determined. Someone said sew her in, but I can't see that being practical.
• Baby monitor not picking up anything that doesn't sound like her or her baby sister fidgeting innocently. A lot of the time I don't think she even bothers to stand to remove it, not until she's painted everything in reach from down there.
• She's an escape artist, the pushchair wont hold her if she doesn't want to stay (not even after I added a chest strap), we don't have a playpen, but she vaults stairgates and the travelcot takes her under 2 seconds to get out of too.
• She's too tall for a cotshade and it probably wouldn't keep her in.
• It's the biggest tallest cotbed I know of and she flips over the sides like they're not there- even from the floor side, where it's higher. She also vaults stairgates (vaults not climbs) and hauls herself into the window- at her eyeline height, straight up from the floor. I have two stairgates in the bedroom doorway, stacked. We call it baby jail. It looks awful but there is no other safe option.
• Growbags she just pulls until the top popper snaps and keeps pulling so the zip goes too.
• Tried disposables, terries and Little Lambs shaped nappies in cotton, microfibre fleece and bamboo- they are all straight off. The suggestion about putting a terry on backwards will be tried immediately she wakes up thank you.
• No specific trigger I can think of. She seems honestly interested in her poo and enjoys painting it everywhere.
• Can you do a reward system at 22m? If so where can I find simple instructions?
• Mittens would be fab, but all I can think of is sewing them to some sleeves and there's no clothes I've found that she can not remove. Anyone's got any further thoughts on how this could be made to work?

It'd probably go some way to explaining the kind of baby I have if I said everyone expects her to climb mountains or tame sharks when she's grown up.

No need apologise Henbur or anyone else, it IS downright fucking vile, I fully agree. I really appreciate that people have taken the time to read and reply, thank you. There has to be a solution to this.

My DD did this two or three times. I thought at the time it was an attention seeking and curiosity thing. Do you visibly/audibly react when she sees you seeing what she has done? I am wondering if she is just doing it for attention? When my DD did this I just ignored it and did not react. Ruddy hard though! I hope it stops soon.

Used to blow a fuse. Now just go to it as if it's normal (because it pretty much is in this house). It seems to really spoil her moment when I tell her it's naughty. Sometimes she tries to keep the nappy, sometimes she drops it near me.

Give her loads of opportunity for messy play in the day? Play doh, painting, flour-and-water type stuff?

God, I'd have had a nervo by now, hats off to you

Maybe you should mention it to your health visitor? You must be at the end of your tether having to deal with cleaning it up. Meanwhile, could you set an alarm, then go and check to see whether she is clean, with a view to checking to see if she has a regular time and then change her before she had time to meddle.

I don't know whether this sounds daft, but could you do some painting (sand mixed with paint) and let her smear that on paper. She may find she enjoys it more.

Wild card accepted....

OMG actually...

This started within days of introducing her to finger/hand/whole-child painting.

TOmorrow we get the paints out- and lets do that every day for a week too, just to be sure.

Maybe... Just maybe.

Keep 'em coming ladies, you are awesome at this and I'm listening with both ears. xx Much love.

oops bit of a x post from me!

Let us know how you get on

Oh God, that is horrid. Is it too late to send her back?!

Could you at least move the cot away from the wall? Bluetak some paper on the wall until she grows out of it?

Really hope something works for you OP.

There was a similar thread here last week from a lady with twins who were doing exactly the same. Most of the replies on there were suggesting to use gaffer tape to keep the nappy on? Maybe try that?

Come back to this to say similar to hilda.

I would try and wake her rather than letting her wake naturally until she has forgotten this, prob take a couple of weeks. If she normally naps for an hour at 2, then wake her at 5 to, rather than giving her time to 'have fun'!

Google "Zewi fix decke"
It's a fitted sheet (cot size or bed size) that you zip the child into. Very common in Switzerland and Germany.

This is their website, I can't link to the page as I'm on my iPad, but look in the catalogue www.zewiundbebe-jou.ch

Or tape the nappy shut (but this doesn't stop them putting hands in and pulling poo out, which is what DS did. )

I think a reward system is tantamount to playing a game and bargaining over something which is completely unacceptable. Do you show your daughter how cross you are, and does she show any signs of caring? kids usually want parental approval. when my dd bit, I was very cross with her and walked away out of the room and said I would not stay in a room with her if she did that. Maybe by chance she never did it again. Also, when you clean her up I would do it with no eye contact, and not make it in any way pleasurable

on her little sister??
If any of mine did that I'd put them in the garage! I'm scared at the thought of your vaulting toddler, I thought my climbing toddler was bad.
Is there no where else you can put her bed/cot for her naps?

Duct tape has been suggested on Twitter and facebook too and as soon as I get off this laptop I'm gonna stick her together- she's got a washable nappy on backwards over a disposable right now.

Fixdecken is a great idea, I've just been looking, but that's a button at the top that hold the zip closed- there's no possibility that'll work on her. She'll undo it. It's 6-8 weeks delivery time too, so it's definitely not Plan A but I could come back to it if all else fails.

She is positively mortified if I'm angry, to the point where she'd realise I'd seen her and burst into truly scared tears. I dropped the anger. She's just plain not old enough to think to herself "I must not do this" before she does it. If I'm cold with her while I shower her she plain does not get it. By contrast, if she smacks the dog and I react she does realise what she's done- the poo thing just doesn't seem naughty to her.

Yeah she hops into her sister's cot and paints her too. Toddler is 22m, baby is 10m. It's horrible isn't it. Baby seems to find this funny and amazingly no one has got ill yet... it's got to stop.

The vaulting thing means toddler can only be put down to sleep in the bedroom unless under close supervision. The bedroom has been safe-proofed...
No cords in the blinds, no curtains.
Keylocked windows specially refitted to be sure the mechanisms wont fail and key kept at ceiling height
No furniture at all except 2 cots, 1 bed, one toybox of teddies (lid off), one bag of blocks, a mat and a ball. That is honestly every item.
All plugs covered, finger guard on door
Radiator disabled so it can not be turned on.
And of course the baby-jail double stairgates. It has to be like this because I have to sleep sooner or later, and when I do the children need to stay safe.

If I try to sleep baby somewhere else they would both be very distressed. Like twins, they expect to be in sight of each other. And anyway, if I'm showering one baby it might as well be two- pooey skin is probably the easiest surface I have to clean. Everything else in babys cot would still get covered, just baby wouldn't. It's not worth it. I'd rather just find a way to stop her.

Oh and somehow I said all that and didn't give you the good news...

Between everyone who's responded a practical plan is coming together...

1. Messy play opportunities daily.
2. Duct tape/ parcel tape!!
3. Someone sent me a link to these littlekeepersleeper.com/store/Default.asp they look awesome. I am gonna get one. It is an amazing co-incidence that her favourite colour is green and she loves bears too.

My older 2 were like twins - once I put them in the same room they were so happy, they're a very similar age gap to yours. I'm trying to figure out how to stop my 18month old doing 'naughty' things that he just doesn't understand, it's soooo hard!

Usually I go with distract, distract, distract. Obv thought hat only works if I am there!