Someone please help me? I am going mad with this...

[Vickyyyy]

Son (22 months) has developed a great habit of taking his nappy off once he is in his cot. He does not do this through the day, only in bed at night. Its been going on about a week now and I am really sick to death. Last night we had to strip the cot FOUR times as he had pooed and smeared it everywhere, and peed the other times. Tonight we have had a further poo all over the cot and no doubt a bunch more to go. We simply do not have enough sheets/quilt covers/quilts (when he pees its soaking so we need another actual quilt not just a cover). The house is stinking despite it getting stripped as soon as we find it as we have pee/poo covered washing piles now every night...

We have tried putting his nappy on back to front to make it harder to take off, dressing him in a bunch of clothes, using pullups instead of nappies...nothing is stopping it. He is not ready for toilet training...he makes no attempt to let us know he wants to go. He Drifts off to sleep then as soon as he wakes nappy is off again and same thing over and over, so staying with him til he falls asleep doesn't help either.

I don't know what I expect given my health visitor has no answers for me but just incase anyone else has been through this, to even tell me you have been through the exact same stress would be a slight comfort right now. I'm thinking my kid is abnormal and this constant changing his bed is really getting to me so much.

[Vickyyyy]

OK so we had no issues last night, not sure if it was because he was so knackered though. He fell asleep at like 7pm and we just took him up asleep. Doubled up on nappies (one backwards and taped), put on an age 9-12month vest that was really really tight (not tight enough to be uncomfortable though) and full pj set. This morning he had the PJs off but hadn't managed anything else. Hopefully this lasts. have ordered a sleeping bag anyway just incase :)

[CaffeineDeficitDisorder]

@Vickyyy the 'wrap' is just the plastic-type cover (not actual plastic these days!) that you put over a cloth nappy. This is an example www.thenappylady.co.uk/nappy-wraps/motherease-airflow-wraps.html.

So in your case you could put on the normal disposable nappy and put this wrap on over the top. It would make it harder for your child to remove the nappy.

My children are 10 and 12 so it's a long time since I used any nappies!

[Vickyyyy]

@flumpnugget Yes that may work..going to try the grobag idea first though as its much cheaper tbh. If the issue is still there when we are ready for him to move into a bed I will likely have to go with something like that though so thank you :)

@CaffeineDeficitDisorder I wouldn't know where to start with a cloth nappy lol. But I'm gunna have a look round tomorrow..grobag couples with double disposable nappy + cloth nappy too will surely stop him ..hopefully

@Jools1968 My son can't undo the poppers either, but he gets it off anyway. The vests are still poppered up while they are on the floor along with his nappy lol.

@BirthdayBetty That doesn't work unfortunately, was one of the first things we tried.

[Vickyyyy]

Sorry, thought that was a PM...still relatively new here

@Essexymommy1234

[Vickyyyy]

Thank you for the offer but Dh would go a bit mental if I put son in a pink grobag. he is rather old fashioned like that... I would be grateful and I am very thankful for the offer but I don't want to take it just for the sake of it when I know hubby would be super unimpressed.

Thank you though. Sorry if this offends you, thought it was best being honest :)

[BirthdayBetty]

How about a onesie on back to front? I work with SN children, some are incontinent and some parents do this to prevent removal of the pads.

[Jools1968]

Hi, I use to bath my son after a long play, put his nappy on and put a shortsleeved t-shirt with poppers, then put his pjs or babygrow thing on top of it... He cant undo the poppers, therefore he cant get to the nappy... make sure he is really tired before he goes to sleep too, so he is not like half sleep/half awake & restless, rippes off the nappy, hope this helps x

[Flumpnugget]

www.shop.kcsleepsuits.co.uk/childrens-sleepsuits-all-in-one-pyjamas-boys-and-girls-with-zip-back-for-special-needs/boys-sleepsuit-in-blue-with-short-sleeves.html

A friend bought something similar to this for her little boy who was a nightly "smearer".

[EssexMummy1234]

i've probably got a summer 18-36 months grobag that DD has outgrown that you can have, pm me if you want it and i'll post it - might be pink & white though :-)

[CaffeineDeficitDisorder]

You don't need to move onto cloth nappies, just put the wrap over a disposable nappy! I don;t want to complicate your washing when things are so tough.
I used cloth nappies for my first four years of nappies, but our home circumstances changed and the last year was on disposables - but the wraps were VERY useful at night!

[Vickyyyy]

Just been checking out that slumbersack site..

www.slumbersac.co.uk/baby-sleeping-bag-with-feet-stars.html

I love this so much but reckon he would get that off no problem

Might be a bit harder with www.slumbersac.co.uk/simply-range-stripe-blue-4242.html BUT..we are wanting him out of the cot before long too and if he gets used to that I can see us having many issues with him falling over getting out of bed and such...but it would work for NOW maybe..

[EssexMummy1234]

gro-bag - they come with handy room thermometer so you can check he's not to hot, but it doesn't have to be an actual grobag - loads of other places do baby sleeping bag - tk max, asda etc

18-21/22 degrees room temp use 2.5tog with either long or short sleeve vest and nappy - nothing else,

22+ use a summer 0.5 tog which is just like a cotton sheet they can't kick off.

[TeaBelle]

If you're going down the sleeping bag route I definitely recommended slumber sac - they have removeable panels so that you can change the togs

[momb]

gaffer tape. It won't hurt if you only do it to the same tension as you would the nappy. He's crying with frustration as you have spoiled his game.....not because he's sore. It's become a habit.

[anotherbusymum14]

Yes safety pins on top of nappy seals to keep the nappy on, and a summer grow bag so bubs can't touch or remove nappy. Don't let bubs get too hot - use summer one. I think we did this but it was years ago now.

[Vickyyyy]

If he can scream he can breathe he's fine

--

My mum says this all of the time. She used to go off it with me checking on the kids when they cried at night, saying I would spoil them and such and clearly if they are screaming they are breathing. Sounded a bit harsh actually but I guess me and my siblings are fine when that approach was taken to us as kids. lol


No never considered a cloth nappy..thats something I could try tomorrow night I guess. Will look into a grobag also, I'm honestly willing to try ANYTHING at this point.

[CaffeineDeficitDisorder]

GRO bag not bro bag

[CaffeineDeficitDisorder]

If he gets hot, put on a very thin bro bag back-to-front, so zip is at back. Can't take it off. Then you can put on a simple peppered short-sleeved vest over the nappy.
Have you also thought about getting a cloth nappy wrap? You could fix this on over the nappy, again, back-to-front to make it harder to remove the nappy.

[Kennington]

He might be too warm - perhaps keep the door open and a window open nearby.
My dd was similar and to this day will take her clothes off at night if she is even slightly warm. Plus plenty of water or milk before sleep so she doesn't feel thirsty.
Those dry nights sheets are ok too. But bloody expensive.
I could be completely wrong though.

[cattychatty]

If he can scream he can breathe he's fine

[Vickyyyy]

Tape was a last resort that we actually used tonight but I was then panicky that he might get it off and try to eat it or something. Hubby taped right round so it was unlikely he would be able to rip the tape off himself but he screamed blue murder and I got paranoid that maybe it was too tight and cutting off his circulation or something so took it off..maybe I just need to get over it and stop being so soft

[Vickyyyy]

He houdinis out of ANY kind of clothes. We tried a rather tight all in one sleepsuit backwards..out of it in seconds. He doesn't undo it..rather he will twist himself into whatever positions it takes to loosen them/get them off. Could try the nappy pin idea but I can't see it helping because of the way he gets everything off now :S

He usually does a poo on a night and one through the day. Its not because of the poo though as hes taking it off all of the time, even when its bone dry 5 mins after we put it on!

Never tried a gro bag but I dont think he would settle in one tbh as he gets really hot and kicks his blankets off and likes having freedom to move. He has toys in his cot already.

We also have a baby monitor still and I get up everytime I hear him move but obviously I sleep through movements sometimes and it seems that when I sleep through it thats when it happens :( He doesn't cry when hes peed the bed either, he will just lie in it which is awful so he will be wet until I next check on him.

Thank you for the replies by the way, its good to know I'm not actually alone in this

[cattychatty]

I used masking tape over the sticky parts of the nappy he screamed blue murder when He realised he couldn't take it off. A friend of mine put baby grow on backwards that worked too

[ILoveAGoodBrusselSprout]

If you google this, a number of websites suggest duct tape as its so difficult to peel off. Might be worth a try

[greenfolder]

Zip up onesie. Nappy safety pin through the zip tag.