21mo pooing in the bath every blardy night!

[MegBusset]

DS (21mo) is usually pretty predictable with his poos. One in the morning, one after his nap and one before bedtime. However... for the past couple of weeks he has been saving the bedtime one for his bath! He used to always do a wee as soon as he got in the bath, now he does a poo as well

It's not very nice having to bleach the bath every night so has anyone got any suggestions, short of bathing him in his nappy? He is showing no signs of being ready to potty-train and I wouldn't bother yet but wondering if there could be any way of persuading him to do this one poo in a potty instead of the bath??

You could try avoiding the bath for a few days to see if you can break the habit. Or let him sit on the potty in the bath. It might also help to change his food intake around so that he eats fruit at a different time of day and then the bedtime poo would happen at a different time IYKWIM - cause and effect.
HTH

Thanks whyme2 -- unfortunately he needs to have a bath every day for his eczema. If I bathed him in the morning instead, he would probably do his morning poo in it instead!

Maybe I could try giving him tea a little earlier to see if his poo comes before bathtime?

The things you have to think about as a parent...

dd went through this. just continue giving bath. but wheek them in and out as fast as you can. if you catch him doing it as soon as you put him in, whip him onto potty. he'll either do it on potty. or it'll go back up iykwim. and quickly finish bath. then they will do it in nappy. get the nappy on as soon as out bath. or they will do it on the towel.

after a few weeks of being whizzed about on potty he'll either start doing it in potty everynight before bath. or stop trying to do it in bath.

My ds had very bad bleeding eczema from birth to about 3 (stil has small patches now at 4). Paediatrician recommended baths every third day and covering him from head to toe in Hydromol morning and evening. That made him a bit slippery to handle but seemed to do the trick. Could you do something similar for a couple of weeks to try and break the habit of a bathtime poo?

Can you maybe try putting him on the potty for a bit before bed? With no pressure to do anything, just tell him what its for and let him try for a bit while you run the bath and get everything ready? Not actually meaning to start potty training, just doing it on the basis that if it works then great, if not then nothing lost?

The other thing is maybe a shower? Or do you need something in the bath? My DD is 11 months and has had extreme Nappy rash. When it is bad we can't wipe her after a poo, even just with cotton wool, so we stick her in the bath with no plug and shower her down. She thinks it is very funny when it goes on her tummy as it tiggles. Might be harder to introduce at 21 months though so just a suggestion

Good Luck

Thanks again. He needs to have a bath rather than shower because it has oil in it for his skin (Mollie we have experimented with more baths/fewer baths/different emollients and bathing every day in Oilatum is what works best).

Will get a potty and see what he makes of it, he never sits still though so might be wishful thinking that he'll sit down on it!

I would keep a potty very close to the bath, and as soon as you see he's going to poo, then put the potty under him, even though he's in the bath. That's what I did.