Can your 4.2 yo wipe their own bottom successfully post poo?

[TigerFeet]

DD is off to school in September, she will be 4.2 when the big day arrives.

She is shocking at wiping her own arse after a poo. It isn't a problem atm, at home she shouts me and I go and help and at nursery she gets help from carers. Even so she still gets dirty and sore because she doesn't always think to ask for help.

Once at school there won't be anyone who can help her, at least I assume so, as I'm sure teachers and TA's have enough to do

Is she likely to have got the hang of cleaning herself up properly by September?

tigerfeet does she have a little step she uses to get to the sink?

i tell my dd to put one foot on the step and wipe like that. i try to get her to wipe front to back (from the back) as its more hygienic (no poo transfer to vagina)

i buy wet wipes and she takes a pack to school in her bag too. i dont want her going into classroom asking teacher to wipe her bottom whilst she touches her toes in front of everyone!!!

no

front to back

from the BACK

iyswim

god im confusing myself

i tell her to reach around from the back and wipe front to back

dd2 is starting in September and she will be literally JUST 4 (August 27), sob

she is rubbish atm, we are practising a lot and hope she will improve

dd1 was nearly 5 when she started and ok, still came home with dirty knickers sometimes

or you could have a dd like mine who takes her best friend and they wipe each other

i have checked with mother of other child and after initial horrified hesitation she said it was ok by her

christ, still having this prb with DS who's 6 and a half! Not so much that he's utterly pants at it, more that he refuses to do it himself.

I have contemplated starting a thread bcs I often feel I'm being a total cow when I insist he does it himself - choosing battles and all that.

So will watch this with great interest (and mild distaste for big-boy shit)

DS (4.4) isn't too bad, but that's mostly because he hangs his bottom into the toilet in such a way that it the poo doesn't touch the sides, iyswim, and so there's not much to clean. If there is, then he does struggle sometimes. Is your DD still using a potty or extra toilet seat, TigerFeet? I definitely found the change of position (ie, just perching on the main toilet seat) helped (although I don't know what it's like when he uses a child-sized toilet, which is what they'll have at school).

I think I get you nailpolish - reach round the back and then wipe front to back.

I don't mind the dirty knickers as such but I don't want her to end up being picked on if other children notice and also she gets sore sometimes [fret]

Good idea to put wipes in her bag

She just uses the big toilet with no additional extras - she's fairly tall for her age so has no trouble. I love the idea of her bottom being low enough to part her cheeks may have to test that one out!

I wonder how much of it is that she has got used to people doing it for her? Hmmmm. I wouldn't be a nursery nurse for all the tea in china, there are maybe 20 children in dd's nursery class, that's a lot of shitty bums

Tiger, my dd is seven in a couple of weeks, and still struggles to wipe her own bum after a poo. Luckily (or unluckily, whichever way you choose to look at it!) she hates the school toilets, and won't poo in them at all.

She's just about getting the hang of it now - will only use Kando wipes though, not paper.

Practice is the key, I think; let her do it first, then you finish off. It's hard to start with because their arms are too short to reach around properly, but nailpolish is right that she should always wipe from front to back.

lol at the MoFo's and their non wiping dc's

we should get the other thread going again really

DD (6) mostly does but she still has poo marks occasionly. I remind her of the importance of wiping properly, she's had cystitis before, but I think she just rushes at school.

Mine is useless and was 4 last week. When I was in the shower the other day, she came in beaming after a poo, and said "I've just done a poo and [DS - age 2 nearly three] wiped my bottom" He seemed to do a good job though, and I look forward to telling that story at one of their 18th parties . Serious handwashing afterwards though!

Ds1 (7.5) very independent and fine.

Ds2 (5.4) totally refuses - why wipe my own when I can call my slave mum to do it for me...

Hello Mrs C how are you doing?

Like I say I'm not overly bothered about poo marks in themselves it's the consequences - dd had fused labia at around 2.6 or so while she was potty training which can be caused when an infectin sets in and the labia heal together. Thankfully it was her inner and outer labia rather than her two inner labia which would cause obvious problems... but I live in fear of it happening again.

So.. I am now going to make a concerted effort to encourage independance on the bum wiping front. I may try damp flannels, would they be as good as wipes do you think?

Such a shame she has to grow up. I have always particularly enjoyed looking at dd's prone backside whilst I cleaned it up, I've been doing it for almost 4 years now.

Tigerfeet there was a thread a while back in ethical living about washable bum wipes - have a quick search.
It did get a fairly wide 'sweet jeezum' response though

weve used damp flannels in the past