Help! At my wits end! Toddler smearing poo everywhere!

[Cathy1984]

Over February half term I potty trained my 2 and half year old. He mastered wees immediately and is always dry during the day. However poo is a different matter! He very rarely ever goes in the toilet, opting instead to wait until he has a night nappy on. I was okay(ish) with this but it has now gone to another level. For the second time in the last couple of weeks he has taken his nappy off and smeared poo everywhere! He was covered in it, including on his face! He has wiped it all over his window, walls, curtains and chest of drawers. He even took all of his clean clothes out of the chest of drawers and stamped poo into them. He didn't cry or call for us. We only went into his room because he was singing and it was getting late. I have tried explaining how disgusting it is, taking toys away, rewarding him for doing the right thing. Nothing works! Help!

They say that if the child poos in the nappy during potty training take the nappy to the loo with the child and flush the poo away together. However I don't recommend flushing all the clothing covered in poo! Maybe he's not ready just yet? It can be stressful for some kids and if he's holding it until he has a night nappy that's not good for him.

Can he go back to training nappies? Let him pull them down to pee but keep them on if he needs to poo. He doesn't sound ready developmentally yet, he sounds like he's trying to control the situation as best as a 2 year old can.

Thanks for the reply. The frustration is that he has taken to everything else straight away. He independently uses the toilet and is dry all day. I wouldnt want to go back to nappies. I have done flushing poos from nappy. I can cope with him pooing in a nappy but it's the fact that he is taking it off and smearing it all over his room!

All in one swim suit/ uv suit/ leotard/ over nappy, under pjs to give you some time to deal with it- might break habit, allow you time to work on this skill.

Put him in a onesie back to front so he can't get to it.

Swim suit is a good idea. I honestly believe he ready developmentally. He is very forward for his age and very independent with toileting generally. Prior to this his was waiting for a night nappy and then calling for us.

Sounds like he is perfectly able to control it, just not in the way that you want!

I’d say 2.5 is pretty young for toilet training a boy. My dd had it at that age, my ds’ took much longer

Thanks for the reply but I promise you he has had no problem with potty training. He fully understands and during the day he is completely dry and independent. His nursery have commented on how quickly he has grasped it. Until now he had been waiting for his nappy and then calling us to be changed. There is no way I'd go back to nappies now. Reading up on it on Google it sounds like he is doing it for extra interation us.

I’d agree it’s all about control, attention and interaction. Hence some kind of anti smear device (like girls swimming costume/ swim suit/ reversed zip up all in one means you can take some of the ‘game’ out of the situation, and work on ways to address it.

He obviously knows what he is doing is wrong. I think it's a control thing for him (I maybe wrong)

I agree with the onsie on back to front so he can't get out.

Does he poo in his sleep then wakes up? Or waits to you leave the room then pos's and plays with it?

He waits for us to leave and then does it. I'm positive he knows exactly what he's doing and does it for attention. Definitely going to try the swimming costume tomorrow

Could you put the nappy on back to front so he cant get the tabs off? Or put extra tape over the tabs when on back to front, to make it extra secure?

How did it go last night @Cathy1984

On a side note I'm jealous you can leave your ds awake. My dcs run riot so I have to read them asleep 😢

@Racheyg the incident was last night. Once I had finished cleaning poo he went straight to sleep! My eldest son goes straight to bed awake and never gets out. This one is a menace. He had to go in a bed from a cot early because he kept climbing out! And if we leave anything in there he destroys it.... He's ripped up books, pulled all the baby wipes out, takes all his clothes out etc etc. I was saying to my husband yesterday that maybe we should put some more toys in his room. Maybe he is just bored. I'd rather he was up a bit late playing that decorating his room with poo! Going to try the swimming costume tonight 🤞

Cathy my dd3 2.7 is similar. She can do both on the potty. But we have had a couple of instances where she has pulled pooh out of her nappy and covered herself in it whilst in her cot. The last time she did it out hot water was off and she was in a state!

I’m just hoping she grows out of it - although I did tell her off the last time 🙈

#Downthecanal oh my goodness! I'm glad it's not just me 🙄 it's just so disgusting! Fingers crossed they grow out of it ASAP 🤞

Swimming costume is a good call. With DS who kept untucking his willy from his nappy and soaking everything we ended up with him in a zip up onesie with the zip pinned closed (not tight to his neck) with a nappy pin that was then wrapped around with electrical tape! I’m