smearing poo autistic 3 year old.

[tiredmummyneedswineandsleep]

DS 3.1 has adhd and is prob high functioning autistic. when hee is in bed he is pooing and smearing. it was all over the door, wall and carpet tonight. i shouted at him- he didnt seem upset or bothered. i know i was prob wrong but im a shattered single parent and it was the last thing i wanted to clean up. absolutley everywhere :-( he isnt toilet trained and shows no interest in being trained. does anyone have any experience or tips please?
many thanks x

Oh you poor thing. Is he able to tell you when he needs to go/has been? Ds (probably asd, no dx yet) is 3.4 and not toilet trained either, but we have managed to get him to tell us when he needs a clean nappy as he still sometimes poos just after he's gone to bed. It took several weeks of of saying "if you need a clean nappy tell mummy/daddy". (We have a monitor still so can hear him at night.)

Don't beat yourself up about shouting at him - we all know how stressful it is

We only had one incident but because of that ds is still in one of the gro-bag sleeping bag things. Mine is 4.5 but he isn't coordinated enough to unzip!

i do (have experience). ds1 was the worst for this! Used to smear it all over the walls, bed - and one one memorable occasion... all over his face!

They were both about 6 when they finally came out of nappies. ds1 is 11 and still goes in his pants some nights. But no longer paints with it, thank god!

Tips? Well, stay calm. Easy to say, I know. But really it's best for your blood pressure!

Develop an odd sense of humour we used to call the smell "Repulsion" - pron rrreplu-she-on - in the style of fancy french perfume "mmmmm, Rrrepulsheon" . We also used to alert each other to an incident by shouting "23-19, 23-19" - ref monsters inc . And then there was the endless fun of 'Hunt The Poo', when you're on your hands and knees, circling the living room, trying to find the one that you can smell but you just can't see! Then you realise it's on the window sill and was there when the postman came that morning.

If you don't find a way to laugh and to take it in your stride, you'll reach a point where you're scared you're going to crack up.

Hi, I've had the same prob since march - ds1 is 2.9 and autistic. We've found the only thing we can do is prevent him from accessing his nappy when we aren't there, e.g.at night. He has been sleeping in some crazy outfits, but at least it isn't really hot at night any more. our OT thinks it might be a sensory thing as he is quite sensory seeking - does your ds seek out other sensations (mine taps a lot), if so maybe sensory diet could help? Having said that, it isn't helping us so far! We put him in a sleeping bag with zip up the front and he rarely escapes it at the moment... Hth

I have been through this and I have found a solution. Ds, 4.3, asd, wears one of these making sure the zip is at the back and a nappy pin to make sure the zip doesn't came down. He loves it and is now the norm for bed, when it is cold I put on some normal pj's over it. It works wonders and we haven't had 1 incident since.

Don't feel bad. It is often more than I can stand. I don't have a solution but just want you to know you are not alone.

My DD did this at that age, mainly on the windows...we lived above a pub! We used to play 'hunt the poo' too. Eventually her movements became regular and I could changer her 15mins after she had gone to bed...and no more smearing...well occassional but not bad. :)

Hope your ok.

Hello tiredmummy, my ds2 (9) is hfa/adhd and he loves his poo (unfortunately the rest of us don't!). He doesn't think about his poo as being poo - he thinks of it more like paint he likes the feeling and texture.

A friend of mine who is was an OT suggested that he will not smear if his poo is soft - so we have to make sure that ds is either well lactulosed or movicalled. He does have constipation at times and smearing is worse when is poo is harder. If his poo is soft he actually doesn't smear at all.

To encourage him to spend more time in the toilet we have sandpaper up on each side of our toilet so that he can reach out and rub his hands up and down (sensory) - and we also have colourful pictures (that he likes) up on the wall in front of the loo so that he has something to look at whilst he is on the toilet.

ds is 5 and still smears not very often now but it is definitely an issue We got him a vest that does up under the nappy os that he couldn't take his nappy off but he figured out how to get the nappy off anyway.The only way we are keeping on top of it at the moment is counting how many he does in a day generally so knowing whether to expect another iyswim and checking him every 5 mins until he has done it.

Many thanks for listening and tips and also letting me know you have been there too as can feel quite isolating in real life. Thankfully not done it since but am not yet convinced he has grown out of it.

Have also made him lots of playdough!

I feel your pain, went through exactly the same with both of mine (ASD x2) best advice do what you need to do! Drink wine, keep a bucket and soap handy, buy big babygrow type outfits etc but above all else hang in there, it definitely, absolutely, catagorically will pass. Every upsetting stage every desperate habit every wierd obsession will pass. So keep going, do whatever you need to do to keep sane but keep in your head the mantra i used (and still use~) It's just one bad day it will pass. And it does i promise. you're not alone! Try and keep smiling.