AAAAAAAHHHH! Bathroom and DS!

[Ben10isthespawnofthedevil]

So in one week, that is 2 bottles of shampoo, one bottle of bubble bath and a tube of toothpaste wasted due to 5 year old DS with suspected dyspraxia and sensory issues pouring them into the bath.

I will now have to "baby-proof" the bathroom but wonder whether this behaviour could be attributed to his issues or just him being 5.

Dd2 would do the same if i gave her the chance, we use stair gates to keep her down stairs, she did get out today and managed to destroy dd1's room and find her birthday present which was no wrapped up . Our bathroom is dd2 proof (everything up high or put away).

Thanks we have a downstairs bathroom only so unfortunately the stair gate is not a possibility. It will now be DS proofed......

I wouldn't mind but there were 3 bottles of his own bubble bath and shampoo but as they were boring white colours, he chose my green shampoo and purple bubble bath as they looked nice in the water together!

I feel your pain, ds (9)- dyspraxic, sensory issues, suspected ASD - has emptied so many bottles over the years I have lost count. As he is very impulsive and visual, so sees something and doesnt think does what he can with it, I have removed everything onto a trolley in my bedroom, so I can wheel it through when I need to, but he doesn't have the bottles there to provide him with ideas.

Oh, and you know that scene in Curious George (the film) where he mixes the paints in the bath.... yep, he did that as well! And no, they don't swirl about making pretty patterns, they sink into a brown sludge at the bottom of the bath

Thanks AGHENL

Am adding this to my list of "issues" for when I get round to seeing whether they will grant me any sort of DLA for DS!

ds has periods of emptying bottle of bubblebath etc. During this period he is really compelled to empty so I hide the good stuff and buy the 18p value bubbles and allow him to get his fix!

Compared with some compulsions this is one that isn't worth fighting for me and to be honest one I could never win with him - he would find something, somewhere.

On a practical note I find keeping things in washbags out of sight seems to work. You can buy lockable cages for bleach, bubbles etc and we have a large lockable bathroom cabinet.

Thank yout tibni. I didn't think of it as a potential compulsion to empty and I love the idea if buying value stuff purely for him to pour. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with him doing it. Just when it is mine

We had a sensory intergration report Ben10, and pouring to empty was highlighted within it. It helped keep me calm (ish) when ds poured my expensive shampoo / conditioner birthday gift down the bath!

Not sure why the washbags work. At 10 ds is more than capable of opening them but just never does! He also has never done it in anyone elses house (not that we get invited many places)

I know that for some people teaching the rule "no pouring" is important to them and I respect that. ds now seems to know what he can pour (cheap stuff) so we are both happy.

We have a bathroom cabinet that I can put all pourable bottles in/on. I must admit that I was not calm at all yesterday finding him with the empty bottles in his hands. My OH reminded me that it could be "to do with his thing" - we dont know what the "thing" is yet so easier to say it like that. It is so hard to remember that these small irritations could be beyond our children to control their behaviours - especially at the start of the journey.

Thanks again for replying

total sympathy. my ds age 10 does it constantly as soon as he gets chance. he is unable to open bathroom door thank goodness, however if one of my other ds leave open by mistake he goes in and has a ball. toothpaste is the worst because he brings out of bathroom and gets everywhere, its a nightmare to get out of carpet. he does with things from fridge too, his favourite being yoghurt. at times does get frustrating but i try n laugh it off because he wouldnt know any different and i am the one who gets annoyed.

What springs to mind with my DS is that he likes to empty the bottle so he can play with it in the bath. Perhaps because he can fill it squirt it and generally be messy in the bath without any pained looks from me (especially ketchup!). Can you leave some bottle ends with washable paint in different colours, and then made up to the top, out so he can get his fix without the expense. That way he can get colour, bubbles and squirting/experimenting.

Thanks AuntEvil. I think that gloop is also required so I will go and fish out yesterdays empties for squirting and bubbles. Not sure his skin could deal with paint in the bath - but I could be wrong - seem to be wrong about lots at the moment as I am learning about the colourful ways of SN!

Ben10 - i know you can get bath paints that wash off. My DS is more into the squirting/bubbles side and experimenting. How high/far and total drenching can be caused by seemingly very little water at all.

He would love bath paints! Will look them up now

Yep, agree with the how high/how far as well. I went in yesterday to the bathroom to the floor covered in water from pouring. His chosen implements were a Thomas cup and a Schweppes gin measure. There was always going to be a disparity in pouring ability .

I love MN SN. Any small issue, there is someone to help!