Smearing?

[jenk1]

someone asked about smearing the other day.
DD has just started to do this and we have been told that its not only the "feel" but the smell that attracts.

we have been told not to make a fuss cos a lot of children who are smearers think its a game, but to make sure that we wash her hands in strong handwash/soap and see if that makes any difference.

when she soils her nappy, it now takes 2 of us to change her as she wants to smear it over me so DH has to distract her.

Hi Jenk
It was me that asked about smearing, thankfully ds2 has never (touch wood) smeared poo, just every other moist substance he can get his hands on. If he can't get anything he spits & then smears.
Actually whatever he smears he puts in his mouth first so I think the spitting is all part of it.
thanks for the advice though, I'll keep it in mind if ever he progresses to the smelly stuff!
Max

Interesting how attractive the strong smell and taste is.
I also read about trying to avoid nice splashy warm water or a shower if your have a child that loves water as my DS does and stick to wipes. However unless caught very quickly a trip to the shower to strip off and get washed is the only way to irradicate the smell and get properly clean. If a shower is necesary then the temperature is more tepid than comfortably warm and kept as short as possible. At first I used to say quite a bit when discovering a smearing episode, but have found a business like approach with little talk works better.
Over the last couple of weeks the number of episodes have reduced significantly so I think the current phase is tailing off.
I think I found it the most difficult thing to deal with to date as most other behaviours I can see why they may be attractive, but the smell and taste of poo made me quite dismayed. However the liking the strong smell theory makes sense.
We use poppered vest as night time as they reduce access, though most smearing is during the day, but am reluctant to have him in a poppered vest in the day.
On a more positive note smearing is sometimes seen as gaining awareness of what it going on in a nappy and a glimmer of hope that one day toilet training might be a reality.
It's grim but you are not alone!

We are having this problem too with dd2 - usually first thing in the morning if I'm not there quick enough. She doesn't seem to mind the taste or smell at all and even managed to wipe it in her eyes - yeuch! Didn't have any bad effect at all. Have a sleepsuit on order that may help... She basically likes to put her hands in her nappy most of the time, whether there's a poo there or not!