Help! Daughter Takes off Diaper and Leaves "Presents" in Her Crib!!

My pediatrician told me that that is a good sign of them starting to get ready for potty training. They're beginning to recognize that pee or poop in their diapers is uncomfortable to sit in and realize that if they take it off to go, it doesn't feel as bad. Fortunatly, my little one never did that, but it's also taking a REALLY long time to potty train because he doesn't care if he sits in a wet diaper. So I would say, be glad she does that, because my pediatrician said it is usually easier to potty train them when they do that.

My son did the same actually all 3 of my kids did but the only thing that worked was duct tape.... just wrap it around the diaper a few times and they cant get the diaper off..And as for potty training when my kids did this they were nowhere near potty training ready.. I think this is just something most kids do.. Good Luck

I haven't had that blessed experience yet but have you tried putting a onsie under her jammies?

Sounds like it's time to potty train! My son was trained before he was 2, so she's not too young... and they say boys train later which wasn't the case with my kids! She sounds ready, she doesn't like the feeling of going in her diaper, maybe especially because it's soggy in the morning. And she knows when she has to go - she's ready. Tell her to call you when she wakes up and you'll take her to the potty right away and then maybe she gets a special reward.

I don't think the toddler bed has much to do with it... even if she is completely potty trained and wants to go to the toilet in the morning, most 2 yr olds will still need help in the bathroom. You'd likely be left with presents in the hallway!

How funny--my daughter did the same thing! I got her onesies, but within a couple weeks she was fugring out how to unsnap those. I would suggest those dance leotards (I find them for my daughter all the time at Kid to Kid or any resale shop like that. Then she can't get to ehr diapers at night.

my grandosn stated doing that a few months ago. i put his diaper on backwards for a while but he figured it out and took it off anyway. he takes all his clothes off if he can. now i put on pajamas with feet on them and put them on backwards and he hasnt figured out how to get out of them that way. he was doing it at every nap time and fingerpainting the walls so i feel you pain. he lives with me.

Our daughter was younger than yours but she liked "finger painting" with her poop. She hates it when we tell that story...

Anyway, we put those one-piece footed pajamas on her and put an old fashion diaper pin through the zipper pull and the top of the pajamas. She couldn't get to her diaper and it was easy to get her dressed and undressed.

My son did something simalar. I would find him in the morning with his had down his diaper of course pruned covered in poop and pee. My mom helped me sew zippers on his pjs to keep his hands out. what does she wear?

Hi C.,

I vote with the Mamas who say "potty training." ;)

T

A lot of toddlers go through stages where they do this kind of thing. Sometimes it is related to having a sense of control, so the toddler bed may be a good idea. It would support your daughter's developing sense of independence and if the "presents" are stemming from feeling a lack of control, being able to get in and out of bed on her own may help. Then of course, you have the issue of getting her to stay in bed - my 2 year old son's current issue. He's getting better about it though and I would much rather have the issue of keeping him in his bed than finding those gifts and having to clean and disinfect everything. Good luck. Like every stage, this will pass too.

It sounds like she may need to be potty trained. She could be at the point where she doesn't like going in her diaper and that's why she rips it off.

I have 5 children and totally understand what you are going through. I did the footed zipper jammies with the snap over the zipper top AND then put a safety pin under it. Worked like a charm until my daughter learned to get her arms inside the jammies and mess the whole inside of her jammies while pulling the poop out through her sleeves. It was very frustrating. I then used duct tape around the waist and that totally solved the problem. Good luck. I am one that doesn't stress the whole potty training thing, I will suggest and have them watch siblings or daddy go so they know what to do. But it isn't worth the frustration it brings when you continue to clean up urine and feces off the floor. I have never officially potty trained any of my children and they have all been self trained by age 31/2. Don't stress it happenes on it's own. Good luck

Time for the potty it sounds like. Girls are much faster than most boys. My daughter turned 2 and asked for panties had a few accidents 3 months later fully potty trained through the night.

A toddler bed would be good to she will be needing to get up for the potty if she needs to go. Then explain what she is doing is wrong and going potty is for the bathroom. I dont know how you discipline but you may need to use harsher words maybe even a little swat on the bottom.

My older son is 2 and 1/2 and he went through a luckily short-lived phase where he'd undress himself and leave his dirty diaper wadded up in the corner of the crib. He wasn't intentionally making a mess, but if he had pooped, he'd get it all over the bedding and crib bars once the diaper was off just by moving around. Ugh! I had to put the diaper on so it fit as snugly as possible at the waist (without making it uncomfortable, of course) or else he's wriggle out of it. Then as silly as it sounds, I literally applied a piece of duct tape over the diaper tabs so he couldn't remove it. Only did that at times when he was going to be out of my sight for nap or bedtime.

The previous poster had a good idea, but if your daughter is as smart as my son, she'll have the snap over zipper pj's figured out in no time. It only took one night for my little stinker to figure that out. Also, depending on how well your daughter listens, you could explain it to her. Every time I went to put my son down to sleep, we would have a quick chat about how good boys leave their clothes and diaper on. I even had him repeat to me "diaper stays on butt." hehe. It helped.

The most frustrating part of it all for me was that he was showing no other signs of readiness to potty train and during the day he wouldn't mess with his diaper at all. He still doesn't mind if he sits in a wet or dirty diaper. I guess boys really are slower to train.

Best of luck! Hopefully she'll get bored with this routine soon. :)

It sounds like she knows she doesn't want to sit in the pee or poop and is ready to be potty trained. Maybe since she seems ready it will be an easy process for you.

Maybe she is ready to start potty training. It's obvious she doesn't like pooping and peeing in the diaper anymore.

My oldest did that a couple of times when she was 25 months old, even to the poin t of smearing her poop on the walls next to her crib. It was awful. But, I figured that it meant that she didn't want to sit in it anymore. So, I dealt with it by potty training her. She was young and it was a long process, but it did help her to understand that all of that stuff belongs in the potty so she would wake up and yell for the potty rather than just going in her bed.

But, if you don't think that she is ready to potty train, you could always put her in footed pjs and pin the zipped with a safety daiper pin, so that she can't pull it down. My younger daught started working her zippers at about 18 months, which would lead to stripping down in bed, too (thankfully she never pooped before I caught her!). So, we have been pinning her zippered pjs, and she hasn't figured out how to get them off.

I'm really new at this parenting thing ;) My daughter is almost eight months old and boy is she a fire cracker. She too loves 'attempting' to take her diaper off, however we've caught her every time luckily.

Anyways, what I was thinking in your child's particular situation is maybe she's telling you that she's ready to be potty trained? It might also be a good idea to take your husband's advice for the toddler bed just to see how she does. You might be surprised. I wish you and your family luck! Don't worry! You'll figure it out!

Namaste.

Steph

I've read all the responses, and I'd definitely avoid the ones that suggest outsmarting her and move toward potty training and a toddler bed. She sounds like she's more than ready for both of them. Work with her, not against her so that she can feel empowered to do the right thing.

A.

I haven't read all the replies... BUT... my now 4 yo used to do the same thing and he wasn't even close to ready to be potty trained at the time....

he even used to share his dirty diapers with his younger brother in his crib (they are 13 months apart and share a room)... we used to have lots of dirty carpets and cribs, etc........ UNTIL..... we started duct taping his diaper on him & that solved everything... I know it sounds bad, but I asked for advice when this was happening and that was the best thing... he actually used to think it was very funny

This may not sound the same as the other responses with duck tape and zipper pj's - but when my daughter was 2, she did the same nasty thing in her crib.

The first time I was so grossed out and cleaned it all up and just said, "poop and pee go in the toilet or your diaper!" But after talking to my old Irish grandmother (the kind that advises to put whiskey on their gums when teething), she said the only way to stop that behavior is to shock them by freaking out.

You see, my family is very quiet - we don't yell at our kids or raise or voices almost ever, so yelling or "freaking out" would definitely be something she never heard from me before.

Well sure enough, my daughter smeared her entire crib, wall, self, toys, etc with poo the next morning - and I "freaked out" saying stuff in a loud voice like "what have you done? this is disgusting! My child goes in the toilet!" And she didn't say a word - walked right over to me and gave me a hug and picked up a rag and helped me clean it up. She never did it again. 'Shock treatment' might work for ya if nothing else does...

I had to chuckle when I read this thread title! Our son is 3-1/2 now but he did the same thing, leaving us little presents of what he found in his diaper. He was about 15-18 months old.

We curbed that behavior by putting him in a onsie and then in his PJs. We got that tip right here on Mamasource. If that didn't work we were going to go the duct tape on the diaper route. Another option we read about is using footed pyjamas and then *sewing* shut the zipper.

My 23 month has been doing this for several months, the way we stopped it is to put her in one piece PJs with a zipper snap cover, she cannot get these off. Just make sure there is the snap zipper cover at the top. Good luck!

I don't know from experience, but it kinda sounds like maybe she doesn't like the feeling of being wet or dirty in her diaper...have you started trying to potty-train yet? Maybe it's her own weird (and frustrating!!) way of telling you she's ready to go in the potty. Maybe try putting her on the potty before bed/naps and see if she will do something there instead of in her bed, or you could listen in with a monitor and go get her right when she wakes up and put her on the potty. But who knows! Good luck!