Tuesday, November 19, 2013

This post is about poop

Normally I avoid this kind of talk on my blog. I always hated it, before I had kids, when mother topics continually gravitated to number two. But I just cleaned up yet another BLOW ... OUT ... and I've decided to just say what I am thinking. Be forewarned. I'm not editing this poop post.

So here's how I see it ...

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with diapers. Between Abigail and Hannah, it seems I am cleaning up a blow-out a day. Many of these blow-outs necessitate a bath and a load of laundry. I feel like I completely wasted my fifty cents on a diaper that didn't do a thing!

I do not remember the boys having this many blow-outs. Maybe I blocked it out? I don't know, but these girls seem to be totally kicking my rear end when it comes to poop. (Ha ha! That was a bit funny I think.)

After four kids, I've realized that diaper-type helps but is not the answer. Generally, I avoid cheap diapers. However, I never know what diapers will be available at the Commissary or BX on this island. One week they have Huggies. The next week they are completely out. One week they have size six diapers. The next month there aren't any anywhere. I've started to order diapers from Target.com. I want to get ahead but not too far ahead as Abigail may be potty-training soon, and Hannah is changing sizes quickly.

Anyways, all this unpredictability, means I've had to get creative. I've started putting a cheap diaper on immediately after a blow-out. This seems to work out okay.

And while I am on the subject of poop ... when does a child start wiping themselves? I'm very big on teaching my kids to do things for themselves. I would have thought by five-years-old, they'd have this down. But the mess does not seem worth the attempt in my opinion. This means that some days I'm wiping four butts in a row.

Just a lota poop here ... thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

7 comments:

Debbie said...

Oh I am so with you on the wiping thing. My 9 year old does it fine by herself, but I can't remember when she started. My 6 year old still needs someone to wipe for him. I'm wondering when they are supposed to do it themselves, too.

Kris said...

I have major struggles with letting them wipe themselves. Colin is 5 and goes to kindergarten, so no one is going to wipe him there and he has to know how to do it. The thought scares me because I see how bad of a job he does at home. At home I let him do it and then go check and try to teach him based of his mistakes. I really prefer not to think about what happens if he goes alone at school. I just try to stick my head in the sand and pretend that his pooping schedule has him going at home most of the time instead of school. However, he doesn't ever come home with poop everywhere, so maybe this is true and he really does go at home most of the time. One can only hope!

denise said...

Mine were about 5. I have the flushable wipes out and that was the answer for a long time. Now at 7 they only use those if really needed.

Momma, PhD said...

Whenever we have more than one blow out, we size up on diapers AND make sure to keep them snug around the waste. Those worked for us (for the most part- I don't think there's a 100% solution).

As for wiping- My almost 4yo takes care of peepee solo. For poop, she takes a first pass and we clean up with a baby wipe.

I think it can take a while. I remember being in kindergarden and having a messy problem DIYing it in a particularly voluminous Polly Flinders dress. I had to call in the babysitter to help me out.

Lindsey Helfrich said...

OHHHH, I just can't stop laughing... You have just about summed it up for all moms. Ariah is 8 and does great.Eli (6 ) from time to time asks me for help but is getting much better on his own. Luckily Isaiah is potting training and that he is able to do that on the toilet . I still assist with the wiping part .. I would like to say we encourage wipes in the bathroom ,Thanks for sharing Wendi

AW said...

Couple things:

Blow outs generally signify to me a food issue of some kind. Dairy, corn, gluten, etc...perhaps your girls are reacting to something they've eaten? Might be worth just keeping an eye on what their meals look like.

And LOVING the comments from the mommas about their older children's disastrous self-cleaning. :-) JK is six. I still wipe his butt. Like you said, the mess of letting him do it, is NOT worth the effort. When it's a "clean" poop (v. messy poop), I try to let him handle it. Because Lord forbid, should he poop at school, he's screwed. (Thankfully he has not pooped at school yet. He appears to have a natural 3:30 appointment everyday once he gets home. LOL!)

BTW...I do not flush the flushable wipes. There is a huge epidemic - Google it - of them clogging our sewer systems across the country. I use them, but put them in the trash.

Wendi Kitsteiner said...

Actually, we can't flush wipes here at all ... We aren't supposed to even flush toilet paper!!