Taking Diapers Off!!

Try putting him in a onsie...they seem to have difficulty getting the snaps ondone....
Good Luck!
L.

HI Maryann, It sounds like he is wanting to start potty training. Even though it may be too soon, it may not. You can get a potty chair and see what happens.It really depends on the child. Try to let him wear pull ups, its still a diaper but they are also underwear. Tell him they are "big boy pants" and he needs to keep them on. Maybe by introducing him to a new thing he will like them and want to keep them on.I had my girls trained by 2 & half, it took my son a little longer.Also, if you start a daycare he may stop taking them off, cause he will see other kids keep theirs on, but you may see him revert back to the baby stages as well. You just have to do it and positive reinforcing the idea of him being a "big boy". Good luck

This may add another "layer of defense" for your little Houdini: try plastic pants (that are for putting over cloth diapers) The overalls are a good idea, too! Maybe the other gals are right~ early potty training. Back in the 40's when my dad was an infant, Mothers often trained very early, he was 18 months old! Good Luck!

Hi Maryann,
I had this same problem years ago with my daughter. She was even younger then your son when it happened. I know this will sound crazy, but we used duck tape. It worked until she figured out how to wiggle out of the diaper. In that case, I just slipped it back on if it wasn't wet. The other problem we had was with her PJ's. We used the zipper up sleepers. So I started using a safety pin to secure the zipper so she couldn't unzip her PJ's and take her diaper off at night. I hope I've been of some help.
D.

I don't know if you have gotten this suggestion yet but, put the diaper on backwards. My pediatrician suggested it to me with my now 2 year old. He says that all diapers these days are unisex meaning they absord just as good in the back as they do in the front. He would try and try to get that diaper off but could never get it. Eventually he stopped trying. That was about a year ago and I can put his diaper on the right way now.

I think all of my kids loved to streak through the house, but disposables do get expensive, especially if you are on a tight budget, which I suspect you may be, since you are going through a divorce.

I, too, taped their diapers on, but I used masking tape instead of the duct tape. I would use the 1" wide tape and a strip that was almost long enough to wrap around their waist. The bit trick here is that the ends of the tape are in the back. Two year olds like to play with anything in front of them. Put it behind them and they tend to leave it alone. You do mention that he has been able to take off a backwards diaper - you may need to overlap the ends of the tape.

I wouldn't discount that he may be ready to potty train, but at least if you use the tape on an occassional basis, YOU can go potty in peace know that the living room is "safe".

My son does the same thing. He is one and a half. I have slowed him down by puting him on the potty everytime he takes his diaper off. If he keeps pulling it off he might be triing to tell you that he is ready to be potty trained. I hope that I helped. Let me know how it worked out.

Hi Maryann! Has he started potty training yet? Sometimes it's a sign to start (or he could just think it's silly). Have you tried Pullup's. At least that way you can put it back on him since they have great little velcro sides. :)

I feel your pain! My 19 mo old son does the same thing. He can take his pants, shirt, shoes, and diaper off in less than 1 minute. If you get any good advice let me know! Duct tape has worked, but I'm always scared I'm going to cut him when I take it off.

G.

It sounds like your son is totally ready for potty training. I would go buy some underwear and training paints and work on using the potty. -B.

Hi Maryann:

My son was 2 when we potty trained him. He loved Batman so we bought him batman underwear and he never wanted a diaper on again. Your little one may be ready for potty training. I was always told that boys were harder to potty train than girls...lol..not in my case, my daughter was a lot harder than my son. They are 18 months apart and she simply did not like the fact that she had to wear panties and he was still wearing a diaper so the Batman underwear changed that for him.

Good luck!

S.

My two are now 16 and 15 so I can imagine what you're going through.

When my neice did that my sister-in-law used pull-ups with a onesie. My daughter is just now two and she only pulls her diaper off when she is wet and needs a clean one.

ya, i've tried putting the diaper on backwards and my daughter figured that out. so then i moved on to duct tape and it is silly but it is definately worth the comments out in public.. he he he...good luck!

I know this will be alittle strange but my daughter did this constantly, so I used DUCT TAPE, it really works they can not untape it no matter, how hard they try. Hopes this helps

My son also loved taking his diaper off. I bought zip up pajamas and put them on him backwards so the zipper was in the back. He was not able to get the PJ's off and in turn was not able to get his diaper off. It was hard finding some PJ's that had the zippers without feet in them too so I found footed ones and cut the feet off. Hope this helps.

I am a teacher at a learning center in the 2yr old room. This happens in about every new class, the one child that insists on taking diaper off. I entertain it once or twice then I ask why he is taking it off. If there is no reason like chaffing. Simply say we only take the diaper off when we potty. So if the diaper is not soiled take your son to the potty and I find a stool in front of an aveage toilet more helpful than potty chairs(using a regualar toilet also takes away the anxiety when you are out away from home without a potty chair during the toilet training period). Every time the diaper comes off, go to the toilet. It will stop if he is not ready physically to toilet train and/or if he is ready to use the potty you can look at it as a self help skill.

Hey Maryann,

It sounds like he may be telling you that he is ready to start potty training! Go with it, and see what happens. Reward him if he takes off his diaper and goes into the potty.

A.

I know you have gotten a ton of advice here but I tell you...DON'T use duct tape!!! I tried this with my son when he was two. He tugged and pulled at it so much that he wiggled it out from under the duct tape, which then became stuck to his skin. We had no choice but to take the tape off, and it really hurt him and his tender skin. We ultimately ended up using pullups with a onsie and overalls! He would stiull manage to get them off every once and a while, but eventually he got tired of trying and went on to something else. It's a phase, and it does NOT mean he is ready to potty train! A child must be physically ready to potty train not just showing interest in it. Starting too early will only frustrate you and him.

This sounds terrible, but I have a friend who had twins and she had to duct tape their diapers on because they took each others off. It sounds bad but she too got tired of wasting all the diapers and cleaning up messes before they could be potty trained.

My daughter did this, so I took it as a sign that she was ready to potty-train. She is doing very well at it, so that could be what yours is trying to tell you. Good luck!

If your son is taking off his diapers try asking him if he would like to start wearting big boy underwear. Take him to Wal-Mart and let him choose what characters he wants to wear. Who knows this could be a sign that he is ready to potty train!! It may be messy at first but think of the money you will save. I can't wait to get my son potty trained!!

My youngest son does this too! Ahhh! It is so frustraiting. My son is not at all ready to potty train....he just likes running around without a diaper. He will even put his pants back on after he takes off the diaper. I tried overalls, but he figured out how to wiggle out of those. I will try to pj's with a safety pin idea. Hope they both quit this soon! Good luck. C.

Since he keeps doing this, I would leave a potty out. He may be interested in using it, or just playing around with it. Don't laugh, but I remember reading in one of my parenting tip books to just us good old duct tape!