How many can I get m y 5 year old to wipe every time she uses the bathroom...she always "forgets"?

Question

How many can I get m y 5 year old to wipe every time she uses the bathroom...she always "forgets"?

Answer 1

You need to monitor her when she goes. I don't mean standing inside of the bathroom watching, but from outside the door, gently remind her to wipe her bottom, when she come out gently ask if she remembered to wipe. Tell her why she needs to whine her bottom, keep it simple, like germs will make her skin itchy and uncomfortable, etc.

You may want to hand a little reminder in the bathroom. A sign with a drawing of a child cleaning themselves up after using the toilet, or a picture of a package of wipes/toilet paper, is a good reminder for her to wipe herself. Place the pic where she can see it while on the potty.

Answer 2

I had the same problem when my son was little, and although this sounds mean, I made my son wash his underwear out by hand. He started wiping every time after that.

Answer 3

ugh, i was having the same problem with my 4 year old.  she's always in such a hurry.  what I did was i let her go in private but i stand outside the door and remind her to wipe and wash her hands.  eventually she just got sick of me bothering her about it and having wet stinky panties.

the other issue at hand here is wiping before getting up! yuck!  still haven't beaten that one yet.  it's a work in progress.

Answer 4

Try the classic star chart or tell her to think of it as a game. everytime she forgets to wipe she gets a warning. 10 warnings and she loses and must start again. Everytime she wipes she gets 10 points.

Answer 5

try a star chart everytime she wipes after using the bathroom give her a star and the end of every week she can have a reward.it will give her something to work towards and set up a routine for her and even better she gets a star for it.you can get her to help you draw up a chart involve her as much as possible in this giving you both the time together to talk about it in a casual way

Answer 6

I had a similar problem with my son when he was 3.  He was happy to pee in the toilet, but not poo.  I couldn't figure out why and he couldn't explain it.

He was really into Thomas the Tank engine toys at the time.  I made up a poster-sized chart and hung it on the wall.  I had about 8 rows of 20 boxes each, with each row leading to a specific Thomas toy that I knew he wanted.

Every time he pooed in the right place (giving him lots of leeway at first), I gave him a Thomas sticker to put in a box.  He could choose whatever box he wanted.

He quickly got the hang of both pooing in the toilet and banking up those stickers and collecting the next toy!

We were both over the moon, and within about 3 weeks we both abandoned the chart.  (I subsequently bought him all the rest of the toys as a reward!)

He no longer has any problems pooing.  Well, he's 14.   :-)  Our problem now is getting him to remember to turn on the fan.  Hey, maybe I could make up an iPod credit chart...

You could use this idea to get your son to wipe.

Good luck.

Answer 7

if you figure this one out, please let me know.  My 5 year old does the same thing.