Son Won't Keep His Diaper On

Updated on April 04, 2009
L.O. asks from San Antonio, TX
19 answers

My son is such a handful I don't know where to start. =)
Well my husband and i have run out of solutions to the biggest problem we are having by far! Our son takes his diaper off at least 2 times a day. He will be stripped from the waist down and just be prancing around. We've tried putting his diaper on backwards and then putting pants or shorts on over. Its not like he is walking around in only a diaper, he is fully clothed when this is occuring. Anyways, he has mastered taking his diaper off whichever way its on. We've also tried putting his one piece pajamas on so that he cant take them off at all but he has taught himself to take his diaper off while still having them on! I don't know why or how but this is a first for me and it's only getting worse. I have an almost 4 year old daughter and she never had a problem with taking off her diaper but then again at 25 months (which is how old my son is now) she was already potty trained. My son has no interest of learning about the potty at this age! Please help!

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So What Happened?

Thank You to you Moms for all of the advice. I will try the pull ups first and if he tears them off like a friend of mines little boy (lol) then i will resort to duct tape. And he actually just took his diaper off and walked in here with socks and a t shirt. lol. I hope something works. Keep the advice coming i may still need it. =)

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S.B.

answers from San Antonio on

Have you tried duct tape? It was the reccomendation we got when we had the same problem. We didn't try it because my son was really wanting to potty train. Also less than a month later he stopped. Hope this helps.

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C.B.

answers from Austin on

What fun! He'll be an engineer! Seriously, try duct tape over the top of the diaper with the opening in the back. Have you tried pullups and calling them "big boy pants"? Maybe you could give him some naked time, since he seems to enjoy it, if he sits on the potty for a short time (just to start with the idea). Good luck with this. He sounds like a charming little rascal.

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H.H.

answers from Houston on

I really don't have any advice for you, but I do remember my son doing this too! I think it's fairly normal. I hope you get some suggestions you can try. The only thing that I can suggest (and I know it's a long shot) is try cloth diapers that snap (lots of them do, but Fuzzi Bunz are an example). The snap diapers are the only ones my kids can't take off. Even the velcro ones my LOs learned to take off. The snaps are strong and a little too complicated for those little fingers. I know you probably don't want the investment of cloth diapers if your son is the youngest (and many people don't want to deal with the laundry), but it's one aspect of cloth diapering that was a pleasant surprise - snaps mean diapers stay on!

Oh, and I think it's also totally normal that he is not interested in the potty yet, FWIW! If he's not interested, don't push him. Yea, it would be great if you could get him "trained" but I think you'd be the one really trained if he's not ready.

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S.K.

answers from Houston on

ya i would try to start potty training him if i were you and duck tape is a good idea lol have you tried giving him a treat if he keeps it on all day like a good reward uh taking something that he really likes for taking it off if you have tried these things ya potty training time lol well i wish you the best of luck

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A.O.

answers from Sherman on

I would either start the potty training or invest in some duct tape!!! :) This is just a phase and a test of will's. You have to outlast him.

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L.W.

answers from Houston on

I went through the same thing with one of my twin girls. I got some duct tape & taped the diaper all the way around. That stopped my daughter from doing that, It was the only solution I found that worked for her.
About the potty training, my son was 3 before he was ready. Strange enough he would poop in the potty but wet his diaper, so I just stopped the training process until he was ready for both.
P.S. The duct tape never hurt my daughter, it was not applied to her skin it was simply wrapped around the diaper & it did work! They cant get a grip on the "start edge" of the tape therefore they cannot pull it off.
Hope this helps :)

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E.C.

answers from Corpus Christi on

We went through a stage like this where our daughter would take her diaper off. (Even through her one piece pajamas, and it would be down around her ankle when we went to get her in the morning.) We started putting duct tape over the diaper tape. Of course keeping her fully dressed too so she wouldn't see the tape and try to figure it out. It was a bit of a pain to deal with the tape, but she stopped taking off her diapers. After about a month, we stopped using the duct tape, and she was no longer taking off her diapers. I'm sorry you're going through this. Hang in there!

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D.J.

answers from Austin on

when my daughter was between 1 and 2 she use to get the clothes and diaper off constantly. . . at just about 2 I realized that when I "forced" the diaper to stay on, she would get diaper rash . . .

maybe there is an allergy or uncomfortable feeling with the diapers. You might try giving him training pants instead. I know that you said he isn't interested in using the potty, but the cotton underwear might "fix" two situations . . . worked for my daughter . . .it would be worth a try

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C.B.

answers from Austin on

My son is a handful, maybe two sometimes. I used duct tape with great success. I made sure that the adhesive was firmly stuck to the diaper not near his skin. I used one long strip like a belt with "fastening" in the back. He still likes to be "nekkid," thankfully at five I can contain it to the bathroom now.

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J.L.

answers from Houston on

My son would do that in his crib when he was a baby, every morning we would go in there and his diaper would be in the corner and he would be butt naked! I was about to do the duct tape thing and then he stopped. Maybe he is ready to start being potty trained? Put those little floatie spongy things in the toilet and let him aim at them! My son was almost 3 when he was finally potty trained! My dd's were under 2. Boy's seem to take longer! My friend let her boy's run around the house without pants and they were potty trained really quick!

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N.H.

answers from Houston on

Maybe you should try using those large 'diaper' size safety pins w/the little animals on top (if they still make those). Little fingers are usually not strong enough to undo those as the plastic 'animals' usually has a safety 'catch' inside to help prevent little fingers from opening them (although it sounds like your little guy might just figure it out) but it's worth a shot. If he does figure it out & ends up poking himself after opening them, maybe that'll teach him a lesson to leave the diaper alone. Even if you use the disposable diapers, 'pin' the diaper together w/those & see what happens. I'd avoid pinning from the inside as that may cause the pins to open on their own due to wiggling or wriggling around & that may not be safe. Good luck!

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V.O.

answers from San Angelo on

Duct tape is not the best thing. The adhesives are very strong and may irritate his skin or fingers if he has contact with them. I remember my mother complaining about my brother on this same matter when he was little. She let him walk aroung naked one day and had a friend stop over. It was someone we didn't see very often and she made such a big fuss about his nakedness, which was all part of a plan she and my mother had come up with before, that he actually became embarressed and stopped doing it.

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T.E.

answers from Houston on

My daughter started to take her diaper off at an early age (@16 mnths) I put her in pull ups and said if she can figure out how to take those off i will potty train her. Well sure enough she started to pull them off. so i started to potty train her.she has been potty trained since she was 18 months old.

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S.S.

answers from Houston on

Try the pull-ups. My son kept those on. Maybe just maybe he will try to start using the potty.

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A.M.

answers from El Paso on

Just a thought, but what if he had an incentive to keep it on? Something easy like happy verbal "yay" when he keeps it on for a few minutes. That way the good behavior gets all the attention...

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A.P.

answers from Houston on

We went through something similar with our little girl. She would take her diaper off and pee in her bed. This would only happen when I'd put her in her baby bed for a nap or nighttime. Finally, after about a week of this I decided let's convert her baby bed into a toddler bed. And guess what, she stopped so evidentally she didn't like being in a baby bed anymore but couldn't tell me with her words. She was the same age as your little one. I thnink your little one is telling you it's time to potty train me!! What helped my little girl with potty training was Baby Signing Time. We did the sign and the diaper dance and just made it fun www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHwg17I2hNQ here is the diaper dance video have fun

L.A.

answers from Austin on

Ha, reminds me of a David Letterman "Human tricks".. You need to get a video of some of this.. Sounds hysterical.. I love the one piece pajama trick! LOL...Boy pay back to him when he is a teen.. Anyway..

I agree that taping the diaper with really strong tape when you are going to be out and about may be the only way to solve this. Sounds like you all have tried everything.. Every time he does this just pick up the diaper and tape it back on him. do not make a big deal out of it, do not say anything. Just put it back on him giving him very a disappointed look can help.. Looking very sad will also work.. Yelling and reacting in a loud way will just give him attention.

Soon he will get bored with this, if you just matter of fact do the same process silently EVERY time. I am still giggling sorry....

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K.R.

answers from Houston on

Hi L.,

I don't really have any advice- but I had to share that yesterday as I was skimming the posts I noticed my son was being really quiet. I walked over and saw that he was holding a wet diaper in his hand. I thought maybe it was one that I had left in his room when I got distracted- but Nope it was his diaper....he is only 18 months- and we have been experimenting with potty training.... I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone....Lol....kids....

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C.M.

answers from Austin on

My two year old does this. I have a rule: No naked behinds in the house. So we spend a lot of time outside. But he knows to put it on when we go inside. I also have the potty outside, just in case he gets the "urge".

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