Potty Training is the Poops: Dealing with Soiled Underwear

We started back with potty training Doodle a few weeks ago and after our initial failure in the fall, it’s gone amazingly well.  He’s not had a pee accident in quite some time and I usually don’t even know when he’s gone as he’s so good about just heading into the bathroom and taking care of his business on his own (clearly not a first child, I followed Honeybun in and out of the bathroom for a looooong time!)

But pee is where it ends.  It seems we will be struggling with the #2 part of potty training with Doodle just as we did Sugarplum.  If you ask him about not putting his poo in the potty, he’ll simply tell you “poo stuck” (his speech has come a long way!) but that’s clearly not true since it easily and regularly comes in his underwear.  But I’ve tried to remain calm with him, stay positive in the frustration of constant dealing with soiled underwear and just continually reminding him to run to the potty if he feels the poo coming.

When I decided to cloth diaper Pipsqueak, it was always with the intention of “so long as he is exclusively breastfed,” not sure I’m up for the task of rinsing real poo once he starts solids and the past few weeks have certainly given me the opportunity to really think about it as I spend way too much time next to the toilet, rinsing out underwear.  And while I’m still on the fence about the cloth diapering (I figure I’ll at least give it a try), I can confidently say that potty training 3 of my own kids and countless others while working as a preschool teacher has taught me the fine art of dealing with soiled underwear.

So, here’s my expert advice and procedure for dealing with soiled underwear:

1. Assemble your necessary supplies including plastic bags and wet wipes, I also like to have a bowl handy.
2. Move next to the toilet and stand the child on an easily cleaned surface (not on rugs, towels, etc.)
3. Remove or pull up and secure any loose top clothing like shirts, dresses, skirts, etc. out of the way.
4. Do a quick visual inspection of the damage, noting if there is any poo high up the back of the underwear/pants.
5. Carefully remove the pants/leggings/bloomers, pulling them out away from the underwear and poo bulge in the back so it doesn’t catch and have your child step out one leg at a time, set aside.
6. Have your child stand with his/her feet apart, slightly wider than his/her shoulders.
7. Pull the back of the underwear out and away from the bum then pulling both sides out, sloooooowly slide the underwear down his/her legs (the wider leg stance helps to minimize poo smearing down the legs).
8. Again have the child step out of the underwear one foot at a time and set the underwear aside in a plastic bag or bowl, ensuring the clean bits do not fold in on the soiled parts.
9. For easy wiping of the bum, have the child turn sideways and bend over for easier access while using the wet wipes to clean the bum as you would when cleaning a soiled diaper.  Place the wipes in a plastic bag after use to minimize the smell.
10. Grasp the sides of the underwear and carefully flip them inside out over the toilet.  With any luck, the majority of the poo will plop in the toilet.
11. Hold the underwear by the middle front and repeatedly dunk the soiled area in the toilet water and flush as needed when the water become murky (hold on tight or your underwear will get sucked in!)
12. When the majority of the soiled bits have been removed, let the excess water drip from the underwear and place it back in the bag/bowl until you’re ready to launder it (I wash Doodle’s with Pipsqueak’s diapers doing a prewash and full wash but with the girls I just threw in with their other clothes and never had a stink or stain problem).

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