potty training the little ones

[anonymous]

question for the parents of CFer's. My little girl is 2 1/2 and has been out of diapers for quite a while now. However, she has a lot of accidents. I mean a lot. Both poop and pee. I think I've heard that CF kids have problems with this, but not sure. Has anyone else experienced this? My wife gets on to her because sometimes it seems she has the accident out of laziness to go to the bathroom. Other times it seems to be out of her control. My wife gets mad because it is a mess to clean up, and if she's doing it out of laziness, then she needs to get in trouble. But if its a CF thing, we need to hold back and be understanding.

I realize that part of this is her age. Big brother, turns 4 Sunday, took a while to potty train, but once he did he didn't have any accidents.

 

[anonymous]

I say it's a non-cfer thing! But I really wish the wet pants would end soon!!! Potty training DS right now. Daycare has 5 that they're all training right now. .

DS was totally dry for the past two weeks. So we were instructed to buy thick training pants and plastic pants. It's been a big giant pee and poo fest this past week. I just shake my head when I pick up DS's clothes for the day. But the director assures me this is common. I'm just hoping ds gets used to that feeling. Last night he went pee on the potty and half hour later he's standing in the living room grunting and proudly announces that he pooped in his diaper. Errr, you're not WEARING a diaper <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

My neighbor has a little girl a week younger than DS and she told me last summer that her daughter was completely trained at 18 months. Well, I'm noticing there are STILL diaper boxes in front of their house on garbage day. Sometimes the parents are trained to know that their kids have to go and have the kid sit on the potty.

Liza mom to a 2 1/2 year old pee machine

 

[skh]

I think each child is unique in that way. I have 3 girls, one with CF, and the one with CF did take the longest to train but I think that had alot to do with she was our youngest and was/is a tad bit spoiled! I do remember when she would have accidents - they were no fun to clean up!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif" border="0">

Potty training takes alot of patience and endurance on the part of the adults. Good luck and hang in there!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

Sue

 

[MargoB]

Hello,

I work in a day care and have for many years so not to worry. Potty training takes time for some kids. Each child is different. I also have a grandson who has cf and wondering if he should go to daycare as the parents both work? How is your experiance with daycare? My grandson is 1years old I know what it is like for kids witrhout cf but do not know wwhat it is like for cfers. How does the staff do the enzimes or other medicines? Thanks for all the info.

Margo B

 

[anonymous]

Margo, DS has been going to a daycare center since he was 3 months old. I brought along publications from the CFF regarding infant and toddler nutrition, which explains how to give the child enzymes. Addresses extra calories -- they add butter, salt and cream to his food and I've volunteered to bring in extra food, but so far it hasn't been necessary. Once in a great while I oversleep and miss a dose of antibiotics, but then I bring it along for them to give it to him at noon. Otherwise enzymes are the only thing they give him for his cf.

In the summer time I stress offering water on a more frequent basis. Just being aware about the extra need for water.

A friend of mine's daughter goes to her child's daycare over the noon hour and does CPT -- now nebs and vest, and I know of other daycares who do CPT. We just schedule the 3 x/day outside of daycare hours.

I ask every once in a while if there are any questions or concerns. Offer to bring in any literature if there's a new employee. Otherwise, DS is just like all the other kids.

Liza

 

[anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. We do put her in diapers during nap time and at night. We are against going wtih pull-up diapers because we think once you move to underwear its best to stay there. I guess its just a phase to work through.

On hte other subject. We decided it would be best for my wife to stay home. Mostly for hte CF daughter, but also because we have a soon to be 4yr, the 2 1/2, and a 1yr old. If my wife worked, it would be to pay for daycare. however, our church has a real good preschool which we take the older ones to twice a week for half days. The socialization does them good. Main thing with daycare is finding one that will take care of your child. Ours is great about it. I tend to perfer the church run daycares because they seem to be in it more for a ministry than a business. They usually come with over qualified teachers as a result. However, I would not say this is a stead fast rule. I would also never make the assumption that private day cares are not as good.

 

[Emily65Roses]

No idea on the pee (and actually these can often be CF related too... you lose a bit of control over that stuff from all the coughing, among other things)... but # 2 accidents can indeed be CF related. CF #2s are very hard to control, even as adults (ask about our lovely "shart" thread). Don't know what to tell you other than give her extra time. That is, don't freak out if she's a little behind other kids her age. A lot of CF children are from what I understand.

 

[anonymous]

Potty training is difficult for all children. You need to be patient and supportive. Most kids are not fully trained untill 3 1/2. If you're putting too much stress on your kid it's not going to work. I would use the pull ups untill they can get better control and get used to that feeling. Also buy a small potty chair and put where ever your child is playing. Reward and be positive. and remind your child often Remember they are just learning.

 

[anonymous]

My son had no problem learning when and how to pee in the bathroom. Pooping was another story. They were so bulky and frequent (even with the enzymes) that is was very hard to control. We bought a million pairs of cheap underwear and made the bathroom a fun place to be in. He eventually figured it out around his fourth birthday. My biiggest problem now is that he doesn't "wipe" as good as he should or he has a "Hershey squirt" that reeks!!!

 

[izemmom]

Must be the week for potty issues. Ours are with our non cfer. She's three and was late to get trained. I had tries to get her trained before the baby was born, but to no avail. To our surprise,, she kind of trained herself durig the very stressfull three weeks that Emily was in the hospital. She's been doing great until this week. Now its accident city at daycare, but rarely at home. She's in a preschool program there which is putting an emphasis on letter fomation and tracing which are ver difficult for her.I'm pretty sure that she's stressed out by it. I;ll talk to the director tomorrow. Anyway, I was kind of dismayed to learn that training cfers may be more challenging! It's hard enough as it is!!!!!

 

[icefisherman]

I know my parent had a hard time with me, and in recent years, I have had problems with incontinence. Don't mean to scare you, but you might want to look into a urologist, and just make sure it's not a more serious problem. My doc's dont know what going on but if you track it with your child, it might help if future problems occure.
Best of luck
Ben 23/cf

 

[LoveShines4Austin]

Training was difficult for Austin because he couldn't stand up and pee like a "big boy" without losing control of his bowels too. We didn't know he had CF back then, and now we understand WHY it was happening. He just dealt with it by sitting down to pee and learning to wipe everytime, just incase he "leaked".