Taking off Diaper in Crib

Put a pair of shorts on so he can not do that-that is what I do with my 16 month old and he can't touch it-if I put no pants on his diaper is right off. L.

My friend used to have to use diaper pins(safety) to pin her kids' shirt to pants to prevent taking clothes off to get to diapers! Good Luck

He can get his pants off already? Wow. You could try plastic pants over the diaper and then his bottoms---would that slow him down? Or how about a onesie-type jammy?? What about a cloth diaper? Pinned tightly, he wouldn't be able to pull it down. Smart kid you've got there!!

Putting on a onsie helps, but they do figure it our sooner or later. The diaper backwards helps too! I had to buy feety PJ's without the feet and put them on backwards, I cut off the legs to the knee and the arms to the shoulders in the summer!!! But the best thing I did was the onsie until he figured out how to unsnap it...

Good luck!!!!!!!! Congrats on your new baby too!!!

Oh Boy!

Try keeping a oneize on or better yet I have used Duct tape to keep my child from removing his diaper.
Good luck!

Are you using cloth or disposible diapers? My daughter takes off disposible diapers in her bed, but she cannot get the cloth diapers off. I use FuzzyBunz cloth diapers -- mostly selected for the snaps versus velcro closures of other diapers. If this is only a problem at night and nap time, you might consider switching for those two times. Since you are already having increased laundry becuase of this new game, the diaper load would only be once every two days. Just a thought/suggestion.

I don't know what sort of jammies your son is wearing, but when my son started this, we had him in sleepers with zippers. We used one of those diaper safety pins and pinned the zipper to the top of his sleeper, so he could not unzip his sleeper, etc. It made me a little nervous, but my husband was confident he couldn't mess with the safety pin, and he never tried. That solved it for us. He couldn't get anywhere near the diaper. I have also heard from other moms to put the diaper on backward (though I wonder if it would hold the mess as effectively) or put a onesie on backward (and I know my son could have got out of that if he tried). But hopefully one of those things will work for your little guy!

Oh lord, is this what I have to look forward too???!!! :) lol, no sugesstions, but good luck!

My children took off their diapers when they were younger too. My advice is to put the diaper on backwards. They cant reach the tape to tear it off. It works.

J.

This will probably sound real lame, but maybe its time to introduce him to the potty chair. My mom swears she was potty trained at the age of 1! I never believed her until I saw it for myself.
From what I hear, when kids start to take off their diaper its time to try and potty train.
JMO!

I highly recommend the Little Keeper Sleeper. This zippered back sleeper has a non-stretchable neck and their locking systems is a MUST to stop diaper and sleeper removal. This toddler pajama is also a great everyday sleeper.
Just read their amazing testimonials. Check it out at www.littlekeepersleeper.com

I wonder if by "mess" you mean poop. If so, that might be the reason as he may be ready for toilet training.

If that's not the case, perhaps he gets hot or itchy when he sleeps.

My suggestion is to watch him during nap time to see what prompts the diaper removal.

Take Care,
F.

Hi,
As a preschool teacher, we dealt with this sometimes. I had NOTHING to do with being ready to be potty trained!! It was just something that they did. It's just like any other toy in their eyes - just something to do. When all else failed, we just taped the diaper. It kept it on, kept the room sanitary, and eventually they stopped trying.
I might also suggest more crib toys that your little one will find particularly interesting. The diaper is just a toy in his eyes, nothing more, so find a replacement toy for him.
All the best!
M.

Pulling off the diaper is often a sign that a child is ready for potty training. It is a lot of work; especially while you are pregnant, but well worth the reward. I always potty trained my kids when I was pregnant with the next one and it was nice only having to change one set of diapers.

In the meantime, here's a trick from my years as an infant-toddler teacher: put the diaper on backwards and wrap duct tape around it. (tight enough that the diaper can't be pulled down, but not so tight as to hurt him, of course.) Kids have trouble getting the duct tape off. During the day, overalls help too, but of course that makes potty training more difficult.

My 18 month pulls off his diaper and usually pees on the ground i was thinking about putting tape across the front so he cant pull it off. im not sure if its to early to potty trian but my mom said i was potty trained at 18 months.

Hmmmmm... Maybe it is time to switch him to a big boy bed??? I am a big proponent of containment, and I held out as long as I could with both of my kids, but you may be able to distract his attention from his clothing and I guess this may be a way to do it. Since you have another one coming soon, it would free up the crib! If it were me, I think I'd go for it and set him free. You will probably need to deal with some other issues, like him wandering around the house, but better now, than when there is a second one that needs your attention! Good luck!

My child did that. When sleeping I put him in a onesie that closed in the back. That seemed to stop the problem.

I read of few of the other responses, and the idea that an 18 mo old is ready to be potty trained is nuts. At this age they do not have control over their sphincter muscles and going down the potty training road will only guarantee you major therapy bills down the line. He's not doing this to be contrary, just sounds like it's fun to him.

Okay, this is probably not in line with your parenting style but let me offer what I did to preempt this sort of thing. Let him have a toddler bed. He is BORED! Once he awakens, he has nothing else to play with...eeek! If he could get up normally and find a more "pleasant" activity, I think he would be satisfied. He is older and ready to be treated like a big boy. I think he will reward YOU with big boy behavior.

Best wishes,

M.

We had the same issue with our son. It's really a big pain! We did the backwards pjs which worked well (footless ones that zippered up worked best) and the cold showers to get cleaned up. He hated the cold shower and I felt bad, but it really did help. Ultimately, he gave up naps in the afternoon (this is when the mischief occurred) and he's transitioned to a big boy bed and we haven't had any trouble since. One more important thing to remember is, hard as it is, don't react emotionally--he is probably looking for a reaction, so the calmer you can be, the better. Good luck!!!!

Try some sleepers that zip up in the back; that way, your 'houdini' won't be able to take the diaper off. Or pin the 'front-zipper' pajamas closed with a safety pin (perhaps on the inside of the pjs.
Good luck

At 18 months, he should know better, and with another one on the way, I would suggest that you and your partner/husband, let him know that this is not ok. You did not memtion if he had a stuffed animal or toy in his crib to play with, does he? Possibly he is pulling on it and taking it off because he is bored. Maybe a hanging mobile or a toy that hangs off his crib would keep him occupied, and distracted from his diaper, just some food for thought!
Good luck, P.

The answer is simple - the Little Keeper Sleeper. I just replied to someone else about this! It's a great sleeper the little ones cannot get out of - plus it's cute and comfy. My little girl went through a time of taking off her sleeper & diaper - this was the only solution for us. I have two - they were truly a sanity saver for me. Take a look at their site - I tell everyone with a toddler about these sleepers! www.littlekeepersleeper.com

Updated

A friend recommended I try the Little Keeper Sleeper to solve this problem of taking off their diaper and clothes. I'm glad I did because this sleeper works GREAT. Their locking system and non-stretchable made sure my little Houdini could not get out and the long zipper in the back made changing a snap. This sleeper is a sanity saver. I got it from their website www.littlekeepersleeper.com

My oldest daughter used to do this. that's when I put her in a pull up. She was totally confused as to why she couldn't pull the tabs off. I also put her in a tight onesie with a pull up. She could not get it off.

I just came on here to ask advice for the EXACT same problem with my 18 month old daughter, except she does it ALL DAY LONG! I have all these cute summer tops and shorts and she yanks them off the minute I'm not looking and comes back butt naked! It is hilarious the first time or two, but not at birthday parties, grocery stores, parks, or in the middle of the night which causes her to wake up shivering instead of sleeping in a few more hours. So far, I've been lucky with no poo, but moping up pee in Subway and mopping 6 times a day is not my idea of a good time. She can get it off even with a onesie, so I'm going to try the backwards zipper pajamas. I have considered a swat on the butt to get her attention, but she really is just discovering and playing....anyway, good luck to you and congrats on the new baby!

We also endured this unpleasantry and we tried a couple of different things that worked for us. Our best option was putting on the SIDS sleeper backwards so the zipper went up the back; Our little guy was on the smaller side so we got a lot of time out of this option. We also found footless zipper sleepers that we put on backwards. Although I never had to try this, some friends of the family who dealt with regular BM "painting" by twins eventually became desperate enough to duct tape the diaper. The tape never touched the skin and was the twins were never able to escape the tape! Just make sure you have good scissors nearby to cut off the diaper! Good luck!

Hi K.:
Wow sounds like hes going to be an excellent canidate for potty training soon.He obviously has no tolerance for being wet,or having a load in his pants.I'd Get in and change him as soon as I heard him awake.He doesn't do this, when hes occupied,as hes doing something that keeps his mind off of it.It would appear,that he gets bored or impatient waiting for you,after hes wet.The best to you and your son.

Hi there. My daughter did the same thing at that age. What we did was fasten her onesy on the outside of her shorts or pants so it was more difficult to get to her diaper. :) Sounds a little crazy, but it worked until she figured out how to do that, but it took her some time at least. Now I have the problem of her putting on her baby sister's clothes (since she's able to reach the drawer) instead of settling down and taking her nap. :) If it's not taking off clothes it's constantly putting them on! :) Hope the onesy trick works for you at least for a while.

Oh boy does this bring back some funny and very unpleasant memories for me. My son did the exact same thing at that age. Only my son would play with his poop and smear it ALL OVER his crib!

It is a phase and eventually he will grow out of it. My son was about 2 when he finally outgrew. At that point we were so fed up with it, I started making him help me clean it up. I would give him a wet towel and after I cleaned up most of it, would make him wipe down the rest of his crib. Then finally DH gave him a warning and said if he did it again, he would give him a cold bath. Three cold baths later, my son stopped taking off his diaper in his crib. And although it sounds cruel, the cold bath only consisted of him being sprayed with cold water in the shower for a few minutes.

You might want to try moving him up to Pull Ups. They aren't as absorbent, but they are harder to get off. Around this time we also started to slowly introduce the potty. We figured since he was so interested in his poop, he should start learning where it should go.

Good Luck. And don't forget to take pics of the "art" to put in his scrapbook for good laughs later on.

I used duct tape and it worked like a charm.

I know you had a ton of responses but what we did was put our son's diaper on backwards so that he couldn't pull the tabs. It took him a while to figure it out, but by that time he was ready to potty train.

My son did the same thing. I put his clothes on backwards and that worked for like a week and then I started duct taping his diapers and that too worked for about a week. He was my Houdini/Picasso who loved to finger paint and don't you know that I am going to tell his future wife about it to get him back for all the scrubbing I had to do. Ultimately I changed his crib into a toddler bed and it stopped. That way, when he woke up, he just got up and had no reason to mess with his diaper. Just make sure you have tall locks on all doors leading outside because kids like this like to visit the neighbors when they get up and everyone is sleeping. I can bet you that you are in for a ride with him and he will be surpassing milestones before you have time to prepare. They are super smart which is wonderful but it keeps you on your toes and this isn't going to be the only thing you will encounter with him. I must add some awesome things that kids like this do that not many other kid do...my son had just turned 4 and asked me for a wrench and I humored him so he took the training wheels off of his bike and rode it down the street (no joke) and before he was 3 he was telling me all the turns to make while driving to the places we often drove to. Busy kids are the most amusing yet trying kids.

My twins did this, it was nerve wracking! Here are the things I did. Put zip front jammies on backwards. This required me to cut off the feet so they could fit somewhat normal. So I used their old thrashed fleece ones. When it was hot i put them in a onesie (backwards) if you can find them big enough. When on backwards the snaps for the onesie are higher up the backside. That seemed to do the trick. But just in case that doesnt work, you could do both. Also, if that doesnt work try cloth diapers with old fashioned safety pins and rubber pants. Even if they get the rubber pants off, it would still be hard to get the diapers off if they are on tight enough since cloth doesnt stretch like a plastic diaper. I have also heard of trying overalls, duct tape. Good luck!!