This parent story also available as a pdf (63KB) The Poo-Covered Monster.
I am the frazzled mother of 4 young children, ranging from twins who are 4 years old, a 2 year old and a 1 year old. I SHOULD have tons of advice and tips for parents… I really should… but I can only think of ONE that saved my sanity and saved my eldest son from being sold to the highest bidder on eBay.
When Jack (who is my wildest child) was around 2 years old, he had an afternoon nap for about 2 hours from 1pm till 3pm. This allowed me time to tidy, eat and rest as Jack’s twin sister would also sleep during this time. At around 3pm Jack would wake and start his rampage until dinner time.
One afternoon, at around 3pm, Jack woke and started calling out “mum… mum…MUM”. I knew that he wanted to be assisted out of his cot so I went into his room. On entering the room, I almost passed out at the smell that met me.
Once my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I could see what had caused the stench, which had wafted though the entire house by this stage. Jack had dirtied his nappy, taken his nappy off and smeared his poo all over the cot, the wall and himself. He greeted me with a huge smile and raised his arms for a cuddle.
I immediately grabbed him and ran to the shower, placed him in the shower, turned on taps and threw up (did I mention I was pregnant and very sensitive to odours?). It took hospital strength disinfectant, carpet shampooing and a lot of soaking of clothes and linen to get Jacks room back to normal. I passed this off as a “one-off” and hoped to put the episode behind me.
The next day, I was greeted by Jack-The-Poo-Covered-Monster when I opened his door after his nap. Again I cleaned him, his room, his clothes, linen, toys and carpet. By day three I was distressed and started dreading going into his room after naptime.
I decided to put Jack to bed in a baby sleep bag. These are commonly called Gro Bags or Sleep Bags. They are long, sack-like cocoons with neck and arm holes. They have a zipper down the front and once in, the baby/child is very comfortable and is able to move their legs freely. Jack loved his sleep sack and the “poo” problem was solved. Temporarily.
After about a week of Jack’s imprisonment in his sleep sack, I began to relax and no longer feared what I may face when he waked up from his nap. However this was short lived. Jack had discovered the zipper on his sleep suit and had worked out how to escape.
Whilst I am proud of his Houdini style escape from his sack, I was not proud of the poo explosion that I faced when once again I collected him from his nap. Again, carpets were shampooed, linen washed, walls scrubbed and Jack faced 5 lonely minutes in solitary confinement (time-out).
My husband (using his engineering mind) came up with the idea to put the suit on Jack back-to-front. The zipper therefore being at the back was difficult to undo and Jack’s plans to again redecorate his room were foiled. Temporarily.
After a few blissful days, Jack had again worked out how to escape his back-to-front prison and was caught in the act of poo throwing. Finally, I came up with the ideal solution – he was put in his sleep suit, back-to-front and INSIDE OUT!!! He could no longer reach the zipper and was finally defeated.
Jack is now 4. He is still wild but no longer sleeps in a sack.