United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello, Tabitha is 2 and a half LOBPI. She is really tring to go to the bathroom in the potty, but she always goes trough her underwear because she can not pull her underwear up and down. Any suggestions or how did your child get it down? Tabitha has limited movement in left arm and no movement in left hand.
Thanks, Tisha

Elastic waistbands on everything! That's first. My son (LOBPI) had similar problems when potty-training. But with practice, he's now able to get everything off in time, mainly just using his right hand to pull and his left hand as an assist.

A couple of thoughts ... your daughter may get better at this as she gets a little older. At 2-1/2, most kids have trouble with getting the pants off, injury or not. I think another key is minimizing the help you give her as time goes along. BPI kids need to learn how to do basic tasks as best they can on their own. By backing off and letting my little guy figure it out, he found a way! I am sure your daughter will, too.

Good luck!
Janet

Tisha, I think Janet's right. Most 2 1/2 year olds just aren't very coordinated, and doubly so when they have a severe BPI. My son had no use of his hand at 2 1/2 either and struggled quite a bit to get those pants up. I used bigger underwear and elastic waist pants that are loose and he just worked them up an inch at a time. He'd get frustrated and say "I can't do it!", but with time he got it done. He does most stuff one-handed today (he's 9 now), including pulling his pants up, putting shoes and socks on and zipping coats. They figure out a way!
Jaime

I agree with the first two replies. Another suggestion is to encourage her to go a little more frequently than she might really need to. That way when she does go, it's not an "emergency." My daughter is 5. She sort of wiggled her body to get her pants up and down. Another thing that might help is "summer clothing." When the warm weather gets here (unless you live somewhere that's warm already), maybe let her run around the house in her underwear; even shorts will be easier than pants. Likely, the summertime will be easier and then by the time it's colder weather again she'll be much more efficient.

~Tina

The very first rule the OT gave us about clothes is to get bigger sizes so that there's no tugging around. So that's what we did.

We worked with my daughter for a long time and she just didn't seem to 'get it'. Until the day I tried a "trick". I got into the bathtub and made a nice bubble bath and put all her toys in it. Then I made all these splashy playing noises and she came running in and said "mommy mommy, I want a bath!" And I said, "Well I'm all wet, so you will have to get undressed by yourself." And boy did it go fast!!

It's the sneaky way!

Thanks for the advice. We are going to buy bigger underwear today. Tabitha really wants to go to the bathroom and she knows when it is time to go but she is struggling, but thank you so much for the great ideas.
Tisha

With our Angelina (ROBPI/ 2.5yr) being a girl we cheated and let her were nothing but dresses at home
and no panties for a about 2 mo then started her on panties that are a little bit big, so far she is doing really well, still wear a diaper if we have to travel far,but we did that anyway with our other 3 kids...lol
Good luck

Hi! My daughter is 3 1/2 ROBPI and has just been completely potty trained for about 4 months. And boy did we ever have a time. All the above helped Savannah. Big undies, and all elastic. One thing has been crucial....Go to the bathroom EARLY. So there is plenty of time to get those panties down. Savannah uses her uneffected arm around her back and then slides it around her front, back and forth tons of times to get her pants down. She now can do it all herself. She just has to do it "her way". Your daughter will figure it out too and make her "own way" of doing things. Just this past summer, I wrote about this because she was constantely haveing acidents unable to get her pants down. Hang in there, it will come in time. Heather

Again elsatic waist bands and very loose fitting clothes. My poor kiddo is always wearing stuff a zie too big for her, because it is easier for her to get on and off. In the warm weather when we were at home I would have her wear a sundress with no underwear, it helped her get the idea of potty training and stop a lot of the frustration. she would also lean/rub against the bath tub to help move pant up and down of affected side, this was something she came up with on her own, but seemed to work for her.

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