United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Carson will be 3 tomorrow, we have been working on potty trining for a while. He starts pre-school Sept 3rd and we need to get this done (mainly for me)- A big problem we are having is that he can't pull his pants up and down by himself. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Jamie

You could try things that are looser. As an adult OBPI, I still have trouble with pants. Looser fits seem to make it easier. It is also the reason I often wear dresses and rarely wear hose. (of course, dresses will not work for you though!)

This was a big issue for Megan when she was younger. I always made sure her clothes had elastic, pull-up waist and no buttons or snaps. And like the last poster said, I made sure they were not too tight. As a girl- goes She wanted to try on and change her clothes 10 times a day by 3 yrs old. So she was highly motivated to try. Still though....even till last year (she is 10 now) we just recently started to wear jeans with buttons. Again, highly motivated to be like the other kids. She was hating the pull up options available. Wasn't feeling cool. I am always amazed by what she can do, when she wants to. I don't know if this all helps you with your current situation, but I understand. At school... I always made sure all her teachers understood that self- care in the bathroom was an area that Megan needed more time and assistance due to her BPI.

zak will be 31/2 on the 23rd and we also have this problem. state law requires the kids to be potty trained by preschool. i want so badly for him to start the same time as the others, but that is next week....he has #1 but not the #2 thing down. good luck.

Juliana pulls her pants up one handed. She goes around and around her pants. The are often a little askew, but that is part of her charm. We also buy a little loose, though that is made easier by the fact that she is so tall, she needs a bigger size for the length. I just upped her undie size because she was struggling with the tighter ones.

Not that you aren't up to here with therapy, but have you tried making donning and doffing clothes a silly therapy game? For practice? Even if the stuff is way too big, if he has to practice pulling on big sweats and a big sweatshirt and you do the same, then practice it is.

just an idea,
claudia

I didn't mean for it to take a month to respond. I don't know where the days go....
Thank you for the suggestion. We are using bigger pants in therapy for "extra" help. It's like some days Carson just regresses - Today he wet 4-5 times and he hasn't wet his pants in 3 days -
So confused.... I haven't heard any feed back from his pre-school treacher regarding his BPI so I guess that all is well in the classroom-
Thanks for everything -
Jamie

Jamie,
Sometimes children with any kind of disability have a "potty problem" due to emotional issues ie stress,problems in classroom, playground or out side play with other kids at home, teasing, bullying but they don't have words to communicate this with you.
...Just a thought AND My own experience with my son Scott when he was young...
Hugs,
Carolyn J
Adult LOBPI