United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

We are starting to potty train Hannah. She is having such a difficult time pushing her pants down. She can get them up with little assistance. Any suggestions on what to work on to help her achieve this??

Nicki


PS-- the potty training is going good!!

bigger underwear !!!! it worked for us...

Nicki,
I wish I could offer you some advice, but I need some as well. My daughter has no problem getting her pants down, but cannot get them up. Sometimes she manages to pull her underwear up (they are light weight), but she cannot get shorts or pants up. She thinks that she is having difficulty because she is only 3....and I am OK with her thinking that. What should she know the truth right now? What makes me sad is that fact that she may never be able to wear tights to school because I would not be there to help her.
Michele

maia uses her thumb (on non-affected hand) to hook the elastic waist band and push it down... she'll hook it about 3 times to get it down 6 inches and then starts on the next progression...it's about 3 progressions to being off. (can you visualize it?)

she didn't realize she could do it by herself until this one day when I was in the bathtub and I poured green color into it (we call this green jello bath) and she wanted to get in really fast - she had no choice but to take them off herself because I told her I couldn't help her because I was wet- it worked!! and she's done it ever since. She can't use her affected hand to do this though - not enough finger strength.

good luck!
-francine

Hi Nicki:
I have not done this yet, as I am not the sewing type, but my OT recommended that I sew a loop of fabric, enough for her thumb, so she can hook her thumb in. Then, she can help to pull the undies down. I also have gone up a size in undies, to make them easier to pull down. We first tried 2 sizes up, and they were uncomfortable for her (she said so). I guess they bunched up in all the wrong places! Also, if you put her in sweats that are a size up, the waist band will be easier to manage.
Juliana has been trained for almost a year now, but she can't get her pants up or down. Unfortunately, her arm function is such, that we have to do it for her. If she just wants to get undressed, she can pull her pants down with one hand. It is NOT a quick manuever, so she can't do it if she has to pee.
Going back to the loop idea, you might want to try sewing a loop on the clothes too, or teaching her to put her thumb in the waistband.
My OT has also thrown the idea of velcro undies out there too. You take down the seam of the undies by the non-affected hand, so the undies can come off with a zip and stay on, because they are "whole" on the other side. Ooooohh, this does not sound clear... Do you understand? If not email me, I feel I am not making sense!!!!LOL
Good luck with the potty.
claudia

Hi, Ashley still has difficulty with pulling her pants down, it is her weakest point. We find if we buy her pants a little looser than usual it helps her allot, especially if she is in a hurry! Also rather than leotards with skirts and dresses we use fancy socks!

Good luck to you and Hannah!!

Lenni and Ashley

Hi Nicki
I hope that I can offer all of you Moms some insight into this problem as I think that Gavin is older than most of your children ( in this thread anyway)
He used to really struggle when he was first potty training too, in fact I left it until he was nearly 3 to train him ( that's considered late over here) mostly because he had NO hand or arm function until he was 19 months old because his injury was so severe.
We persevered with the larger pants and he learnt to pull with his unaffected arm and sort of roll the affected side down and then wriggle out of them. But the real message I want to leave you with is this, he's nearly 11 years old now, and has NO problems pulling his boxers up and down, he just uses his unaffected arm to do both sides.
A lot of the problems with potty training are to do with the fact that it is yet another skill that these little ones have to learn, and it takes time, and to a lesser extent some strength in their arms and I am sure as they get older they will cope better.
Now if I could get him to learn to tidy his bedroom, I'd be really happy LOL
Good luck Nicki - keep persevering, you'll both reah your goal!
Karen

THIS IS GOUING TO SOUND STUPID BUT HERE GOES MY SON HAS ALWAYS FAVORED HIS LEFT HAND JUST NOW HES 18 MOS OLD THEIR TELLING ME HE HAD A BPI AT BIRTH I WAS TRYING POTTY TRAINING BUT I EXPERIENCED THE SAME THING SO WHEN YOU FIND OUT PLEASE LET ME KNOW THANK YOU JEN