United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Ok, am lost on this one. We have 3 other children so I know what to do BUT not with our last baby Angelina.
She has BPI of the right arm. She is very into the potty, won't wear diapers (we duct tape them ...lol to help keep them on) It's still cold here in Missouri so going nude is out:) She can't pull up with her arm but trys and gets really mad when she can't. I want to help her but am clueless.**HELP, Any ideas??** Angelina is 18 mo.old Iam in no hurry but she seems to be..haha

I don't have much advice. Hannah is 27 months and has no interest in the potty. We were told to get her little thumbs under the waist band and pull up. I think it is harder to pull up then down. I'm sure you already knew this advice. Good Luck.

Lisa

Have you tried the Easy Ups? I didn't need them with Gabrielle because she had no interest in EVER taking her diaper off. But my sister has to us them with her daughter because she can't get them off.

Dear Melanie:

We trained Juliana when when she was about 2 years old. She had no ability at that time to pull up or pull down her pants with her affected arm.

First off, tell your ot that Angelina wants to potty train. She should be involved in this. Second, buy underwear that is one size too big, this will make it easier for her to get them up and down in time.

Teach her to do it with one hand. At certain times in our bpi kids' lives we need to teach one-handedness. This is one of those times. Juliana would use her non-affected hand to push down the affected side, then the non-affected side, and it sometimes took two or three pushes-- left, right, left, right and then they were down. And to pull them up, she did the same thing. She sort of worked them up. We also put her in looser fitting clothing. No leggings or tights, mostly track-style pants. NO OVERALLS. Now, she can even get her tights up (mostly), but I have the teachers in pre-school help her with those. Otherwise, she is on her own.

I did not put her in clothing that was larger, though I know many who did. I just checked the waist-band. If it seemed too tight, I didn't buy them.

I was also more regimented in getting her to the potty BEFORE she really had to go. She needed more time, and if she got there "when she really had to go..." she didn't have enough time to pull down her pants and I had to. And that would make her angry (I can do it!!). I timed her more than I timed my other kids when they were training. She tends not to have to go with urgency very much because I trained her to go before that urgent feeling. She is now as quick as any two-handed kid, but I don't like taking chances like that with her. She is rather independent about these things.

Good luck,
claudia

My son had a little difficulty in the beginning, we helped him get his pants up and down at first until he wanted to be more independent...he then began to push them down with good arm in front and BPI in back of him and pulling up is the same...He just hooks his bpi fingers in the band and pulls up...He has more trouble at times with his fly and button then pulling up and down...We did not start to train him though until he was 32 months old and he trained completely within 2 months...Wish I had better advice...good luck

Wow, Thanks. This gives me ideas to work with.
Angelina takes off her diaper with her left hand so it should have crossed my mind to have her do the same with undies Oh well live and learn.
Thanks again,
melanie

my son had a little bit of trouble at first working out how to pull up and down his pants, but we put him in jocks that were a size too big and this made it easier, he somehow uses his good arm to pull them up by holding them in the middle and doing the front then the back.

sometimes his pants are a bit crooked but who cares! He does it himself!

another thing is we have switched to boxer shorts (the silk one's that are worn with pj's) and this had made a huge difference, don't know how they would go for girls though.

Nicole was young too when she first showed an interest in potty training (15 months). She couldn't pull up / down her clothing or pull ups, but didn't have a problem with accepting help. So, while she would go on the potty, I would help her with dressing / undressing for a while. I also prompted her to go quite frequently so it wouldn't become an emergency situation. Eventually, she figured out how to pull her pants up & down with one hand (and still uses just one hand at nearly 5 y.o.) b/c she can't use the left hand to help her. Somehow she just figured out how to wiggle her bottom in a way to make it easier. I also noticed that some brands of pull ups were looser fitting than others and just bought that brand whenever possible. When it was time for regular panties, she did okay with them (again w/using just one hand and some compensating). I think it's great that she's already interested and that you're letting her express her desire to go on the potty. I found it to be a very long process with Nicole starting early, but I too wanted to support her desire to take the next step.

-Tina

Loose fitting clothes work best. We do alot of dresses in the summer, that way the panties don't get tangled in the pants, little bit easier for her to deal with. My daughter is three, she will put her affected arm against the bath tub or wall of the restroom stall and pin it there, then she turns her body to get it more to her side or in back of her, shimmy down and grab her pants and pull them up as she shimmies back up the wall. i know this is hard to picture, but it works well for her and she came up with it on her own. She really wants to use her affected arm.

My daughter was not even interested until she could pull her pants up and down by herself (about 2.5), and then she went pretty much switched on her own. My trying to help before she felt comfortable doing it 100% on her own was useless. (I also might add I did all the WRONG things because I was so panicked about getting her potty trained for school which started shortly after she turned 3,she's my first and I had NO idea how to potty train).

We tried the pull-up thing, and she just treated them like diapers. Most mornings I would just ask, "do you feel like wearing big girl underpants today?". She would just say no, and wear the pull-ups. I wasn't very consistent about bringing her to the potty because she was very reluctant and it seemed silly to me. She knew what to do and when, she just didn't want to do it.

Then one day we were going on a 2-hour car trip and my husband heard me ask and he said "why would you start that now, we want her in a diaper today". I said not to worry because I was certain she'd say no. Well, eat my words. She's been wearing underpants ever since with very few accidents. She even wears them at night (last accident was at 3.5 years).

She pulls and twists them up and down with her unaffected arm, and stablizes them with her affected arm. It actually looks very smooth and comfortable for her.