Diaper Picking and Opening up the doors

[D L and K's Mom]

I posted here another time about the diaper picking. We have tried everything!!!! DS is 17 and is at the level of an 18 month old. He is in diapers and he picks at them constantly!!! At home we can use cloth but not at school. He picks from up the leg (looks like a contortionist) and from down the waistband. He picks through a wrestling onsie. He unzips his footie pjs and picks, He takes off the pins etc and picks. The problem with the picking is he eats the little pieces of diaper. I know that they are really good about watching him at school but he still gets in sometimes. At home I can't leave him alone watching tv or anything for even a minute. He used to be OK watching TV and if he had a chewie to keep hime busy. I am at my wits end!!!
The other new problem is that he can open the doors and get out of the house. We have put deadbolts up high on the doors so he can't get to them. It works great when we are in the house but when guests come in or his health aide is here sometimes they forget and out he goes. Our yard is fenced in so he can't get out of the yard if he goes out the front door but the likes to go out the garage and down the driveway. He also likes to hang out in the garage. We have the doors alarmed but the problem with that is he likes to jiggle the knobs. He loves to jiggle the doorknobs and he giggles when he does it. WE had a board made with just knobs on it for him.Just the jiggling is setting off the alarms every 15 minutes. Anyone have a similar issue. I was going to try to get some sort of alarm that only goes off if the door is opened but they have a delay on them. A minute delay and he will be in the street by then. Anyone..........

 

[BeckyScott]

What kind of door alarms do you have?

We had the First Alert ones, mounted at the top of the door so that DS wouldn't turn them off, or mounted on the outside of the door (which was annoying for us because you couldn't turn it off without setting it off, but at least he couldn't get to them). They didn't go off unless the door opened, just jiggling the knob didn't set them off. And they were cheap.

Another option- we also bought the Driveway Alerts. You could place those right outside the doors, and they go off if anyone crossed thru the sensor. We had one mounted across the opening of the front porch (mounted at the top of the opening facing down) and one right outside the gate opening in the back yard, so even if the gate got left open it would still signal. We had a box in the house that would sound the alarm if anyone crossed thru, you couldn't hear it from outside unless our windows were open.

This also came in very handy as we had advance notification of the mother-in-law popping in unexpectedly. She never did figure out why we always met her at the back door, when she was obviously trying to sneak up on us. They are a cheap alarm system and it will take a little tweaking to get it adjusted but they'll wake me up from a sound sleep.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I have never heard of the driveway alerts!!! That is what we need. I can put them right outside the garage door !! Thank you so so much. I will check LOWES and HOME DEPOT!!! Thank you

 

[BeckyScott]

They are actually called "Driveway Patrol", my bad. I ordered ours online but that was when they first came out, you can probably find them at Lowe's by now.

A few "hints"- they are supposed to be used outside but we found they didn't deal well with being right out in bad weather, the battery compartment got wet. So having something above them worked best. The one on the porch wasn't a problem. The one by the back gate I put a little "roof" on it.

It has a pretty wide sweep, but you can narrow it down if you put pieces of first aid tape on the sides. You also have to be careful that it isn't aimed at like weeds (or flowers or whatever) that blow around alot in the wind alot, because that can set it off. This motivated us to keep the yard trimmed up. However, if you have some sort of shrubs or sturdy plants, you can mount it almost right in them and nobody even sees it until it's too late.

Don't put it all the way down to the ground or else every stray rabbit and squirrel will also set it off.

They make this really loud ding-dong noise. You can turn the receiver off inside the house if you just don't want to deal with it for the day.

Well, hey, at least I helped out with that one. Sorry I don't know anything to tell you about the diapers.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

I'm not sure how old your alarm system is, but newer ones have a distinct tone (three high-pitched beeps) whenever a door (or window) is opened or closed. So, if your system doesn't have that, you might want to upgrade!

 

[dclfun]

For the other issue of the "picking", have you tried gloves or mitts with velcro at the wrist to keep them on? How big is your son? I know you mentioned his age and developmental level, but not his stature. I was trying to think of some products but most are geared to little ones ( not sure if he's the size of a 17 year old or a toddler, for instance). ---Kathy

 

[dclfun]

Just thought of something else....have you painted his fingers with that substance that's used to prevent thumb-sucking or something else that would leave a bad taste when he puts the bits of diaper in his mouth? It might not stop the picking but at least could possibly prevent him from ingesting something dangerous. ---Kathy

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I am up for anything...I am at my wits end. We bought some wrestling onsies (unitards) and they seemed to work for a little while but he has figured them out. At night we put on one piece pjs but he has big feet (Men's size 11) and I can't find any feeties that will fit. I bought some onsie pjs without feet and he goes up the ankle band and gets at the diaper so we have to use diaper pant things...messy when there is a BM. I just checked my messages and I have one from school saying he has no found a way to go up through the arm of his shirt and under the unitard to pick!!! He is fast. David is 6 feet tall and so he is the size of a teenagers so I dont think I can find mitts. We have tried socks...he pulls them off with his teeth!!!! I feel like crying..I am so defeated. sigh....another hill to climb. Ok I am done with the feeling sorry for myself but if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!!!

 

[BeckyScott]

Sew socks onto the bottom of them. Machine-sew them on there.

We used to have to sew the gloves onto the bottom of DS's coat sleeves. Same idea.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

Isnt it funny that now that seems like such a simple idea but I never thought of it!!! Could it be because I dont have a needle nad thread in the house let alone a sewing machine. But I do have a best friend who can sew a nice straight line!!! Thanks.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

For the diaper issue, have you tried behaviour modification?

 

[shoegirl1020]

Maybe the diapers are bothering him (I understand he is eating the fabric) but my ds wears pull ups and they bunch and twist every which way, it doesn't seem to bother him at all, but then again he'll wear sweaters in the summer

Could you just use regular underpants with a heavy duty maxi pad or something inside? that why he wouldn't pick at the underpants, but he'd still be protected?

In regards to the getting out of the house, can you make an agreement with him that if he goes out he ONLY is allowed to go to the garage, etc? I know he's delayed, my son is also, but sometimes you'll be surprised at what they can understand if you "make a deal" with them.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

These are great ideas. The behavior mod things they tried at scholl worked for only a few days then back to old habits. I can't really talke and reason with David. He is at the developmental age of a 18 month. HE had a stroke. Keep the ideas coming.

 

[Linda Bell]

These are great ideas. The behavior mod things they tried at scholl worked for only a few days then back to old habits. I can't really talke and reason with David. He is at the developmental age of a 18 month. HE had a stroke. Keep the ideas coming.

Make them taste bad.

Hang in here with me for a sec. My son, when he was teething, chewed on anything wood like tables, pencils, the wood trim on the couch, doors...you got the picture now. I took him to the vet with me to get the dog her shots and he started gnawing on the magazine table! I apologized to the vet and explained my son's beaver like qualities. The vet sprayed the table with Bitter Apple. You should have seen the look on my son's face when he tasted it. I went home and strayed everything with little teeth marks. It stopped. Almost instantly is pretty accurate. I tasted it and it was VILE.

I later found out that Bitter Apple should not be used with children even though I can still find recommendations some places to use it with them. Too late and the behavior had ceased. Lesson learned. Son lived and prospered.

But equally unappealing are things out there today fit for human consumption like angosta bitters (the stuff they put in martinis) or bitter orange or the creams that stop you from biting your nails. So you might try a little bit of angosta where he picks and see if it works. Do stand by with a non citrus juice to cut the taste afterward.


Linda

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I think I will go to the pharmacy today to get the thumb sucking stuff. I know it is nasty because my mom used it on me years and years ago. I am hoping that as one of the others posted that if I put it on his fingers he may still pick but it will taste yucky when he puts his hands in his mouth. At this point I will try anything!!!!

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

If he's not a fan of spicy food, try a spray of jalapeno pepper or similar. If you spray it on the diaper and lay the diaper out to dry, maybe it would work where your son wouldn't be wet from the spray (for diaper rash reasons) but the diaper would still taste horrid.

I am sure there must be all-natural, safe recipes out there on the Web somewhere for such anti-chewing sprays (prob'ly meant for dogs and/or horses).

 

[barkley]

try the websites for pajama city and big feet pj's-both carry adult sizes of footed jammies (and the foot sizes go quite large). i had a pair where the feet wore out-we found a pair of deerform slippers and sewed them onto the bottoms.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I orderd Thums at the pharmacy today. I am going to put it on his hands so when he picks at least he will not put it in his mouth. Thanks for all the help with this. I hopw this works!

 

[flying_babyb]

mi tabasco sause with a bit of water into a spray. The water keeps it from burning but still tastes like bad

 

[Linda Bell]

I orderd Thums at the pharmacy today. I am going to put it on his hands so when he picks at least he will not put it in his mouth. Thanks for all the help with this. I hopw this works!

Hi just swinging by to see how goes the battle.

Does he normally eat with his fingers? I'm wondering about associating the fingers rather than the diaper with a bad taste.

Also would avoid the pepper sprays if he rubs his eyes. As a rabid jalepeno eater I can tell you it is very painful if you rub your eyes with any it on your fingers.

Good Luck!

Linda