Daughter "Painting" Her Walls

Dear D.,
For cleaning I recommend the Magic Eraser and white vinegar. For the "painting" I would suggest giving her plenty of "sensory" time. Give her playdo, silly puddy, or clay. Try putting her naked/or diaper only in the shower and let her smear bubbles or shaving cream all over. You could do the shaving cream thing in her highchair too. Try finger paints or anything that is nontoxic and messy. Hope this helps!! K.

Well, it may make you feel better to know that both my sons did this. It was AWFUL! The bad news is that I never did find a quick solution. I just sniffed their bedroom doors FREQUENTLY when they were "napping". The doctor said it was totally normal and age apropriate. They were too young to have an aversion; it was like homeaide playdough. Regarding the walls, mine used to smash it into the carpet which neccessitated frequent steam cleaner rentals. I'm not sure what to do about the walls. Good luck!

Have you tried redirecting her? Maybe put a child's easel in her room and redirect her there. It stands up to mimic a wall. You can use the chalk board paint to paint a section of wall (below a chair rail if there's one in her room) and let her color with chalk on the wall. If she gets off the chalk paint it washes off easy. This might work to keep her from using poop to color the walls. For a chemical the only thing I can think of is bleach diluted with water. The only other thing I can think of is to use Kilz paint. Good luck.

Hi D.,
Hopefully your daughter will switch to crayons and markers, those you can get off with magic eraser. Even the cheap knock off brands work. They may work on poo too. If not, try using spray & wash or resolve carpet cleaner. This may also get rid of any odor. Also try comet in powder form (or generic). It's great for getting stains off the counters so it might work.

As for punishing her, try taking a favorite toy away every time she does it. That may get her attention.

Good Luck!
J.

Haven't read the responses you've gotten yet but this is what worked for me 1) Put the diaper on backwards- so it fastens in the back (it's going to be a pain in the butt for you to do it the first couple of times but you'll get it) 2) use DUCT tape on it like a belt. Start in the back and go all the way around the front of the diaper and secure it in the back (black electrical tape works also-this way they can't undo it) and 3) make HER clean up the walls with vinegar & water. (use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser pads for any that is left stuck in the texture) Good luck.

Hi D.,
I remember my daughter did the same thing...and she had no excuse to do it. She is a only child. I think it takes time and Samantha *my daughter* had to start helping me clean it up!
Try vinager it sounds weird but I believe it works and comet.

Best of luck! I hope she gets out of this stage quickly for you. Good luck with the birth of your son!
L.

I bet one of those Mr Clean majic erasers will get it out. Those things really are "majic". This you could probably use a disinfectant for the germs. Do you just love your little artist? =)

She's probably acting out because of the baby coming (and the normal "terrible two's"...

- give her some special one-to-one time doing something she likes or going somewhere she likes
- give rewards for NOT doing this behavior
- get her to "help" clean up (not the actual poo, but have her scrub an area nearby while you are cleaning....)
- try clothes that she cannot remove (pin the zipper to a sleeper, difficult clasp overalls, etc
- if those don't work, keep her in sight for a while... either on a blanket on your bedroom floor or something as unappealing so she won't want to STAY in your room forever!!

Kids this age love stickers, finger painting, coloring, bubbles, balloons.... find something she really, really likes and use that to your advantage.

Also, if her stools are too loose, it may be upsetting her tummy. Try bananas, rice, etc.

If her stools are too hard, also upsetting tummy: fruits, especially prunes & plums

GOOD LUCK!! And, don't forget to get some input from your pediatritian....

Hi D., I only have two words... DUCK TAPE. I have twin boys that did the Picaso thing. I tried everything. Pins, onsies, what have you, but they are smarter than we think. It became a challenge to get the clothes off. I finally resorted to duck taping their diapers on when they napped. Believe it or not, they eventually figured out how to get that off. It was a phase. Its funny, they had a different giggle when they were playing with "it" and I knew before I opened the door. And having two made twice the mess!!! I found they were a little too young to reason with. I tried time out, taking away their toys, talking to them. Everything just seemed to roll off their shoulders and they continued until it wasn't fun anymore. As far as cleaning, I would plop them in the tub and scrub them, then make them sit in one spot until I rounded up the toys and put the plastic ones in the tub with bleach and water. I used bleach and water to wipe down the walls as well. I invested in a "little green machine" for the carpets and used pet stain solution. The BEST investment we ever made!!! This too shall pass. Don't think your second will be destined to follow in her footsteps, my first never once did such a thing. Good luck with it all. And take pictures, they will make great blackmail photos one day!!!

R.

I am new to the site and just saw your e-mail and said to myself "I am not alone!!!!". I have yet to find a solution for his new fascination with #2. He wears the pull-up diapers and still manages to destroy a room without even taking the diaper off. As I write this I must say how gross this probably would sound to someone who has not been through this! But as for cleaning...I have purchased a steam cleaner from Walmart for $68.00. After having Sears come out and clean my rugs already 3 times this year, this was my best investment ever. I have also found that the magic eraser is the best invention ever! Since I am responding relatively late to your request, I was wondering what solution have you found to work in redirecting your daughters attention from playing with #2.

Hey D.,
Not sure what responses you rec'd but I am glad to hear that you rec'd some responses I posted a response like last month some time and no on responded :0) I thought I was alone in this situation. My daughter is not 2 yet, she will be 2 at the end of the month but she has been showing interst in go on the pot since Nov/ Dec time frame we just wasn't pushing it we were letting her go at her own pace, but lately she too has decided to finger paint on the wall with her olders sister doll shoes she did 3 times too many and the last time she got a tanning on her bottom because it was every where........So after that she was not aloud to be in the playroom by herself because that was her safe haven and I don't put a diaper on her during the day she wear undies and I make her sit on the pot every 5 mins.......It is pretty time consuming she doesn't want to go that often so I tell her that she needs to start using the potty and she won't have to go every 5 min...........So what ever I did is starting to work because for the past 3 days if she has gone poop she comes and tells me as she trying to take it off but she is telling me and yesterday she was in undies all day no accidents she even went poop on the potty and this morning when she woke up we put her on the potty and she did both 1 and 2.......

Sorry this emial is so long, but I hope this helps ......just appraise her everytime she goes.....We made a potty chart on the computer and printed it out and she gets to put a sticker on it everytime she goes on the potty. We use stickers for pee and stamps for poop.......

Good Luck with the battle, I am praying that my battle is over

D.,
I was so lucky to never have this with my children --- although I've had friends to go through this. But ... I don't have any advice as far as that.

However ... recently my daughter befriended a pregnant stray kitten who had 6 sweet kittens. We put them on food as soon as possible obviously NOT thinking about little runts running around with stuff in their bellies. (:-) Beige-ish walls and ecru carpet ... YUCK!! The ONLY thing we found to get totally remove the smell and stains was a tea tree oil based cleaner. It's wonderful. Respond to be personally and I would be happy to send you a 4 oz bottle so you could try it.

Hope the other responses work well with stopping the art!!!

S.
____@____.com

I haven't had to deal with this, but had talked to someone whose twin boys went through this phase. They finally got to the point where they would duct tape their diapers on (having them raise their arms and turn all the way around to make a duct tape belt) so they couldn't get their diapers off themselves. If she's fully potty trained and no longer in diapers, I'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is maybe make her wear diapers again until she stops doing this....?

via the internet:My brother used to do this as a tot. My mom's solution was to limit access. This meant that at night she put his blanket sleeper on backwards so that he could not unzip it to get to his diaper. Daytime options may be a little more challenging, but I would try using snap-tees, overalls, one-piece outfits - whatever it takes to keep him away from his diaper. And remember - it's just a phase.
But I think the key for us was onsies, and one piece pjs. I dressed him so that he couldn't get inside his diaper for a week or two. It saved my sanity and I think his interest in the poop painting was forgotten. At that point, we went back to his regular clothes and he hasn't done it since.