Kids wiping themselves

[momma_boo]

At what point can you expect kids to wipe themselves after using the bathroom?

DD (the 4 yo) usually wipes herself after peeing, although it's not the best job. She's not even close to wiping herself after a bm and I'm wondering if this is the norm for most of you.

I know that in a year and a half, when she goes to kindergarten, she'll have to wipe herself but it seems too early to do it yet. Am I just babying her?

[CiderLogan]

My older DD, who will be 4 in three months, always wipes herself after peeing but never after a bm. I've tried to get her to do it, but she either won't try or is very ineffective. I'd like her to be more independent with it, but I've decided not to push her yet since I just don't think she could do it right yet.

Jenny
~~~~~
Mommy to two beautiful girls,
ages 1 and almost 4

[MartiesMom2B]

Martie wipes herself. She has to at preschool. She doesn't do a fantastic job, but she doesn't have any streak marks on her pants. That said, she still doesn't do a great job wiping in the right direction. If I can wrangle her down, I'm supposed to put A&D ointment on her. According to my ped. that's a problem until around 12.

-Sonia
Mommy to Martie & Mei

[Pennylane]

My dd who is 5 1/2 has been wiping her herself ( for both) since she was around 4. She does a really good job most of the time. Preschool really encouraged us to work on this so the children would feel comfortable before K.

Ann

[Nooknookmom]

DD could do it around 3-4 when at Preschool, but at home she always called for me. She's 11 now and I still get skid marks. I think the PP Ped was right about the 12 yr rule.

[luvmypeanut]

DD can do it but after bm I usually check to make sure. Her preschool teachers will do it for her if she asks but encourage her to do it herself. At first, she didn't like the toilet paper because it was scratchy so I had to get her the toddler flushable wipes.

[Kungjo]

DD #1 does it by herself at school, but she still wants me to help her sometimes when we're home. I use the flushable wipes ro wipe her after a bm.

[Corie]

I was wiping my daughter until after 5 years old. I was worried that she
wouldn't do a good job. But, I should have realized that since she is just
as anal-retentive (haha) as I am, that she gets her booty spic-and-span. :)

She also uses the flushable moist wipes. I found some travel packs for the
toddler wipes too and I keep them in my diaper pack.

[alexsmommy]

DS isn't doing it by himself yet. He wipes, then he knows me to come in for the final clean-up. He's definately not proficient yet, but I figure we'll just keep doing it this way until I'm getting mostly clean sweeps when I come in. I'm hoping this will get better over the next year. The few times he "forgot" to call me, he wound up with a sore tush and he at least now understands why its important to get his tush clean.
Alaina
Alex Feb '03
and #2 in early summer '07

[mtrattner]

Ok. I am missing something and since I have two DDs could you explain? What is the A&D for? Probably dumb question but just need to ask.