Hi this is Susie Glennan
with The Busy Woman (http://www.thebusywoman.com).
This is part one of potty training a Type I Diabetic child.
It was Father’s Day, June
25th 2006; I was awakened at 6am to the sound of my sweet
18 year old son cleaning up the front yard in front of my open
window. Apparently for the third week in a row some brilliant
teen’s tp’d our house. If you don’t know when that is it’s when
kids take rolls of toilet paper and throw it up in your trees and
all over your house and yard to show that they like you or that you
are popular. However, at this point it’s getting old.
I went out to clean the
yard so my son could get to work on time and dad could go back to
sleep after all it is Father’s Day. My day continued with cranky
grand children and a hungry 18 year old at work. I took my son
along with me to Home Depot where my son works, stopped to get my
son some lunch and finally got to the store. We looked around, got
a few things and let my son-in-law pick something for fathers day,
came home and then started cleaning for company.
I volunteered to babysit
so the kids, my daughter and son-in-law could go grocery shopping.
It was almost naptime anyways. Let me back up and bring you to the
potty training. Of course we have a brilliant grand son so when he
seemed interested in potty training we, my daughter and I, thought
we’d be fine. Have you seen how often a Type I Diabetic goes to the
bathroom? It only took a couple of days to realize that it was
going to take a lot longer than an average child to potty train
Caden.
So back to my story….I
put the poor little guy down for a nap in his new underpants when I
heard him fuss about 40 minutes later. I went in to check on him
and he was going potty in his bed. I tried to wake him but I was
nervous as to how to deal with it so as not to upset him. He
stopped when I turned him over so I changed his underwear and he
wanted me to pick him up.
I took him to the
bathroom, cleaned him up and brought him out to the front room but I
went brain dead after that because he’s so cute and I forgot to have
him finish going to the bathroom. Within about 10 minutes of being
in the front room he started peeing again and I had to run him to
the potty. He went more on the potty so I rewarded him and let him
choose his big brothers new underwear and big brother was fine with
that.
Then about 15 minutes or
so later he went on the kitchen floor and I had to race him back to
the bathroom, couple of hours later my day was pee, watch TV, pee,
play outside, pee, get a snack, pee, pee, pee, pee. In the meantime
my four year old grandson didn’t understand why his little brother
gets a cookie for peeing on the potty when he pees on the potty all
the time. He acted up most of the day when those he expected to
come for Father’s Day couldn’t make it last minute and the
grandparents were late. We all started getting cranky at this
point.
There were supposed to be
12 of us on this beautiful beautiful day so I was flustered trying
to give my husband a rest while getting ready. I finally gave up
and put the baby back into a diaper until his mommy came home from
going out with her husband. It was such a long exhausting Father’s
Day that I just about gave up all together.
My son-in-law was called
out on a job, my parents were over an hour late and our friends who
were joining us had to cancel due to an unreeling day at their
house. Thank God my daughter came home and took over the kids, I
barbecued the food and by the end of the day we actually turned
things around to peace and joy.
Ok so we were little
tired but we still ended on a nice note and made things work. My
daughter was right back to potty training this morning and the
little guys doing great. He’s having accidents because of how often
he has to go to the bathroom but overall we are so proud of him. If
you feel your diabetic baby is ready for potty training you’ll have
to take at least a week off and stay home or be prepared and have
those watching him be prepared.
Take him to the bathroom
every 20 minutes or so and get plenty of different rewards so he’s
not eating sugar free cookies or sugar free chocolate all day long.
Here are a few things that are working with our little baby: one –
jump for joy and make a great noise about it, two – toss him in the
air while praising him and giggling, three – give him a sugar free
treat, four – let him put a sticker on the potty chart, five – do
the potty dance with him, six – let him call all the close relatives
he sees often and tell them that he went on the potty, seven – let
him call daddy at work if possible and tell him he went on the
potty.
I think the best part for
our grandson is making a huge deal out of it and doing the little
potty dance or clapping and smiling then we call all the relatives
and he tells them. These are only a few things you can do with your
Type I Diabetic toddler. If you have any thoughts or ideas please
email them to me at
Susie@thebusywoman.com.
