[ShepherdsWife]

Originally Posted by Blue-EyedLady

I'll have to actually try this to see, but I think DS is too long for me to be able to do this. If I have my legs up high enough to pin down his arms, I think I'll be sitting too close to him to be able to wash his bottom. He's a tall boy (takes after DH) and I'm a short lady.

I think the problem I'm having is the part where you said "so you can lift his legs and change his diaper." If I lift his legs, he locks his knees and pushes with his feet to lift his whole body so that only his shoulders and head are on the changing table. His legs and bottom are squeezed together so that I can't actually clean up the poop. Does that make sense?

Oh - it makes me SOOOO just to think about this! I'm not mad about the poop - as they say "poop happens", right? It's the posture he uses which seems deliberately designed to frustrate me and prevent me from getting him cleaned up, and the fact that he's getting too strong for me to do anything about it.

I have to use all my strength to unlock his knees and spread his legs so that I can actually get to the poop smeared all over his whole diaper area. I usually use my left arm and entire upper body to hold him in position and block his hands as much as possible. I need to have my center of gravity over his upper body in order to have enough leverage to hold his (insanely strong) legs down. If I'm sitting on the floor, then I'm using my feet and hands (the weakest parts of my body) to hold him.

Does that make sense? I can sing a happy song all I like, but when he's screaming in my face because I'm holding him down, I feel like Mommy, the sadist. "Oh, you don't like this? You feel trapped and helpless? La la la-la-la."

So, this is totally off subject but I had to reply when reading this thread just in case some other mom is trying to learn self-talk and also is struggling with this. Mine ds must be changed standing....end of story. If I stand him on the edge of the sink holding him or on the floor if he is took wiggly then he behaves pretty wonderfully. I just focus on his face or let him play with something. I use wash cloths, but it works when we are out and I'm using wipes. It is just like washing a toddlers bottom, but my ds is only 14 months. I've been doing it since he was 6 months and could stand. He HATES to lay down and that is when I come close to losing it and see red so I just don't make him.