Tell Me About Poops in the Potty

[not_telling]

We recently bought a potty for DS and I just started reading "Diaper Free Before 3"....and I have a..."techinical" question.

DS's poops are generally of the kinda mushy/squishy variety, as opposed to the more firm, formed kind...at least as far as I can tell, since I only ever see them once they're in his diaper. Anyway, I can see how it would be easy to dump a formed poop out of the potty and into the toilet...but what do you do when it's a mushy one? How do you get it out? What do you do to clean the potty after?

(yes, I'm a total PL newbie )

[NorthernPixie]

I haven't had to do this, but here's a suggestion -- buy a designated 'poop spatula' and some sort of container (old yogurt perhaps) to keep it in by the toilet. Use it to scrape out the potty, but this might not work depending on the shape of the potty bowl (I use the $3 IKEA one that's a smooth half sphere but I also have one I don't like that's got a squared off bottom/sides). Then use toilet paper to wipe off the spatula and potty. Then store the spatula in a vinegar-filled container. When you're done with that stage...throw it out. I used something similar for scraping poop off of cloth diapers and it worked really well.

[serenbat]

mine have always peed and pooped at the same time-it slides right out, if any remain, TP works and than rinsed as normal, and we wipe over with rubbing alcohol

[_betsy_]

Poop in the potty is different than poop in a diaper. You're seeing the squished up, no place to go poop in the diaper. It's just different in the potty.

[Bendemolena]

I run some tap water from the sink into the potty, swish it around a bit, then dump the whole thing into the toilet. The extra water loosens everything enough, generally.
I then spray bac-out into it and wipe it out with tissue or a cloth wipe.

[lifeguard]

We dont' use a potty just a seat reducer on the regular toilet but I agree with pp that poops in the potty are a lot less mushy & squished than in the toilet/potty.

[ZoeyZoo]

For some reason dd would not use the little potties. She understood the concept but saw it as a toy. She wanted to go in the same place and DH and I. We use the seats you place on the regular toilet. It's great because I don't have to do any cleaning; just flush.

[sapphire_chan]

Make sure what ever your potty is that the part where poop goes can be turned upside down.

Swirling the potty around gets the urine up under the poop and then it dumps. A rinse of water takes care of most/all of the rest. And any little bits remaining you can use TP or a wipe.

[Heidi74]

Diaper sprayers for cloth diapering are wonderful for this purpose. We have the one from Bum Genius, and you can adjust the spray so it is just perfect for spraying out a potty. We spray the contents into the toilet and give the potty a rinse with it. If it was just pee, we then just give it a quick rinse in the sink after emptying. If there was poop, we spray it with Lysol after the initial diaper-sprayer rinse, then rinse again with hot water.

Another idea (that I don't do because we have the diaper sprayer) is to just put some toilet paper in the potty before use. That way, the poop lands on the toilet paper and is much less likely to get stuck.

[JessieBird]

Originally Posted by Bendemolena

I run some tap water from the sink into the potty, swish it around a bit, then dump the whole thing into the toilet. The extra water loosens everything enough, generally.
I then spray bac-out into it and wipe it out with tissue or a cloth wipe.

This is what we do. My DS' poops are pretty soft and mushy too. I was stumped till DH came up with the water swish technique. Often he pees at the same time and this does the job too.

To clean after rinsing, I wipe it dry with a little toilet paper or a rag then spritz it with water w/ tea tree oil (I keep spray bottles of this solution ready and use it for all sorts of applications) and leave to air dry. Once a week, the whole potty contraption gets cleaned more thoroughly along with the rest of the bathroom.

[Thalia]

We also do the water swish and it works beautifully. After dumping, I run it under running water or use a wipe to get rid of anything else. About once a week I clean it more thoroughly with soap. That seems fine to me since the big toilet is only cleaned with soap once a week, too. Otherwise it's just all rinsing.

[KristyDi]

Originally Posted by lifeguard

We dont' use a potty just a seat reducer on the regular toilet but I agree with pp that poops in the potty are a lot less mushy & squished than in the toilet/potty.

[Heidi74]

Originally Posted by Thalia

About once a week I clean it more thoroughly with soap. That seems fine to me since the big toilet is only cleaned with soap once a week, too. Otherwise it's just all rinsing.

I'm guessing that how often and thoroughly the potty is cleaned would depend a lot on individual circumstances. In our case, one potty is out in the living room and the other in DS1's bedroom. DS2 (8 months) is able to crawl to them, even though I do try to put it out of his reach, so I sanitize them thoroughly after use. Our toilet is out of his reach, so that requires less cleaning. If there is no baby involved, and the potty is not easily accessible as a teething toy (ugh...we do try to avoid that!), then as much sanitizing obviously would not be necessary.

Just thought I would explain, since I probably sound paranoid about germs in my previous post.

[not_telling]

very much appreciating everyone's replies!!