[jbee]

ok, so i do daycare and check craigslist for people needing care frequently. today i saw an ad for a woman who needs a sitter for a 13 yo boy who has begun soiling himself and needing diapers. she says she checked with 4 doctors and they said he's just lazy. one of the ladies on a daycare board i go to emailed her and the woman says it started with the birth of his dad and stepmom's baby. she has now begun treating her son like a baby and punishing him for doing this, and thinks it just has to do with this new baby, everything else has been fine with the kid up until now.
so my question is, do you think this could be right? i thought maybe something else was going on, like sexual abuse or something other than a new baby in the family. i don't even know this lady but i'm concerned for her kid, and concerned because she dosen't seem to think much of it. she is looking for a sitter willing to diaper him. she didn't mention any psych evals or anything, i think just family doctors. anybody have this happen? i wasn't sure where to post this but figured you guys might know out of anyone.

[lucyjoy]

Looking for a sitter to diaper a 13 year old that is not disabled? That in itself is abuse. He can change himself. Sounds like there is a lot of weird things going on.

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

I agree. Unless the 13 y.o. has cognitive delays, autism, or something similar, then reverting to soiling himself after the birth of a new sibling is NOT normal. This type of regression can occur in younger kids who haven't been potty trained very long, but even then it is short-term. If the kid has other mental health issues, such as conduct disorder, then it may be purely behavioral, but in that case they shouldn't be encouraging the behavior by hiring a special babysitter for him. I have seen kids who've had behavioral encopresis/enuresis (always within the context of conduct disorder), and they totally feed off the extra attention it gets them.