Are *occasional* diapers still OK at 5 yrs old...?
Hi there everyone! Bit of a complicated thing to explain here, sorry in advance!!
My middle ASD son (5.5 yr old) is *technically* potty trained? He mostly wears undies at home, we still do a diaper at nighttime, because he's wet overnight more often than not -- no big deal there.
However, it's become somewhat of a habit/routine, that if we're going out and about, he almost always will quietly ask if we can put a diaper on him before we leave.
Mostly, I think this just a comfort/security thing...? Even when he has one on, I'd say only maybe 1 time out 5 will he actually end up *using* it, and never for poop-- only pee.
When I've talked with him about it, he's always given kind of different reasons as to why... doesn't like public bathrooms, his younger twin brothers are both also in diapers (so it's sort of normalized for him, I guess..?), it feels better, etc etc.
Am I an awful mom for allowing this to continue to this point..? I've honestly gotten into such a rythm with it that it barely even bothers me to put one on him before we head out for errands or something. But, I realize it's not something that can continue on forever obviously!
What's the suggestion of the folks here?
Your family, your kid, your comfort level, your decisions.
All of my children are ASD, and our potty training ages range from 6 to 10. Strangely enough, my most severely affected Level III kiddo trained earliest. Go figure.
We homeschool, though, so we don't have any pressure to potty train before the kids are ready to achieve it on their own. I don't know what I would do if we were an away-school family.