I’m freaking out

amother

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 12:43 am

I’ve been finding dirty or wet diapers in my bathroom cabinet for the past few months.
(The smell is atrocious, I keep cleaning them out but I keep finding more).
I was surprised every time but kept thinking it’s my very active toddler shlepping her diapers out of the garbage and shoving them in there.
It was weird that I wouldn’t realize but I didn’t think much into it.

Lately it dawned upon me that there’s no way my toddler is doing this so often. She’s older now and I know her and watch her enough to know it isn’t her. 100 percent.

It’s got to be one of my teenagers. ( I have teenage boys and my toddler). I’m shaking.
Do one of them have an incontinence issue and not tell me? Is he stuffing a diaper into his underwear to protect him every day?
Is he sleeping with it? Going to school with it?
I’m so disturbed my head hurts.
Please tell me how to do detective work and go about this?

amother

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 12:49 am

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

Listen outside the bathroom in the morning?

I’m pretty attentive and notice everything around me so it’s weird I wouldn’t notice such a thing.
I can’t wrap my head around it, it just doesn’t make any sense.
Somebody is definitely placing them there and it isn’t my toddler.

DrMom

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:00 am

If it is a teenager, why would he stuff them in your bathroom cabinet? Why wouldn't he throw them away discreetly?

Quote:

I was surprised every time but kept thinking it’s my very active toddler shlepping her diapers out of the garbage and shoving them in there.

Can you empty all the garbage cans with dirty diapers in them before you go to bed to eliminate that possibility?

amother

Cerulean

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:04 am

If you have teenage boys, that is likely the culprit. Experimenting.

My sil told me her son left tissues around, and when confronted claimed he was just blowing his nose. Yeah, right.

He would laugh at it yrs later.

amother

Lime

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:10 am

amother [ Cerulean ] wrote:

Interesting theory. But would old semen smell that bad? I haven't left it around long enough to know if it would stink up a cabinet.

amother

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:11 am

DrMom wrote:

If it is a teenager, why would he stuff them in your bathroom cabinet? Why wouldn't he throw them away discreetly?

Quote:

I was surprised every time but kept thinking it’s my very active toddler shlepping her diapers out of the garbage and shoving them in there.

Can you empty all the garbage cans with dirty diapers in them before you go to bed to eliminate that possibility?

I’m thinking he’s embarrassed to walk it all the way to the garbage? I don’t have a garbage in my bathroom

amother

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:12 am

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

Do you have a babysitter or cleaning lady that can be doing that for some really strange reason?

No, but good thinking!

amother

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:12 am

amother [ Cerulean ] wrote:

How is he experimenting? It smells and looks like reg urine to me

DrMom

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:15 am

amother [ Lime ] wrote:

Interesting theory. But would old semen smell that bad? I haven't left it around long enough to know if it would stink up a cabinet.

Quote:

I’m thinking he’s embarrassed to walk it all the way to the garbage? don’t have a garbage in my bathroom

Semen smells different from feces. I would think you could tell the difference.

And it still does not explain why he would stuff the diapers in your bathroom cabinet instead of throwing them in the garbage. (And who does not have a garbage in the bathroom?)

trixx

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:19 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m thinking he’s embarrassed to walk it all the way to the garbage? I don’t have a garbage in my bathroom

1. Put a garbage and make an announcement that it will now be easier for you to throw out the baby's diapers in there. Make a point of doing it. So there's no shame for the kid and he can put his own diapers in there too

2. What diapers are you finding? Toddler size ones? If so where is he getting it from, where's the stash kept?

amother

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:27 am

The garbage is not the point.
My concern is why one of my teenage kids would need to use my toddler’s diapers.
I feel like one of them are using it for some reason, possibly incontinence.
Nobody have a teenager with this condition?
I’d love to hear from experienced moms to calm me.

trixx

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:49 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I hear that, in the meantime, I'm suggesting eliminating the shame. It's being hidden in the cabinet bc there's no other safe way to dispose of it or bc he thinks you'll assume it's the toddler.

Have you never had to wrap a dirty pad in tissues and hide it under your shirt until you could get it to a garbage can? (this is why every single bathroom needs a garbage)

At least take away the stress while you figure out the cause.

DrMom

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 1:58 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

You need to find out (1) who is throwing the diapers in there and (2) what the diapers are being used for.

For question #2, why don't you open one of the diapers up and find out what they are being used to absorb? Then at least you'll have one part of the puzzled solved.

Start figuring out what is going on and then you'll know which kid to approach and what you should be discussing.

Another idea: Is it possible that your DH is changing your toddler's diapers and storing them in the cabinet with the intention of throwing them out later?

amother

Taupe

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 8:05 am

amother [ Cerulean ] wrote:

As weird as it is gross. If he was embarrassed about it, why would he leave it around where it could be found instead of just flushing it or throwing it in the nearest wastebin? Same thing for OP's ds if that's who it is.

amother

Plum

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 8:09 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m thinking he’s embarrassed to walk it all the way to the garbage? I don’t have a garbage in my bathroom

You really should put a garbage in your bathroom.

amother

Taupe

Mon, Apr 26 2021, 8:10 am

DrMom wrote:

Another idea: Is it possible that your DH is changing your toddler's diapers and storing them in the cabinet with the intention of throwing them out later?

You don't really think that, do you? Aside from people who store putrescible food waste in a container in the freezer so that it doesn't stink up the house and then put it, frozen, in the trash bag on trash collection day, do you know anyone--anyone at all--who takes filthy stuff they intend to throw out and stores it in a cabinet?

OP, if you have no garbage can in your bathroom, PUT ONE IN NOW.