Navigating Bathroom Hygiene Challenges: A Journey of Discovery and Solution
Raising a child with profound autism comes with a unique set of challenges, some of which may seem small at first but quickly grow in complexity. One of the most persistent hurdles we’ve faced in our household is managing bathroom hygiene. It’s a task that many parents of children with autism will recognize as surprisingly difficult, and yet, it’s often overlooked in discussions about daily care. For our son, Michael, a 33-year-old with profound autism, this seemingly straightforward part of the day became a source of ongoing stress—until we discovered a simple solution that changed everything.
The Bathroom Dilemma: A Messy and Stressful Problem
For years, our bathroom routine was plagued by an issue that we couldn’t quite solve. When Michael sat on the toilet, the small gap between the toilet seat and the base created an unfortunate problem: leaks. These leaks flowed onto the bathroom floor, soaking into the rug and leaving us with a mess that took time, patience, and a lot of cleaning effort to resolve. We tried everything—towels around the base, different toilet seat designs, and even makeshift barriers—but nothing worked. Each failed attempt added to our frustration. It felt like we were stuck in an endless cycle of cleaning up after a problem we just couldn’t fix.
A Discovery That Changed Everything
After what seemed like endless trials, we stumbled upon something that would prove to be a game-changer: the P-Guard. At first glance, the name seemed unremarkable, but when we saw how it worked, we knew we had found something special. The P-Guard is a small, curved plastic device designed to catch and redirect any leaks that occur when sitting on the toilet. It attaches securely under the seat using a magnetic adhesive strip, and once in place, it serves as a protective shield, preventing leaks from reaching the floor. The device was easy to clean—just detach it, rinse it off, and reattach it. For the first time in years, we were able to address the bathroom dilemma without the constant mess and stress.
Unexpected Challenges: When Things Didn’t Go According to Plan
Of course, no solution is ever perfect. Michael, who loves tactile activities, soon discovered that he could dislodge the P-Guard by banging the toilet seat. One fateful day, he knocked it loose, and before we could react, the guard disappeared down the toilet. At first, we panicked. We tried everything to retrieve it, but it wasn’t until we used a coat hanger to fish it out that we finally got it back—lodged just beyond the drain. It wasn’t an easy task, and certainly not one we’d recommend, but it led to a crucial realization: we needed a way to secure the P-Guard more firmly.
The Creative Fix: Super Glue and Caulking
Our first solution was to make the P-Guard even more secure. We used super glue to attach it firmly under the toilet seat and sealed the edges with caulk to prevent any gaps where moisture could collect. For a while, this worked wonders. But, like many solutions, it wasn’t perfect. The caulking began to crack over time, allowing water to seep underneath and bringing back the dreaded odors and cleaning issues. We realized that we needed something more reliable, something that would hold up over time.
The Ultimate Solution: Rotating Toilet Seats
After much trial and error, we finally found a long-term solution that worked beautifully: rotating toilet seats. Instead of relying on a single seat, we bought two identical toilet seats—one as the primary, and the other as a backup. This way, when the seat with the P-Guard needed cleaning or repair, we could simply swap it out. The whole process took just a few minutes, and it made a huge difference in reducing the stress and time spent dealing with bathroom hygiene issues. It also gave us the flexibility to clean, recaulk, and maintain the seats without interrupting Michael’s routine.
Practical Tips for Families Facing Similar Challenges
If you find yourself facing similar issues, here are a few practical tips based on what we’ve learned through our experience:
- Choose the Right Product: The P-Guard may not work for every family, but it’s worth trying. Look for products that are tailored to your child’s needs and the specific issues you’re facing.
- Reinforce the Installation: Don’t be afraid to get creative with adhesives, caulking, or other methods to secure devices like the P-Guard. It’s essential to prevent them from being easily dislodged.
- Always Have a Backup: Having a spare toilet seat or an extra P-Guard on hand can save you time and frustration when things go wrong.
- Plan for Maintenance: Regularly check and clean your setup to make sure it stays hygienic and effective.
- Think Outside the Box: Every child is different, so don’t be afraid to adapt solutions to your unique situation.
Why We Share Our Journey
Our goal in sharing this experience is simple: to help other families who may be dealing with the same challenges. Raising a child with profound autism can be overwhelming, and sometimes the solutions to everyday problems are hard to come by. But through trial, error, and a little bit of creativity, we’ve learned that with persistence, we can find practical solutions that make a real difference.
We’re committed to continuing to share our experiences, both the struggles and the successes, with the hope that our journey can provide insights and support to others. Whether we’re discussing strategies for managing seizures with technology, tips for dealing with bathroom hygiene, or simply offering words of encouragement, our goal is to contribute to the collective knowledge and support that families in the autism community need.
Looking Ahead: More Tips and Stories
As we continue to learn and grow, we plan to share more stories and strategies that have helped us along the way. Our mission is to produce at least two videos or blog posts a month, with the intention of sharing as much as we can with the autism community. We believe that every shared experience helps us build a stronger, more supportive network of families navigating similar journeys.
Final Thoughts: Reducing Stress, One Step at a Time
For parents of children with autism, even small improvements in daily routines can have a profound impact on overall quality of life. The P-Guard, along with our creative modifications, has helped us manage a persistent issue with bathroom hygiene, reducing stress and making Michael’s environment cleaner and more comfortable.
If our story resonates with you, or if you have your own solutions to share, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s continue to support one another as we navigate the challenges of raising children with autism. Together, we can create a more resilient and inclusive community.
What’s Next?
Stay tuned for more updates from our journey. We’re in this together, and every shared experience helps us move one step closer to a brighter future for our children.
We have a second video for you today, dealing with a lighter but nevertheless still important topic: bathroom hygiene.
When our son sits on on the toilet, there is a little crack between the toilet seat and the base of the toilet, as probably many of you know. And sometimes it leaks, right?
It ends up running down onto the tile and onto the bathroom rug and it just makes a total mess. We’ve been frustrated and we finally found something that’s worked pretty well for us, so we wanted to share this with you.
It is simply called P Guard, although I prefer “Mr. P Guard”.
It comes in two pieces. You get this little plastic curve thing that you will attach underneath the toilet seat. And the way you attach it is, you use this strip and it has this adhesive and you just attach the strip underneath it and then it’s magnetic. So the curved plastic piece can be pulled off and pulled on and cleaned as you need to.
This worked very well for us until our son decided to bang the toilet seat, in which case Mr. P Guard came off, fell down into the toilet… and then of course he loves to flush the toilet, so he flushed Mr. P Guard down underneath the visible area. Fortunately, it didn’t go all the way down and we didn’t have to call a plumber. But we absolutely did have to get a coat hanger and dig the thing out! And of course, that was no fun.
So we have a solution to that. My wife figured out that if she super-glued the Mr. P Guard underneath the toilet and then caulked all the way around it, that actually worked really well. And the caulking prevented any water from getting in there. It prevented any odor over time, as long as you kept it clean. It was a great solution.
However, we also discovered after a month or two that the caulking would crack and Mr. P Guard would start to look like he was coming off. And of course, things got underneath there, and it caused that odor again.
So what we ended up doing is we bought two toilet seats, an original and a backup. And so any time that we need to replace them, it’s very easy. It takes about 5 minutes. You just screw it off, put it back on, and we’re good to go.
We hope this helps. If it does, please let us know. And of course, if it doesn’t, please let us know.
Also, with respect to our frequency of videos, we’re planning right now on producing at least two of these a month. If we get lucky, we will hopefully produce more.
We want to thank all of you and hope that your autism adventure and the journey that we’re all on as parents is a little bit less stressful in the future than it has been in the past.
