S/O Potty training - Books? Guides?

MamaMD

Anyone have any guides or books about potty training that they recommend? We aren't quite there yet but LO is showing some signs of not being totally clueless. She will sometimes tell us when she has pooped (but not always) and today she told me 2 separate times that her dolly pooped. So I figure I should start reading up!

jesselayne8

I used the book "oh crap, potty training".

fancefpp

You don't need a book, you need lots and lots of M&Ms :P

jesselayne8

fancefpp said:

You don't need a book, you need lots and lots of M&Ms :P

And wine!!!

MamaMD

jesselayne8 said:

fancefpp said:

You don't need a book, you need lots and lots of M&Ms :P

And wine!!!

M&Ms and wine?  So I guess I'm all set then...

flyliceandcoffee

our daycare did a potty training session for us and it was definitely helpful. I'll try to outline (what I can remember) the gist of what we learned. They broke it down by age range and what we should be working on during that time period. It was explained to us that for a lot of toddlers, they just don't have the mental capacity to put all the pieces together for potty training until they're closer to 2.5, but we can get started now. Everything is approximate of course. Some kids are faster and some are slower than others.

18-24 months:
have the kids learn how to and practice taking their own clothes on and off. If they can't take their own clothes off when they go to the bathroom, it's going to be really difficult to use the toilet. Also, start getting them used to the toilet itself, by putting them on it with their clothes on, letting them see you use the bathroom, etc. so they aren't scared of it

2-2.5 years :
keep working on taking their clothes on and off on their own. Now, every time their diaper gets changed, taken them to the bathroom and set them on the toilet so they start to associate the toilet with the actual act of using the bathroom.

2-3 years (depending on when everyone seems ready):
transition to pull ups, but once you transition over, don't go back to diapers AND don't stay in pullups for longer than 30 days. The reasoning behind this is 1) not to confuse them and 2) pullups still act somewhat like diapers and lots of kids can get "lazy" in them (will pee in them because they can without getting AS dirty).

Once you are ready to transition to underwear, don't go back to pull ups (night times can be different, that's up to you). Start over the weekend and fill them up full of liquids for the first day so they start to get the sensation of what it feels like to have to go to the bathroom. That first day make it a game and get them to the toilet every half and hour/hour. If they don't pee, try again in 15 minutes and start the half hour/hour again from that point. Most likely since you're having them drink so much liquid they'll need to pee that often. On the second day, you can stretch it to longer between pee breaks, but not much longer than an hour or two. When you go out, expect to take them to the bathroom every hour.

If they have an accident, make them responsible for their accident. They get to change all their own clothes and get new clothes on. If they poop as an accident, take them to the tub and have them take all their own clothes off, you can help spray them off, but then they have to put all their own clothes back on again. The idea is if they are responsible for taking care of themselves, they'll realize it takes longer to get themselves all cleaned up and changed than it does to go to the bathroom and they'll start doing that instead.

I think that was most of it...sorry that turned into a novel...just thought i'd share what we learned and what our plan was.

flyliceandcoffee

@beaubecca - they gave us some notes on it as well, I was just too lazy to try and track that down. I can PM that over to you if you'd like (once I find it).