Potty Training
Corren
member
Options
Training Methods
Corren
member
I have been reading the Oh Crap! Potty Training book and feel that it makes a lot of sense. I have quite a bit of background in psychology and behavioral training, so I understand it. DH does not agree with its methods and after two days of trying it out, we stopped due to the constant debates and disagreements of the method. DS certainly showed that he was catching on and had a couple successful #1's in the potty. I want to be consistent and thorough in our training, but I cannot find another method that I am really buying into. What method did you use and how did you decide? (Did I mention #2 is coming in June and I would really like to get him trained before then?)
Re: Training Methods
Honestly I've done 2 different methods when potty training my kids. The first 2 I did the timer method in which the first day I took them at 30 min, the 2nd day 45 min and the 3rd day 1 hour and worked our way up to 2 hours. It took a month or 2 before they consistently started telling us prior to us taking but eventually they did. They did awesome with that method because they were more perfectionist children and would have been very discouraged with accidents.
My younger 2 I did I would say the "Oh crap" method (but I wasn't aware of this book prior to doing it) and it worked great because they are very independent and would never allowed us to take them. After my 3rd I learned to start straight with underwear because she did wonderful naked but when she had underwear she wasn't old enough to pull her underwear down and didn't want help so it was quite an adjustment on both our parts to learn it's okay for help and it's okay for independence (we did a lot of dresses that spring).
My children are what others would consider young to potty train (1st was 17 months old, 2nd was 15 months old, 3rd was 14 months old and 4th was 17 months old) so clearly they were potty trained but not potty independent (meaning for at least a year they needed someone to help pull pants down, put them up on potty, wipe, etc) but honestly that never bothered me at all. When we PT we also do naps and bedtime at the same time.
In training my 4 I can say consistency is the key and STOP comparing to other people. So what if some 2 year old never had an accident and just took themselves one day and you're on day 5- it doesn't mean your child isn't ready. I also hate the word "accidents"- it's learning and they're good and helpful. It doesn't mean they're not understanding, learning or getting it. When teaching your child to ride a 2 wheel bike if you let go and they fall are you going to stop and say well you're not ready. For me, #2 & #3 picked up on it fast (less then 3 days) with very limited accidents (both girls). #1 & #4 took about 7 days. We did our #4 over a month ago and the first day it was 50/50 and the next day maybe 2 accidents and then the 3rd day was disaster but I also know from potty training all my kids that's normal- suddenly they get sick of playing the game but you have to just keep going forward and showing them this is the new way of life. By the time day 7 hit it was like a light bulb went off.
We never did pullups or diapers when training- straight underwear for naps & bedtime. Less confusing to them. Congratulate them throughout the day for dry underwear. Up fiber for soft poop (high fiber oatmeal, Fiber One Brownies, etc).
Sorry this is probably much longer then you wanted but I just want to offer encouragement. And don't let people discourage you from PT while your pregnant we PT #1 while on baby leave and I was @7 months pregnant when PT #3 and she never had issues when the baby arrived and in fact it made them both feel like big kids and not babies.
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!!
It shouldn't take weeks/months to potty train. You shouldn't have to use bribes, rewards, charts, etc. They will do it on their own when they are developmentally ready.