XP - 3-day PT - testimony that every kid is different - advice please!

yale

We potty trained DS using the 3 day potty training method by Lora Jensen. Did it a couple weeks after his 2nd birthday and worked like a charm. He was running to the bathroom by day 2 and was doing so well on day 3 we actually took him to a gathering at a friends house.

DD, different story. We are halfway through day 3 and I am about to throw in the towel. Besides holding it for record amounts of time and getting about 3 total pees in the potty, it hasn't clicked for her. We cleaned two poops out of her bed - one last night and one early this morning (because she held it so long I'm guessing). And she held her pee for 6.5 hours this morning. Not one single drop came out the entire time. I'm not sure what to do next. I know I'm going to put a pullup on her tonight, but I'm thinking maybe I should dump daytime training too...the only thing holding me back is that she can obviously hold and control her pee. She's really reluctant about sitting on the potty. Advice? Thoughts on what direction to go next?

yale

Yes, definitely showed signs. Probably more than DS did actually - same timing on training. They are totally different personalities though...I seriously thought this would go the opposite direction with her. Anyway, we know when it's time to admit defeat. DH and I agree she is probably physically ready, but not emotionally.

chardonnay24

We tried PTing my son, who had all the readiness signs, at about 26 months. He wouldn't have it. He just wasn't there. I didn't give up as easily as I should have and it turned into a battle (that I lost). We half-heartedly tried a couple more times that year, but it didn't take until after he turned 3. We PT'd him a couple months ago and it just clicked. I mean, it took less than a day. I took away diapers and put him in underwear and that was it. He night trained on his own at the same time, as well.

Leap08

If she can hold her pee for 6+ hours, she is physically ready. My second daughter also has a bladder of steel and can hold it for a very long time. We also do the 3 day method and I think it was harder with her to enforce the idea that pee goes in the potty because we weren't constantly going to the potty. It did take her a little longer, but I didn't go back to diapers or pull-ups. I think she had it down in about a week. I know it's frustrating and takes a ton of patience, but I think your daughter just needs more time. Not every kid gets it in 3 days (my older daughter didn't have it down in 3 days, either. It took her at least 4).  

jesselayne8

Took my DD 9 days doing the 3 day method. I would give it at least 7 days and maybe drop the night training. I waited until it "clicked" for her to wear underwear during nap and she still wears a pull up at night because she doesn't consistently wake up dry.

yale

Normally I would agree with you who have said to stick with it just because I know it can work. She can physically do it. But she was literally making herself sick by withholding. Even with a pullup on at night, she was waking up multiple times screaming, body tense and miserable holding it in. She has diarrhea and she's not sleeping. My normally pleasant child has become miserable. If she was just letting it go in her underwear/pullup it'd be different. I'd just be catching accidents then. Pulling the plug before health issues arise.

yeah.

drop it for a while. She's not ready.

ashiscute

It's okay that she's not ready.  I'm glad you aren't trying to stick it out.  Being physically ready is only half the battle!

QuinlansPhoto

Is it normal that kids learn potty training in 3 or 4 days? My 3-yr-old son's been at it for a year (or so) and still is very wishy-washy and constantly is going back and forth. One day he'll be fantastic, telling me each time he has to go potty and won't do it until we get to the toilet, the next day he'll pee in his pants every single time he needs to go all day long and won't say a word to me about it. How effective is that 3-day-training? And are there times that they revert back? I put him in pull-ups at night, but he's back in regular underwear once he wakes up and throughout the rest of the day. I'm at my absolute wit's end on this issue...

Cherryblossoms07

I would stop and try again in a few months.

We potty trained DD at 23 months using the 3DPT method and she did well with it. She was day and night trained by the end. We tried the same with DS and it didn't go as well. We tried shortly before two like DD. He got the idea by the end of day three, but it was just too much work. We had to keep a constant eye on him. We tried again a few months later and he did really well right off the bat, but then decided after a couple weeks he wanted nothing to do with underwear so we put it off again for a few months. He did extremely well right off the bat the third time and has been day trained for over a month.

Every child is different, but I say put it off and try again in a few months. It is not worth fighting and it should be easier the next time around since you are reintroducing a concept he/she has learned before.