potty training ?, share your experiences

northernvabride

So DD is 25 months old and this is her first week wearing underwear at school.  Most of the kids in her class and potty training too, so we figured this would be good peer pressure.  She had lots of accidents the first day, then no accidents the 2nd day, but she also didn't pee on the potty, but held it until nap time when they put her in a diaper.  The third day was more of the same - no accidents but also no peeing on the potty.  At home, she will pee on the potty first thing (she has a dry diaper in the morning), and at night, but doesn't like to any other time.  We didn't know if this means she isn't ready, or if she is just taking the easy way out since she knew she'd be in a diaper in between.  So we went ahead with the experiment of underwear.  She isn't upset by the accidents and sits patiently on the potty multiple times each day without going.  She cheers for others when they have success.  She also gets very excited when she pees at home on the potty for me.  So I don't think we should go back to a diaper full time since we are almost a week in.  They said usually they get it in about 2 weeks.  We're halfway there.  Just wanted to see if anyone wanted to share their experiences.  Were they similar?  When was your LO fully potty trained?  TIA

Artslvr

I think it's great how the school is working with you to help potty train her.  That's fantastic.  Sounds like you guys are well on your way. And if she doesn't get it in two weeks, don't worry, she'll get there.  I wouldn't do anything differently than what you're doing!

ETA:  We started around 27 months and she had it within a few weeks, and we were totally done (panties at night, wiping herself, washing hands herself, could balance on the toilet without using a potty seat etc.) within about three months.

tracy042206

So I wrote up this big long response this morning and the stupid nest ate it.  I just didn't have it in me to type it again right away.

 

With Maggie it was very much like your daughter.  She had amazing bladder control and would just wait for nap or bedtime to pee.  She occasionally would have an accident and that would really upset her. She was just a little past 2 when we started because she talked about it so much and kept asking to 'go potty' but she would just sit there and never actually pee.  She did not stay dry overnight though like your daughter.  We would try one day every few months but always the same with holding it until naptime or an accident.

Finally when she was 2y9m I took off the Friday of a long weekend (last Memorial Day) to really concentrate on getting it done and sent #2 to daycare for the day.  I had the Bjorn potty in the living room so it was close by and we had a potty seat for the toilet in the bathroom so she could pick where she wanted to go.  I also bought some grape pedialyte (her fave drink - 'medicine juice') and watered it down and encouraged her to drink all morning.  Oh and I had playdough on the kitchen table for her that she could have after she peed on the potty - we never had play dough at our house before so this was appealing to her.  We always had M&M's if she would pee in the potty but that never happened previously.

By 10AM she had her first accident.  I told her that accidents happen and that's OK (song from Elmo's Potty Time DVD that we had been watching for months) and that when she felt that way again to sit on the potty.  She had 2 more small accidents which really upset her and she was freaking out that she didn't want to sit on the potty. I was sure I had traumatized her for life and we would never have a potty trained child.  Then she said she was having another accident but she hadn't actually gone yet so I asked her which potty she wanted (The small Bjorn one) and she was freaking out sitting on there so I gave her Teddy and told she was just like the girl in her Potty book who holds Teddy while she is on the potty.  She actually peed in the potty that time and she seemed so surprised and happy.  She was a little timid the next time she peed on the potty but after that it was all good.  This all happened before lunchtime.

It really seemed like something just clicked.  I don't know if she was scared or if she thought people just sit on potties for no reason.  She has had one pee accident since last May and since that day she has been dry for nap and bedtime as well (that was a big surprise for me since I thought she would take longer to get there for nap and bed times).  I feel like we may have had an easier time avoiding accidents and nap/bedtime accidents since she was older when we did it, but who knows.

Poop took about a week longer.  The weekend she pee trained we were at Target and she loved this trike so we told her if she pooped on the potty she could have it (we were getting her one anyway for summer).  So about a week later she just up and said she had to poop and went on the potty.  We have had about 3 poop accidents since then but she is awfully constipated so it sometimes hurts and then she holds it which makes it worse.  Also she waits until the last possible second to poop but lately I have been able to pick up the cues and encourage her to go earlier.  Oh and the first thing she said after pooping was, "Where's my bike?" so I suggest if you offer up a bribe, have it in a closet somewhere.  I did not expect the poop to follow so quickly so I had to make a Target run the next day so it would be home when she got home from daycare.

Overall I am glad we waited since I love the lack of accidents after the fact but I have no idea if she would have done this well all along.  Good luck!