Laid back approach and early success

nicoleRI

Hi everyone!  Have been lurking for a while and just wanted to share that over the long weekend we started potty training DS at 2 and 1/2 years.  I thought about 3 day, thought about just underwear and not leaving the house etc but all seemed too drastic.  So, I took a laid back approach.  Did 1/2 days for 2 days of underwear while we were home and only had 1 accident each day.  Day 3 we happened to be home the whole day and did underwear and no accidents.  We just do underwear at home, but pull ups if we have to go out.  He isn't staying dry in the pull ups, but I feel better with pull ups than putting him back in a diaper- psychologically for him he is still OUT of a diaper.  I am sure it will take more time, but he is doing well and there is no stress, no crying (on my part).  If we go a week of accident free days at home I will venture out with underwear- but until then, this gentle approach seems to be working.  I was starting to think reading this board that it has to be a total all or nothing, stressful process but I am pleasantly surprised that for now, this is working for us.  Good luck to you all!

desmerelda317

Thanks for posting this!  I keep reading all these 3dpt success stories and I too keep thinking it has to be this "all or nothing" approach.  But I just can't handle 72 hours of being stuck inside my house and neither can DS.  We both get crabby and bored and we just need to get out!  Plus, with DH being gone so often for work, getting out of the house is just what we need to get through our days sometimes.  We too have begun with a gradual approach.  Lots of naked time at home, but we still use cloth diapers when we're out and about.  We've started seeing some success, so we're sticking with it