Potty training advice?

mikeandmonica

Sorry - this is really long...  We decided to start potty training DS this past weekend. He has been ready for quite a while, but we just haven't had a weekend at home to work on it. He tells us when he is pooping, as soon as he is wet he wants to be changed, he goes into the bathroom with us and wants to sit on his potty, etc. So we were just waiting to have time to do it. Unfortunately, we only had Sunday to work on it (but this weekend we'll stay home both days all day and I hope that helps). He went twice on the potty, and had 3-4 accidents (one was literally right after he went potty, so we just didn't give him long enough to finish going). Last night he was dry the entire time we went out to dinner, and went potty on the potty when we got home before bed, so we're happy with how he has done. Questions: 1) How long do you let DC sit on the potty? We were bringing him about every 30 minutes or so, but we didn't want to sit there for 20+ minutes while he was trying (which is what he was fine with doing). 2) Do you do pullups, or just real underwear? We were using a combination - real underwear during the day, but then pullups at naptime. 3) What do you do for rewards? We were using stickers on his chart, and then also m&ms when he went. He is way more excited aboutt he stickers because we told him when he had 10 stickers, we would go buy a toy (like a car/new train, nothing huge) 4) When should we send him in pullups/underwear to daycare? He goes to a home daycare, and we told her that we want to make sure he does pretty well at home before making her deal with the messes constantly, but then I think that maybe it is better to be consistent?I am torn on this one. She is willing to help, but obviously we don't want to make her change his clothes 4 times during the day. I have heard that you shouldn't do pullups because they consider those the same as diapers and just pee in them. 5) We want to get him to use the big potty (because that is what they have at daycare, and seriously, cleaning the potty chair is not something I enjoy), but he loves that his potty makes music when he goes. How/when should we do that transition? 6) When do we have him stand up to pee instead of sitting down? 7) Any other advice/things I should think about?  Thanks guys!  You are always so helpful!

Angela814

1)  DD sits on the potty until she tells me she is done.  I'd say usually 1-2 minutes tops.  I ask her if she needs to go during the day, and she will also tell me when she has to go.

2) She does better in real underwear, but I've been using pull ups.  She tends to tell me she has to go poopy about halfway through, and I got sick of cleaning poopy underwear.  She always wears a pull up at naptime and a diaper at bedtime.

3) She has a sticker chart that she helped me make hanging in the bathroom right next to the toilet.  Sometimes she wants a sticker; sometimes she tells me she doesn't want one anymore.

4) I send her to daycare in a pull up every day because she does really well using the potty in the morning.  I figure a pull up is easier for her than a diaper.  The afternoon teachers aren't good about taking them to the bathroom, so she's pretty much in diapers in the afternoon.

5) I think I'd wait until he's consistent on the little potty first.  We bought a plain boring potty chair that converts to a step stool.  It's only used as a step stool now.  DD prefers to sit on the big potty without a potty ring.  Do you have a potty ring at home?  That might help him feel more secure on the big potty.

6) ???

 

debbiej

That is a whole bunch of questions!  A lot of it is trial and error, and you'll have to see what works for him.

1 - We let DS stay on the potty as long as he wanted.  We would set a "potty timer" to tell him when to go (first every half hour, then moved it to 45 minutes and then an hour), we'd help him get on the potty and then would let him stay until he said he was done.  We didn't stay in there with him the whole time, we just kept coming back to check on him.  Maybe if you don't stay with him he won't be inclined to stay on it so long.

2 - The week we seriously potty trained we left him naked all day.  If he wanted something on we put him in underware.  The first couple days we did a pull-up for naps, but when he started getting the hang of going potty on his own we left him in the underware.  He still wears a pull-up at night.

3 - We didn't do any rewards for peeing.  We had an award chart for pooping in the potty and once the chart was full he got a new golf club (his choice!).

4 - If your sitter is willing to help than I would definitly send him in whatever he wears at home.  Consistency is key and it will go a lot quicker that way.  Just send 2 changes of clothes and then pull-ups and tell him that he can only have 2 accidents and after that he has to go back in a pull-up.  May motivate him to stay accident free.

5 - We purposefully did not get a potty that sang, made noise, etc. just for this reason.  DS doesn't mind his potty, but he liked to go on the big potty because we go on the big potty.  We just got the seats that sit on the toilet and a stepstool so he could reach it on his own.

6 - DS started out sitting to pee but we had him go in the potty with daddy to see how to pee standing and he decided on his own that he wanted to do that.  Just have a stepstool to help him reach the potty and be prepared for some bad aim accidents!

Be consistent and don't stress!  It'll be over before you know it!

mikeandmonica

Thanks for the advice guys.  If anyone else has more, I'd be happy to hear it!