Anyone potty train with a toddler still in their crib?

l_elizabeth

We plan to start potty-training over the 4th of July, since my DH and I have 5+ days off work. Our plan is to cut all diapers (even nighttime and naps). But, DS is still in his crib, and now I'm wondering if this is even doable. I have no desire to move him out of a crib right now, but I also don't want to wait much longer to potty train! I don't think he'd ever use the potty himself anyway, even if he was in a bed and able to get in/out, he'd probably just yell for us anyway.

Advice or experience to share?

USMBride06

I potty trained DD at 24 months while she was in the crib. She is still in the crib. I got her potty trained in one weekend, but nighttime is still an issue. She can go for weeks with being dry at night and then sometimes goes for weeks wet at night. She has been waking us up to go potty lately. It takes a while for toddlers to get the hang of nighttime. You might want to go with pull ups at least at night. Even if she was in the bed, I doubt she would just get up and go by herself. She can pull her panties down and wipe, but struggles getting them pulled up at times(well, most of the time she ends up with a thong look!). Hope this helped!  Good Luck!

lil_rhody

DS is in a bed, but doesn't take himself potty at night. He just calls us or doesn't wake up. He's still in pull ups at night, but is getting closer and closer to dry.

vshadd00

Yes. DD was potty trained completely in March and didn't move out of her crib until May.  If she woke up in the middle of the night she would yell for us. We started having her put up her sippy cup at 7 and then made sure to take her to the potty at 8 before bed and now she is good until we wake her up for the day.

I was terrified that she would try to take herself to the potty when we put her in a big bed but she just wakes up and yells from there too.

*LrCg*

My kids were 17 & 15 months when they were fully PT (daytime, naps and bedtime) so of course they were still in cribs.  It was rare but if they needed to go they just called for us in the monitor- we always told them at bedtime if you need to go just call and we will come.  It was never an issue.  We are on the first floor and the kids are on the 2nd on the other half of the house so even though they are now 3 & 2 years old and capable of going by themselves, I still don't allow them to leave their rooms without us (of course now they only have to go in the middle of the night about once a year).  I certainly wouldn't let me keep from PT.

BethPSU

I did daytime first with both boys.  DS#1 was fully pt'd for daytime at 21 mos and started waking up dry at about 26 months.  He was in his crib until after he turned 3.  I don't think he ever called us once to go to the bathroom.  He has had 2 overnight accidents (most recently during a camp-out with DH).  I don't know if I would go cold turkey with a 24 month old. I would probably still use pullups at night for awhile to make sure he is waking up dry.  DS#2 is still very wet in the a.m. so he is nowhere near wearing underpants to bed yet. He has only ever woke up dry twice.

monlyn9

I really want to know how you PTed a 15 month old! Oh how much easier our lives would be if DD would PT while I am home this summer.

monlyn9

*LrCg*:

My kids were 17 & 15 months when they were fully PT (daytime, naps and bedtime) so of course they were still in cribs.  It was rare but if they needed to go they just called for us in the monitor- we always told them at bedtime if you need to go just call and we will come.  It was never an issue.  We are on the first floor and the kids are on the 2nd on the other half of the house so even though they are now 3 & 2 years old and capable of going by themselves, I still don't allow them to leave their rooms without us (of course now they only have to go in the middle of the night about once a year).  I certainly wouldn't let me keep from PT.

I really want to know how you PTed a 15 month old! Oh how much easier our lives would be if DD would PT while I am home this summer. 

*LrCg*

monlyn9:

*LrCg*:

My kids were 17 & 15 months when they were fully PT (daytime, naps and bedtime) so of course they were still in cribs.  It was rare but if they needed to go they just called for us in the monitor- we always told them at bedtime if you need to go just call and we will come.  It was never an issue.  We are on the first floor and the kids are on the 2nd on the other half of the house so even though they are now 3 & 2 years old and capable of going by themselves, I still don't allow them to leave their rooms without us (of course now they only have to go in the middle of the night about once a year).  I certainly wouldn't let me keep from PT.

I really want to know how you PTed a 15 month old! Oh how much easier our lives would be if DD would PT while I am home this summer. 

Honestly it was very easy.  I think doing it before 19 months makes it very easy- 19 months old starts the "no" phase and anything younger its all fun and games.  We CD our kids.  When they could crawl we would take them with us whenever we went (never had them sit) and when we would change their diapers we would take them with us to dump the poop in the potty so they knew what the potty was for.  We used prefolds with a fleece liner and when they were 1 years old we took out the fleece liners (this made them feel the wetness).  Within the month they started telling us after they went to the bathroom and started staying dry during naps and less wet at bedtime.  The reason our one child was 17 months was because I was pregnant when he was 14 months old and telling us & we were nervous about PT when a baby was going to arrive 2 months later so we just did it when we were on baby leave. 

As for our "method" we just went right into underwear one day- including naps and bedtime.  We set a timer and took them every 30 minutes.  The potty stayed in the bathroom and we had them sit for 3-5 minutes.  No books/toys on the potty.  The first day they got an M&M just for sitting (it was the first time they ever had any type of sweets).  We reminded them to keep their underwear dry and congratulated them for being dry.  The 2nd day we took them every 45 minutes and the 3rd day it was every 1- 1 1/2 hours (they got M&Ms if they went).  Our goal was just for them to keep their underwear dry for 2 hours- we never expected them to tell us, nor did we watch their body language- we just planned on taking them every 2 hours.  Our 15 month old had 1 accident on day 1, 2 on day 2 and none after that.  Our 17 month old was 50/50 the first day and just improved until accident free on day 3.  We were surprised that after a week of this they started telling us before they had to go.  For bedtime, we would wake them up to go potty before we went to bed (they go to bed at 8pm, us generally @ 10-11pm) and they woke up dry.  This taught them that they needed to stay dry and that it was ok to wake up to go potty if they needed to.  We did this for @ 2 weeks for our 17 month old & 1 month for our 15 month old.  After that we stopped waking them and they always woke up dry. 

For us it truly was stressfree and simple and took just days.  I've had other friends use this method and it worked for some and not for others.  I noticed the ones that it didn't work, their kids were not good listeners and there wasn't really any obidence in the home.  Now let me be clear, we don't spank (nothing wrong with it, just not for us) nor did we ever yell if they had accidents.  What I mean is when we told them to do something, they did it.  Even at a young age, if they didn't listen there were consequences- time outs/toys taken away.  And I think that's a very important step.  When we told them to sit on the potty, they always listened- never once did i have to fight it.  And again, I think this is also because at the age we did PT was before the terrible twos started or the "no" phase started.

stdldb29

DD was in a regular bed at 15 months and potty trained at 19 months. 

DS was in a regular bed at 16 months and potty trained at 23 months.

Fully potty trained, night/naps/day. They get up and come to our room and tell us if they need to potty---most of the time its early in the morning and only DD does that. DS can take care of himself.  

We did 3 day potty training with both, DS was non-verbal when we trained him and did well. 

We never used a pull up in our home, we changed sheets the first few nights and then they learned that wet sheets were crappy.