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Parenting
Please share your potty training advice
We will be starting potty training soon and since this is my first child this is all new to me. Anyone have any good advice or something you learned that is worth sharing?
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Re: Please share your potty training advice
How old is your DC?
I will just tell you what we did with our DD. For a long while we used pull-ups and a reward chart. She would only go on the toilet if I brought her there.
I finally decided to do the 3 day potty training. We planned to stay home for a week (it was spring break). I put her in panties when she woke up on a Monday. Monday went fine until DH came home. She had a few accidents almost one right after another. I failed to tell DH to put her on the potty after she had an accident so she would have another accident because her bladder was not emptied. I put her in an overnight diaper for bed, though (some say not to do this).
Day 2 went much better, but I was still having to take her every 20 minutes or so. She had not yet told me she had to go. Diaper again for night.
Day 3 went awesome! I was standing in the kitchen talking to a friend saying I could end up taking her pee every 20 minutes until she's in college. When do they get it on their own? Next thing I know, DD runs past us. I asked, "Where are you going?" She yelled, "Potty!" Woo hoo!
I did not use a reward chart at all. By the 5th day I felt comfortable leaving the house. I just made her go before we left, when we got to a store or when we got home. For a while she would have an accident if she got too busy (at a party or when daddy got home from work).
Nighttime came on it's own. I was not in a hurry since she was still in her crib. I guess she realized that she's holding it during the day, so she could do it at night. She had a couple of weeks of dry diapers in the morning, so we stopped using them. I just had to make sure I got her up as soon as I heard her to take her to the bathroom.
Just be patient. Don't punish for accidents. Always put your DC on the potty after an accident. He/she may have an accident and stop peeing because they don't like the feeling, so they will need to empty their bladder.
GL!
Make sure your child is ready (or will accept a "gentle nudge")! DD1 didn't PT until she was 3.5. It was frustrating and we tried everything. She just didn't know how to do it--she'd sit on the toilet and say "mine doesn't work." She could not "let go".
We pretty much took a 3-day weekend and ditched the diapers/pull-ups during the day. The first day was hell and she was super crabby about it. But then she actually went the first couple times and she finally got it. At the end of that weekend she was fully PT'ed--pee and poop. She had one or two accidents that weekend and pretty rarely after that. Less than two months later she was nighttime trained.
Had we tried that approach any earlier, it wouldn't have worked--I just don't think she was ready. She went around in underwear at various points before that and it never registered until the pee was coming out that she was giong to go.
We used a sticker chart and that definitely motivated her. She got stickers for wearing underwear, sitting on the toilet, actually going, washing her hands and flushing. We had done incentives prior to that but she didn't really care.
Patience!
Thanks for all the advice.
Our daugther just turned 2 but she has started to show some signs that I think she is interested, maybe ready. She is able to hold it thru the night, and on a few occasions she has asked to potty and when we sit her on the potty she actually goes pee (soemtimes she just left stinkers haha).
It seems as though many of you just went straight to the underwear. I've heard alot of mixed reviews regarding the debate on pull-ups vs. straight to underwear. I guess I'll give her a few more weeks as we have a daycare room change starting next week which will provide enough excitment and then see if she still has an interest in potty training.
I kept her naked from the waist down for the first 3-4 days...kept the potty chair in the family room where we were most of the time. The first 2 days I kept putting her on the potty every 20 minutes & and then day 3 I did it every 30 minutes and day 4 every 45 minutes. I did fruity snacks as a reward. I did put her in pullups when we went out but I made her go before we left, when we got there and when we left to go home. It took her almost 2 weeks before I was confident in keeping her in underwear 100% of the time. Poop was a whole different ball game...that took another year before she stop having accidents.
Nap & bedtimes are another story too & she wears pullups for those times...she just isnt ready for that yet....I think she is such a deep sleeper. Also she will NOT come out of her room no matter what & we are working on that.
DD2 is almost 21 months old and has gone on the potty chair a couple times. We're not pushing it but she definitely likes to sit on the toilet before a bath like her big sister--she doesn't usually go, but considering DD1 was not a fan of sitting on the toilet we're encouraging DD2 with all our might in hopes that she'll be PT'ed WELL before her big sister was.
DD1 did use pullups, but only for daycare's sake. It wasn't a transition tool. Her diaper would be falling off because in the preschool room at daycare they changed them standing up and never put the diaper back on right. With pull-ups, at least they couldn't screw that up. She could pee in a pull-up, so she did. Underwear and her not wanting to have an accident in them were key for her.
Some kids are ready early. That would be great for you if your daughter is!