Potty training tips needed

Re: Potty training tips needed

• shouldbeworkin

  November 2008

  How often do you keep her in underwear?  Do you put her back in a pull up after 1 accident or do you keep them on her for 1/2 or all of the day?  It took my DC a couple accidents before he made the connection with having to hold it when he had underwear on.  Once he started to hold it, we "practiced."  I'd let him wear underwear while he watched his favorite TV show and then give him a treat for holding it.  I'd stretch it out longer and longer until eventually he was wearing underwear and keeping it dry all morning.  I stayed by his side most of the time and "caught him in the act," put him on the potty to finish and that's how he made the connection between holding it and letting it go in the potty.  I figured out about how long he could hold it and then took him to the bathroom regularly.  It wasn't long before he would go on his own when he needed to.

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• #6 member

  November 2008

  Have you tried getting Super excited about going to the potty?  One nestie tried the Potty Party and said it worked.  I dont know much about it other than you decorate and get excited about it so your dc will too. 

  For L and the girls we tried just wearing undwear and setting a timmer every 20-30mins but they were fine with the idea of the potty. 
  

  I think you need to get her comfortable with the idea of sitting on it before you get her to use it.  (make sense?)

  Try giving her a treat (sticker, sucker, m&ms etc) for sitting on the potty for a few minutes.  Even if she doesnt do anything get excited after she sits there for a few mins. and give her a treat.  Allow her to have some special "potty toys" in there that she can only play with during potty time. 

  After she gets used to sitting on it only give treats if she does something.  Try a few times each day until she gets a little better, then try every few hours and then every hour. 

  Luckily you have a younger dc.  I have 3 toddlers.  L is the one I was mainly working on but then K&K would want to join in. (1yr younger than L)  That or one would be out making a mess, getting into something etc while 2 were going potty and making a mess of the bathroom, playing in the sink.

  L is ptd now (only for 3wks though) and Im still working on K&K.  He is 3.5yrs and a late pter in some peoples eyes.  He just didnt want to give up diapers.  (hates pull ups)  We just started putting him in uderwear and taking him often.  One day it just clicked.  I think K&K are going to be the same.  They will tell me when the need to go but not on a regular basis.  All 3 seem to do things the same.  Im not pushing even at 2.5yrs and didnt with L until a few months ago.  But he was old enough to understand and knew what he was suposed to do. 

  Good Luck.

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• Jerseygirl16

  November 2008

  It depends on the day how long I keep her in underwear.  Some days she is ok with putting on another pair.  Most days though after one accident she won't leave on regular panties and cries for a pull up.  If I wont' give it to her she runs around bare bottom and will pee on the floor (and still get upset because she knows that isn't right).  So, most of the time I give in and let her back into the pullups.

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• Jerseygirl16

  November 2008

  I have tried the getting excited about the potty thing and giving treats.  She doesn't like a fuss made over it at all.  And the candy she liked but it didn't motivate her to use the potty any more than she was ... all it did was make her think that the name for M&M's is potty.  LOL.

   Maybe I'm going about this all wrong.  Or maybe she really isn't quite ready.  I just feel like she thinks it's easier to use the pull up and not have to deal with it. 
  
  And having Sarah (my 6 month old) to take care of makes it harder for me to focus on it as much as I should so I'm sure that is not helping. 

   Maybe I'll just try keeping her in underwear as much as I can and hope that she gets the idea.  As much as she hates making a mess that might be the biggest motivator of all.  Even if she runs around bare bottom.  I just don't want it to turn into a struggle and for her to be miserable. 

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• mikeandmonica

  November 2008

  We're just going through this with our DS - here is a c&p of the post I did last Monday morning as an AW - I hope it helps! Thank you so much for all the potty training advice (I think it was last week I asked). It was REALLY well this weekend - yesterday there were NO ACCIDENTS at all - even when we were out for lunch and a birthday party! I'm so proud. I just hope that it goes well at daycare this week so that we can really be done with the worst part! This is what we did (in case anyone wants to know): 1) Potty Chair: We're using the little potty chair because it plays music and he gets really excited when it does that. However, if it goes well this week, we're going to "lose" the potty chair this weekend and he'll just have the normal potty. At daycare, they use the normal potty (it is a home daycare). 2) Rewards: When he goes, we get all excited/jump up and down/clap/etc. Then after we clean it up, wash hands, we go to the kitchen and he picks either an M&M or chocolate candy corn (that is what we have right now), and then he gets to pick a sticker to put on his chart (which is really just a piece of paper with his name on the top, and I write the date and put the stickers in that general area). When he had 10 stickers he got to pick a new toy (I had 3 matchbox cars for him to pick from). 3) How often: We took him when he first woke up, and then about every 30-60 minutes after that. This morning, he told DH that he had to go potty while DH was getting ready in the bathroom, so I think he finally figured out how it feels when he needs to go. We found that he would go a little in the potty, say he was done, and then we'd go in the living room and he'd finish going and have an accident. So now we ask him if he is done "pushing it all out" - it really helps because then he realized that he still had more in there that he could let go and be actually done. 4) Pullups/Real underwear: On Saturday, we used real underwear all day (except for naps). On Sunday, we used pullups because we were running around so much. I was told to not use pullups because they feel like diapers so they'll just pee in them anyway, but that hasn't happened to us (thankfully). We'll continue to use real underwear at home and pullups when we're going to be out and about. We also put him in super absorbant sweat pants so when he had an accident it didn't make SUCH a big mess. And we tried to play on the floor on a thick blanket so that we didn't have to keep the carpet cleaner right next to us all day. Thank you so much for all the advice. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well at daycare this week, and then we'll figure out what to do with naps/nighttime.

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• Jerseygirl16

  November 2008

  Thank you so much Monica!  That is VERY helpful.  I love the idea of the chart and the 10 stickers meaning they get a small toy.  I think I'm going to steal that idea! 

   

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• shouldbeworkin

  November 2008

  I actually think you're doing just fine.  Remember that PT'g is a process.  Yeah, some kids will get it overnight, but I don't think that's the norm.  Most need to warm up to the idea and practice a lot.  I highly recommend this book https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0689874235/ref=s9sdps_c1_14_at1-rfc_p-frt_p-3237_p_si3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0D1AXW2G85BBTZQTECGN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=454435901&pf_rd_i=507846

  I used to read it to my DS when he was on the potty all the time.  I think it helped things to click and made him really proud when he did use the potty, which made it more interesting for him. 

  Don't drive yourself too crazy over it.  If you're not going anywhere, put some underwear on her and try it out.  Eventually she's going to let you know that she's ready and then it will probably go very easily.  I'd say it took us 4 mos from when we took our first stab at it b/c DS seemed ready until he said he was ready and he was staying dry and using potties in public that very same weekend.  GL!

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• mikeandmonica

  November 2008

  I'm glad that it helped! Now that he does really well, he kind of forgot the 10 stickers=small toy thing, but we do still give him toys every now and then (like when he was dry all day at daycare for the first time, etc.). Now we just ordered a book from amazon to get him to go poop on the potty. He is TERRIFIED of that.

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