Come in if you've potty trained

Two*True · September 2011

I only have experience in a daycare setting and with my own child it's a bit different.

So as I posted before DD used the potty in Portugal and a few times at home when we returned. She loves sitting on the potty and has a real interest it in. She also tells me anytime she pees or poos in her diaper.

I decided that starting this past weekend, whenever we are at home I would keep her in cloth training pants and/or let her play naked (downstairs is mostly tile/hard floor so it's easy clean up.

We spent most of Saturday playing in the bathroom. She sits on the potty, wipes herself, then throws the tp in the regular toilet. We did this 100+ times, fine. She would often be playing, start to pee, and then run to the potty, but never actually went in the potty.

Fine, cool, I'm not really trying to hard core train. BUT, I have noticed she is now freaked out by pooping. When she knows she is going to poop, or starts to, she runs to me scared. And if she is mid-poop and I try to put her on the potty she freaks the fvck out. I suppose in the loose fitting cloth training pants pooping feels much different than in a diaper - right?

The other thing is that now when she is in a diaper (like when we run to the store) she constantly tells me when it is wet and wants it off right then. There is no more waiting. I suppose that's a good thing but a bit of a PIA when she starts screaming "poop, poop, poop!" while I'm trying to simply buy milk. :-p (she uses poop as a catchall for poop and pee)

Anyway....if you've made it this far, and have successfully potty trained a child (or two!) let me in our your secrets.

butterflygrooves · September 2011

The poop fear is normal, a lot of kids think going poop in the potty is like giving a part of themselves up and it scares them. It's going to take time (and a lot of poop accidents) but she will come to understand that going poo in the potty is a good/normal thing.

It sounds like she is showing a real interest in wanting to use the potty to pee! I found, when potty training A, that taking her to sit on the potty every 15-20 minutes for a minute or two worked well and there were less accidents. She got the hang of peeing in the potty after about 2 months of these potty breaks but still had the occasional accident. Using the potty for poop took awhile longer and I didn't really push it (no pun intended), A caught on when she decided she didn't like the feel of poop in her pull-up/underwear.

Sticker charts and rewards didn't work well with A but I think the praise and encouragement and feeling like a big girl were what helped her. I bought her a couple small potty books so she could read about other kids using the toilet and they seemed to keep her interest up.

I hope this helps!

Two*True · September 2011

Each bathroom is stocked with books and I bought a child's potty for the downstairs bathroom as well. I set up a small bin with clean training pants and one for soiled ones.

I found she likes to pick out the clean pair herself and when she thinks she has to go she tries to pull the pants down by herself. She isn't so good with the down part but she is getting much better at pulling them back up.

It's all just really darn cute! It makes her seem like such a big girl :-)

butterflygrooves · September 2011

Awww, how cute! She will get better at pulling them down and she will be using the potty by herself before you know it.

)

ctbride08 · September 2011

I have nothing useful to add but she is just such a smart cookie. I'm so excited for her and you!

Meegs10.13.06 · September 2011

We aren't anywhere near there with Gwen yet, but something my friend did with her daughter which seemed to help was narrating her own bathroom trips. I'm guessing that your DD has spent plenty of time making trips to the bathroom with you, but it helped her DD to hear what her mom was doing. Sounds weird, but saying, Mommy's going poop in the potty now! Mama's wiping her bottom now! And then letting her daughter flush afterwards. It helped her be more comfortable with the whole process.

Two*True · September 2011

Meegs10.13.06:
I'm guessing that your DD has spent plenty of time making trips to the bathroom with you,

Yup, there is no such thing as privacy in my house. Usually there is a child and perhaps a dog or two in the bathroom with me. LO is really into watching everything I do. Even if she's not going potty she will take toilet paper and try to throw it into the toilet when I'm done.

Well it sounds like we're on the right track. I have a feeling this is going to be a very long road but at least so far it's been mostly good stuff.

2brides · September 2011

No other advise here - since as I posted before my kids were late to the potty training game.

I don't know if she is too young for incentives (honestly I can barely remember my kids being that young!) but people told us to use M&Ms for incentives. My kids could have cared less. We did find that they were motivated by Dum-Dum lollipops (which obviously aren't going to work for her.) Stickers? Does she care?

Just follow her lead. It is a long process. The first few months of PK3, they came home with wet clothes almost every day. And even now STILL we days where they have accidents because it is such a hassle to stop playing and go to the bathroom. Confused