Potty-training help/question (for moms of older kids)

HopingForOne · October 2011

Ladies, I need help!

We have begun the potting-training process with our daughter, who is not quite 2 and a half. It's only been a week, but I feel stuck. Based on what is going on, I have no idea whether we're in a "this is normal, stick with it" situation, or a "oh, it's obvious she's not ready" situation.

So, right now, I'd just like some feedback on this:

1. What would YOU take as signs that a child is NOT ready to be potty-trained

2. What would you take as signs that the potty-training process look promising?

Thanks in advance for your help. I'd like some generic opinions before I post our actual situation.

sterfehr · October 2011

My DS is also 2 1/2 and he's just starting to show some interest. He says he wants to try and go but then freaks out when he has to get on the potty. I'm taking that as he's not ready. My neighbor, who has a 3 1/2 year old, told me yesterday that it was like a light just went on and he was ready. My mom tells me that when the child can pull their own pants down and up they are ready. I think I am going to wait another month and then try again. Good luck though!

doodahsgurl · October 2011

Well, I'd say if she is intersted in sitting on the potty and doesn't cry or act as though she is forced, that's a good sign. I used a sticker chart as reward and it was a great motivator. Sometimes she even got to call grandparents to share her great news. We started out taking her every hour. Sometimes there was success, sometimes not. Then we went to every two hours.

1. crying, never potties in toilet, not interested in panties or pulling clothes up and down.

2. has some accidents but goes in toilet sometimes, is excited about it

krazykat415 · October 2011

I've never potty trained that early but my boys never showed interest at that point. Every child is ready at different stages. My older two never had interest, my youngest when he was 3.5 all of a sudden wanted to go and wanted to wear big boy pants like his brothers. If they are showing interesting in the bathroom, asking if they can try, not liking to be in a wet diaper or a messy one.

good luck potty training can sometimes seem like one step forward 2 steps back

CourtneyM09 · October 2011

We bought a little portable potty last Christmas when DD was 2.5 and just let it sit in our living room. She used it maybe two or three times in the same amount of months, but then seemed to express more interest in it in the spring. I bought big girl underwear and absolutely didn't put any pullups or diapers on her...she hated when she peed on herself, so she was potty trained within days. (She does wear a pullup at night.) GL!!

jessicaanabel · October 2011

I potty trained my daughter at 2.5 by removing her diapers and having her use underwear 24/7. I'd regularly take her to the toilet to do her thing. There were accidents of course, but I found she picked things up much quicker than when I tried with the pull-ups.

She also had a rough patch with the toilet, where she didn't like being placed on it, but we bought her a cute potty seat that got her attention in a positive way, and at that point she was much more willing to actually sit on it.

christinak22 · October 2011

We started DD just last week and it's going pretty well. She was asking about it and has been pooping on the potty for months because she hates the feeling in her diaper and lets us know before she has to go.

The reason we decided to start really going for it is because she was asking to wear underwear and was waking up from naps with dry diapers. We asked her pedi at her 2-year check-up for advice/recommendations and she said to skip pull-ups as much as possible and allow for a few weeks of accidents. She said it should take a few weeks to get the regular potty routine down at home, then we can start working on going in public and eventually move to naptime/bedtime.

I would say it's probably not time if they're completely resisting it. If they don't want to train, I think they probably just won't.

I'm interested to hear what your situation is.

Shmogan09 · October 2011

We just potty trained DS and here is what I did. First 4 days I made him try every 15 min. On the 5th day it started to become a struggle so instead I started asking instead of making him do it. He caught on to this pretty well with only a couple accidents. By day 7 he was going when reminded and now at 2 weeks I only have to remind him if we are out and having a lot of fun and he is really distracted.

I would say if she is still not recognizing the need to go MOST of the time by 2 weeks she isn't ready. But if accidents only happen when you don't remind her then she is getting it. I wondered if it was working a few times but I just kept at it and went with his personality and he got it.

Edit- Also, we keep the little potty in the living room so he can just go really fast without having to stop playing. And we used m&ms to get him to start doing it initially. After the first 3 days he stopped even asking for the reward!

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