I have been steadily training my 3 yr old daughter for a month now and it seems like we are making very slow forward progress. She likes wearing panties but isn't consistent with telling us that she needs to go. Sometimes she'll dribble a bit and say she needs to go but doesn't always. Sometimes will be full blown puddle and she doesn't notice it. Poop only gets in if we notice her pushing and rush her to the potty before she finishes. It's frustrating and I'm trying not to let it show but sometimes it slips and I have tried to vent on other boards only to be insulted, ridiculed and burned in effigy. We still put her on every hour but I don't think she always realizes when she needs to go. Maybe she wasn't ready when we started but we can't go back to diapers. Some days she'll hold it for hours and others less than an hour.
At home, she wears a t-shirt and panties. I've done pull-ups and panties on different occasions out and sometimes we're good and others we're not. She gets pez, stickers (we're on our second potty chart) and coins for her piggy bank every time she goes. When she fills a row, she gets to pick a prize out of her prize bucket.
It's so frustrating and disheartening when I read about how so many other kids got it in less than a week and here we are a month out and I still go through at least 3 pairs of panties a day. I'm hoping she'll get it down by Christmas.
Re: long time potty training 3 yr old girl
I guess I'm just saying we are struggling too and not everyone gets it right away. You can always talk to your pedi for ideas too.
When she wets or poops herself, she is put straight on the potty to see if she is done. Going with nothing doesn't phase her because she has watched herself pee and doesn't do anything. I already have plastic table cloths on my couch (which really sucks during summer). I've already done the stuck in the house bit and it drove us both nuts. We just had our first couch accident a few minutes ago. Yesterday she had to go while I was taking the dog out. She did walk to the potty and sit down and some of it got in but she didn't pull her panties down and a lot got on the floor.
I don't see her making any forward progress and I'm tired of going through 5 pairs of panties a day. How do you all make them help clean up? I really don't want her touching the poop in the panties while I 'm trying to wash them or the rug cleaner.
The poop consistency varies - some days firm and some days mush- the mush days she never makes it in time
It really is hard to keep your cool--especially when you're going through tons of undies every single day! We had an entire month (as recommended) where we were not allowed to ask about the potty or even really say the word "potty" around our son and he would just pee on the floor multiple times a day. Towards the end of the month he just got it. Thank goodness!!!! Stay the course, try some things mentioned in the article I linked, and good luck!
Xander: November 30, 2010
Ramona: June 14, 2013
Ursula: November 1, 2014
well - she'll be back with grandma during the day when I go back to work Sept 2 for the new school year. Some days she's spot on and others it's accident after accident. She won't go at daycare even though they put her on the potty. She's gone once. I'm hoping she'll be trained by Christmas. I was hoping that this would be easy when she first showed interest at 18 months and then she went completely against it for 6 months, then showed interest again and then went completely against it. It took 4 months to fill the first row of 9 stickers on her potty chart. We are now on potty chart #2 and seemingly nowhere closer to the finish line because she probably is resisting it because she doesn't like it. She likes wearing panties though. Naptime and nighttime are an even longer way off...