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Potty Training Time!
10/20/2009 4:03:25 PM
How do you tell when it is time to start potty training? What was your secret to help your child succeed?
I'm currently practicing Elimination Communication (EC). I learn the cues for when my child has to go to the bathroom just as I would when she is hungry or tired (which always involves a certain amount of guesswork and timing) and then I put her on her potty to go. I have a lot of misses (I don't even notice her ninja poos sometimes) but I have had quite a few catches of her poos now that she is on solids. I'm not working on pees yet but my sister does this and her daughter has been diaper free during the day since 18 months with very few accidents. But this is something you can start right when they are born, as much or as little as you want.
I was fortunate that my daughter was potty trained by the time she was 15 months old.I loved not having poopy diapers to change.We started working on potty training just before her bathtime when she was around 13 months old.Pretty soon we were poop free completely and even though I still wore pull ups on her for awhile she didn't have accidents and even over night training wasn't bad.She had one or two pee accidents at night where she didn't make it in enough of time to the bathroom but since she's had underwear on she hasn't had problems.The biggest issue was finding underwear small enough for her little butt that actual fit well.She's never had an accident while we were out and even now she wants to check out the bathroom's in a store.Mainly Home Depot.Haha.Main thing is watch for cues, try often, and back off a little bit if the child doesn't seem ready or frusterated.We used a sticker chart for awhile and that worked great.We also bought her a special little toy for her first poop in the potty.
My daughter was "poop" potty trained at around 18 months or a little before but would not let go of the Pee. Well, she is now just shy of 3 years and we dediced over the weekend that we are not buying anymore diapers and lo and behold, she is doing great!!! To help with her motivation, stickers. She LOOOVES stickers so everytime she pees in the potty, she gets a sticker to put on a piece of paper I have hung from the bathroom door..it really works for her......
have your lil' girl follow you into the rest to use it while you use it at te same time.. with boys--the lil' boy needs the male image around-if no male figure avaiable take him to the bathroom upom awakening, after breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, and at bedtime..........
I need to know how i can successfully potty train my son. His brother was potty trained before he was 3years and it is taking forever for my 2 soon to be 3 next month a longer time.
My son is 20 months old and we are just beginning to start potty training. Any tips? I understand that boys are harder to get started than girls.
We used a music box in the bathroom for potty training. My son could only press the play button when he went to the potty. It seemed to be such a thrill for him to hear the music, he "needed" to go every 15 minutes for about 3 days. It got him in the habit of thinking of the purpose of the toilet and he was day trained in less than a week. Night time took a little longer - he was a very sound sleeper!
With my 2 1/2 year old son, using Cool Alert Pull-ups helped him start realizing when he had to pee. While we were on vacation, he suddenly decided he wanted to start using the potty. We quickly transitioned to regular underwear. I purchased underwear with his favorite characters on them.
I have 5 kids and everyone seems to ask me how I potty train thinking that I must be an expert. But little do they know I am truly a failure in this venture. My kids have never been potty trained before the age of 3 1/2yrs. I have tried at 18 months, I have tried forcing my kids every 2 hrs to go, I have tried the underwear strategy, I have tried the "do it on your own time" strategy but after 5 kids I have one left to go and she is 2 1/2 yrs and I have no idea once again what I am doing. I am at a loss and very frustrated. This is the one area I would pay someone to train them for me!!!! I need help.
- Jenna said:
I was fortunate that my daughter was potty trained by the time she was 15 months old.I loved not having poopy diapers to change.We started working on potty training just before her bathtime when she was around 13 months old.Pretty soon we were poop free completely and even though I still wore pull ups on her for awhile she didnt have accidents and even over night training wasnt bad.She had one or two pee accidents at night where she didnt make it in enough of time to the bathroom but since shes had underwear on she hasnt had problems.The biggest issue was finding underwear small enough for her little butt that actual fit well.Shes never had an accident while we were out and even now she wants to check out the bathrooms in a store.Mainly Home Depot.Haha.Main thing is watch for cues, try often, and back off a little bit if the child doesnt seem ready or frusterated.We used a sticker chart for awhile and that worked great.We also bought her a special little toy for her first poop in the potty.
Wow! I thought I was doing really good when my daughter did not want to wear diapers anymore at age 3. I just didnt know that they could start so early . Congratulations to those that started earlier. I must say underwear is much easier than diapers.
when they are ready, they are ready. i don't think anything you do will make it go any quicker.
My sister has 4kids all potty trained at or before 18 mo. She is a stay at home mom which helps but I don't know of any reason for kids to be in diapers past 2 unless they have a medical problem or don't have parents with free time to work with them. (I have met a few people who are grown now but had medical issues like there bladder not growing fast enough that made them wet the bed until they were in middle school and there parents used to spank them for it before they found out it was medical!!!) It takes about a solid week of all day attention then you just have to remember to ask regularly and praise praise praise. I have a cousin whos child wasn't potty trained at 3 I visited for a week and she has been ever since sometime having someone else do it really does help. Kind of like the child who is great at school but talks back at home. I think a lot of people don't realize to start working with them once they are confident walkers and able to communicate there needs (at least a little) One thing I do know is if you scare them with really loud praise sometime they will quit using the potty all together so depending on your childs personality will make the difference in just giving them a sticker or hooting and hollering for them. Best of luck
I used "potty conditioning" with both my boys. The oldest was potty trained by 14 mos, the younger 20mos. (including night time.) Potty conditioning is introducing the potty early on, making it a part of their environment, I would put them on it when they were pretty small (around 6 mos.) After naps, after bottles/eating, and when I (or daddy) would go. For us it was just a natural transition from diapers to potty. There was no fear, and they let me know when they were ready for "big boy" underwear (we went straight from diapers to underwear.)
HELP!we have tried EVERYTHING : prizes toys treats taking things away candy -(my husband and i were at odds about this)- spanking talking about big things he can do afterwards -(start pre K)- stickers charts training targets we have put him back in diapers (on the advice of a social worker working with our DRs office whom we have had to see twice) but our 4 1\2 yr old absoulutly will refuse to go potty i would consider him about half trained - he will sometimes go days without an accident or will have three in one day we think that he is holding it in at school (about 4 hrs) we know that he can do this cause for a month or two it looked like he was going to be all set but then he backslid and we do not know why there was no big changes or even small changes of any kind my son will get VERY grossed out with poop and doesnt really know how to wipe we have an open door policy at home so he sees how I and my husband go we have tried not paying attention to his wetting himself in hopes that we may have been focusing on it too much - but that didnt work we have another 2 yr old son but when he was born we hadnt even began potty training cause we figured that it would be pointless with his backslidding after his brother was born my husband and I are at wits end with this kid and i know that sometimes i let our kid know it which i shouldnt when he would get a sticker taken away for wetting his pants he would laugh and think it was funny we treid both ways with the stickers - just giving and just giving and taking away we tried timed potty breaks but he will just refuse and then 10 mins later wet himself at night he wets the bed about 3 to 4 times per week please help i am at my wits end this is so embrassing to talk about with family and friends or even knowing that he is not poty trained i feel so defeated by my kid just please help me
- Virgene said:
HELP!we have tried EVERYTHING : prizes toys treats taking things away candy -(my husband and i were at odds about this)- spanking talking about big things he can do afterwards -(start pre K)- stickers charts training targets we have put him back in diapers (on the advice of a social worker working with our DRs office whom we have had to see twice) but our 4 1\2 yr old absoulutly will refuse to go potty i would consider him about half trained - he will sometimes go days without an accident or will have three in one day we think that he is holding it in at school (about 4 hrs) we know that he can do this cause for a month or two it looked like he was going to be all set but then he backslid and we do not know why there was no big changes or even small changes of any kind my son will get VERY grossed out with poop and doesnt really know how to wipe we have an open door policy at home so he sees how I and my husband go we have tried not paying attention to his wetting himself in hopes that we may have been focusing on it too much - but that didnt work we have another 2 yr old son but when he was born we hadnt even began potty training cause we figured that it would be pointless with his backslidding after his brother was born my husband and I are at wits end with this kid and i know that sometimes i let our kid know it which i shouldnt when he would get a sticker taken away for wetting his pants he would laugh and think it was funny we treid both ways with the stickers - just giving and just giving and taking away we tried timed potty breaks but he will just refuse and then 10 mins later wet himself at night he wets the bed about 3 to 4 times per week please help i am at my wits end this is so embrassing to talk about with family and friends or even knowing that he is not poty trained i feel so defeated by my kid just please help me
we also tried books, DVDs , money, praise and even more praise, letting him pick out his underwear (and telling him that 'thry (the underwear)' so not like getting wet
when both of my children, now 12 and 9, were ready to potty train, they let my husband and I know. we took them to the store and let them pick out their own underpants and let them know that accidents happen but if they wanted to wear them they had to try very very hard not to have accidents. It took my daughter 2 days to train did not have any more problems, she did get to pick out another set of panties. My son took about a week. By Donna 8:15 pm
my youngest finally potty trained--he's almost 4 1/2. I tried earlier and he wasn't ready. Dr said 20% of boys are not trained at 48 months. I got very frustrated one day 3 weeks ago because he ripped the side out of a pullups twice in one day. I put him in underwear and gave him stickers--he was trained in 3 days. Waiting for the right time paid off. He gets a special reward at the end of this week for doing it 3 weeks straight. Whew! Now we won't get kicked out of preschool.
- Kemi said:
I need to know how i can successfully potty train my son. His brother was potty trained before he was 3years and it is taking forever for my 2 soon to be 3 next month a longer time.
If this doesn't help, maybe it will make you laugh. My oldest two boys were potty trained by 18 months, but my third refused the toilet. One day while my husband was working outside (we live in the country), he took a whiz on a tree. Our then almost three year old decided to follow in dad's footsteps. For about 6 months he would only go to the bathroom outside (number 1 and number 2). Peeing on various rocks and trees became a huge game for him. Cold weather luckily brought him indoors and we eventually "house broke" him. He is now twelve and perfectly normal.
Virgene here is what I would do.... I definately wouldn't go for spanking him or taking things away. It sounds like the negative attention is what he is looking for. Take way all diapers and pull ups and talk with him in a matter a fact kind of way. If he has an accident "talk" with him about things don't ever get mad or frustrated if you and your hubby are past that point you might want to consider having a friend or family member watch him for a few days until he gets the hang of things. I know someone else being able to do something you are having such trouble with can be a big kick in the ego but I am telling you first hand it works! *EVERYONE WITH A BABY IN DIAPERS* This is the most important potty training advice ever and I forgot to mention it.... Change your babies diapers pee or poo it doesn't matter if its only a little ALWAYS keep them dry and they will be so uncomfortable with the idea of being wet or dirty that potty training will be a breeze. This takes extra money and work on your part so instead of buying more expensive diapers so they can pee in them a few times get the cheap store brand and keep them dry or use coupons to buy the more expensive ones. Pull your car over if you know they are wet (if you see a blue SUV on the side of the road chaning a diaper chances are its me and my son lol) No matter where you are stop what you are doing and change your baby if you start this they learn what being wet is and also will learn that they don't like it and will start to hold it at night. Its never too early or late to start this I did it since birth and my son doesn't pee at night and hasn't since he was 4 weeks old (he is now 8mo) I was amazed but I am sure this would be more common if more parents took the time to get up at night and change diapers. WARNING be prepaired to continue if you start this because they will get to hating being wet so much that they wont like people to hold them that don't change them (my MIL never checks my son and he can't stand her) Other than that he is a dream baby who never really "crys" and is always happy!
It was time when the child was interested. The very best tip I have for helping little boys learn to hit the toilet....float Cheerios or Fruit Loops in the water and encourage him to aim for them! Worked like a charm! We kept a small container of cereal in the bathroom - for target practice only!
- Virgene said:
HELP!we have tried EVERYTHING : prizes toys treats taking things away candy -(my husband and i were at odds about this)- spanking talking about big things he can do afterwards -(start pre K)- stickers charts training targets we have put him back in diapers (on the advice of a social worker working with our DRs office whom we have had to see twice) but our 4 1\2 yr old absoulutly will refuse to go potty i would consider him about half trained - he will sometimes go days without an accident or will have three in one day we think that he is holding it in at school (about 4 hrs) we know that he can do this cause for a month or two it looked like he was going to be all set but then he backslid and we do not know why there was no big changes or even small changes of any kind my son will get VERY grossed out with poop and doesnt really know how to wipe we have an open door policy at home so he sees how I and my husband go we have tried not paying attention to his wetting himself in hopes that we may have been focusing on it too much - but that didnt work we have another 2 yr old son but when he was born we hadnt even began potty training cause we figured that it would be pointless with his backslidding after his brother was born my husband and I are at wits end with this kid and i know that sometimes i let our kid know it which i shouldnt when he would get a sticker taken away for wetting his pants he would laugh and think it was funny we treid both ways with the stickers - just giving and just giving and taking away we tried timed potty breaks but he will just refuse and then 10 mins later wet himself at night he wets the bed about 3 to 4 times per week please help i am at my wits end this is so embrassing to talk about with family and friends or even knowing that he is not poty trained i feel so defeated by my kid just please help me
Virgene - I don't have a lot of advice for you because my son who will be 3 next week doesn't want to potty train, either. I have an 8 year old that was a challenge, too - especially with pooping, which we still have a challenge with (especially the messiness, not knowing how to wipe, like you mentioned with your son) No matter WHAT we did or said, he was a challenge. Buw now..we're having less and less challenges - SLOWLY but SURELY. However, at night, we still put him in pull-ups. He is a very, very deep sleeper - so no matter what we've done, he wets at night. If I pull him out of bed to go during the night, he's so deeply asleep that it's a fiasco to get him to the toilet to go...and then he's so overtired during the day because of the disrupted sleep. So for now...we keep him in pull-ups at night and his daytime habits, though like I said we still have some challenges, are very close to normal now. My best advice is spare yourself the frustration and put him in pull-ups at night!! It's terrible to have to wash all of his sheets and blankets every day, as well as him having to sleep in wet pajamas. I've read countless information about kids who sleep so deeply that they wet at night, sometimes even 'til age 11 or so! Concentrate on getting him potty trained during the day...and put your son in pull-ups at night to save you both the extra frustration! Good luck! It'll all work out - how many adults do you know that aren't potty trained? That's the perspective that other people used to point out to me. It'll all work out. Good-luck!
I truly think that when your kids are ready they will be ready. I tried with my daughter from the time she was 2 - she could have cared less. I bought books, read message boards and tried every trick I read about - nothing. Then one day about a week after she turned 3 she decided she didn't want pull-ups anymore and she has never put them back on - she is fine all night and uses the potty every time. She knew when she was ready and then it was like an instant switch. Give kids a chance to be kids and let them tell you when they are ready..
- Melody said:
I have 5 kids and everyone seems to ask me how I potty train thinking that I must be an expert. But little do they know I am truly a failure in this venture. My kids have never been potty trained before the age of 3 1/2yrs. I have tried at 18 months, I have tried forcing my kids every 2 hrs to go, I have tried the underwear strategy, I have tried the do it on your own time strategy but after 5 kids I have one left to go and she is 2 1/2 yrs and I have no idea once again what I am doing. I am at a loss and very frustrated. This is the one area I would pay someone to train them for me!!!! I need help.
I have a set of twin girls and come to the decision that they are going to do it when they are ready. One was trained at 2 1/2 and it was as easy as asking if she would like to wear underwear after coaxing her to sit on a little potty a few times and she loved it and hated the couple of accidents, so she always went to the potty after that. My other twin was did not care about it at all and flat out refused any potty training technique. Finally 2 weeks before the 3rd birthday I told her that 3 year olds are allowed to wear diapers. They are big kids and have to wear underwear. We counted down the days and she never let me forget that she wasn't 3 yet until the VERY day of the birthday. Then she put on the underwear, and though we fought her on the pooping in them for a week or so, she pretty much jumped on the potty band wagon. The secret with her was giving her some time to get used to the idea, before forcing the issue.
Excellent subject...I am passing this on to my daughter.............
My son was potty trained by the time he was 20 months old. I was a single parent and I would take him to the bathroom with me when I had to go myself. At this age he was mimmicking everything I did from talking to doing things. So I just put his potty chair across from the toilet and he would try to do everything I did and one morning he woke up took off his diaper and said "no more diaper". From that day on he didn't need a diaper, never wet the bed, and I was so proud. I didn't push him, he decided on his own when he was ready, I just helped give him the knowledge he needed to be able to take control of this step in his life. If I can give any advice, do not scold your child for accidents (that is why they are called accidents) and do not push them, they will get the hang of potty training when they are ready.
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