What is the best way to potty train?

Ashley - posted on 12/28/2011

Roybn, we used the floor potties and the big potties.. We had a potty in every room of the house during the potty training period. It helped her feel like she had a choice of where she could go potty and all too until she decided she only wanted to use the big girl potty now. But it was helpful to have one everywhere. But it took my daughter a few accidents to get the concept and then it was more times making it to the potty and less accidents, then no accidents after a few days :) She is also 22 months and day time, and night time potty trained. She was underwear to sleep now and doesn't even ask to go potty in the middle of the night and holds it all night long! :)

Robyn - posted on 12/28/2011

@Christina I have a 22 month old daughter that we are trying the 3 day method with. Today was day 1 and she did 2 pees in her underwear and 2 poops and nothing in the toilet. We have the toilet seat, not the floor potty, should we use one of them? I think she will just get up and leave however her vocabulary is still very minimal and I can't seeing her asking to use the potty for us to help her on the big one either. We are hoping for a hand gesture. She is a smart kid and tells us when she wants something by pointing at it. Can you pls give me some more insight! Thanks so much!!

Christina - posted on 12/08/2011

We did the '3day potty trainin' method. You can find several different ones online but really they are all about the same. Our daughter was COMPLETELY potty trained at 18 MONTHS day and night! She did so wonderful and I am so proud! It takes a lot of determination from both of you. The jist of these methods are.... You get rid of the diapers AND the PULL UPS TO! Throw them away so you aren't tempted. Explain to them that they dont wear diapers anymore bc they are for babies and they are a big boy/girl now. Put the panties on them and tell them to keep their panties/underwear dry. You give them a lot of liquids, every chance you get. That gives you more chances to 'teach' them. You keep reminding them to tell you when they have to go potty and tell them to keep their underwear dry. Also, keep telling them that you are so proud of them and they are such a big boy/girl! Mention it every 5 min so it is always fresh on their mind! When they start to potty in their panties/underwear run to the potty NEVER use the word "NO!" or any other discouraging words! I SAID NEVER! This method is all about positive reinforcement! Just simply tell them that they were suppose to tell you when they had to go potty and that their underwear are now all wet! Yucky. But don't make them feel bad. Tell them to tell you sooner next time. Then dont mention it again. Remember it is all about positive reinforcement! Simply put new underwear on them and keep reminding them. When you run them to the potty even if they get the teenyist-tiny little dribble in the potty get excited and complement them! They LOVE to make you happy. Then give them a reward (sticker, snack, whatever you would like. But remember you are filling them full of liquids so there are going to be lots of rewards! We gave our daughter a couple of the gerber yogart melts or a couple fruit snacks. unless she pooed then she got the whole pack of fruit snacks!) You have to really be ready for this though... bc you HAVE to stay right by your child through out the ENTIRE 3 days! No leaving the house no leaving even the room! Stay right there by them. We did lots of coloring, painting, reading books, lots of just playing in the floor, whatever she wanted to do! It was actually so much fun! Bonding time! If you start the method then you need to be there through the whole duration. Dont leave with daddy until after the 3 days! It also says NEVER OUT YOUR CHILD ON THE POTTY AND 'WAIT' FOR THEM TO GO POTTY! It is like a time out and eventually they will resent the potty bc it feels like they are in trouble! Also, be sure to give a fiber inriched diet for a couple days. You dont want it to be hard for them to go poopoo on the potty. If it is they are putting it on the potty for hurting them. Stop liquids 2-3 hr before bed and make sure they got peepee at least 2x before they go to bed at night. At nap time stop them a little before and make sure they go at least once and they should be fine. Also, since durning the 3 days you are pumping them so full of liquids they will probley wet the bed at night but that is ok just change it tell them that it is OK to get up and go potty at night and put them right back to bed. After the 3 days it will get better bc you wont be giving them so many liquids. If they are not currently waking up dry wake them up at night about 1-2hr after they fall asleep to go pee and about 1 hr before they would normally get up to go pee. DON'T PUT ANY DIAPER OR PULL UP ON THEM WHILE THEY ARE SLEEPING OR AT NAP. Even pull ups feel like diapers to them. If you out it on them then they will use it! Why would you want to confuse them! After all you are 'training' them. Also remember that during the 3 days they are NOT accidents they are just another chance to teach them! ....And always remember NEVER put your child on the potty and 'wait'. It is ok to put them on there just before you leave of right before bed but if they dont go in the first 30sec-1min take them off bc they dont need to go. We just asked our daughter and if she said no then we didnt make her bc it is all about trusting them! They want to know that you trust them! Their bodies releases is the ONLY thing they can control!

Now for our experiance...I started our daughter at 10am and noon she was already running to the potty saying "i go peepee! I go peepee!" (they dont have to be able to take to know they have to go, they will show other signs like grabbing in that area) She was peeing on the way but she had already cought on. By the evening she was telling me before she had completely gone (her panties were a little wet but that is not an 'accident' it is a sign of starting to show bladder control. If your childs have a little dribble in them dont say anything! That is actually at GREAT thing!)! Overnight she did we the bed once.
Day 2 she did WONDERFUL all day! Then the evening came and she would try to go and hide and do her business. (They say that it is very common for them to do this or throw a fit when you take them intot the bathroom after they had already done great. It is all bc they are trying to get their diapers back bc the new is running off and diapers were easier. Just keep doing what you have been doing, dont get frustraited, and it will end. Sometimes it is after the 3 days even just keep doing what you were doing!)
Overnight of day 2 she did wet the bed once.
Day 3 she woke up and DIDNT WET HER PANTIES ONCE ALL DAY!! Not once!! We just took hack up where we had left off.... After that she has only wet the bed maybe 3x in the last 4 months! 3x!! We used to wake her up an hr or 2 after she fell asleep to go potty so she would know that it is ok to wake up and go. But, now she wakes up on her own and she hasn't had an accident at night in over 2 months! Not 1! Because she is so good about waking up to go we give her her drink up until about 30 min before bed and then she gets a sip of water after she brushes her teeth right before bed. I will say though after about 2weeks into this method she got constipatied and it hurt her when she went poo and then she got so affraid of going poo on the potty (pee was still great). It took a little over a week of encouragement but she got right back on track but it was terrible during that week! Be sure to keep them full of fiber! I swear by this method! Like I said, my daughter woke up on the 3rd day and never looked back! No wet panties all day on day 3! Some kiddos take the full 3 days and then at the end of day 3 it just 'clicks'!

One more thing it says if you are currently trying another method and it obviously isnt working so for a full 30 days go back to diapers and start fresh! If you choose not to this method will still work but may take longer then 3 days. This method also says that EVERY child is ready at 22 months!

Sorry about my novel but we had such AMAZING success that I have to share! Everyone always asks how we did it and I told 3 of my friends (all of them with kids w/in 6weeks of age to mine) and 2 of them did it to a 'T' with their of kids and one got it in 2 days and the other got it on the 3rd day!!! My 3rd friend did everything to a 'T' except take the pull up away at night, in the car, and in public and her kiddo is doing very well but it was been 5 weeks and she still has accidents every day but still doing good. There is proof in that for me though!...NO PULL UPS AND NO DIAPERS! They learn MUCH quicker!

Ashley - posted on 12/02/2011

My daughter is fully potty trained, day and night in underwear.. What we basically did when she was looking like she was ready, was let her pick out underwear with her favorite characters and just put them on her and let her have accidents. We would still take her about every 30 min to a hour and it only took a few accidents and was pretty much potty trained after a few days. Just recently decided to keep her in undies for bed, but shes been in undies during the day for about 2 months now. Once she got the hang of it during the day, she started being dry at night without waking up to potty in the middle of the night and she's learning to drain her bladder instead of just peeing a little every time like she did in the beginning.. She even went without having any accidents when we were on a 13 hour road trip. She refused to pee in her pull up, and waited until we could get to a bathroom! All it took was those few accidents that weekend in underwear for her to realize she didn't like that feeling. We also made a potty chart for her and got her a bunch of stickers that she could put on her chart everytime she went potty and she LOVED that. Good Luck.. :)

Ellyn - posted on 12/02/2011

We recently started reading a potty book and now I think my 21 month old daughter is ready to start on her own potty. She usually lets me know when she's soggy or smelly.

As this is my first child I have no idea if there is a "right way" I should do it for her. I know some friends used a reward system for their daughter, but their daughter wasn't really ready for potty training until she was three. I'm hoping her reasoning skills will kick in, especially since she doesn't like dirty diapers, and because she loves praise when she does something we like. I think the big thing you need to keep is patience. Some kids may think it's fun for a while but then the novelty wears off. My husband has an aunt whose daughter wasn't potty trained at 4/5 because she didn't want to be. Then she asked her mommy to go to school and his aunt said she couldn't until she went on the potty and she "learned" overnight. Just stick with persistence and praise. Otherwise, it wouldn't hurt to check out some potty training books from the library.

Good luck!

Loris - posted on 11/28/2011

I think you are half way (very jealous) just take the nappy, and take your baby every 15 min to the toilet, once you decide to take the nappy do not put it back on, I did it with my LB when he was 23 monthsand he potty trained in 5 days! of course we had accidents, but was very quick! Now with my 21 months LG is another story!!! she can be with a dirty nappy for an hour before I notice and she doesn't say anything + :-(

Robyn - posted on 11/25/2011

I am going to start my daughter here soon too! She is also 21 months. I heard putting them on every 20-30 min is the trick. We'll soon find out! Good luck!