Potty training

Ashley - posted on 01/17/2010

I have also been having a hard time teaching my daughter, who turned 2 on the 5th, to use the potty. She was real into it when she was about 20 mos and she was making good progress. But all of a sudden she wont tell me untill after she goes. It has become frustrating...i think i will have to take some of the tips from these post

Megan - posted on 01/15/2010

I agree with the mums that say take the queue from your child.My daughter turned 2yrs today (yay :)). And a few days ago she walked up to me and made me follow her to the toilet she pointed to it and said "toilet,toilet" i took her nappy off and put her on and she went.Im not pushing it but just take my queue from her and every time she asks to use it i put her on and shes doing wonderfully.Throughout the day i just ask her every now and then "do you want to go wee wees on the "Big Toilet" and most of the time she does.Im sure you and your baby will find a way that is comfortable and works well for both of you.Good Luck :)

Lisa - posted on 01/15/2010

I am a firm believer in your child will let you know when they're ready. Like everything, a child will develop in its own time. My youngest was two last week and shock horror he isn't even talking yet, never mind wanting the potty! Am I worried.... erm no! I have learnt that pushing a child doesn't necessarily get the results you want and can end up with an un-happy child and a frustrated parent. My eldest was just over 21/2 when he went on the potty. The potty was hanging around for quite a while before that, but he didn't show an interest. Then one day, we talked and he said he'd like to use it.... we used stickers as a reward (because he understood what it meant), and if he did more than 6 wee's on the potty, he got a special sticker (after having a star sticker for each wee)... if he got more than 4 special stickers in one week, he could have a surprise toy. Needless to say, after 3 days he got the hang of it, and within a week he was dry at night too. In 3 years, he's had less than 5 accidents at night. I shall follow that stance with my youngest (although every child is different!!).

What I would advise is that every child is different, and what works for one (and their parents) won't necessarily work for the next one. Persevere and you will get their eventually, but don't get angry or cross with your child for not conforming, as this could set them back. Also, do it when you have not got much on social wise... less stress for the mum that way too!

Valyncia - posted on 01/13/2010

I feel the same way if their is anybody that can help please telll me. My daughter will be 2 on 1*18 and she stilll not using it. And when she does she say ma ma Katelin use it all over herself as though she is another person.

Jaye - posted on 01/11/2010

Hi how r u? my daughter is 2 on the 27th and she is fully potty trained now, every time i went to the toilet i sat her on the potty and told her what i was doing and then she just decided to be miss i can do it myself now... just dont pressure her and when she does a wee or poo make a huge deal about it jump up n down and say yay clap your hands i no u might feel silly but it helps then when my daughter started using the potty after a while she would clap and say yay!!! reward her with a lolly too. goodluck

Marivette - posted on 01/10/2010

Pamela,
Have you tried pouring warm water on his belly. That will usually get and "holder" to go pee. It does sometimes take several tall plastic cups, but it works.

Pamela - posted on 01/10/2010

I agree with Marivette I think children are ready much earlier than we give them credit for its a learned behavior .. since starting the potty training 5 days ago we are now on day 2 of no accidents !!! he is in his big boys pants and we are still having fun day 2 and 3 was hard work and Im going to increase my timer method to every 45 minutes .. next Christmas when my hubby and I both have 2.5 weeks off over christmas we will be training our youngest and Im excited about it he will be 19 months and Im confident we will be nappy free by 2011!!!

Marivette - posted on 01/10/2010

Hi ALL....I have read many of the posts here in reply to Denytra's question. My 8th child will be 2 yrs old on the 13th. She has been potty trained since 20 months. I am sorry, I hope this doesn't sound rude or anything, but I do not believe we have to wait until a child is "ready" to potty train. We as the mommy make the child ready by teaching them. It is my determination, attitude, and complete confidence in my child that encourages them to do this. Please, don't be upset with me. My biggest motivation, was a lack of funds for disposable diapers, and being sick and tired of cloth diapers. So, yes, I made my baby be ready, not in an angry disposition, but in a happy one.



I always start by putting them on regular toilet. A great time to do this is as soon as the child wakes in the morning. We can usually catch the morning pee in the toilet, and upon waking from a nap. Also, when we see the child begin a bowel movement, this is a good time to take them to the toilet and let them finish on the pot.



Books are a good distraction for when the child might need to take longer to go pee or poo. This was a fun time for me to read a book to my little one. They enjoyed sitting on the toilet for this reason. Yes, they did squirm at times and got bored so then I would take them off.



In the beginning, I never ask them if they needed to go potty, I just take them every hour. I set a timer to remind me. After about 4 days, the baby can go every 1 1/2 hours. Seems like alot of work, it is, but that is being a mother. I pour warm water on their belly to help them to release, I make a big deal about going pee-pee in the toilet by clapping, laughing, hugging, etc. (putting children the opposite way on the toilet helps with any fear of the "big hole" cuz their legs support them very well). As time goes by, the time to take to the tiolet will increase.



I am a stay-at-home. So I know this may not work for everyone. I do limit my outings during these first 2 weeks of tiolet training. I am calm and relaxed. I make sure that I watch for the "signs".



To reduce the messes, I put on the training underwear (these are thicker than regular undies) and a plastic underwear. I don't use pull-ups as these allow the child to stay dry. They do not feel the wetness as with an underwear or even a cloth diaper. These underwear are usually enough to catch any messes. Going out can be tricky, but I always come up with different ideas to overcome this.



Night time toilet training includes: taking child to the potty before bed, using a cloth diaper so child can feel the wetness, and setting an alarm to wake in the middle of the night to take child to toilet. I have done this with all eight and do not have a bed wetter.



I know early toilet training seems unrealistic. Believe me it is not. Like I said, my little one was potty trained during the day by 20 months. By 21 months night time potty trained. By 22 months, I could rely on her telling me when she needed to go potty. I hope this helps somehow.

Pamela - posted on 01/07/2010

I have a nearly two year old that we have been pre potty training for some time he has had alot of moves and people in and out of his life lately but we have no choice as he wont leave a nappy on so two days ago we started putting him on the potty every 20 minutes and if he goes he gets a sticker for his chart. He is funny he will hold it in and hardly every go when we out him on but each day we have had 1 more success than the day before my friend did this and her some was toilet trained fully in 2 weeks I think my son will take a bit longer but we are excited doing it its hard work cause I also have a 10 month old. so he is feeling felt out as much as we try to include him we can't but hopefully it wont take too long and then next summer we will train the the younger one.

the annoying part is I know he needs to go but he holds it in for AGES!!! it doesn't say any where how to cope with that .

Natasha - posted on 01/06/2010

My son, who is now almost seven, did really well. I now have twin girls, who will be two the end of January......that's when we are going to start the "potty"experience,lol. I think that I have my mind built up on this being hard but I hope it goes well, fingers crossed!!! Two is going to be a bit more difficult I think. Both girls are really smart and knows all about when they need their pamper changed and can they us when they pee pee or pooped, so I hope that's a good sign.....I'll keep you posted on our progress:) Any other Mom's of multiples out there to give us some advice with potty training more than one? Thanks and good to all.

Ashley - posted on 01/03/2010

well i dont have a daughter but i helped my single mother sister and she used a reward chart so many time a day got a sticker or a piece of candy or a favorite tv show if you say she is smart she will understand the concept make it a game and very fun

Donna - posted on 01/02/2010

my little boy , who was 2 today talks about it has the lingo down and the idea but has never used it. My sister who watches him during the day is working on itand he is wearing pull ups but has never used the potty. sits on it all the time but never used it. I am thinking girls are easier with this.

Semira - posted on 01/02/2010

thanks for the interesting replies. I'm having a hard time getting my son to go on the potty. He'll be two as well at the end of january.. Whenever I show it to him he runs away. He doesn't speak that much and doesn't say pooh or pee. He's growing up with three languages.

Samantha - posted on 12/30/2009

I agree, you just have to work with what your child seems ready for. My daughter is the same age and we bought her a potty at around 19 mos. I always used the potty when she did, that really seemed to help get the point across. She even cheers for other people now when they go to use the potty.
She has progressively done better with using the potty since that time and even likes to use the "big potty" at grandmas and sometimes at home. She uses the potty every 2 hours or so (longer if I forget) at home and at daycare but she still seems to be just a little wet inbetween those times. Now that she is almost 2 I am trying to get more serious about it. She just completed her first sticker reward chart (a dora one, found at target by the little pottys) and I created a new one for her to use from now on that is more personalized and tailored to her. There are four rows of circles that she will fill up- 1 sticker for peeing on the potty and 2 for pooping on the potty. At the end of each row she gets a big sticker. At the end of the sticker sheet is a picture of a gift. She knows that when she fill up the whole chart she gets to pick out a toy/another gift. I would be happy to email the chart to anyone looking for something similar.

Sometimes when I ask her if she wants to use the potty she tells me no but I know that its time for her to go. Then I just say that mommy needs to use the potty and she is very quick to help me get to the bathroom. I always pull out some drama so she thinks that I REALLY need to go and I am so happy that she is helping me. THen she always has to go once we get there. So that is something to consider.

Most of all, really play up the praise when your child uses the potty. I am sure you do that already though! We make a big deal about it. She loves to take her potty chart to grandmas house and show her how much she has been using the potty. We always praise her and tell her that we are very proud of her when she uses a potty or tells us that she used the potty that day at school.

Desiree - posted on 12/29/2009

When Emma (my 4 year old who will be 5 in March) was ready to train I just worked it at her pace. She started potty training about 2 and we used pull ups... we would ask her if she needed to pee pee every hour or so during the day until she started telling us she had to pee... we had both the little insert seat and a potty chair which she used both... as she got better at letting us know when she had to go I moved her into panties and used the pull up only at night... at about 2 1/2 I finally got rid of the pull ups because for at least 3 months I threw them away dry every morning when putting her in panties... (she was ready to move out of pull up earlier but mommy wasn't LOL). Emma has never had a night time accident either... not once...

So I am planning to do the same with Lilly (she will be 2 in Jan)... we have already introduced her to the potty and she has peed and pooped in it quite a bit but she still doesn't let us know when she needs to go. But I am not going to push her, just take it at a pace that she seems comfortable with and hope that it's as easy as it was with Emma...

Ohhh also, one thing I do is Lilly takes me pee pee... I will tell her that I need to go and she takes my hand and leads me to the bathroom, puts up the toilet seat and tells me to go... so it seems to be helping her to understand.

LOL actually I think the hardest part has been teaching my oldest how to wipe her booty properly... that's a whole new story!!

Good luck and just be patient and consistent with what ever you choose to do... it will eventually kick in!!!

Grace - posted on 12/29/2009

My daughter is also going to be 2 this Jan. She dislike the potty. But strangely, it wasn't to bad with the toilet. So, I bought this small toilet seat that sits on top of the adult toilet so her backside does not go in too deep. At first she goes up and down on the seat as well and really throw fits when trying to be sitted. But it's true that they like the activities connected to it. For example to open and close the toilet lid and then to flush on their own. Praise her after she's done :) After a while she's ok to go sit on her toilet and say, I want to wee wee.. but this doesn't mean everytime she won't pee on her pants... Anyway... just persevere and good luck!

Danni - posted on 12/29/2009

I don't know how to remedy your problem as my daughter is the same. I have decided to not push & have it happen on her time. I ask her & she goes on the potty & the toilet but not regularily. My boyfriend & I both work full-time jobs, so it is hard to have consistency. I wish you luck!!

Felicia - posted on 12/28/2009

Ok, I found this book and have read it, but not tried it. It is called Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day: Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro by Teri Crane. It says to buy a doll that wets and set a whole day aside for a potty party. Hats, Stickers, all that jazz. Put underwear on the doll and get the potty out. (It says you can use a doll that doesnt wet and just have a squirt bottle with water or lemonade or something in it too.) First, show your child how the doll sits on the potty and uses the potty. Cheer for the doll, and make a big deal out of her peeing on the potty. Do this a couple times, then give the doll to the child. Have the child "teach" the doll how to use the potty, and suposedly this works like a charm. I haven't tried it personally, but the book was written by a woman who says she tried EVERYTHING else, and when she found out this worked, she wrote this book. My son will be 2 Jan 10th, and we are going to start training on the 11th. I am going to try this method, and I will keep you all posted.

Sammantha - posted on 12/22/2009

My daughter Makenzie will be doing real good at using the potty and then she'll regress which from what I'm told is normal. I have potty charts and we put together a basket full of books. We also went out and got training pants from gerber. We also have been using an award system and we also give her a cup while she sits on the potty so that she knows the the peepee goes in the potty. Its been working the times that she regresses is when she poops in the potty, for some reason it scares her and then after she wont use it for a couple of days..

Monika - posted on 12/18/2009

my son will be 2 at end of Jan and we too hav been trying to sit on the potty, he likes it, reads his bookies while sitting but wont go in the potty, but as soon as the diaper goes on again he does his thing. I've been told u need 3 days of time and patience: take the nappy off and remind them all the time do u need to potty? and put them on. If they peepee in their pants they wont like the wet feeling so put them back on the potty and remind again to peepee on the potty. Continue like this for 3 days, even if u have accidents dont go back to the diaper unless bedtime. Soon they should put it together. We will be trying this weekend as hubby is on leave now. Lets hope for the best!

Claire - posted on 12/07/2009

hi my son is 2 in january and he is doing very well on the potty all i did was leave his potty in the room he played with it for first for a couple of days i would also leave his nappy (dıaper) off for a bit in the morning and keep asking him/she if they want a wee wee if yes then lure them to the potty and prase them every time they do somethink on it this has worked very well for me he is starting to use the toilet now instead of the potty try buying a potty that makes noises as my son is now on the toiley and likes to flush when he as done hope this helps with your dilema please let me no if this works good luck

Carla - posted on 12/02/2009

Denytra, My daughter does the exact same thing. I can't make her sit on the potty for more than a second or two. She's up and down and up and down then she peepees in her panties. It's frustrating but I've been told to hang in there, she'll get it. If you get any really good advice, let me know. ~Carla