Having some trouble getting started potty training with my 3 year old little girl. Any advice?

Danielle - posted on 04/26/2009

Advice from a Preschool Director-- NO PULLUPS! Get the Gerber training panties! Start changing her standing up, and put the poop into the potty and say "that is where poop goes!" If she is 3 she is old enough to clean up her potty messes. Have her get herself undressed, and cleaned up (yes you can help) Then explain it would be much easier if she went in the potty! LET ME REMIND YOU, IF SHE IS SHOWING NO INTEREST IT IS NOT TIME! Wait until she shows interest otherwise you will be wasting every ones time! BUT do change her standing up from this moment forward!

Leigh - posted on 04/18/2009

Thank you all for your responses. All y'all are a wealth of information! This is my first child and I just want to do what is best for her. Keep the info coming! I will take all the help I can get. Us first time moms couldn't do it without the help of the seasoned ones.

Julie - posted on 04/18/2009

I have done a lot of potty training , not only with my girls, but when I was working in day care I potty trained as well. I have found that pull ups work, BUT, it also prolongs it. Children work with thier senses, soooooooo, if it feels the same they're gonna do the same. Pull ups feel like diapers to children. I have found that putting your child in panties or underwear will train them faster. You also have to find something that your child will like for an award. My oldest wasn't keen on the sticker thing, so we got her a piggy bank and she got a penny everytime she went pee pee and 2 when she would poop. She loved hearing the coins fall on one another. When she was offically potty trained we took her pennies and went to the dollar store. She felt like such a grown up!!! Unfortunately you will be doing a lot of cleaning up messes, but my daughter was trained in 2 weeks and with the other children I potty trained it usually wouldn't take more than a month for them to be trained. The biggest part of potty training is you have to be consistant!!!!!!!! Hope this helps and good luck!!!!!!!

Brandy - posted on 04/18/2009

i started potty training my 2 1/2 yr old when she was 20 mnths old. for about 2 weeks i took her to the potty every half hour or so when she was still in diapers and then after that i skipped the pull ups through the day and went straight to panties. but that took 2 months before she was completely potty trained but i still had to wear pull ups at night for another 6 or 7 months after that

Jodi - posted on 04/16/2009

I used to just leave the little potty out in the living room where we were all the time.  My daughter used to sit on it like a chair just reading books or whatever.  I think that having it around made it less scary when it came time to actually use it.  Then I had her go without any bottoms for about a half hour and told her it's NOT ok to pee on the floor.  She was only about 2 when I started this, but it worked pretty well.  Still had to use pull ups alot of the time for quite awhile.  But at 3 your daughter may grasp it a little more quickly.  At one point I just told her "no more pull ups" and let her pick out her own underwear.  She did have a number of accidents but only for a couple of weeks.  You have to constantly stay after her, have her sit on the potty about every 1/2 hour or so.  If she fights you I would say dont push it.  She has to be ready.  I made it seem to my daughter that diapers were itchy and uncomfortable and big girl underpants are so comfy!  That seemed like it helped too.  After being in underwear for awhile she was terrified if I threatened her about using diapers again (when she wouldnt cooperate).  Wow this got long-winded.  Sorry!  Hope you find something that helps!!

Michelle - posted on 04/14/2009

My daughter is also 3 I used the pull ups (She calls them Diaper Panties) lol..but I started wearing them on her about 3 weeks ago and taking her to the bathroom about every hour. Let her sit for about 10 min and after lunch I sat and read her a story while she sat in there..until she had a BM..always after lunch. I put her to bed with a diaper for a nap and when she got up put the pullups on her again. I rewarded her with mini marshmallo (SPELL?) anyway now she wears reg underwear and I still remind her to go but it worked! I tried when she was 2 and it was to early...it really helps if you wait till they are ready. Everyone said I waited to long but oh well! Hope some of this helped. Good luck!