HELP!!! My 2 1/2 YR old Daughter is Being Stubborn about training and Suggestions????

Carlyn - posted on 07/06/2009

My 2 1/2 year old daughter is the same. Why, just a half hour ago she peed right on my kitchen floor and started stomping on it. Lovely. What worked for one of our friends was putting the potty in a very central location. Above the potty they nailed a big, clear plastic bag. Whenever their kid had an accident, they put a toy in the bag. When he went in the potty, he got to choose a toy to have back out of the bag. It was like a giant, visual carrot for using the potty. Worked for them. Sadly for me, my daughter is not so into material things. I think I could take away every toy in the house and she would happily play with fluff and rocks. So it wouldn't work for us but it might for you! I know the one thing I find comfort in right now is that ALL kids potty train eventually. I mean, who ever heard of a kid going off to college with a suitcase of pullups? So I figure even with all these road blocks, it is bound to happen sometime!

Jen - posted on 07/06/2009

Wow, reading about your daughter is like reading about MY daughter! My daughter is just so laid back, and yes, she would rather play than stop what she's doing to take a potty break! She knows how, and the ONLY reason I haven't gone back to diapers in the past 3 months (YES, 3 months!) is because she goes #2 in the potty, and most pees make it in the potty. I have layers of water-proof mattress covers on her bed, and about 30 pairs of underwear, lol! But I cloth diaper my youngest, so the extra laundry is better than two babies in cloth diapers. Yes, there are a lot of accidents, but I think I would really confuse her now if I were to stop the potty training. I think, in the beginning, that I wasn't doing everything quite right, and then I had a period of time where I was so frustrated with her accidents that she was too stressed about it to actually have potty training success.

I think it is a big leap, developmentally, for them to understand what their body is doing, and then to stop whatever they are doing, take a potty break, pull down their pants, just the whole process is quite a lot if you think about it. Patience seems to be the step in the right direction for us. Every week she is getting better and better. She seems to be more motivated when we are out of the house also ... I know, the opposite of most people's problems!! We just talk about it, A LOT. When to take potty breaks (when we wake up, before we go to sleep, before we go outside to play, when we get the feeling that we've got to GO) ... and another thing that has helped a lot is giving her some space, but also checking on her a lot. Too much of Mommy, and we get on each other's nerves I think. But enough Mommy that she remembers what she needs to do if she feels like she's gotta go. I dunno, I pretty much always know what she's up to. I stay at home, so that consistency ahs helped, though I think she probably would've done great in a preschool also, to be honest. She does GREAT at church in the two year old class, so I think she is definitely into the positive peer pressure. She's interested in what her friends are doing.

We are also doing a sticker chart. I thought this was the STUPIDEST idea, and that she wouldn't care, but for some reason she is really into it! She gets a sticker if she intitates the potty and has dry underwear. If she goes but her underwear aren't dry, I encourage her that maybe next time she can get a sticker. She's disappointed, but I don't think it dents her self-esteem.

I love the idea another mom had about a special sticker for #2. She does pretty good with #2, but if we could perfect it, hey, I am all about that.

Good luck, Erin! Great post.

Shawntae - posted on 07/02/2009

awwww ok i told my daughter that she has to feed them or they will die i think i enjoyed that more than she did

Erin - posted on 07/02/2009

my daughter loves fish i will have to try that one out lol because I have tried the pretty panties with her and her favorite dora or cinderella and that wasn't a success lol

Shawntae - posted on 07/02/2009

Hi, I have a 2year old daughter and she was officialy potty trained in April(her bday is in Oct.) what I did was I bought her panties with her favorite cartoon character on them and i called them her "pretty panties" i put them on her for 1minute then took them off of her and told her she couldnt wear them because she might pee pee on Dor's face lol and that she would have to use the potty if she wanted to wear them. I think it took 2weeks before she wasnt peeing on herself anymore and she even wears panties to bed and we havent had a peeing in the bed incident yet. Another thing i tried was telling her that when she goes pee pee and poop in the potty she will feed the fish i know it sounds gross but it was a little entertaining lol

Dorothy - posted on 07/02/2009

all kids are different som easy to potty train some not. i was having trouble with rayelle so i searched for an incentive to get her to use the potty. she loves stickers so i started a sticker board for her. every time she pees she gets to put a sticker on her poster board. if she popos she gets a special sticker. she is doing great.

Erin - posted on 07/02/2009

that sounds exactly like my daughter she is doing the same thing and when I let her run around for three days with no undies on she would hide behind my couch and pee it seemed like almost everytime so we had to have a good carpet company come and clean them but I thought it was worth a try.

Amy - posted on 07/01/2009

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she started doing real well at 18 months old, then she got sick and after that had no interest in the potty at all. Every time I took her near it to sit on it, she wailed, kicked, so I decided to wait a little longer. She is now in pull ups but I think she confuses them with diapers thinking that it is ok to go in them. Kids can't understnd that pull ups are for accidents really, not to go in when they like.

She also tell me "mommy potty", so I rush her in to find out she went in her pull ups. I got frustrated and talked to my mom who is old fashioned and said to put plain undies on her, so I did...know what happened..when she went on my floor, she decided to stomp her feet in it til I was able to get to it to clean it up. It has definitely has been a struggle. My oldest who is just over 4 was not this hard. My mom also gives me articles from the newspaper and one mother said she let her son/daughter just run around with nothing on til they figured it out. She said it was much more cleaning up to do, but within 3 days, he/she was going on the potty. I also tried that , she peed on my living room rug twice. My doctor says every child is different, some are quicker then others but should be trained no later then 3 years old. All I can say is hang in there and just keep asking if she wants to go or just put her on the potty. Sometimes if my daughter is watching Barney, I bring the little potty into the living room and she sits on it while watching and most of the time, does go....then she gets a piece of chocolate....I will say that she has woken up the past few morning dry so I am hoping that is a good sign.

Hope I helped a little bit....your not alone!!

Erin - posted on 07/01/2009

yes it is deffinately frustrating lol, she actually went pee tonight on her own considering it was for a bribe of going to chuck e cheese lol but hey at least she went and when she finished she said "there mommy, aren't you very happy for me" so maybe this is a start I have been trying to get her around girls that are already potty trained but not much older so I think that is actually starting to help some because she is acting more embarrased about going in her pull-up when they are around

Raisa - posted on 07/01/2009

Hi, my daughter is 2 and 4 months, and she refuses to go in the potty. She wants to only go in the pull-up, and she screams no underwear, only pull up. I am putting her in underwear at home and when we go out or for nap and night time i put her in pull-up. I also tried everything, from stickers to toys to prizes, nothing is working. I think its hard for the to learn in the pull-up, because they don't feel that discomfort when they go. I definitely feel your frustration.