att veteran moms: will you please share your potty training tips?

Melinda - posted on 07/05/2012

i have two boys and what worked for me was buying underwear. i tried pull ups the cool ones and the fade design ones with my oldest and they was a waste of money so then i put him in underwear and amazingly it didnt take long for him to get it. as for my second son i never even thought of pull ups at all i stuck him in underwear and sent him to potty with his brother and he is now potty trained and he wont be 3 till august

Gladys - posted on 07/05/2012

thanks for all your comments.
@Angela I started using the attachment which goes on the big toilet, and that is holding her interest. @VilaraI i will be getting her some cute panties. She loves her disney princess pull ups, but i think she associates them with a diaper, so i think we will be successful with the panties. I will also get a sticker chart when i buy them.
Thanks for the great ideas!
I always make sure she has a cup full of liquids, its too hot in Texas to not keep hydrated. I meant to say I am only decreasing the amount of fluid during nap time to help her keep dry. She still gets put down with a bottle which I used to fill up with water, now were down to 2oz and eventually i will be putting her to bed without a bottle.

Rachel - posted on 06/30/2012

Don't worry about doing it right. Every kid is different. My second refused until she was three, then my third (who was 14 mo) picked it up at the same time. I dramatically INCREASED fluids, so they would get far more repetition/practice. I really can't understand the logic of decreasing fluids.

Jeri - posted on 06/29/2012

My daughter (now 3) did the same. Went perfect the 1st time, then nothing. It took me almost a year after that to get her to use the potty, and the only thing that worked for me was to leave her completely naked all day lol. We worked our way to dresses to cover her, then eventually pants. She still can't wear underwear or she will pee them, but we are still working on it. =) My son however, I tried Mn'Ms, cookies, toys, etc and he didn't care, but because my husband and I have tattoos we got him temporary ones and those worked! He got to pick a new one every week, and he loved it =)

Sally - posted on 06/29/2012

Leave her alone. She'll do it when she's ready.
Toddlers are all about control and eating and potty are the only things that they can be your boss over. The more important this is to you the longer it's going to take.
Cutting off her water supply is also very unhealthy especially in the summer. 2 is WAY too young to be dry while sleeping even if she was fully trained while awake and you just started.
Just relax. Take her to the potty regularly IF it doesn't stress her out. Be very careful that you don't in any way make it look like your love or attention are conditional are her training. Most kids will start out great and make you think they're really, really ready; then when you get all hyper about it, they get nervous and backslide; this may repeat many times depending on both your and her temperaments. She may still wet in her sleep for years after being day trained and she may still have accidents for years if stressed or ill.
My oldest was a very docile adult-pleaser; she started showing interest at 14 months, was in panties by her second birthday, and until she was 5 wet pants meant she'd be sick tomorrow. My youngest is very active and independent; she showed interest at 18 months and at 2 3/4 is perfectly capable of using the potty, but has absolutely no interest in doing so. Any pressure or bribes on my part just lead to fights and prolongs the process so I'm waiting for her. I sincerely doubt she'll take much longer as we're heading into heat rash season and diapers will soon be unpleasant.
Good luck

Vilara - posted on 06/28/2012

With my daughter I simply bribed her. I knew she was ready and so I sat her down asked her if I could make a deal with her. I would let her pick any panties she wanted from the store if she promised to always use the potty. Done. I was so excited!

With my son I had a friend who told me about a book she read on potty training your child in one day and we did that. The basic steps are that you leave them naked all day, have tea parties and such to make sure that they have plenty of reason to use the potty and just keep directing them to the potty. If they have an accident you don't say anything about it, just clean it up. If they go in the potty then you applaud them and cheer them, etc. It worked for us.

Now we have a 14 month old who has shown a lot of interest in using the potty. For once it's me who is worried about going through the process! I am 6 months pregnant right now and just now looking to handle all that mess! Oy I feel like I am being so lazy!

Angela - posted on 06/28/2012

toilet training is hard work....my daughter was trained at 2 and a half years but it took about a week for wee and about 3 weeks for poo!!! Everyday i would have to clean her undies as she would poo in them and not in the potty. We used a sticker chart which she absolutely loved and if she went dry the whole day she was rewarded that night....she would get extra books to read, a small treat etc. My daughter was like your daughter...started on the potty but after a few days refused it. i bought a toilet step an a toilet seat insert which you put on top of the toilet seat and it closed up the bowl so little ones can feel more comfortable sitting on the toilet and not feel stressed about falling in. My daughter preffered that and flourished from that point. Not an easy thing to do. I have my 2 year old daughter now who i will be starting to train when she hits 2.5 years..sooooooo not looking forward to it but im hoping the first child (who is 4 now) will be the big influence in her toilet training. Good luck.