Potty Training

Emily - posted on 02/05/2009

I understand the car thing. My sister lives about 55 minutes away and I usually take my kids to visit with her at least once a month... We also go shopping in Salt Lake City often, and that's about 40 minutes away. Anything over about 30 minutes in the car with 3 kids can be nasty.

Summer - posted on 02/05/2009

Quoting Emily:

I was also going to mention that I didn't check the Italy Ikea site because I can't read Italian... but I realized that the name of the potty is the same in any language, so I went to the Italy Ikea site and did a search for the product name. Lattsam is the product line and the little potties are € 2,99 and come in four different colors. Hope that helps!!

Yes, I LOVE the IKEA out here...its wonderful!!!   I actually got a little Chicco pot for him...it has a little bit of a back on it, whereas I dont think that the Ikea one does...we are planning to go to the new one that's opening up here, (they built one closer), and go check it out...the Ikea here is about and hour away...an hour in the vehicle with my kid is enough to make you go a little crazy before the craziness of the store begins!

Pam - posted on 02/04/2009

Personally if he is showing signs I would simple take him, not ask him, to the toilet. Potties should be for emergencies anyway. The last child I potty trained was a 2 year old last year. She turned 2 in the July but started to show sign long before but her mum didn't want her to start as she was about to have a baby. Eventually in the September I decided that not teaching her was cruel and started the training. I'd pick her up at 8am and take her to the toilet at 8:15am, and every 30 minutes thereafter until I got used to her peeing pattern. I soon learnt after a couple of days that once she went at 8.15am she didn't need to go again until 9:30am at playgroup. Then again before snack at 10:30am and so on. It also did depend on how much she drank but by the time the week was ending she was an expert lol. Now I know she was much older then your child but if the signs are there. My daughter was 12months when she chose not to wear a nappy at night. As much as I tried to put it on and keep it on, I would find it on the floor next to her bed, clean and the bed still dry. After a week or so enough was enough and I never put one on her during the day either. Saved a small fortune. Just remember accidents happen, but praise is the key.

Emily - posted on 02/04/2009

I was also going to mention that I didn't check the Italy Ikea site because I can't read Italian... but I realized that the name of the potty is the same in any language, so I went to the Italy Ikea site and did a search for the product name. Lattsam is the product line and the little potties are € 2,99 and come in four different colors. Hope that helps!!

Emily - posted on 02/04/2009

Pretty much all public toilets here are fairly standard... and I just help my kids sit on the side of the toilet, and hold them so they don't fall in. The part they're mostly worried about is the automatic toilets flushing before they're done. However, for tinier babies (like when I took my 9 month old potty)... or some park restrooms that are just super gross, I just take their pants all the way off or at least way down to their ankles, and hold them in a squatting position with their back against your chest, and with my hands just under their knees so that their knees are about the same level as their chins. If it's just a big hole in the ground, you can squat down too while you're holding him and help him get closer to the ground so there's not as much splashing.

And since you have a boy, you can teach him pretty quickly to pee while standing, at least for the places with a hole in the ground or no seat. You can practice at home by putting cherrios or fruit loops or some other cereal in the toilet and have him try to hit them. If the toilet at home is too tall for him, get a little step... it'd probably be way cheaper than a potty. :)

Also, check out IKEA for little potties if you have one near you. They're not super fancy... they're actually super simple, but they're also great for traveling. I just went to ikea.com for the UK and searched for potty... apparently they're only £1.56. :)

Summer - posted on 02/04/2009

Another issue, I would like to know is how did you all handle public restrooms with your 'freshly trained' child. I am a little worried about that bc here there isnt a standard toilet anywhere. Some places still hava a hole in the ground you have to squat over, some dont have a seat and some are just not child friendly. Our toilet isnt standard like the states, its got a really large hole, with a thin seat, so most of the transition seats for it dont fit. Im still looking and Im also looking for a toilet seat that is thicker so we can try a transitional seat...i thought about taking his potty pot with us when we go places, but in winter here isnt really good and I dont know how appropriate it is.

Summer - posted on 02/04/2009

Quoting Robin:

It seems like he's just really interested in the ability to take off his own clothes. My daughter is 18 months and has recently realized she can take off her shirt. Have you thought about getting him a stuffed animal and some clothes for it and if he starts to take off his own clothes just redirect him to the toy and let him take off the clothes and put them back on the toy? There are a lot of ways to buy the stuff that's cheaper here in the states. Lots of ebay sellers do international shipping and I'm sure that places like diapers.com may have international shipping rates. Do you know anyone in the states that could send you stuff? I didn't realize stuff was so much more expensive there. Maybe someone in the states could even buy stuff for you at thrift stores and then send it to you?

I looked into shipping things from the states to here and my problem is the huge shipping prices, which are more than the items, and then the tax I have to pay to accept the item here.  So lets say that I purchase a potty chair there, for $20, then I have my mom ship it to me, that is about another $30, then for me to recieve it, its another £20. I might as well go ahead and buy the £50 chair.  I can look for something like a stuffed animal or maybe the CiccoBello doll they have here, (they have male and female) , maybe it has a theme dedicated to clothes.  Yes, stuff between here and the states is expensive.  I mean, baby items here are really expensive. It's free free free to give birth, its not so free to maintain the baby...

Traci - posted on 02/03/2009

I originally started training her at around that age, but we had to make a cross country move, and it just would have been alot of trouble... so I waited a bit longer

BUT

My goal was to get my daughter trained before she turned two.... some how I got her potty trained at 23 months! WOO!! We worked really hard, but in the end what finally worked was pouring warm water on her "hoo hoo" as she calls it, every time we went to the bathroom. It helped her relax enough to pee... Finally she caught on and started going without me pouring water on her.... then, I started asking her periodically if she had to go... she would say "no" at first and then 5 sec later she would say "yes! I go potty!!!" Finally she started telling me she had to go..... I read tons of books, scoured the internet, none of the advice I read worked.... but this is what worked for us. I NEVER used pull-ups (BAD BAD!!) I bought the cotton training pants (they have them at wal-mart/target) and the plastic diaper covers. I did put a diaper on her at night and we have progressed to overnight pants. Also, don't be afraid to let him watch you or dad go. That's one thing that I think helped Lilli. I would always let her watch me go... I'd even show her the poop(gross I know) so she could see where it's supposed to go... Kids just need help in understanding how all that stuff works. If they see Mommy or Daddy doing it, then they may want to try too! Hope I helped a little!!

Emily - posted on 02/03/2009

I hated pull-ups... my kids treat them just like diapers and don't recognize that they're not supposed to go in them. Just a few days ago my 3 1/2 year old (who is mostly potty trained) wore a pull-up for bedtime. When she woke up I told her it was time to go potty... she said, "no, I don't need to yet, my pull-up is still dry... I can go potty in my pull-up." The only thing that worked for us was just to put our kids straight into big kid underwear... but we didn't do that until they were almost 2.

Until then, you can just watch for signs (grunting, etc) and take him to the bathroom before he goes. I've been working on this with my 13 month old, and she loves to go in the potty. We started pretty young (around 6 months) because she always had a nasty poopy diaper first thing in the morning, so I started putting her on the potty so I wouldn't have to change that diaper. We just use a small potty seat on the toilet, so cleanup was much easier if I could get her on the toilet in time. :) Now she already knows what to do on the toilet, and will gladly empty her bladder or poop on the potty when I put her on, and she gets excited when I ask her if she needs to go... but she's not telling me when she wants to go, and she's not staying dry for extended periods of time yet, so we're not pushing it further.

I really enjoyed the book "No-Cry Potty Training Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. She's got a great little "readiness quiz" in her book that helped me realize my second was ready to train long before my first was. Once I realized that and started working with my second instead of my first, both of them finally started making progress. :)

BTW... the method I'm currently using with my third I also used with my second. By 13-14 months she was telling me every time she needed to poop... and I haven't changed a poopy diaper of hers since she was 18 months old. :)

Robin - posted on 02/03/2009

It seems like he's just really interested in the ability to take off his own clothes. My daughter is 18 months and has recently realized she can take off her shirt. Have you thought about getting him a stuffed animal and some clothes for it and if he starts to take off his own clothes just redirect him to the toy and let him take off the clothes and put them back on the toy? There are a lot of ways to buy the stuff that's cheaper here in the states. Lots of ebay sellers do international shipping and I'm sure that places like diapers.com may have international shipping rates. Do you know anyone in the states that could send you stuff? I didn't realize stuff was so much more expensive there. Maybe someone in the states could even buy stuff for you at thrift stores and then send it to you?

Summer - posted on 02/03/2009

Yeah, pull-ups are a great thing, however, I live in Italy and they are extremely expensive. Pull-ups are almost £25 euros for 15 pull-ups...needless to say, the shelf is always stocked. Last fall, I went to the States to visit my family and I saw a really great potty chair by fisher price for $20. But at the time potty training was way long time away so I didnt get it. I went here to look for a potty chair and the exact same one was £50. That is almost $65!! But kids here arent potty-trained until after 3-4 years old. Kids here are also smaller compared to my son. So while he is in size 6 diapers, the highest they go, kids his age are still in sz4 going to sz5. Im not sure what I will do if he grows out of those, LOL...but I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there.



He can take off his pants as well and wiggles until he gets free of those then takes off his diaper...I keep a tank top onsie on him if I dont want him running free, like when we have company. He still take his shirt off. Anything with zippers is off in like seconds. Buttons is a little more difficult for him, but there arent many clothes with buttons nowadays.

Robin - posted on 02/03/2009

If he's taking his diapers off a lot it might not be that he doesn't like them. It may just be that he's learned a new trick and that like all kids when they learn something new, he wants to do it over and over. When a child learns to turn off a light they don't usually do it over and over because they don't like the light but because it's a fun new thing. Does keeping pants on him keep the diaper on? You could just try pullups and he may not be able to take them off as easily.

Summer - posted on 02/03/2009

Awesome suggestions!! I will do the 'trial and error' approach with him. I dont know if he is old enough to appreciate stickers, but I'll never know if I dont try. I'm gonna take my time with it because I, myself, dont want to rush him and I want him to be positive towards the transition. He doesnt seem to like diapers because he takes them off, so maybe I might get lucky. Please keep the suggestion coming or advice bc it helps, it really does!

Robin - posted on 02/03/2009

There's a difference between recognizing what goes into the potty and being able to recognize the urge to do so. He may be smart enough to understand and comprehend it but not be able to physically feel that he needs to go or be able to control it. I would say that if you want to try it this early then just don't push it. If it becomes a pain then back off and try again further down the road. My son understood all those words and what the toilet was for very young too but wasn't actually "trained" until he was over 3. All kids bodies are different.

Bonnie - posted on 02/03/2009

Well, I had very easy children to potty train so I'm not sure I can offer much advice. At 16 months, even though he can say the words, he can't quite get the timing. So, I would suggest that every so often you say, "Okay, let's go potty." Don't ask if he has to go, just assume he does and take him. For my kids, starting out it was every 20-30 minutes. Eventually we worked up to every 2 hours and then they tell me whenever they need to go.



A couple of other things that worked for me was to go straight to underwear except at night. Pullups were treated just like diapers by my kids so undies were the only option. They actually had the chance to feel being wet. When they had an accident I would place them on the potty and have them sit while I cleaned it up and got clean clothes. I thought it would help reinforce the idea of "pee=potty". It will require a lot of clothes changing, but for us it worked well.



A sticker chart worked well with my daughter. She was really into My Little Pony so I made a 4-week chart with a few pics of My Little Ponies and bought special sparkle pony stickers. With every successful potty trip, she got to put a sticker on her chart. I placed it on the side of the cabinet in our bathroom at her eye level. She really loved it. With all these things, she was potty trained within 2 weeks.



Although you may be awhile before you're ready to night train, I'll go ahead and include my tips for that. Start by limiting drinks in the evening. My kids go to bed by 8p so the last thing to drink is no later than 7p. 30 minutes before bed, we make a trip to the potty and then again as we are going to bed. We had very, very few night accidents. If your child is a big drinker, then you may want to do the above and then gently wake him before you go to bed yourself and take him to the potty. Keep the lights low and soft and very little communication, soft speaking. This will help keep him in the "sleep" mindset. If your little one doesn't tolerate being woken up then obviously this would not be the best option.



Sorry this got so long but I hope it helps some. Take what you think will help and leave the rest! Good luck and be patient!



~Bonnie~

Charissa - posted on 02/03/2009

16 month is still early for potty training...but since he's showing signs, good for him! Just keep encouraging him. My son showed signs early too but he didn't get trained until he was 2 almost 2 1/2 yrs old. So don't hurry him too much...he will get it in time.



I agree with Jackie's suggestion...just keep asking...or set up times (i.e. every hour or hour and a half)...that way he gets used to it.



I also used a potty chart ( 10 squares) Each time he pees in the potty, 1 sticker, poop 2 stickers. After he fills an entire chart, he gets a little reward (we used to go to the Dollarama and he got to choose a toy or we had a stash of toys that he could pick from)



Good luck! Patience and consistency is the way to go!

Jackie - posted on 02/03/2009

BOTH MY KIDS SHOWED INTEREST EARLY ON AS WELL. I WOULD JUST ASK THEM THROUGHT OUT THE DAY IF THEY WANTED TO...(WHEN WE GOT UP, AFTR EACH MEAL AND WHEN I HAD TO GO). THE DAYTIME POTTY TRAINING WENT SMOOTH AND FAST BUT THEY STILL WET AT NIGHT MOST TIMES???  THEY ARE THRE AND FIVE. GOOD LUCK!