I didn't want to mess around in the Randoms, so I decided to make a whole new thread.
Give me all your advice or tips on potty training. This is our next big adventure. I bought three more packs on undies and DS saw his Spiderman ones, so we ditched the diaper after school today.
Apparently my kid is a never-nude and refused to go naked for the start of potty training. He needed undies and a shirt.
I took him to the toilet every 10, 12, then 15 minutes. We talked a lot about where we pee and poop, and he did okay for a few hours. Dh came home around 6 and he's had three accidents in an hour.
So let me have it. What worked for you ladies? What was a disaster?
Post by cabbagecabbage on Jun 20, 2016 18:41:20 GMT -5
I just waited until she was really interested and mostly pee trained herself but I hear boys are harder/later on average. I never did timed potty trips but I had the potty out and accessible at all times. When she asked to wear undies, we wore them. After we started and it was obvious she got it and could do it, we did stickers and m&ms motivators.
Post by littlesthobo on Jun 20, 2016 19:10:54 GMT -5
No advice because we're not there yet, but will be soon, so I'm following!
DS has a book about a potty that he loves, we read it almost every night (it was my brother's from when he was a kid, or else I'd link). Maybe a book might help?
Eta Apparently they still make the book! It's on Amazon: www.amazon.ca/Once-Upon-Potty-Boy/dp/1554072832 The book is copyright 1979 so some of the language might not be your style; I just sub in the words I want (eg penis for pee-pee). But any potty book might help!
Post by rungirlrun on Jun 20, 2016 19:18:12 GMT -5
We had great success, but DS was naked at first. He generally didn't like to be naked pre potty training, but he was ok with it. Can you try just a shirt - no bottoms? Honestly, I think him being naked was key.
He was naked, and we just went about our normal routine (well we stayed home completely the first day). H and I did not leave his side - I've never stared at a penis so much in my life, haha! We had his little potty within few feet of him at all times and when he started to pee, we threw him on the potty. The first 2 times he peed, he went on the floor mostly before getting on the potty, but after that, he got that pee went in the potty. The rest of his morning pees were mostly in the potty. For nap, he was in a diaper. Post nap, since he was doing well, we decided to go commando. We had mostly success - there were times when he started to pee in his pants, but got to the potty to get most of the pee there. Day 2, we stayed close to home, and by day 3, we were doing short outings but always had the travel potty. The travel potty was key for about a month, but then he discovered the joy of public toilets. Omg he loves public bathrooms. I cringe every day because he has to touch everything. Ugh. But I guess it beats having to bring a travel potty so I can't complain! He was commando for about 3 weeks before introducing underwear. And we never did rewards.
We got lucky as DS just got it very quickly and was basically potty trained within a week except for night. We followed the book Oh Crap Potty Training pretty closely, and it was key.
So naked time and not introducing underwear for a while worked well. And going cold turkey with no diapers (except for sleep) was key. I've had friends try to potty train while still using diapers, and it's a very drawn out process. We left him in diapers for naps for a week, and DS was always holding his poop until nap so we decided to ditch the nap diaper which helped with poop. Poop took a little longer for him to get and we had some accidents, but once I stopped talking about it and constantly asking him about pooping, he did much better. Now he goes to the bathroom on his little potty about 50% of the time, but is starting to use the big potty more regularly. The little potty is nice though bc he can be super independent. He needs to use his step stool to use the big potty.
Ok that was super long. Good luck! I think suffering for a few days with hard work pays off and is much better than prolonging the process for months.
I just waited until she was really interested and mostly pee trained herself but I hear boys are harder/later on average. I never did timed potty trips but I had the potty out and accessible at all times. When she asked to wear undies, we wore them. After we started and it was obvious she got it and could do it, we did stickers and m&ms motivators.
This isn't a jab against you, but I hear this same comment so many times, and it annoys me. Obviously, I only have experience with 1 boy, but he potty trained no trouble at 2.5, and I think he would have been just as successful if we started earlier. I feel like many parents of boys hear this same phrase and give up with their sons because they are just like, oh well. I have a boy so I'll put this off. Or well it's totally fine that it's taking many many months because I have a boy so he shouldn't get it that easily. But then the older a kid gets, the harder it gets to train. In general, I think boys are just as capable as girls to potty train. Just depends on the kid.
rungirlrun that was basically my plan from the start. I think tomorrow I will start fresh, and do some nude dude time. Possibly a shirt if he protests. Did you use a timer at all? Or just follow his cues? I feel like I could read him well, but dh can't and I think needs a timer lol
I did naked training at 22 months. I'm sure it doesn't work for everyone but I thought it was great and would do it again.
The two things that made the naked method make sense to me were:
1. Peeing on yourself = immediate natural consequence for not going to the potty. It makes even a young toddler start to connect the sensation of needing to go with the act of peeing/pooping. There is no complicated sticker charts or rewards that kids can stop caring about. The consequence is immediate, unlike if they are in pull-ups and can ignore that they are wet, and you might not realize they're wet for a long time.
2. You put the responsibility of going to the potty on them but remove all barriers (no pants to pull down, and use a little potty nearby so there's no climbing up a step stool to the big toilet) so it becomes their job to get themself to the potty, at least at home. It gives them independence and ownership of it. You don't have to beg them to tell you when they have to go, make them go every x minutes, or grab them and help them run to the toilet and pull their pants down.
I know it's not for everyone but it was awesome for us. My husband thought I was nuts and I made him a believer
Post by sarcaztic10 on Jun 20, 2016 20:33:41 GMT -5
L was so stubborn so my PT experiance is with a 2.5 year old who knew exactly when he has to pee and poop but would hold it in (the poop not the pee) until he got a diaper back on at the end of the 3 hour underwear time. It didn't take me long to figure out his game and I put my foot down and refused to put a diaper on. He cried and threw a tantrum about it for about an hour while I sat there and watched him. Then he went poop and figured out it was no big deal and he was totally fine after that. We basically just had him hydrate and then sit on the potty regularly. Eventually he got what it felt like to have to go pee. Poop was where he tried to do battle, but he lost (insert evil laugh).
DS was 30 months. I wish I had done it earlier, and unless there is some reason to delay, I will start earlier with this kid (maybe 24 months). I already want to be done with diapers!
He still sits down to pee (we are about 3 months in). He's not tall enough to stand for a big potty, and trying to pee, aim, and not fall off of a step stool seems rough. And I think standing with the little potty would be hard. Plus, he will not hold his own penis and would rather me not do it either so if he were to stand, pee would get everywhere. We will tackle that at a later time.
And no we didn't use a timer or anything. H and I seriously stared at his penis waiting for pee to come out to put him on the potty or waited for him to realize he needed to get to the potty. Yeah, it was weird but worked!
Oh and also, he is obsessed with Daniel Tiger, and there is a potty episode (and a song too that we sing daily). I find that while Daniel can get annoying at times, he's come in handy in regards to becoming a big brother, a big helper, and using the potty. So that's another tool if your son is a fan.
We tried to potty train in pull ups but only had a few successful trips and eventually just did the naked plan (loosely based on oh crap potty training) and that really worked for DS. He was a few months short of 3 at the time. We did rewards too, he got interested in a sticker chart and stickers after successful trips. We also watched Daniel Tiger potty episode and still sing the song today.
Me and my wife tried a LOT of the methods out there for our 2 children. It took us about 2 weeks for it to finally happen too, which frankly is sad. We tried a chart, the M&M trick, reading books, singing songs, and watching videos. Sadly none of them worked as we entered week 2. My wife's brother has 2 kids that are in grade school, so she asked him what his tips were and he suggested to us that we buy a certain book. He claimed that he potty trained his children in 3 days, which made us look even more sad. We tried the nude time like you said as well and that didn't work very well, and ended up in a mess . My wife's friend gave us this link to go a read about the product. He said that he read about it on a parenting website and it was kind of a review of sorts as well as a story. I urge you to check it out. We bought it and to our surprise, our kids were potty trained in 3 days just like the book said.
Me and my wife were skeptical about buying things but this was different in a way. This book came with a money back guarantee which kinda sold it for us. I'm not sure if you're into that but I urge you to take a look. Persistent Parenting's Potty Training Breakthrough
Well I wasn't trying to be :/. The link has some myths too that hopefully will prevent you from maybe taking steps backwards. Its not a product sale. Its some tips from the book along with myths! Sorry if it seemed spammy. Just trying to help while telling you what I did with my children.
Yes that is awesome! I feel like cartoons and your child's favorite people on TV can be a huge influence because they want to be like them in a way. My mother used to tell me that when she potty trained me, she encouraged me to be like my father because i really loved him at the time. Some how that got me on the potty all the time because if he could do it, then I should be able too!
@sarcastic10 he's pooped on there once before while he was without a diaper for an hour or so. Hopefully that's not a problem for us! Good job for winning that game though lol
rungirlrun DS is 29 months and I feel like he's ready, I'm just nervous about actually doing it. I'm going to get over myself and try because I really don't want two in diapers. It's hard too because everyone is telling me not to bother with my Due date coming soon. I'll definitely start tomorrow off with the Daniel Tiger episode, thanks!
feisty I'm going to skip pull ups too. That's the one consistent thing I hear from my friends - pull ups made the whole thing a long drawn out process.
willow I thought the same thing. I never realized we had a dude on the board......
Either way, superdad I'll check out the book, thanks.
Post by housecarder on Jun 21, 2016 4:15:41 GMT -5
I used to work in a 2 year old classroom and we changed every kid standing up in the bathrooms and asked them to try the toilet before putting the new diaper on. We'd then suggest moving to underwear when we saw the child using the toilet and having dry diapers in between changes. Obviously we didn't wait until they never had a wet diaper but we liked to see some consistency before switching to underwear.
We waited for these signs because in order to be successful in potty training you have to be able to feel a full bladder and hold it. There is a nerve in the brain that controls this and it isn't covered in myelin (fat that surrounds nerves and allows for signal to be transmitted, like the insulation of a wire) until about 2. And it actually usually develops first in girls and then in boys which is why you will see girls potty train earlier than boys (typical development of the myelin sheath is 24-30 months in girls and 30-36 months in boys).
This isn't saying that you can't train sooner, like anything, a child can develop this earlier than normal. And you can get some children on a schedule or they can learn that feeling of "I'm about to pee" and rush to the bathroom. But we always explained to parents that if you train before this is developed then they can know that they are going, be ashamed that they had an accident, but be unable to actually stop themselves if they don't get to the toilet in time. Sometimes this can set potty training back.
Once they are physically ready to train there are a ton of methods to try and what will work depends on your child. DD hated being wet so leaving her in her clothes while in underwear was the best move. We transitioned to underwear and after one accident she was practically trained because she was not going to risk that feeling of soaked underwear and pants again, she never needed reminders. DS could care less about being wet so we had him just in his underwear and sent him to go to the bathroom about every 30 mins- hour at first and then kept reminding him. We had him sit down to pee because it helps until they have better aim, and it also makes it easier for him to feel comfortable pooping in the toilet if he's not afraid to sit.
housecarder that's interesting and good to know. He definitely had dry diapers in between changes a lot at school but I don't think they sat him on the toilet
Help! I have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime and PBS app. I and find this potty training episode at all. Google is telling me it's season 1 ep 11 but that doesn't exist
It's going ok today. He went two hours without peeing on the floor. He begged for underwear because he hates being naked. So I put it on him and five minutes later, he pooped. I had JUST sat him on the toilet too.
Post by housecarder on Jun 21, 2016 10:56:12 GMT -5
Poop is the hardest so don't stress too much about it right now. It took DS a long time to poop in the toilet.
Funny story. DS was upstairs playing and came to the stairs and yelled "Mommy I pooped in the potty!" I was very skeptical as he didn't normally and was still holding it. So I go up to see and he runs down the hall and turns into his room, not the bathroom. He points at DD's doll house and there sits her doll toilet, with a giant turd in it. I lost it laughing and sent H to deal with it.
We tried to potty train DD at 2 years 4 months and it was a complete failure. We bought a little potty and just left it out and completely backed off/didn't mention it. At 2 years 6 months DD started to show interest in it. We then did the three day boot camp and it worked well for us. DD was afraid to poop on the potty at first too but I loaded her up with juice and gave her a warm bath the second night and she said she had to go so I just put her on the potty and she went. I think it got her past the initial fear because then she was fine with it. Good luck! It's crazy how different each kid can be with potty training!
Post by cabbagecabbage on Jun 21, 2016 11:55:24 GMT -5
My DD was scared to poop too and that came last. We talked about it a lot but what finally gave us the breakthrough was putting her potty in front of the TV ad letting her sit and watch a movie and have a drink. She relaxed and pooped and realized it wasn't scary at all. That was all it took.
cabbagecabbage that is my tactic for poop now. There is a horrible "Daddy fingers" song on YouTube MH let him watch once. I refused to let him watch it because it makes me want to claw my eyes out. He said he needed to poop so I let him watch the video and he went a little. I'll call it a win for now!
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