Best Book for Potty Training?

I think the key is that no matter what you choose (potty or potty seat on toilet, undies or pull-ups) it is crucial to be consistent. I'd always have the potty in the bathroom, not in other rooms (unless you have it in her bedroom at night). Once you start potty training, it's all or nothing. Don't expect her to go to the bathroom at home but put her in pull-ups in the car or shopping. Of course, we did diapers at nap/night, but that's different than being awake. We never used pull-ups but only underwear and just dealt with accidents when they happened. I had my daughter pick out her own underwear the day before we started potty-training. Expect a lot of accidents the first few days but then she'll get the hang of it. We just rolled up the rugs and did a lot of laundry for a few days. I never thought being naked helped because a big part of the process is feeling where the pee comes out and getting uncomfortable if you have accidents. Being naked means peeing isn't a pain for the kid- only for the adult! Just introduce the idea with books or video and explain that there will be no more diapers during the daytime. The first few days, just have her try a lot- like every 10 mins so that she does't have accidents as much. Good luck! It's just as stressful for the adult as the kid, so make sure you're ready too. When you go out, you can't go far for a few days because the window between "I need to pee" and pee coming out is small. We took a longer trip once and just put the potty in the trunk in case of emergencies!

I did have the potty for a very short time...I kept coffee filters in it in case it was "#2" so it'd be easier to dispose of (I was kinda squeamish, I have to admit). I kept the potty in the living room because it was central to wherever we were. That way we could hurry and pull his shorts down and go as fast as possible. We didn't use a book, we used Elmo's Potty Time DVD. He loves Elmo though; as he started listening to Elmo and learning to go to the toilet, we bought him a Hokey Pokey Elmo as his friend to play with (and to remind him of the DVD, so if he was playing with or around Elmo he could think if he needed to go or not). We got him an Elmo seat that goes on the "real" toilet, and he'd watch us go to the bathroom as well. He took it pretty seriously for a 2 year old, though we were laid back with him. One time, he missed and didn't get to the toilet in time. Both of us were there, and his dad was handling it. I heard him say "Oh, that's ok, you can try again next time", so I went to bring a new pullup to them. My son looked kind of grim and disappointed, and we assured him it'd be ok and it takes practice. He walked over to the TV silently and handed me the Elmo's Potty Time DVD, then pulled his little chair right up to the TV to watch again. He was trained pretty quickly (daytime). I let him use pullups instead of underwear because his personality is just one that puts enough pressure on himself (I was like that too, perhaps still am)....I didn't want added pressure of underwear leaking if it was a developmental issue. However, I noticed that once he was doing pretty good at trying, I bought a few packs of underwear. He was ambivalent about the Thomas the Train underwear, but when I got him the super heroes underwear, he was very serious about not having an accident. We did have to put him in pull ups for his naptime until he was 3, and he just got out of pull ups at night a few months ago, at 4. We tried underwear so he'd learn, but the fact is he was a hard sleeper and would just wake up upset, but simply couldn't wake up even after he was wet, until his normal time. I tried waking him up myself in the middle of the night (when up to feed the baby) but that just really wasn't beneficial. I hated interrupting his sleep cycle and noticed his mood was not as nice when I did that. NOW he's successful; we go immediately before bed and immediately after waking, and he's fine. But very occasionally, I hear him around 3am go potty, flush, and back to bed. That's a really big deal for him. We finally allow a nightlight in his room and one in the bathroom so he can feel confident about getting up and to the toilet "just in case". I'd suggest the Potty Time video not only because the kids like it, but because it kinda helps you keep the right frame of mind too....accidents happen, just keep trying. (Sometimes, you'll be tempted to get agitated or worried because someone else is learning faster than your child.) I've also learned by watching others that if you push too hard too early, then when you're not around a child will have "potty issues". All in all, it's really just about learning your child and her needs, her personality, and working with her to succeed. Does she need an incentive (I gave mine 2 M&Ms for pee and 4 M&Ms for poo, but I dunno if it was incentive or reward), does she need a little more pushing, etc....that's all stuff that is really as individual as your child is.

I just finished potty training my youngest child who's 2 1/2. While each child has been a little different and at a different age, I'll share with you what has worked with my 3. I think any potty book would be fine. The last one I bought was a Dora book. First I bought new undies for them and made a huge deal out of it. I bought both the potty and the potty seat for all of them but honestly they all prefered the seat and I could have saved my money and skipped the little potty. Just pick a day to give it try. They'll be accidents but don't make a big deal out of it. After 3 accidents my daughter asked for the diapers back and we didn't try again until she was ready (about a month). They will let you know. Just bring it up every so often. Like would you like to try the potty again? In my opinion the pull ups are a big waist of money! Night time is a whole other issue for a lot. I was lucky. As soon as they were potty trained during the day they were at night too. Not sure if this is typical or if I was just lucky. My middle child did wet the bed and still does on occation but I have found that if he isn't over tired and if he doesn't drink too much before bed he'll be dry in the morning. Good luck to you!

We had a few potty books, but the one I think is most helpful is the DK Girls Potty Time (has a padded toilet seat on the cover) with stickers. At first when she started to sit on the potty she got a sticker. Then once she started to get the hang of it, the rewards for #1 stopped and the reward for #2 was a lollypop. The book has photos of girls wearing big girl underwear and using potty's (regular and small ones), plus the one girl who had an accident my daughter clearly identified with. She would read it while sitting on the potty.

She's been training about 2 months and she's like 95% good on #1 but about 20% on #2. She naps in a pullup and sleeps in an overnight diaper and manages to do her #2 when she's wearing them.

We did go to Target and get the Gerber training underwear (which comes in a girl pink/patterns set) which was super helpful in getting the transition started. She could also feel when she started to go and then ask to use the bathroom. That transition took a few weeks, but we kept washing the underwear and using pullups. She has better success in the underwear, and now after 2 months wants to wear it.

Good luck!

I personally think the pull-ups slow the process down.... my advice is not to use them, or ONLY use them at night. A lot of kids just like them too much, so they're not motivated to switch to undies.

The potty - eventually you want it to stay in the bathroom, and then get rid of it completely. But I think it's fine to leave it wherever she is for now!

I second the recommendation on the Elmo's Potty Time DVD... there's also a little board book about Ernie called "Too Big for Diapers" that my kids all loved. They weren't huge Sesame Street fans generally, but all 3 of my girls really loved these 2 products. Good luck!!!

I did all of the above with my daughter and they worked! She knew that everytime she got to use the potty she also got to keep her big girl's underwear (which she picked up herself at the store!). We usually only wore pull ups at night or if you go out as these can tremendously slow down the process.
Use stickers or other healthy rewards every time she uses the potty.
We got lots of mini potty books for kids at the local bookstore. Her favorite was a big one with elmo that made noises and The Potty Book for Girls with Hannah (they have a similar verson for boys!).
Ultimately, the best trick, was to get this froggy potty. It's wide enough that the kids can see themselves pee and this was awesome for her! Seeing the pee come out and her being able to control it was like Christmas and New Year's combined! It's a green potty that looks like a frog and it's relatively simple, cheap, and easy to carry around.

P.S. The nightime diapers will probably continue for at least another year!

Good luck!

Updated

I did all of the above with my daughter and they worked! She knew that everytime she got to use the potty she also got to keep her big girl's underwear (which she picked up herself at the store!). We usually only wore pull ups at night or if you go out as these can tremendously slow down the process.
Use stickers or other healthy rewards every time she uses the potty.
We got lots of mini potty books for kids at the local bookstore. Her favorite was a big one with elmo that made noises and The Potty Book for Girls with Hannah (they have a similar verson for boys!).
Ultimately, the best trick, was to get this froggy potty. It's wide enough that the kids can see themselves pee and this was awesome for her! Seeing the pee come out and her being able to control it was like Christmas and New Year's combined! It's a green potty that looks like a frog and it's relatively simple, cheap, and easy to carry around.

P.S. The nightime diapers will probably continue for at least another year!

Good luck!

My daughter got "A Potty for Me!" by Karen Katz as a gift so that is what we read. She loved the book and we read it over and over to her.

It sounds like what you're doing is working well so I would just keep at it. It might not be a bad idea to get another potty just to keep in the bathroom or a separate potty seat to go on the toilet - that way you always have one in the bathroom and one to move around. I would highly recommend the Baby Bjorn potty seat to go on the toilet. We tried another brand (Munchkin) and it was impossible to fully clean it and we had to trash it after a couple of months because it stunk so bad. The Baby Bjorn is one piece and is so easy to keep clean.

I would start putting her in panties during the day and use a pull up at nap time and at night. I told my daughter that the pull ups were night, night panties so she would think of them more as panties instead of a pull down diaper that she could pee in. It worked well for us and one night she protested and refused to wear the night, night panties. She insisted on wearing regular panties instead. She had accidents at night about 2-3 times and then she was fully trained.