"Holding It" - Any Advice on Potty Training?

I only have one word... and it's likely the hardest word in the world for a parent... "relax". We so want our children to be potty trained, but it just isn't going to happen until they are ready. My suggestion is to have regular times that you put her on the potty for perhaps five minutes. Make those times approximately every two hours, perhaps just after a meal or snack, and in between those times at regular intervals. Tell her to let you know when she's finished, and even if she hasn't done anything in the potty and immediately after does it in her diaper, just keep on doing this routine until she finally 'gets' it. Use potty time to teach her things like washing hands afterward too. We also have our children go to the drawer and get out their own clean diaper. They feel very important doing that, and I believe it's helping the potty training process too.

This sounds so silly, but you might try talking to the pee instead of her. Put the potty near your child, look at her belly, and say something like, "Please, Pee, come get in the potty so that ____ can go back to playing. She will be much more comfortable." Or whatever sounds good to you.

Other than that, I agree with all of the messages here. Time will take care of everything.

Luck!

We had this problem with my son after he was potty trained for a little while. He knew all about it, just didn't feel like doing it, so we would sometimes have accidents. We started offering him a reward like a jellybean or a dum-dum sucker after going potty. His preschool teacher actually suggested it. It has been a great motivator. And although he will still hold it for hours, we don't worry so much anymore because we know he will eventually tell us so he can get that treat. No more accidents!

He is even starting to get up in the morning or after a nap, to go potty rather than just going in his diaper (we use diapers while sleeping because he is a really hard sleeper and isn't ready to wake up yet to go potty). So at naptime some diapers are dry; overnight some are only a little bit wet. I can see the progress he is making because now HE is motivated, not just us!

As for the age / being ready thing, it sounds like your daughter is physically able to control it, and mentally understands. So I don't think you need to wait longer, you just need to motivate her somehow. If you object to a food treat, maybe you can think of something else. We started out with stickers for my son, but the novelty of that wore off. With a girl the motivators might be different!

It doesn't sound like she's really ready yet, just in the beginning stages. Keep encouraging her. We let J have jelly beans if he goes poop or pee. He's just turned 3 and he will go sit for an hour just to pee/poop and get that single jelly bean. We still use pull ups because we don't want the mess of cleaning urine. Forcing the issue will result in issues later on.

Letting her wait until she is REALLY ready is best. 2 is still very young. Taking the pressure off her will likely result in her going ahead and training herself in the not too distant future. But if you really, really must potty train her now -- you could try the M&M bribing routine. I didn't do this with either of mine, but I pretty much let them train themselves.... yes, it meant inconvenience, but luckily we also had daycare and preschool willing to change diapers. The social aspect of potty training also helps -- get her together with other already trained kids, and it might happen a lot faster just by her observing and copying the other kids.

I like the book "Mommy I Have to Go Potty" by Jan Faul.

Lots of Love,
Linda

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If you think shes ready, throw out the diapers so she has to use potty, maybe she will have an accident or two in big girl panties but it will give her somethign to be proud of when she makes it in potty.
Also you should take her to store and pick out her own big girl panties, and explain that you dont want to pee on dora/princess.