Lost and Need Some Directions

Hope this idea may help I used to have a jar filled with peanut m&m's and when my son would use the potty he would then get two of them. If he did the poo poo then he could have a handfull. It worked! My children are grown up now but am enjoying reading with you ladies. Old lady me. C.

Ok this is just a thought so if it sounds dumb, I have not reached this stage yet.

From some experience with my 12 month old daughter, she loves new stuff. I bought some new lotion in a pink bottle and she love it. She actually puts lotion on! I know it sounds a little stupid but maybe if you get her a "cool" foaming soap or the really "cool" kandoo whips then she will want to use the potty. I have seen both of these products in Wal-Mart by the lotions and to tell you the truth, I would be excited to use the potty! When I was growing up we never had neat stuff like that for encouragement. This is the only thing I can think of. I would only let her use her "cool" things for when she uses the potty and is a big girl. Let me know if this works because I will do it with my daughter!

Good Luck :)

Wow, so many ways, no wonders it's confusing for you. My son usually has a bowel movement when he first wakes up so I plan to start putting him on the toilet then if I can wake up before he does. Other than that my plan is to just not try. I am keeping him in regular diapers because pullups sound like they would be messy to clean when he poops. There is a lot of great advice here, just relax and figure out what you want to do.

J.,
I too have 6, 5 boys and 1 girl, and I just barely got my 4.5 year old boy to go through the night! Kindergarten is just around the corner, but like you've heard before they most likely won't go to school in diapers. Now that she's back in the diapers, unless she gets a sore bum let her be the one to tell you she needs a change and then let HER help. She takes it off and you give her the wipes to wipe herself. Did you ever do the pull-up thing? I know people say never use them, but they were a life-saver for me. Make them accessible for her. She is old enough to be trained, the signs are already there, SHE just has to want to do this. Now you need to let it go and let her come to you. She's ready, she just needs to discover that herself. I bet in a month or two, maybe less(!) she will be done. Good luck and hang in there!

I wouldn't do diapers but do pullups. It is more like underwear and she needs to get used to the idea of pulling something up and down if she is goign to start with underwear later on. She will let you know. One day after Santa called my daughter to tell her how proud he would be for her to go on the potty (she was like a little over 3) she just hung up the phone, walked to her drawer, put on big girl underwear and that was it, seriously! Every once in a while say "let's go and try and go potty please"...don't ask her if she has to go as the answer 90% of the time will be "no I don't have to go", just tell her it is time. I seriously would find out what character she really likes, princesses or whomever and have a friend call her and pretend to be that person and ask her to be a big girl. Also, if she wants to go to the park or whatever big girls do, then remind her as long as she is still not using the potty then she isn't truly a "big girl" yet. It is a right of passage and a priveledge and no big girl activities until she truly is one. Sounds harsh but if you do it as matter of fact, put it back on her to make her choices then that helps. Also, she sees the younger children get attention for having their diapers change, that is why my daughter regressed after my son was born. I just empowered her with all the cool things big girls get to do and Santa telling her he needed her to be a big girl right before Christmas and it was done...just like that in a matter of 30 minutes....!!! :) Good luck, be patient.

J., all I can say is hang in there. I am going through the same thing with my 4 yo. Now that she is back in diapers, I would say about once every month, introduce her back to the potty, if she takes to it great, if not, try again the next month, and make it as fun and positive of an experience as possible every time. Good luck, and I know things will work out for you.

I responded to your previous request saying I thought you were doing the right thing. I say just keep her in diapers (or pull-ups if you prefer) and just don't even mention using the potty for a couple of weeks. Then casually bring it up. Say she wants to go to the zoo or wants a new toy, etc. Just say, "Oh, that's for big girls who use the potty. Do you want to use the potty?" If she says no, then don't bring it up again for another week and do the same thing again. I think eventually you'll hit upon something that she really, really wants and when you ask, she'll say, "yes" she does want to use the potty. Then put her in underwear and try it again. When you do finally get that "yes" I recommend trying this:
http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/264
It worked with my son - once HE finally decided he wanted to use the potty and be a big boy.

She probably just sees all the attention that they baby is getting and probably correlated it to diapers. Also try to play up all the things that "big girls" get to do that babies can't do and then remind her that big girls don't wear diapers.

Just remember, she won't always be in diapers and when she finally does decide to use the potty, it will probably happen very quickly.

Don't know if this will help ...
I told my daughter one day they stopped selling her usual brand of diapers and started buying Tushie (?sp) diapers ... they are big and bulky and no gel to make them feel dry. Actually I told her they were night time diapers and they stopped selling day time diapers. Anyway she wore these at night for a while then told me she didn't like them and didn't want to wear them and that's when I told her that's fine if she tells me when she needs to go to potty. Good luck.

She is still ajusting to being a big sister again. Talk to her about being one of the big kids and wouldn't she like to go to school, too? Have her get the diapers for the new baby. Give her some responsablity so she can see she is not as helpless as her new Sister? I have 6. 4 girls and 2 boys-ranging 26 to 16. Hang in there this too shall pass!
C. B
P.S.I changed diapers for over ten years straight.