Need Potty Training Tips - O Fallon, MO

We are in the trial stages, my daughter is 27 months old. We have days where she will go a couple times, then other time we can't get her to go for days. We have the Potty Power dvd, and several books. Like you sometimes she sits there forever, the when I leave the room she goes on the floor, or if I put her diaper on, yep she pees that. I think it really is just a matter of them not being ready. So I have decided to just wait a little longer then try pushing it again. Good Luck

oh my i agree...yuck!! i'm sending you an extra dose of patience cause i know in the same circumstances i would need all i could get! have you tried plastic pants over the underwear to minimize the pee puddles? my step-son was the poop crayon drawer and i thought i was going to string him up it was so awful. I just kept trying to keep a very close watch on him so he wouldn't have the opportunity (i know easier said than done). Our little "princess" who is now three insisted on wearing panties on her head for a solid 6 months when she potty trained...thought it was a fun game...also she didn't like be isolated in the bathroom...so the potty went where we were...living room, to the side in the kitchen, wherever...kinda gross to some people but you know what we live here not them--and whatever works right! Good luck to you!! sometimes i have to chant this through the day it helps (then again so does a glass of wine after she goes to bed!) "she's only a child, she's only a child, ..."

My son is 26 months old and he's potty trained but he's still prone to accidents (especially when we're in public and he can't hold it).

This is what we did:
1. He followed my husband to the bathroom every time my husband had to go. That way he could watch Daddy go pee and learn that he had to pee the same way.
2. He ran around in his underwear at Grandma's house who has hardwood floors and no carpetting (thankfully). The first week, he almost always went in his underwear and in the living room. But every time he went, we would point to his pee and teach him the vocabulary word "pee" and "poo."
3. We tried to instill the concepts of what pee and poo were, where to do it, and then eventually to do it in the bathroom.

It definitely took a while and a bunch of accidents, but he was potty trained at 20 months.

I know this seems like the worst thing in the world right now, but you will get through this. Relax!! My son was not potty trained until he was almost 4. And now he is 12 and perfectly normal. Everyone seems to want to rush potty-training. Maybe you could find a way to keep the diaper on her with pants or overalls that she is not able to remove. Then you could talk to her about going to the potty. Good luck!! This too will pass!!

My daughter went through removing her diapers, but wasn't ready to use the potty. Have you tried pinning the diapers on so that she can't remove them? You could tell her to come find you when it is time for a change and reward that. Clothing that she can't take off could be another way to prevent her from getting to the diaper. Potty training is so much easier when they are past the two and a half mark -- I learned this the hard way with my middle daughter who started using the potty at 18 months. It took us a year to become accident free. I waited with my third until two and a half and it took a week. Good luck.

Hi S., I have the same age children as you, my oldest who is now in kindergarten was just like this. She also would sit on the potty for a half hour or so and then three minutes into giving upwould wet her diaper. I understand how frustrated you are! The thing that worked for me was that I threw away the diapers, so I told her, she believed that there were no more diapers in the house, so she had to wear underwear, she hated to be wet or dirty so a couple of accidents and she figured it out that she had to go on the potty. You will have to be very vigilant, watch for clues as to when she has to go, or as i did fill her up of water and juice etc and after that put her on the potty, she will eventually start to go. While she is going cheer her and explain that she is going pee (or whatever you want to call it) and that you are proud of her. She may be scared and once she realizes exactly what "going pee" is and that it wont hurt, she will be more apt to do it again.
Hope this helps. Oh, also she is still young to get up at night to go potty so hide the diapers and after she is asleep in her bed at night, slip a diaper on her, before she wakes up in the morning slip it off her, she'll never know she had one on and hopefull it will begin to be dry in the morning, and even if it isn't get her into the habit of going straight to the potty first thing in the morning. Good luck!
Krissy

I was really helped by a book called "Diaper Free Before 3". I got it at the public library. It talks about humans natural bodily cycles and how to use it to your advantage. We also watched a couple different potty movies. My daughter was home/babysitter potty trained by 2 w/ minimal accidents....but still needed pull ups for outtings in public. She has been in underware all the time (even public) since bout 2 and a half (she is now three) w/ hardly any accidents.
What we did was psych her up. We watched videos, read books and talked about the potty, for about a week. Then one morning we said that we werent going to wear diapers in the house anymore. And that was it. She wore cloth training pants at home and pull ups any other time (we did the ones w/ feel liners, and the kind that doesn't velcro off so she couldn't take them off like a diaper). There were A LOT of accidents in the begining. When she had one, we would clean her up in the bathroom, telling her it was ok, but pee and poo go into the potty. We would put what we could of the accident in the potty and let her flush. We also would put her on the potty A LOT. I am talking like every hour. We didn't go many places during this time....stayed home a lot. We would try to plan potty trips close to when she would be wanting to go naturally (and after a couple of days in cloth trainers, you start to know when they are going to go...there natural rythem). And gave her a sticker for going on the potty. The first one is the hardest. After that it gets easier. The most likely time to get her to go on the potty is first thing in the morning. Wake her up, undress her and put her right on the pot. Talk to her and read to her for about 20 min. It is a body's natural reaction to relieve upon waking.
Good luck. Like I said, that book really, really helped me.

Have you made her help you clean up her artwork? She may not be so anxious to "paint" if she knows she has to clean up the mess afterwards. Make her accountable for her actions.
Another idea: We would dump the poop from our daughter's dirty diapers and say poo poo goes in the potty so that she would begin to assosiate the two together. Then we would let her flush(always a big hit!). We read a couple of big girl potty books too. That helped also. Hope you can use some of this.

Ok. I didnt have taht much of a problem with my son. One thing that worked when he was being stubborn was to actually make him sit there until something came out. I would check him and if nothing came out he would have to sit there. One thing you have to figure out is the times she goes. He was about 45 minutes after eating. He would get tired of having to sit on the toilet. I didnt go through this more than twice because like your son he wanted to wear underwear and besides being strapped for cash for diapers and refusing to buy pull ups, he had no choice. One thing my mother told me with a girl if you let them wear wet panties for a while that might break her. Girls dont usually like that feeling.

Hey S.. I'm sorry to hear about your potty troubles. I don't know if she is into the television, but we had a movie - Potty Power - that helped a ton! It is so cheesy but my daughter LOVED it and she does everything just like the movie. I got it on amazon.com

Have a better day!