Potty-Training - Bellmore,NY

We didn't potty train until ours was over 3 (3 years, 3 months). She is super smart and verbal, but struggled understanding and "listening" to her body. She was a little late with crawling, walking, and is a total clutz. I really think that had EVERYTHING to do with it.

We chose a weekend we'd be home (almost a year ago), and set the timer for every 15 minutes. ADD: Make sure you give her lots to drink all day long!!!!

I made a Dora chart with a picture of a Dora backpack she would get after 12 successful potties. I gave her an M&M for trying and 2 more if she peed. I had her sit on a towel without any underwear on, on the couch and watch tv (a super treat). By the time she got on the potty, tried, washed her hands and I reset the time, 25 - 30 minutes had gone by.

Once we finally got the ball rolling and got some pee in that potty (and it made music!!!), we made serious progress. By the 2nd night we went to Target to get her backpack. She never wore a diaper again and only wore pull-ups during long car rides and overnight (she gave up napping at 2). Honestly, she still wears pull-ups at night and only until a week ago started waking up dry in the mornings. We are getting ready to do night training.

She did not poop train for several months. That took going to preschool. She only goes two mornings a week, but that made all the difference of her independence, too. We used to have to help every single time. Now, she goes on her own. (YAY!!!!!!!)

I liked getting her the backpack for an incentive. We carried extra clothes in it, a portable fold-up potty for large potties, wipes, and hand sanitizer. She was so proud to take her bag with her and I didn't have to put all of that stuff in my bag. :) Good luck mama. Just start it, be positive, give incentives, and be consistent.

Here's a really useful website you might find helpful. It gives a few variations on "readiness" checklists, plus tips on various training strategies, the best ages to start them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach: http://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-tips.html

A very thorough and informative site!

Keep putting her on the potty. Make it fun and cheery...LOL Don't push.. Sometimes my little one will sit for 2 seconds (he's 1 1/2). Talk to her about it since she is older and should understand. Give her 1 or 2 pennies when she does go.

Well I think I would just wait another month or so. We didn't train my daughter until she was almost 3 as well, and I honestly think it made all the difference in the world! She basically trained herself! My daughter likes to know what's coming, she needs to mentally prepare for change so for a few weeks leading up to it we would tell her every day that pretty soon we were getting rid of diapers and she would only get to wear panties. Then when the day came, we got rid of the diapers and on came the panties. I did try to put her on the potty every 30 minutes, we set a timer, but she was pretty good at that point about knowing when she had to go. By the second day she was not into sitting on the potty every 30 minutes...LOL! Anyway, I sort of let it go and she would go when she had to go, although I was still prompting her and setting timers for a few days. At night I did end up putting pull ups on her but we really only needed them for like a week. I kept her in them for a month just to be sure but then she was done with them.

Biologically all children should be ready by age 3 to use the potty, so she really does still have a few months grace period. I would pick a date in the next month or two and just wait until then. Tell her about it and hopefully that will help her prepare. I also think that just ditching the diapers all at once is a good idea. Accidents are going to happen so just have a lot of panties on hand so you don't have to do laundry twice a day! I also did put plastic pants over my daughter panties when we had to go out during the first few weeks. I think they are Gerber brand and you can get them at like Babies R Us.

Have you tried using an incentive? I told my 2 year old that when she stopped wearing diapers she could get some princesesses from the disney store. Worked pretty well. Its pretty normal for them to do well then regress a little bit, but its all about being consistent. Maybe you should try talking to the daycare center about having her go on the potty. Good luck, its an uphill battle.

My daughter will also be three this March and we just started PTing in the last three weeks. The first week was horrible and I expected that. I was consistent, but let her have input too. At first we tried every half an hour. She hated it and resisted using the potty at all. I backed off and had her 'try' every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. That worked much better for both of us. I offer her an M & M and sticker for her chart as incentive. I try to stay upbeat and not make a big deal of accidents. I just say "Next time you can pee/poop in the potty." She's doing really well now. Has already had a few dry days. I put her exclusively into training pants and have moved up to Dora panties now that she's doing so well. She adores Dora, so I tell her not the pee/poop on Dora. So far so good! I was almost ready to go back to diapers, but glad we stuck it out. My Elisa goes to daycare one day a week and she hasn't gotten the hang of going at other people's house yet. I would just make sure daycare is being consistent and that you follow through at home as well. We do pull-ups for nap/bedtime, but hoping to eliminate that soon. GL and hang in there!