My daughter turned 2 in early April. I have read about all the signs that tell you your child is ready to start potty training and she has them- she hides when she's going poop, she tells us when she's wet or dirtied her diaper, she's staying dry during many of her naps (not all the time, but lots), etc. We do cloth diapers so she feels the wet a lot more than with disposable. So, I know that it's time to start potty training her, but I have no idea how to get started. Any suggestions?
What worked for my twins was to get rid of diapers and not look back. There will be messes and accidents, but just start putting her in underwear with some kind of incentive system. Good luck!!!
If she is really ready you will have no problems. Go buy her some panties that she will be excited about, even let her pick them. Then explain that all pee pee's and poop's are done on the potty. Then get started. Let her wear the panties during the daytime hours. Put her on the potty every 30 minutes or so.
If she has an accident, don't make a big deal of it. Just tell her "no, we don't do this in our panties we do it on the potty." If she has a BM in her panties, take her in the bathroom and show her that it goes in the potty and flush it.
When she does go on the potty, give her lots and lots of praise. Do a happy dance, give her a big hug and kiss and maybe even a prize or small treat. This will encourage her continued good behavior.
Most of all be prepared for accidents, they do and will happen. But if your consistent she will learn quickly. All of my children were potty trained right around your daughters age and it was no problem.
Best wishes!
ETA: One last thought. Let her wear panties without pants while you are training her. It allows her to get her panties down by herself and allows you to notice any accidents as soon as they happen.
First, roll up all your rugs. Then put the potty in an accesible place, it doesn't have to be in the bathroom. Buy pullups but you have to commit to training. This 6 months in pullups nonsense gives them a bad name. Potty training should only take a couple days or weeks to perfect. Put her on the potty every 20 minutes. In the beginning, give her a small reward each time for just sitting. Then a bigger reward for actually peeing or pooping. After the first couple days, increase the time to 30 minutes, then 40 minutes, ect. Always pee before you leave the house and then right when you come back. She will have accidents. If she is outside, let her wear panties. Going straight from diapers to panties will be very, very, messy.
I usually let them run naked until they get the hang of where the pee nad poop go, then they go into gerber trainers. Once they are at the 99% rate, I then let them pick our big girl undies of their choice.
Start putting her on the toilet after naps! And just keep on saying "pee and poop" go in the potty. It usually takes about 12-15 hits (pee in the potty) for them to get how the muscles work to control it.....
If you sendemail, I'd be happy to share with you what we used. I potty trained mine in 3 days at 26 months. :-) mindybargeloh@ G M A I L . c o m
Both Melissa and OneCrazyLady have good suggestions. I don't train until 3 because I want them to be able to use the regular toilet (I just don't like cleaning the potty annoys me). But when I train I go commando style like melissa no diapers period not even at night. Just let it fall where it may. I also leave alot of fluids available within their reach (stuff they don't usually get like kool-aid and drink pouches). I only train in summer months because if we go somewhere and they have an accident then they won't get cold. I don't use pull-ups either. Just underware. I don't get excited about accidents but hubby does which scares them and prolongs the process. But sounds like your little one is ready...pretty soon you'll be diaper free!
