Potty Training 3Yr Daughter

I had the same problem with my 3 year old son. I finally just quit talking about it and enforcing it. It worked and he just stared going on his own. He will be 4 in April and has just stopped sleeping in pull-ups. Yay for no more accidents.

Good luck,

A.

H., I know it is frustrating, but she is just not ready. You can fight and cry and be annoyed. Or you can take the pressure off of both of you and accept that she isn't quite there yet. This is a stages thing, she will take a step forward, and one (sometimes two) back. Encourage, act like it is really cool thing to do, keep asking her if she'd like to do it and then back off. She will come to it in her own time. When she does, try a timer set for every 30 minutes or so for the first few weeks. I put the 'potty blame' on the timer...it wasn't ME telling her to go, it was the timer.

When she is ready, all of the tricks will work. Mine was potty trained for almost 4 months before she poop on the toilet. Who knows what goes on in those little knoggins, but you shoudl take as much stress out of it as you can...how many 5 yer olds do you know that aren't potty trained? She'll get there. How bumpy the ride is up to you. Good Luck!

I would stop trying for a couple of weeks. My son was almost 3& 1/2 when he potty trained but once he decided he was ready he started going on the potty and has only had 3 accidents since. My son was one the oldest of my friend group to potty train but he did it the fastest and with a lot less accidents then my friends kids....She will potty train just in her own time.

One thing that worked for my difficult-to-train son was to give him a choice of potties. We had a seat on the regular potty and a small potty on the floor. That way he still felt like he had a choice, but the choice was "which potty" instead of "to potty or not to potty."

First, I would ask her teachers if there are any other concerns about her developmentally. If she has any delays, perhaps this is a part of that. But, most kids who refuse to potty train are normal or even quite bright, but they just aren't interested or it does become a power struggle. So, I would tell her "I can see that you just aren't ready to go potty on the toilet, so we are going back into diapers." Then, don't mention it for an entire month. That will be the hard part. Just act as if she is only one year old and you don't even expect her to be trained. Ask the school to do the same. Most kids decide to go on their own by the end of the 4 weeks. It is at least worth a try. When she does go on her own, don't OVERREACT. Calmly say "You've decided that you want to go potty on the toilet." Good luck. She will train, one of these days, I promise!

The best thing to do is just keep asking her if she has to go. Don't make a big deal about it. She is going to go when she is ready. I learned the hard way with my son. My MIL told me to stop stressing out so bad, and it worked. When I let go a little, he started going on his own. I did the same thing with my daughter and she potty trained early minus the stress. Good Luck.

I found that my daughter always peed before bath, so I started getting her to sit on the potty while I ran the water (helps to "trigger" pee).

My son will be 4 next month and just became "fully" potty-trained in the past month or so. He had the peeing down pat for over 6 months but refused to poop on the potty. We tried everything...sticker charts, rewards, punishing, etc but nothing worked. It is true that they will do it when they get ready and there is nothing that you can do to make them. You will just cause both of you stress if you don't just let it happen on its own. I know from experience that it feels like as a parent you are doing something wrong because everyone else's kid is trained but you just need to worry about your family and not let them influence you.

My son was 3 1/2 years old when he finally potty trained. I really thought he would start Kindergarten in a diaper. I was so frustrated and didn't know what to do. I know he knew what he was doing, because he would hide when he'd "go" in his diaper. Everyone had advice and I think I tried it all. My mom kept telling me, "he will do it when he's ready". And he did... One day, while at her house, he pulled his pants off by himself, climbed on the toilet, and "went". No kidding... My mom was floored! He never had an accident after that.

I feel for you! Potty training is so hard. And we can't make it happen. Maybe...put her back in diapers and let her decide when she's ready for panties. Just a thought, and it may not work.
Good luck!

The urgency you are expressing around the issue is very likely triggering resistance in your daughter. Kids this age have begun the long journey toward autonomy and self-control. It's their job!

Try what Amy suggests; simply quit talking about it and give your daughter a chance for more autonomy in this area. My guess is that when she discovers she can make the choice for her own reasons over the next few weeks, she'll surprise you.

When that happens, I hope you'll allow it to be her victory, not yours. Accept the new habit quietly and let her know you're proud of her, but even more importantly, that you can tell she's proud of herself.

I'll give you the advice my mom (who potty trained all 4 of us kiddos with four very different personalities) gave me when I was dealing with the same thing. If you can't potty train in 3 days, drop it for a month or two and try it again. She swears that potty training only takes a week or less if the child is really ready. If not, save both of you the stress and guilt and put it off for a month or two. She will not go to 1st grade in diapers. ;)