Potty Training - Lithonia, GA

She might not be ready, but before you wait a couple of months, try getting her stickers to put on a poster on the wall or buy some $1 toys and give her one each time she actually goes to the potty. If that doesn't work either, she just isn't ready.

I potty trained both my boys at 2 1/2 years old doing hot wheel cars. They wore underwear day and night. But my now 2 1/2 year old daughter isn't ready at all. She does NOT want to sit on the potty. Some kids just aren't ready. Try again in a few months.

If this has been a frustrating time and she sees it, it's not a good thing. It shouldn't come to the point of frustration.

As far as the pacifier...my daughter was the only one that took one and what happened was sheer luck for us. She misplaced her paci's. She knew it and couldn't find it...we were all looking for it before bedtime that night (this was shortly after she was 2yo). Anyway, we honestly couldn't find it (I found them the next day though, but she didn't know it...I threw them away). What we did was just say, 'we can't find it', it's 'gone gone'. She accepted it. She did ask about once a day for the paci, and we just repeated it everyday. She did fine though. I was surprised because she was actually taking the paci all day, every day. She asked everyday for about a week or more and then stopped. She was a bit restless at night, for a couple of weeks, but that's about it.

You could try and 'misplace' it on purpose. But remember, you have to get rid of them so YOU won't be tempted to give in when she's really having a problem. Good luck!

Each child is unique. She understands what to do and will do it when she is ready. Correct her and be sure to reward her for job well done. It won't be long, she's got the idea. Good luck! As for the pacifier, on my daughter's 2nd birthday, she had a well baby vist at the pediatrician. He told me the pacifier was for me, my comfort zone and as for my daughter- she did not need it and will quickly acclamate to life without it. Although she was two, she was listening. When we got in the car to go home, I turned to her in the back seat in her car seat and blamed ALL of it on the doc.I said to her "no more paci, The doctor said no more". She agreed and said "no more paci". After that, when she asked about her pacifier, I would reply "what did the doctor say?" Her reply was "no more paci" We did this back and forth conversation for about a week and she never asked again. My mother used the same concept with me with my bottle. We were on the Staten Island ferry in New york. My mother was holding me and I threw my bottle in the Hudson River. When I asked for it after that, she reminded me that I threw in the water and it was "all gone".

Don't push your daughter to be potty trained. I read an article that stated that a child wasn't ready to be potty trained until he or she wanted to tote something that was as large as he or she. My son wouldn't give up his pacifier until he was three.
P. S

Our daughter didn't want to give up the pacifier either. We tried everything and then one of the wives from our FRG group told me to try cutting a little bit of the pacifier tip off at a time. We did and in no time flat she didn't want it anymore. Anytime she asked for it, we gave it to her, but she would give it back & say, "It's broken" . This way, she was the one who actually gave it up. I hope this works as well for your daughter. Good luck!

Potty training depends on each child differently. Don't ask her for two weeks if she has to potty, take her and read to her, or give her the book to read, let her take favorite toy, play music in there while she's waiting, make a chart and give her stars or smiling faces or whatever during the week for each day and at the end of the week give her a treat on Saturdays. When she is fully train take the chart down with her and explain to her about being turning into a big girl and celebrate it one big bang. Put colors in the water so when she flushes she can watch it go down. The colors I'm talking about is the toilet bowl cleaners that turn your water a diifernt color. Stay on schedule and before she goes to bed stop her drinking an hour early so she can stay dry throughout the night. So far as for the pacifer cut it at the top and see if she gives it to you and keep it like that, she might have a fit for a week but afterwards she will be ok, because you don't want her teeth to grow wrong and she will talk more when it is gone. Also you can buried it in a box that she can design and make and have a "I Will Miss You" ceremony and get rid of it.

Child care provider and a mother of 3

Don't rush her with the potty training. She has plenty of time. As for the pacifiers, just throw them all away. That will be the easiest way to make sure you don't give them back to her during a slow weaning process. She'll adjust. I'm going cold turkey on my son's bottle right now. Good luck.

Hello, My name is B.
I will tell you the experience that I have had with my 4 kids. I have also potty trained many of my friends kids. The first thing that you must do is make sure your child is completely ready to be trained. She must be able to speak it or give a sign that she has to go. Then you must. Only put her on the pot after she has eaten or drunk alot of liquids. If she has nothing in then she will get nothing out! . You can also get her a pot that sings, makes music or something like dat when she goes. I even had to sit on the toilet with my middle child to get them comfortable. When I went we clap then my son wanted to do it. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO IS....When you start potty training you need to take them COMPLETELY out of diapers, pull-ups everything. It confuses them what they can and can't go in. You will need to keep alot of change of clothes with you when you go out. It seems silly but my daughter is now 2 almost 3 years old and she has been trained almost a year and a half. She was trained in 2 weeks.You can also think of giving them something when they go, as a prize... like animal crackers or something that wont get them addicted to candy,ha ha. I hope this will help you.

My daughter turned 2 in June as well. She on her own started being interested in pottty training at about 18months. Once I started trying to work with her she backfired. I layed off for a while. She is doing pretty good with urinating, but also just does not like to do the other on the potty. At 18months she did though. If she has a pull up on she will hold it for a while and either ask for a diaper or just finally go in her pull up. I have had her on the potty and she will go tee tee, then five minutes later go the other in her diaper. Very frustrating. I have a behavior chart for my son and have been thinking of making a potty chart for her. I am also doing today what helped with my son. No diaper or anything. I am trying to see if I can get her to have to go poopy in the potty. She has been tee tee on the potty several times today, but I think she is holding the other in so we will see.

As far as the paci, I took hers away during the day a while ago. She knows it stays in her bed for only naptime and bedtime. I did this with my son as well. With him I went cold turkey at nap and bed when he was just over two. My dauhter had just been born and he keep trying to "hold" hers since she got to have it all day. I think he was jeolous that she had it all the time and he couldn't. I told him they were only for babies like his sister and he is a big boy now. He did better than I thought he would. He only asked a couple of times for it. My only problem was he stopped napping! Which is why I still let my daughter get it in the bed. I am afraid she won't nap anymore. I also have heard it is not a good idea to try to many new things at once. They get afraid of having to be a big kid. I would pick which problem you want to handle the most and try that, then the other. I prefer to try to potty train, so I will take her paci away when she gets better at potty training.

J.

The only advise I can offer is that she is very young to potty train and probably is just not ready yet. I'd keep it out and keep it a nice experience for her. Don't try to force her, it'll just turn her off to the whole thing. As for the pacifier... I have no idea! Luckily, my daughter never liked a pacifier, now how to get rid of that thumb! ;o)

Being two is a big transition for a child. There are lots of firsts. My son (who is now 9)didn't like using the potty either. I tried all kinds of tricks and games, but only one was successful. I bought a calendar and some stickers and for everyday he used the potty I let him put a smiley face sticker on that day and on Friday I put an ice cream sticker. I told him if he got smilies all the way to the ice cream we would go get an ice cream.If a day went by that he didn't use the potty, the ice cream got moved a day. Pretty soon he started using it every day and we went out for our treat. When we were confident that he knew when he had to go and used the potty on his own we made a big deal out of shredding up the last bit of diapers and pull ups left and the calendar to symbolize that our "potty game was over". It is amazing how much they can comprehend at that age and rewards seem to work the best. As for the pacifier, I started dipping my daughters in lemon or pickle juice every time she wanted it. It didn't take long to associate the pacifier with having a sour taste in her mouth. I even carried the juice in a tupperware container in the diaperbag, car, and my purse so that everytime she wanted it I would be prepared. It took three days and a few tears, but she started to really hate her pacifier. Distractions work well also. When she wanted it I would sit down and color with her, take her for a walk, read a book, or just cuddle with her to reassure that everything was okay and get her mind on something else. The impulse to suck is a baby's natural instinct, but they begin to become dependent on it for a comfort or relaxer. This will be exspecially hard at bedtime, but some extra hugs and a story or music will help soothe her. Just remember, the tears are temporary and consistency is key. Good luck and God bless!

Hi Marica,

I have 2 daughters who are now 18 and 10. They were both potty trained at a year old the second one almost a year and a half. I started them really early, I guess if you start really early they wont know that they are not ready, they will think that sitting on the potty is the thing to do. What I did was right after my kids would wake up I would literally run and put them on the potty- just like us grown ups they too need to to potty after waking up so that was a routine I did. As far as bowel movement, I can tell by their facial expression that they need to go and once again run them to the potty and I would sit there with them and talk to them about needing to go potty.

As far as the pacifier, my first daughter did not like it but the second one was attached to it. But at a year old I think I took it away from her cold turkey and I had one night of crying - but she cried herself to sleep and forgot about it the next day and just forgot about it. I believe it's easier to take it away all together than gradually.

I pray all goes well for your daughter.

I havent gotten to that stage yet. I have a friend that told me u have to start cuttin off the end of the pacifer n until it is all cut up and they wont want it anymore.

Each child is diffrent when it comes to potty training. My 4 yr old was trained by two years. She just wanted to be a big girl. I remeber I was not ready to potty train. (pregant with baby brother) I always say she trained herself b/c I really do not remeber doing much with her. I now she went number 2 b4 number 1 and that is not something that normally happens. Now the 2 1/2 yr old boy is a diffrent story he wants to wear his big boy underware that we let him pick out. so we let him put them on and if he tee tees he will get wet, but he does not want to tee tee in them so he will go and try to potty. We have a little potty in the bathroom and will just ask does anyone want to go set on the potty. He will run to the bathroom and pull his pants and pull up down or his big boy pants and will set on the potty he may not go but he is trying to. He has in the last week started asking to go. I am not pushing him just letting him go at his on pase. Some children do not potty train until they are closer to the age of 3.
Now the pacifer he was my paci baby. When he turned two he could only have it at night and nap time. we would not let him walk around with it during the day. The School told us that he was not using it at naptime. That he never asked for it when they got his mat out and that he went right to sleep. we went to visit the grandparents in March and forgot to pack a paci. He never asked for it that weekend, so when we got home I put all the pacifers up. He found one about a month ago on a Sunday and put it in his pocket and gave it to one of my friends for her baby boy b/c he was a big boy now and did not need it.

I would not take away the paci until you are finished potty training. Kids turn to pacis to help cope with stress and potty training is very stressful. That is what I did with my daughter. My daughter just recently potty trained at two and a half. There are signs that they are ready...a big one is interest. Another is that she is dry when she wakes up from nap or sleeping at night. Sounds like she tells you...so that is a good sign. Don't push her. She may get more stubborn. Just keep encouraging her. I had a prize box with my daughter and a sticker chart. If she tried she got to pick a sticker. If she went pee or poo in the toilet, she got a prize and a sticker. Eventually, she was going all the time and stopped asking for the prize. Also, if and when she is ready and you are serious...you must take away the pull ups and put her in panties and expect messes at first. I taught Preschool for 8 years and those kids who had undies potty trained so much faster than the ones who had pull ups...even those ones that they feel cold didn't work with my daughter. She potty trained in about a week once I took away the pullups. I put her on the potty every 40 minutes. Be patient. Potty training at 3 is normal...if it takes that long. When she is potty trained...you can have the paci fairy come and take her paci. Tell her that the fairy comes and takes the pacis to other kids who don't have them. Go around the house and have her help you get all of them in a bag. Put them in the mail box for the fairy and tell her she will bring her tons of presents in return. That night...or early in the morning...sneak out to the mailbox, throw the binkies away and decorate the mailbox with balloons, streemers, etc. Put presents inside from the paci fairy. When she wakes...tell her you think the fiary came..take her outside...and there you go. Whenever she asks for her pacis, you can remind her about the fairy giving them to children who need them.