Potty Training - Healdsburg,CA

Sorry, K., this isn't an answer, but I wanted to thank you for asking this question. I have books too and still feel lost and confused! Hang in there!

Hello,
I just potty trained my daughter (2 1/2) and found the long weekend idea worked great for us. I actually find she has less accidents when we are out shopping or whatever. My SIL calls them natural transitions when we are out and about. You get to Target, you go pee, you get to Safeway, you go pee, etc. I went down to a party supply store and bought 10 of junk toys and a little bag. I set the timer for every 20 minutes the first day and took her to the bathroom every 20 minutes. By the end of that day she was waiting 30-40 minutes. She still has accidents (she's been potty trained for a couple months now) but she is FINALLY beginning to tell me when she has to go rather then me telling her. She does wear a diaper durning naps and at night though. I also recommend a cover for her carseat. I call it a piddle pad, but I'm not sure what it's really called. I got mine from One Step Ahead and it gives her the choice to be successful in the car rather then putting her in a pull up or diaper. When we first started the training I noticed her diapers would be so full in the morning and after naps and I think she was holding some of her pee for what was familiar.
Best of luck!

I made sure to have a couple days at home in the beginning. I did use the training pants for a few days before switching to underwear during the day. I would take him to the potty about every 30 min to 1 hour. When we had to go places, as soon as we got there I would take him to the bathroom so he could go and know there was a place for him to go. We would go again before we left. This seems to help because they learn there is always a place to go. You might want to get a protective cover for your car seat. I didn't but he only had like 3 accidents in the car and the car seat cover kept it all in so nothing got to the car. =) Good luck. As far as daycare goes you need to coordinate with them that you are starting and want it to continue at daycare. Bring back up clothes, do not put them in a pull up for daycare, even if the daycare insists. I would only do it during nap time if its necessary but they need to know she goes potty gets a pullup for nap, as soon as she's awake pullup is off and underwear are back on. Pullups are the easy way to go when you are concerned about accidents but they are also a lazy "I'll be ok if I potty" protection for your child and will exend the amount of time it takes to get her potty trained. My son does wear pullups at night, he can easily make it through a 2 hour nap but not all night. He was only potty trained for about 3 months when we drove to Washington for christmas. We brought pullups but never used them on the drive. He did great. We, of course, made sure to stop every couple of hours to stretch and let him go potty. It worked well.

We're just a few weeks or a month ahead of you... our son is about 2 3/4 now. We had a free weekend with nothing planned, and we seized it. We mostly stayed around the house, gave him a lot to drink and pretzels so he'd drink even more, kept him naked from the waist down (gave him towels to sit on) and the first day we had a lot of accidents, and a few successes. We gave 1 sticker for pee, and 2 for poop.

We almost gave up, because it didn't seem like he was getting more aware of when he needed to go. But the second day was much much better from the start. Maybe it clicked a bit while he slept? Maybe he was more in the swing of things? He had virtually no accidents the second day.

I think with one more day he might have been trained, but we chose to put him in pull-ups and send him to preschool that Monday. Now, a month later, we had our second weekend with no diapers or pull-ups (aside from naps & night time). He still doesn't usually tell us when he needs to go, but we've been steadily trained to ask him at the right times - first thing in the morning, right as mealtime is ending, right before we go out, just as we arrive anywhere (sometimes we'll visit a strange bathroom just to get acquainted and come back 5-10 min later to actually sit on the toilet), whenever we hear a fart, etc. And now, still, when we ask him if he has to go, he usually says "no" or "not yet" or "maybe later" and we usually end up taking him anyway. He can almost always pee.

When we go out now, he wears a pull-up if we're not in a position to attend to him (like preschool, though we've told the teachers to take him to the potty, it seems hit or miss at school so far), but wears underwear if it's just us and/or we know there will be a potty he can use. We bring extra pants & socks just in case.

My biggest misunderstanding was assuming he'd learn to tell us when he needed to go, and that would be like step 1. Now a month in, I realize it must be like step 3 or 4 :) We've mostly, so far, trained him to sit on the potty and "perform" when asked and we've trained ourselves to be conscious enough about it that we can set him up for success at the right moments.

We have not yet brought the small potty anywhere, though we've seen others do that. Instead, we either support him over an adult potty or have him straddle it backwards towards the wall.

Good luck!

Not sure how much help I can be because I've never done it myself, but my best friend just potty trained her little girl and I know what she did is have several potties throughout the house, one in each of the bathrooms and one even in the livingroom! Plus, she always let her daughter come to the bathroom with her so she could ask questions and show her how it's done. Also, she put her in pull-ups when they left the house for awhile until she became more trustworthy. There's no magic trick, and every kid's gonna be different, just keep trying and be consistent. That's the best advice when it comes to anything with children. Good luck!!

We often put pull-ups over our son's underwear. That helps prevent messes, but he still feels the wetness when he doesn't get to the potty on time. At preschool they are training him to just wear underwear, but it's common for him to have accidents even on a very consistent potty schedule. At home he will often refuse to sit on the potty if we ask him to, so we don't push it.

I think it just takes time for toddlers to feel the sensation of needing to pee. Our son pooped on the potty first, and I remember that taking time - a process for him to first notice he was pooping, then tell us when it was happening, and then finally telling us when he needed to sit on the potty to poop.

I imagine we'll go through a similar process with peeing, as most of the time he is telling us he is peeing as it happens instead of ahead of time.

For now, it's a lot easier dealing with accidents when we put the pull-up over the underwear.

Setting aside time worked well for us over winter break. I waited until my son was over 3 and was waking up dry and one day he went and took off a wet diaper by himself and pulled his pants up. Later he had an accident, because I didn't know he had no diaper LOL. But that's when i knew he was really ready. Waiting and focusing on potty training made it a quick transition. We let him go naked for a few days until he got into the habit and asked frequemtly. Then went to underwear and did not go back to diapers.

Keep in mind that what works for someone else you might have to modify for your own family. I hope this helps. It's great when it's done!

Maybe I am just lazy, but I can't see making potty training such a huge ordeal. I tried potty training our daughter at age two, like my mom said I should, and the first whole weekend was just so hard. It was messy, she'd cry when when her clothes got wet...no fun. So I stopped. I did start putting the potty chair in whichever room she was playing, and would just casually suggest she use it to go pee-pee. Sometimes she did, and I made a huge deal about it. Other times she put her toys in it! When she was three, I told her one day that we were all out of diapers and she'd have to use the potty all day. Then, I planned a day at home with her. Only one accident all day! The next week, she only had three accidents total--and we took one trip out to the store or park each day. I packed clothes and diapers, etc, just in case, and just asked her every so often if she had to go pee. I think by three she was old enough to understand the concept a little better, had better control over her bladder muscles, and was familiar and comfortable with the potty because there was never any pressure associated with it. Make it easy on yourself and your daughter. Don't turn potty training into boot camp. Just let her use it whenever she wants, and when she is a little older, just make using the potty all day a normal thing.

I would try to set aside at least a long weekend at home for consistency sake. Still use diapers/pull up at nap time. Then when you go out - bring extra clothes... If you keep putting them in/our of diapers/pull ups it's confusing and takes longer. Do LOTS of positive reinforcement when she goes on the potty (dancing, singing, m&ms, stickers). I am a big fan of what you are doing. No pullups - just right to big girl panties. Hang in there - they do all get it eventually.

I think, when my son was at that stage I put him in pull ups but made sure his bladder stayed empty. I would have him try to go before we left the house and every place we stopped that had a bathroom, we used it, unless we were there for a very short time. If you don't want to mess with the pull ups and have her wear panties, it may be a good idea to also have her wear jeans/ sweats. The one time my son had an accident was at the bank (no bathrooms). Thankfully, he was wearing jeans and they absorbed all the urine.