Potty Training - Fort Worth,TX

We've just recently gone through this struggle and won the battle! Finally! My son is 3 1/2 and I've been doing this for what seems like a year -- off and on. But I would see some signs that he just wasn't ready for it yet. Like when he would have an accident - he felt no shame or remorse. It didn't matter that I told him that I was dissappointed in him --- he just went on playing like nothing ever happened. So that told me that he wasn't ready -- so i'd back off and wait patiently and start again in a month.

I would say that even though your kids aren't letting you know when they need to go yet....just initiate it by telling them it's time to go (not asking)...and time it every hour ...and then space it out the next day ...every 2 hrs. etc. Soon, they'll get the hang of it and they'll be tired of mommy telling them when to go....they'll get independence and tell you when they need to go. Or what my son does now...he just goes in the bathroom himself without announcing it or needing my help.

I also started communicating with him, after a trip to the potty, that he needs to keep his pants dry (I'd have him repeat what I said so I know he heard me)...and that he needs to hold his pee-pee and poo-poo until the next potty time. Because, if you think about it, they've really had to "hold it" and that concept is foreign to them. There were some accidents that had to happen....I think they need to feel what an accident is...and see the mess they make on their favorite Batman costume or whatever they like --- "oh no...now you can't wear Batman anymore because there's peepee on it...we need to wash it. But you'll have to wear something else now."
And see the dissappointment in my face and tone when an accident happened.

But when he kept his pants dry at the next potty time...I showered him with hugs, kisses and tickles. We even rewarded his first bowel movement on the potty with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. And we kept telling him why we were there...and what he did to earn this outing. It really left an impression on him.

So keep at it....just keep initiating and telling them it's time to go to the potty. You have to do this first before they pick up the idea that "hey...I can hold it...and be a big boy/girl and tell her when I need to go/or go when I decide it's time to go." It's a process. I've heard of some doing it in a day...but I've never meet any of those people! maybe it's an urban legend. :-)

My daughter was potty trained by the time Dr. Phil addressed this issue on his show, but I've heard of several people having fantastic success with his method. Check it out:

http://drphil.com/articles/article/264

Hang in there!!! (I promise they won't go to kindergarten in Pull-ups!)

They may just not be ready. My daughter showed signs of interest around 20 months, then the novelty wore off. She has been wearing panties now for 2 weeks and is doing pretty well-- she turned 3 in October. I am glad that I waited until she said she wanted to try. I know that is not much help, but thought maybe if you took a little break for a little while, both kiddos might be more ready later and you may have better success. (My 2nd daughter will be two in April and I hoped I could do both at the same time-- no luck. I think though that she will be interested in what big sis is doing and train earlier-- hoping anyway!)
Good luck!
A.

I potty trained my daughter when she was two years old. When you first start, they don't tell you that they have to go because they don't recognize the feeling of having to go yet. With her, I brought her potty out into the living room (where we spent the bulk of our time at home). I put her into the training panties (the pull-ups were too much like diapers). When she drank, I watched her and about 20-30 mins. later would sit her on the potty. When she wet herself, I still sat her on the potty and told her this was where she was suppose to go. She only pooped a couple of times in her underware, and absolutely HATED the feeling of it in her undies. Also, you must constantly ask them if they need to go, and set them on the potty even if they say no, to try, because they don't know they need to and it kinda helps them learn the feeling. All in all, my daughter was daytime trained in a couple of days and night time trained within a week or so.

As far as training boys, I'm not sure what to tell you there.

Good Luck

I potty trained my daughter not that long ago, and I used a booklet that I downloaded from a website: www.easypottytraining.com and it worked miracles! Now, I don't even have to take my daughter to the bathroom - she tells ME when she needs to go and she just goes. The pamphlet is $10.00 and it's money-back guaranteed (so you can't go wrong). It took 3 days, but it DID work. It was recommended to me by another mom who used it.

Best of luck!
K.

Hi E.,

I would definitely suggest a consistent schedule of potty times. Take them every hour or so, but be consistent and let them try. Your excitement when they do anything will mean the world. Try not to be negative towards anything potty related. Be positive about the good and try to let the other go. They will focus on the negative and that could mean longer for you. Your excitement for them will mean the world, and it just might be contagious. When things start "happening" it needs to be exciting so they do it again, and want to do it again. Being on a consistent schedule makes it a little more likely that something might happen. I know we also tried the diaper-less approach, so she really had to go in the potty because there was no where else to go. There was a point when I'd put her on the potty and she wouldn't go, but then she'd go in her pull-up right after she got off. Whatever you decide, just be consistent.

Have a great one!
A.
www.free2Bmom.com

Hi E.,

I had trouble potty training my daughter also. She just didn't seem to understand and it was very messy. So I resorted to old fashioned bribery. I created a chart that had 10 spaces per row. Every time she used the potty she got a star. When she had 10 stars we went to Target and bought a toy. You might put limits on the type of toy that your child can pick out, otherwise this can be very costly. However, it worked. Good Luck!