My 2&1/2 year old shows an interest in using the potty lately. She has gone several times. So we decided to have a potty party (suggested by a book) which she wore panties, put stickers on a chart, played games around the potty, had snacks. By the afternoon and after three accidents, she was so upset and wanted to go back to diapers. We finally said okay (we were beaten down ourselves). I felt that the potty party was a setback. Anyhow, I want to still encourage her to use the potty but I feel she won't unless it is her idea. Also I am still nursing our 10 month old and I wonder if some of my 2&1/2 year old's resistance is due to the baby. Any ideas or suggestions on how I can continue to persuade her to use the potty & not get so upset with having accidents while encouraging her?
I would buy her the "potty watch". You give them the watch and it goes off and they know it is time to sit on the potty and try. They LOVE having a "big girl/boy watch" and it makes potty training fun for them! They have the watch in pink and blue! Good luck!http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...
Two things that are most important when you start potty training.
One make the commitment and dont ever go back.
If she has an accident tell her its OK we all have to learn and you are doing such a good job. Tell her she is a big girl and we can't go back to diapers. There is a book you can get called No more diapers for Ducky. I suggest you get it and read it every night for the next few months. Give her time to forget the situation and try again. You have to stay supportive, comforting and show no frustration. She sounds like a perfetionist and to fail is
very tramatic. My son was the same. Everytime he had an accident he cried so hard and was more upset than his father or I. It took lots of positive talk. Take her in the bathroom with you and show her that mommy goes tinkle to and clap for yourself. Demonstrating things we want them to do or learn visually reinforces the lesson. My son after reading the book and watching daddy go tinkle decided out of competition and not being out done to tinkle in the potty and only had a few accidents after that. He at first couldn't hold it all night. We still used underwear.(never a pull up) What we also started to do was wake him up before we went to sleep to go tinkle again and empty his bladder. That solved the problem and after awhile he didn't need us to wake him. I started him at 2&1/2. Both my daughters potty trained in one day at the age of 2. I spent the whole day in the bathroom and we did the potty dance, recieved skittles when we went tinkle, and painted nails. It was an all girl day. They had a few accidents along the way but were for the most part potty trained that day.
Second,
Most important is to not get frustrated and think its impossible. It may not be an immediate result but you can do it. She will sense what you are feeling and it will effect the result.
Good luck
I had a wonderful home daycare provider who gave me advise and helped to potty train my 3 children. First, we put them on the potty every morning when they first got up and right before they took a bath at night. We did not force them to sit for any length of time. If it was just a few seconds or several minutes, it was fine. This also allowed them to have personal time with mom or dad. Next we asked them through out the day if they needed to go. If they said yes, we went. If they said no, we said ok, maybe later. Finally, we put them in big girl/boy panties and took them to the potty every hour for a few days. For my girls, they were potty trained the first week we put them in panties. There were a few accidents the first day, but we told them it was ok and we would try better next time. The next day I think 2 or 3 accidents. The 3rd day 1 accident and that was it. Also, they were all sleeping through the night dry when we started training. My son was different. We triend the same thing and by day 4 he was still having multiple accidents. We would then stop and try again the next month for 3 to 4 days. Still putting him on the potty every morning and night. After 6 months, he was finally ready and it took 2 days. Don't give up. I have also been told to let them go to the store and pick out the panties and make it an insentive.
Good Luck, K.
Nursing was my advantage with potty training my 2 year old =) She quickly realized that mommy put down the baby everytime she said she wanted to use the potty, and she loved the individual attention.
One thing I did though to help her succeed is I set the timer for 30 min. Every time the timer went off, I put her on the potty for a few minutes. The timer was my reminder to give her a chance to go. This eliminated most accidents b/c she was on the potty all day. I also didn't go anywhere for 3-4 days while we were doing this. After a week of setting the timer, she was able to tell us when she needed to go.
When I was potty training my youngest, he was resistant. Concerned, I asked my dr about it, he told me that potty training is for the parents, not the kids. Kids will use the toilet once they get tired of dirtying their diapers. He was right, I did continue to work with my son but it wasn't till my son decided that he didn't like dirtying his pants that he would really use the potty. So, don't let it worry you! Your little angel will eventually want to go to the big girls potty.
When I was working with our daughter on potty training, I let her lead the way. What worked for us was creating a potty chart for stickers and giving her a larger reward when she went in the potty 6 times. She really enjoys dress-up so I printed out a picture of each reward she would receive and hung it next to the chart, starting with a Snow White dress. Each reward after the dress went with it to make an entire outfit (the crown, shoes, wand). Once she went six times, and got the dress, she really wanted to continue going. By the time she had the entire outfit she was 100% trained. It was pretty messy the first week, but I kept her in panties for the entire process. We never made a big deal out of the potty itself, just the fact that she went. I was nursing our 6 month old at the time (and found out I was pregnant with our third). Try setting the timer and taking her to the potty every 10-15 min. and remind her of what she gets when she goes six times. This will help her start to sense when she needs to go and will also help you with making sure she's had a chance to go before you have to nurse again. (It never fails, she will ask you to go potty 3 minutes after you sit down and start nursing). One other thing I did was keep a spare potty in the back of the car. When she would let me know she had to go, she meant NOW. With having two kids, I didn't have time to get them out of the car and into a store before she wet her pants. So when she said she had to go I would pull over, leave the baby in his seat and take her to go potty. You can put a plastic bag in the bowl of the potty and throw it out, waste and all, instead of driving around with a full potty.
I don't think that she is resistent because of your other daughter. I would bet that she was excited about doing something on her own (she's a big girl compared to her baby sister) and you probably made such a big deal out of it with the potty party that she doesn't feel it's her "thing" anymore.
Good luck!
Don't put so much pressure on her and on yourself. I potty trained my son (3) while nursing my newborn. When I finally backed off and just continued to give it as an option and showed him how to take off his own diaper, he was miraculously trained. The only other thing that probably helped was during a routine trip to the dr, I mentioned that we were having trouble. The dr asked him if he wanted to start using the potty when he needed to go. My son said "no." The dr said, "we sure will be proud of you when you decide to use the potty." I backed off, and he was trained within the next week.
Don't stress. She won't start kindergarten in diapers :) The dr also told me never to make eating or going potty a battle because you will never win.
Best of luck!!!
They say until diapers are dry for at least two hours their bladder isn't ready to potty train yet,but if she is ready, sounds like she just got a little scared off with too much attention to it. Every two or three hours just suggest shall we go potty? And of course act pleased if she does, but not too big a deal. Even when they are trying , at first they always have accidents. Just matter of factly without scolding, tell her oops we didn't get there in time, we'll have to try to make it in time next time, and in a couple weeks or so you will probably be doing fine, but don't expect at this age to never have an accident. I had four, none were the same, but hope these tips help.
Hi D.!
My kids are the same age as yours and still nursing as well...It can be done! We did it! Initially, when my daughter was showing signs of readiness, we tried to train her, only she resisted loud and clear. However, I wasn't giving up, but went about it more subtley. Everytime it was time for brother's diaper change, I had sissy help me and I would talk to her about brother's "shooey" and the "shooey diaper". I would let her see so she could see how not fun it was. Everytime I changed her diaper, I did the same thing. She would want to look down and see what she had done in her diaper and tell me herself it was "shooey diaper". I would respond with a "shooey" face and tell her to go shooey in the potty like mommy. That's another thing I did. I let her see that mommy went in the potty. (No I didn't show her that! LOL!) And every morning I would ask her if she was ready for her big girl panty or keep the baby diaper. One day she chose big girl panty and we haven't gone back! Now she'll sniff brother's diaper to see if he's shooey and if he does smell foul, she'll tell me "baby poo-poo, shooey!" and wave her hand in front of her nose with a shooey face! But do remind her constantly she has has to tell you she needs to go...I felt like if I asked her if she needed to go she'd feel forced to in a sense. reminding her to let you know gives more a sense of freedom, more of big girl choice and praise her for staying dry not just for going in the potty...gently touch her bottom and say, "oh, you're still dry! Just like a big girl! Let me know when you're ready to go to the potty, just like a big girl!" I think just giving her a choice is what made all the difference because I didn't tell her she was ready, she told me. We've only had one accident since she was potty trained in Feb and that was because she didn't find me in time in brother's room nursing him. She was so upset, but we made it okay!
Blessings! Let us know how it goes!
My 3 year old still gets upset if she has too many accidents and wants to wear pull-ups instead of panties. Other days, she shows interest again. I was told to encourage but not force and be positive and patient, some kids take a very long time to be dry all the time, which is completely normal. Hang in there!
I could tell you a long story about my trials and tribulations of potty training,but 3 kids and several years later it all boils down to one thing: they do it when they are ready.
I highly suggest the DVD called Potty Power. You can get it at amazon.com My soon to be 2 year old daughter absolutely loves it and we watch it daily. It has the best songs that are really easy to memorize. It will encourage them to use the potty but with no pressure. It is only $12.99 and totally worth it. You might be able to check it out from your local library to preview if you want. We are just starting the potty training as well b/c she is super interested; however, she had an accident too and it scares them (I believe)...all the sudden they have something running down their leg where normally a diaper catches it. Be patient and get the video...you'll LOVE it!!
It's great she is showing such interest but please separate that from her knowing when she needs to go and what to do in the time needed to do it. She is only 2 1/2 and many children take alot longer to potty train than that. These other ladies provided some good ideas. I would also consider Pull ups training pants that present more like undies but help to prevent accidents. Then intermittently put her on the potty during the day as suggested. And, big rewards for success!
