Potty Training Advice Please!

A., I didn't have a problem with my son but in discussion with some friends i had one that put underwear and the dreaded plastic pants over them and made the child feel the wet and the uncomfort of the plastic pants it worked for her it only took about 4 days and the child was back on the potty.

When my children were smaller we did the m&m thing with them and it worked good. Get a storage container or dispensor and fill it with her favorite candy or treats. Every time anyone in the family went potty, they received a treat for going potty. Show her that they are getting a treat and tell her why they are getting a treat. If she wants one she does not get that treat until she goes potty. Save that variety of treat just for the potty. ( I never bought m&m's for them that was the potty treat and if you wanted m&m's going potty was the only way to get m&m's) It worked great for our family, That smaller child could not wait to go potty. It also taught great hygiene habits also because it inforced washing their hands before getting the treat also.

Debbie M.

I know this will sound kind of strange, but it worked with my son in 2 weeks. I simply just did not put pants on him. He would go in his diaper, underwear, pull-ups, it didn't really matter to him. He could care less if he was wet or not, but he knew that he would get into trouble if he went potty on my floor.
He pooped one time on accident and felt so terrible about it, that he didn't have another accident again.
This worked for me- good luck!

J.

It took my son awhile to get the hang of this. First of all it can be frustrating. Don't give up. I almost had my son potty trained,but then we moved and he stopped. I started telling him that if he goes potty in the toilet;that he will get a quarter.We call it potty money.He likes this idea. You let the potty money build up.When she has $5 take her to the store and let her pick out what she wants with her potty money. This is her reward for going potty like a big girl.
Tell her that if she is a big girl that she can wear big underwear like mommy and her grandma or anyone else that she knows. Go ahead and take her to the store and let her choose her own big girl undies. That way she feels that she is doing something important. But don't reward her for going potty on herself.
I hope this helps good luck!

Hi A.,
I think that every kid is different. Most of the kids and babies reach milestones at the same point of their lives, but others reach the same milestone (crawling, potty training, etc..) just when they are ready (earlier or later than others). When I had my first baby, I didn't really understand what "ready" was exactly..but when you see your kids will not do something even when you have all the tips, suggestions, ideas or books..that means.." I am not ready mommy"..Probably your little daughter is not ready yet, or maybe she does not like the potty, and she will like the "big potty" or "grown ups potty" (that happened with my 6 yr old kid).
I always keep in the bathroon some story books, magazines or even bedtimes stories, so that helped my kid relaxed while he was at the bath when he was potty trained.
A., just be patient and do not push too hard...try some suggestions that other moms may be giving you now, but I would give her some more time..

Good luck!
Alejandra

It's normal for them to go #1 first and not go #2 in the potty for a while. My daughter did that and my niece did that too. Pay attention to if something changed in the time that she stopped going. Was there a new baby, did you move, did her daycare or preschool change, was there a new teacher? She will come back to it in her own time. I have heard that if you don't respond possitively or negatively when there is an accident that she will go back to it quicker. Just calmly change her clothes and move on. That way you are sure that she is not doing that to get your attention.

My daughter will also be 3 in Feb. (the 12th). When she was around 2 and 3 months, she would sometimes take the interest in the potty (telling us she has to go pee, etc) but then there were times she wasn't interested at all. My suggestion is to just let her show you by her actions when she is ready. My ex would put pull ups on her and she would pee through those. I told him over and over she wasn't ready. I went from diapers to those thick underwear for awhile. Once she got the hang of it, she took off...even to the point of staying dry through the night! Be patient, it'll happen.

A.,
My 3 year old (boy) will go #1 on the potty only, and will get his own pull-up to go #2. After asking our old and new doctor we have decided to let him go at his own pace on going potty in the toliet. Both agreed that forcing the issue would create greater problems. As annoying as it is to continue to change diapers for a capable child, it is much harder to see your child in pain after holding his #2 for days.
Good Luck!

Try rewarding her....tell her that if she goes to potty 4 u that u will buy her some stickers or a bag of suckers e.t.c.Or that u will take her 2 see her favorite movie.Hope that this helps you.

Hi A.,

I also had a great deal of success with my boys when we started goin "commando". It seemed like if they had on a diaper, pullup or even underwear my three oldest sons just did not care. But shortly after I started having them run around in just a t-shirt, we started to have huge amounts of success. I am not sure if not having anything on their bottoms made them more aware of what was going on or if they just didn't want everyone to know that it was them that had peed/pooped...but it really worked.

I know that it may not be feasable for you to do this all the time if you're working, but you could do it during the evening once you get home and on the weekends if nothing else. I did it this way with one of the boys and it was still effective.

Something else I did with one of my boys was find underwear that "matched" daddy's. And when we put them on I would remind him that they were "daddy's" boxers and that daddy would not like it if he pottied in his underwear. This was also pretty good motivation for him to go to the bathroom like a big boy. Maybe you could try something like that, exchanging daddy's undies for your own of course.

Good Luck!!

Y.

Don't push her if she's not ready (even if you are!). There are many many kids in this country who are not potty trained until well after their 3rd birthday. Also, she might be physically ready, but just doesn't want to. Don't push! You do not have control over it... no matter what parents think, parents can not force a child to pee/poop. You'll end up in a power struggle that can last for years! We did this with our very strong-willed son and he refused to poop in the toilet for well over a year (finally, at 4.5, we considered him potty trained). I think if we had backed off a long time ago, it would've been over by 3.5. (started right after 3rd birthday).

My daughter will also be 3 in February. She has been consistently using the potty since this past summer. I had tried using Pull-Ups, but they're nothing more than diapers she could easily put on and take off. I took her to the store and let her pick out some pretty panties. (She chose Curious George!) I told her that if she peed or pooped in these that they would be ruined and we would have to throw them away. She has not messed them up, yet! She does still have accidents sometimes at night when she's sleeping. She does not mess in any of her pretty panties when she's awake. I made a deal with her that if she would at least try, I would take her to the store to buy a new package of panties every payday. She has quite a collection of them now! LOL!

My third daughter was almost 3 before she potty trained too. Just because they are head smart, doesn't mean their body is getting the right message from the brain to the correct muscles!! Be patient, and whenever she shows interest, give it a try. Try incentives like stickers, candy, whatever special treats she likes, and you can give out freely:) If she doesn't go, don't get upset, just say 'okay, good girl, you tried, we'll try again later', and leave it at that. I know it's hard to remain calm, but the more frustrated you get, the more frustrated she'll get too. I tried the padded underwear, but they were too messy. Finally I just put her in real panties, let her wet herself a couple times, and she got the hang of it real quick! She had trouble with constipation too, and we finally got a Rx for Miralax from our ped. and it did wonders. She wasnt' night trained until she was a couple months past her 3rd b-day, but now she's dry every night!! Just try to relax, she'll get it soon, and never look back:)
C. G.