Potty Training Tips - Havertown,PA

I see you have a lot of tips already, but I'd like to aid something that worked for us: M&Ms! We used two as a reward for peeing, 3 for pooping, and 4 for both. Plus, each time my girls used the potty, we sang and danced and celebrated. (I thought my husband had made up the song, but it's from "Look who's Talking" or the sequel.) Good luck!

When my 2 year old was getting potty trained we used pull-ups the ones that felt wet when you wet in them. They were easy for him to tell when he needed to go and they have the velcro on the sides. We did a reward system. I went to Wal-Mart and got a big desk calender and his favorite stickers and when he went in the big potty he got a sticker. At the end of the week if he had some or all of the stickers I got him a prize. He loves this idea. It works.

Hi J. I'm a married mother of 3 ,13,5,and 4 . I found that
potty training withe regular panties and a plastic training pants. I found that the disposable training pants(pull ups,easy ups) resemble disposable diapers and it makes the process longer.I spent a week training my 5 year old,and my 4 year i tried pull ups and it took 2months.

I personally liked the huggies pull ups better. I tried the feel and learn. The pull ups have the tear away sides so that you can tear them apart instead of having to undress the child totally to change.

You can also try just panties or the training pants that were out when we were children. Only use the pampers/huggies at night when the child is going to sleep.

You have to constantly remind the child to go to the bathroom. Praise the child each time she goes to the bathroom. Remember to limit the liquid intake and cut it off at a certain time preferably 2.5 hours before sleep time.

You can use a regular potty to travel with - this is what the daycare that my daughter goes to recommended to me - i traveled with it but she never got to use it in the car.

Some pottychairs come with stickers and a chart. But I would suggest making one yourself. Have her help you make one. It'll be even more special. Even when you go to the store have her pick out the stickers. We had such a hard time potty training my daughter. I found having her involved in as many decisions as possible really helped.

With my son i found that getting him the regular pull up was bette. Feel and learn didn't really work for him. I just contsantly asked him if he had to go all the time, even more so before we would leave the house for a walk or road trip. Kept telling him he was a "big boy" whenever he would go.and that if he didn't learn to go potty he couldn't go to school, the pre-k's around here won't take kids unless they are potty trained now. He had a few accidents which is expected, mainly when we started him on regular underware a few weeks later at night. I got him sponge bob, spiderman, cars. Thing i knew he would love to wear, and that helped him to not want to "get them dirty". We then had the issue of teaching him how to properly wipe himself so that he didn't have poopy underware. So i just got him flushable wipes for a while and let him slowly transition into regular tp when there wern't anymore stains. He does still make a boo-boo every once in a blue, b/c he's in a hurry like he's going to miss something. Good luck!

I've used both Easy Ups and Feel and Learn with my son and they didn't work for us. He regarded them as diapers as much as we called them underwear and feeling wet or cool didn't seem to bother him. Perhaps our technique was wrong. I'm not saying don't use them, just don't be surprised if they don't help as much as you thought they would.

Sticker charts...you can search online and probably find several. I believe the Pampers website has one with Elmo and maybe Zoe. I made one myself that looked like a calendar with blocks for each day of the month. If you can find one you could use a calendar with her favorite characters. Everytime my son would go potty (even if he didn't produce anything) he would get a sticker. We used the small circular ones. Candy is a big motivator for my son. So are fruit snacks, yogurt cups and granola bars. He gets a treat and a ton of praise when he goes potty.

We don't have a travel potty but did buy one of those cushions that you put on the toilet to keep at grandma's house. Wishing you much luck...and patience. :)

NEITHER!!!!!!!
I did it cold turkey. I did use them for bedtime ONLY and that only lasted a week. Yes it was messy but worth the extra laundry.

good luck

J., Like most of the women on here we found the "pull-up" type diapers to be more of a hinderance than a help because it sent my daughter mixed messages! They felt like a diaper to her so why go in the potty? Alas, we went cold turkey and let her pick out "big girl" underwear - she is in love with Thomas the Tank Engine so of course she picked out boy underwear, but she didn't care and neither did we! She only had two accidents during the day and two at night.
We found out that cutting off the "juice" at least an hour and a half before bedtime worked best, and had her sit on the potty just before bed (I'd suggest investing in a plastic sheet too just in case!). Of course lots of encouragement, even if she has an accident because you never want make her feel that going potty is a bad thing!
As far as a reward system, she got two M&M's (her favorites) for pee-pee, and three M&M's for poo-poo, plus she got Thomas stickers on a homemade chart for poo-poo which worked her up to her ultimate reward after 5 poo-poo's on the potty - a Thomas pillow case of course!
I also found that the openings on the potty chairs were too small for her. She did well with the seats that you put right on top of the regular toilet. Plus, it got her psychologically sitting on the big potty!
Enough of my two cents! Good luck and just go for it - all or nothing! :)

P.S. There is a DVD that my daughter just loved too - Elmo's Potty Time! She wanted to sit on the potty like Elmo!

Hi J.,
I have to admit I am out of date with the new diaper products, so you will have to use other's advice on that.
First of all is your daughter verbal enough to express her need to use the toilet? If not, it will be frustrating to you both, so please wait until she can TELL you.

I waited until about 2 1/2...six months AFTER the birth of our second son. I though he may regress if I started training before.

We did not use a potty seat. For about 9 months prior to beginning training he sat on the toilet briefly every night just prior to his bath to get him accostomed to the seat. I would say" do pee pee psssss" and then after a brief pause put him in the tub.
I used our kitchen calendar in training my son. It was visible to every one and a reinforcement to my sons success. He loved looking at hus accomplishment...repeating " thats my pee pee star or I did a poop!"
I explained to him that for every pee he would get a star and for every poop a sticker...( I think they were dinosaur at the time)
For every pee in the toilet I placed a colored star on the day and made a big deal of it when he was successful..." Look at your star! That's your pee pee star...You did it! What a big boy! We're going to show Daddy when he comes home etc. Let's see how many you can get".

Within a week he was trained...we continued the reward calendar just a few weeks.

A final note... as an adult, my son is still interested in succeeding, is motivated and still tells Daddy about his "stars" in business.

Good luck!
Justine

My little girl just loves to "read" books while sitting on the potty. Sometimes that's enough of a reward. Or, we'll sing songs and do finger plays. If we remember, I give her a sticker to put on her shirt or wherever she chooses. I think little ones like to handle the sticker themselves, even though it often ends up unsticky.

Reward Systems: My mother used Hershey's kisses as a reward when my daughter was training and for her it seemed to work. I, on the other hand, only had to do a silly hip hip hooray potty dance to show how happy I was and that worked for me (I don't do candy - so this was a better option for me). Now that she's older, I use a home made sticker chart to reward extraordinary behavior so this could be a good idea for potty training also.

Strategy: My daughter had a potty chair in the living room so that it was ready and available (since we spend a lot of time in that room).

Just as a warning, my daughter began potty training right at 2 and just when she seemed ready and trained (for about 2 months) she stopped going and wasn't fully trained until one month before she turned 3. I really do think that kids need to go at their own pace and will let you know when they are ready. Always remember that every child is different and what works for one may backfire with another. I hope you find what works for you with ease!

i found a chart on chuckie cheese web site last year so check it out...i bought a bunch of treats from the dollar store and lined them up so they could see they went when they wanted the gift..went very smooth but they get it when they are ready if its to hard probably not ready

I would forget about the reward system and just practice being consistant that is the most important thing with potty training. I would just do a google search for the type of potty seat that you want. They do have blow up ones that you can get to use in the car when traveling

I have 2 1/2 year old twin boys that are potty training as well. They love stickers and stamps. I just give them one every time they go. We have not needed a chart, but I am sure you could make one from a craft store pretty easily. Also you could try giving her a single M & M, or some really small treat. Lots a praise works too. Good Luck.

I found a potty chart online and just printed a bunch. My daughter was almost 3 when she was potty trained. She loved putting a sticker on it everyone she went to the potty. We also gave her an m&m each time she went. We used generic pull-ups for a few days then went cold turkey. She was potty trained in no time.

Ok I was wondering if you have any Craft stores by you or know of any in your area. Like a Michaels or something. They have a product that comes in a magnetic sheet. It comes with or without adhesive surface, it's called Adhes-a-mag. Since it is in a roll you may have to flatten it for a while with some heavy books. You can draw on it like a message board. You seem to have a great imagination so go for it. My best friend has 2 little ones ( school age ) so her and I do alot of brainstorming. She's a nurse. I think the brand of training pants she used on her youngest was the easy ups. Although in my opinion feel and learn ones seem like they would work too! I think that it would be your preference. I'd try both and see which one works for you and your daughter.

A little about me, My name is L. G and I'm a 55 yr old mom, both of my childrn are grown and gone. I have been in the medical field for 30 yrs as a Med Sect and right now am in the process of going to School for Med Office Adm. Like I said both of my childern are grown, my son and DIL are adopting from China. We have been waiting for 3 yrs now and are hoping to hear about the adoption this spring. Then I will be a grandma. My other child ( daughter ) is getting married next yr and I can't wait. Both of my childern are in Resturant Management. I hope this gives you some ideas that you could use for what you want. Craft stores have alot for moms, you've just got to use your imagination.

Sticker charts, I have found, are individual and work best if you make them yourself. This way you can do things the way you know that she is used to. For my boys...only treats worked, pull-ups in gerneral were a BAD idea and the best thing for us was to use the regular potty since public restrooms don't have cute potty chairs or seats. You want to remember three things... 1)keep it simple and don't go overboard on novelty potty items 2) positive reinforcement 3)if it takes longer than 2 weeks to totally train her...then she's not ready! This should NOT be something to agonize over for long periods of time. It is a natural process that we as parents should NEVER push until they are physiologically ready or you will ALL become VERY frustrated!

Biggest advice is relax. Then do it when they are ready.

I ended up only using pullups with last cause he needed the bigger size and yes was 3 1/2 when he trained.

I always had the small potty in bathroom and never made an issue out of it and no rewards.

Make sure nothing big happening or gonna happen as that can make them go backwards.

That's a great idea, very creative. I like that. You could just use a calender and buy some stickers.

My daughter potty trained right after her 2nd birthday, no pull ups. I let her pick out some 'big girl panties' and told her she couldn't get them wet or dirty. I kept the potty chair in the livingroom and let her run around without any pants on for the first day, from that day on she just went on the potty, no fuss and she was soo proud that she got her big girl panties the next day! I kept using diapers at night for the first week until she was no longer waking up wet, she was completely potty trained, day and night, out of diapers 100% within one week! When they're ready, it just happens. As far as travel potty things, you have to watch because not every toilet is shaped the same and so they don't fit all the toilets. I didn't waste my money, I just go in and hold my daughter so she doesn't fall in and as long as she can hold onto my arms and feel secure she's good enough without a 'potty seat'.
With my step-son I rewarded with Tic-Tacs...they're cheap, he got one after every time he went so they lasted for like a week! :-) With my daughter we used stickers, we made a chart ourselves, she loved decorating it with colors and some stickers around the edges. Just use whatever your kid loves, if it's sweets find something healthy for them, if it's stickers or maybe make a mark on a chart and then after say 10 she gets a special prize (from the dollar store)...use what works for your daughter. Good luck and remember, don't rush her, when she's ready she'll let you know.

Hi J., I hope you are doing good. Ya know we tried so many different tactics, the stickers worked for about a week until I found her in the bathroom all the time pulling the stickers off and putting more on... it became a game to her. We started her at 2yrs old also and it wasn't until she was 3 that she was completely out of pull ups.
Another thing that we believe took so long for her was the birth of our son 3wks before her second birthday.
It was hard to do it all, new baby, potty training, getting rid of her binky. It was a lot for her to handle.
Our daughter also used the pull ups as a form of diaper. She would pee on the potty but not poop. She would beg and cry for the pull up so she could poopy.
Until one day I figured I would take off the pull up right when she was about to go. And low and behold the poopy fell right on the floor and she was so upset by that that she went on the potty from that day on.
As far as treats, we just told her that her Grandma was gonna bring her a dollar everytime she pooped or peed on the toilet. And it worked!
I really hope you have a successful experience with your 2yr old. Good luck to both of you.

Hi J.,

Going "Cold Turkey" Always worked for me along with a reward system that I believe depends on the child, I work full-Time and have 3 beautiful kids 18yr, 7 yr and 3yr, the two older children are boys much easier with them specially with traveling, 3 yr little girl a little tougher but not bad I went out and bought at least 4 packs of underwear, the first day you will go through a few You need patience I won't lie about that I would say its easier of your a SAHM, But with all three of my children it took 1-2 weeks tops to be fully trained a few accidents did occur here and there but nothing to bad. Pulls up may work but when I had my first child many years ago I had an old fshioned family doctor in (delaware county)he belived the pull ups would create a bed wetter and he scared me to death with that theory I'm not saying its true but it worked for me. As far as a travel potty I have an SUV and I keep a regular size potty in the back I travel 34 miles one way to work and my daughter comes with me to a day care closer to my work. M. Fay

J., I went to a website www.3daypottytraining.com and bought a $24.00 ebook. It claims that your child will be potty trained in 3 days. I have a 29 month old son and he was potty trained in 3 days. I was very skeptical, but it has worked beautifully for us. The only thing I didn't follow to the letter was the diapers at night part. We do put pull ups on my son at night, but refer to them as special underwear (since they do go on just like underwear). This has worked for us and everyone wants to know what my secret is. It's no secret - give the website a try. Hope this helps.
K.

I used the Feel and Learn but my daughter was 2 1/2 when we started. After about 2 months, we did the cold turkey route and it worked great!
As your daughter is younger, you may want to start out with Easy ups to get her "used" to underwear. Also, I think they hold more than Feel and Learn.

Hi J.,
You could probably find a sticker chart at Becker's, or any other type of teacher/educational store. I work in schools and have found things like that there. Good luck!

l

I agree with some of the others here, the pull ups just send mixed signals. They confused my son, so we just went naked from the waist down when we were home which made him highly aware of his own functions. I also brought the potty out to the common area where we spent most of our time. Also like someone else said, reading books while on the potty is a great way to spend time together, make it fun and less chore-like and the only rewards we used were praise. My son was potty trained quickly and by the time he was 2 years old. Yes, you will encounter accidents, invest in some animal urine cleaner, it works wonders. I also used incentives such as, "If you want to color or watch tv or whatever else they want to do, you must go potty first". I started this only after I knew he had the hang of using the potty though. Good luck!

J.

I started with easy-ups on my two year old son and after 3 months of using them like a diaper and me forcing him on the potty, we went cold turkey with a reward chart. We said goodbuy to the easy-ups and I explained the reward chart to him. I made it myself and there were 70 spots for stickers (based on the fact that he was going to the potty 7-10 times a day.) Every 10 stars was a small reward (a hot wheels car, a new book, an ice cream cone, etc.,) with the final reward a potty party. My son loves a good party so we invited some family and some of his friends and had a potty themed party. My son had the chart complete in about 10 days with very few accidents in between. It was a lot of work to monitor how much and when he drank, but it worked.
The best advice I got was all or nothing. Unitl we were ready to commit to potty training without pull-ups we could not turn back (even though that meant many public bathroom runs!)
Good luck!

With my first daughter, we potty trained her in a 3 day weekend. We took her pull ups off (training pants were too big for her) and put panties on her. But before hand we let her pick out her own panties. And we thought Victoria Secret's were expensive.:) I went to the dollar store and bought Barbie clothes for her. Everytime she went to the potty she would get 1 outfit for her Barbie. If she went #2 she would get a goldfish. By the 2nd day she was hopping on the potty all by herself. If you plan on doing the chart, maybe you should let her pick out her own stickers and help you make it. Good Luck!

Supernanny.com actually has rewards charts for all ages my daughter has the fair princess one right now...If you are near a wal-mart I actually just bought a box of pull ups that came in this nice chest that they can get their own pull up out of and has a chart on the inside =)Although I find them pretty useless she feels like its a diaper and just pees in them lol so we mostly use plain old panties she doesn't like to pee down her leg and takes her panties down to go to the bathroom on her potty...She is 2 1/2 Good luck!