Potty Training @ 18 Months

I am a true believer that rewards are not effective with potty training. Both of my children trained themselves when they were ready, and never had problems after that. Going in and out of readiness is normal, and eventually they will not go "out".

Those little girls....theyr'e so speedy a things! At this same age, our son expressed an interest in peeing on the potty so we bought him one & it was pretty sporadic from there. We didn't start the protty training then, just let him pee on the potty when he was interested & praised him for it. He didn't show a real strong interest in the potty until he was 2 1/2 & started preschool. He saw other kids peeing in the potty & wanted to do it himself. Since your daughter doesn't like the big-girl panties I'd say leave her in her diapers. Skip the pull-ups cuz theyr'e pricey & not very absorbent. Praise her whenever she goes in the potty. Our son really liked getting stickers for peeing in the potty. He would put them on his potty. It was great cuz he had a visual of how well he was doing. He would remember which ones he got that day & was very proud to show Daddy when he got home. Maybe go to the dollar store & get a bunch of little toys that she can choose from herself. I know you said she acts older but 18 months is still a bit young to be able to control their peeing & pooping & be able to get themselves to the potty. Especially if they're involved in playing. Some kids show an interest early so parents get excited & go gang-busters w/the potty training only to have it backslide occasionally. It could prove to be frustarting for both of you. Follow her cues & praise whenever she wants to use the potty. Good luck!

I am not quite to the potty training stage, but a friend of mine said that there is a Barney video that works, and is "AMAZING"...apparently there is a great song Barney sings that helped her daughter AND son when they were training.

Good luck, I'll be keeping an eye out for things to use when my son is ready to be potty trained! :)

Awesome! My son is almost 28 m and just starting to potty train. I got him interested in his underwear by putting his diapers, his pull-ups, and his underwear all on the same shelf, low enough he can see them all. When he needs to get changed, after I’ve taken off what he’s dirtied, I have him go get what he wants to wear. I also suggest what I want him to wear- Particularly, the diaper or night time pull-up at nap and bed times.

Another thing you might try if that doesn’t entice her enough- in a silly, playful voice say something like “No! Don’t get those silly underwear! You don’t want to wear them.” This may help her choose them, because now they have become fun. If she still doesn’t want to, put them away for a couple weeks, and then try again. If she is keeping her diaper dry, you are SOOOOO far ahead of many moms with kids her same age. If she not ready to go all the way there, then give her a little more time to get there. Quite honestly, if you’re that close at 18m, I want to know how I can perform the same miracle on my prince, ‘cause I’m a little jealous! :-)

Hope this helps you some. –Janell-

I started potty training my daughter around the same age. She was, as yours is very curious with the potty. I took her to pick out her panties, which i thought would help. It was very, very, very frustrating. So I tried to have her in panties all the time, but she would have too many accidents. I did not feel comfortabe having her only be in panties, the laundry alone was killing me. So i then went to pullups. When she got in the habbit of going to the potty it was pretty easy from there on out. She was only in pullups for maybe 2 months. On her 2nd birthday she was fully pottytrained. My daughter loves to be told what a big girl she is, it is kinda funny really. So after she would go potty I would always tell her "Thats my Girl" and give her a little hug. On occasion I would forget to tell her that, not really thinking it's a big deal and she would make sure she tells me, "Thats my girl". Even now sometimes when we go out and have to use a public restroom, she will even still say it. Kids are great!!
Good Luck, Try not to get discouraged!!

I used a sticker chart and when my daughter went potty I let her pick out a sticker and put it in one of the boxes. She loved it! It worked very well. Also maybe take her to the store and give her a few choices of big girl panties and have her pick which one she likes. And make it a big deal when she comes home to show her Daddy what she picked and have her try them on. They get really excited with that kind of stuff...

Hope this helps..
T. Q

I have 3 kids, but first 2 are boys and my little girl is four months, so haven't had the little girl potty experience yet. However I think I might be able to offer a few suggestions...

OK so she doesn't like the big girl panties she has... did she pick them out? Perhaps letting her pick ones she likes. Like Dora panties or something. You could also see if they have little silky panties in her size or even those boy shorts underwear. If she's girly maybe something ruffley. Or maybe even trying to find underwear just like yours, so she would feel like a big girl and probably be excited to be just like mommy.

Now with my boys, I used 2 different tricks to get them excited about going potty. I used something called "Tinkle Targets" which are little flushable targets, I have seen them for girls also. But my other trick was putting a few drops of food coloring into the water. When they would go potty it would change colors. Also a good way to learn colors. (2 birds with one stone, lol) Oh and I also rewarded them with stickers which they would place on their potty seat lid.

Other options you could try are maybe getting a doll that comes with a little potty, books to read to her about going potty, even maybe throwing a family potty party when she goes.

With my kids another thing I did was try to make them more aware of themselves by making a stinky face and saying something like "When you go on the potty you don't have to have squishy poopy or pee pee on your bum" As they got about your daughter's age I would have to practically wrestle them to change their diaper, so I also said "Mommy wouldn't have to change a diaper if you went on the potty" Also you may want to ask her every hour or so if she has to go.

I had my oldest boy trained in 1 week!!! (I was thrilled!) He was trained 2 weeks before his 2nd birthday. HOWEVER my 2nd son, took a bit longer. It probably took me about a good 6 months to get him trained.

I would love to know what works for your little girl... as I have an up and coming little girl. Good Luck! :)

Hi,
You might want to let her pick her own underwear. It worked for my daughter. She picked Dora ones and was so happy to wear them. You might want to make a chart and put star stickers on them every time she goes potty. When she reaches a certain amount of stars do or give her something she likes. Like buying her a toy or my daughter loved chuck e cheese. So once she met her goal we would take her to chuck e cheese. She also like to put the stickers on the chart. Hopefully this is helpful to you. Good luck.

Hi S. -

As far as the potty training, it should go really easy for you if she's interested in using her "big girl" potty. You might try making or getting a chart and everytime she uses her potty give her a sticker to put on the chart and after so many for the day maybe give her a little reward like a candy or something that she doesn't get all the time and then say maybe after a week, buy her a little toy or take her somewhere she likes as a big reward. I think you will find this real rewarding in itself, I still do the rewards thing with my daughter, she's 5 going on 6 and I use a calendar and at the end of everyday, if her room is clean and she has had no attitude or crying spells during the day she's gets a sticker, and at the end of the week she can either get a toy or a movie, or go somewhere.

Hopefully this will help.

Dear S.,

Your baby girl is doing great for her age, but girls show right away their preference for clothing, don't they? Take her to the store and let her pick out her own panties - show her the pull up diapers and maybe buy a small package - but those little girl panties are so cuuuute. I bet that she will love them. Make sure that she feels secure on the pottie chair. Do you have a little sturdy stool for her to climb up on to get the potty chair on the toilet? Do they still have those potty chairs that stand alone beside the real toilet? My daughter trained herself when she saw that thing. Have her wear little dresses too so that the up and down panties will be easy. Good Luck, she is a bit early, but who knows, she is motivated, so go for it. C. N.

Hi - I have 3 children and 1 is in the midst of potty training. She is now 2 -- right now, we give her stickers every time she goes potty. I would hold off on the panties, until she shows more interest in going and then let her pick them out.

we bought the Feel N Learn pull ups for my daughter and the minute she is wet, she wants to be changed which has helped a great deal in potty training her.

My son, 3, was different --- he would pee right in front of me and whenever and wherever he felt like it. So, we did little things at first -- stickers, then when he went back to his bad habits, we said if you can go 3 days, I'll get you something special -- so one outing we had ice cream, another we went to the park... Then once that worked, we swtiched it to 5-7 days without an accident and he would get a Thomas Train of his choice. BINGO --- he was finally potty trained. Still working on the night time, but during the day is done.

My other son, 9, didn't need bribing -- he just went.

Hope that helps.
Tammy

did you let her pick out her big girl panties or did you pick for her? Maybe if you take her to a store and let her pick whatever she wants she'll like them better......Or they may be uncomfortable for her, maybe see if you can find a different style; they make all different kinds for us adults, hopefully they make them for the little ones too!
If all else fails, see if you can find someone who is really good at sewing....maybe they can make her really comfy ones out of cotton, like the "boy shorts" style that won't dig into her thighs; I know those ones bother me........
good luck!

COOL! If she's interested at 18 months, that's great. Have you tried just having her go with out panties? I found that letting my 22 month old run around in the nude works well. She can then run to the potty if she needs to and doesn't have to worry about pulling them down. She has accidents, but she also feels them a lot more. I would maybe talk about your undies and say something like, "Mommy is going to put on her panties now. Mommy is such a big girl, "babies name" is such a big girl too.". Or if you're not comfortable with the nudie thing, then try pull ups and really watch her for when it's potty time. Good luck!! And enjoy your little girl. :) This age is a blast!