Should I Stop Potty Training?

If you have gone this far I wouldn't give up. Don't ask her just take her to the potty. The standard answer for a child is no when asked, also she need to learn her own body cues. If you go to Target they have cloth training underwear, they are not as thin so accidents are not quite as messy. Just let her walk around in underwear for a few more day. Also, not a fan of rewards, children need to want to use the potty, the reward thing wears off fast lol. Praise, clap, and tell her how proud you are, when she has success and when she has an accident, do not make a big deal. When she has an accident just change her and move on, very little words. She will get it, some children take longer then others. Good luck!!

I'm going to give you a link to a website I truly love.

http://www.betterkidcare.psu.edu/AngelUnits/OneHour/Toile...

This will give you an overview of toilet learning, a child-centered approach to helping our kids to learn to use the toilet.

I'll (try) to be brief: like many of our children's challenges, using the toilet and learning the body's cues-- and responding in time-- is a learning process. Stickers and rewards often produce short-term results, because the child needs to have their own motivation for using the toilet.

I'd just let her lead on when she wants to wear diapers or underpants, and be sure to do as Dori said: do not *ask* her if she needs to use the toilet, because she is a toddler and "NO" is the toddler default answer. (This is developmentally appropriate, as she is practicing autonomy.) Instead, tell her "It's time to use the potty" every so often. And please, look at the Assessment for Readiness on the webpage. In my years of helping children use the toilet, readiness is everything.

Otherwise, it sounds like you are doing fine. Keeping things low-key during accidents, and having your daughter help with changing her clothes is just fine. Be patient... it takes some children a longer time to master this than others. My son didn't start until he was 3 years 4 months old, but did really well when we decided to offer underpants or cloth diapers. Feeling that they are wet really helps to motivate them, so stay away from using pull-up if you can. They are very confusing for children, and I've seen them needlessly prolong this process. (I call them magical underwear.)

Some kids don't seem affected by wet clothes, either. Can't help with that one!Sorry!

Best,
H.

She probably doesn't want to stop what she is doing to go. This is very, very common in kids and can last a while. I used to just tell my daughter it was time for a "potty break" if she hadn't told me she needed to go and it had been a while. In the beginning of potty training, I found I had to kind of figure out when my daughter would have to go and take her to the potty instead of her telling me.

Potty training can take quite a while or be quick, it just depends on the child. Whatever you do, do not give up. You do now want her to think that she can just have diapers back if she doesn't feel like going in the potty.

Anytime you ask a toddler a question like that you'll get no as the answer lol. I'd just keep taking her on a regular basis and go from there. As she gets better about it you can lengthen the time between potty breaks. Bare bottom works really well in our house. Makes them very aware of their body and what is happening. I always hate hearing people say "oh just take a weekend and stay home and you'll be done". Doesn't work that way! Takes time for them to learn what their body is telling them and what they need to do when that happens.

Keep working with her.
Maybe instead of asking does she have to go? (Which will always give you a 'no' for an answer.)
Ask instead "are you still dry?" If she says yes, then praise her for staying dry, and remind her that if she needs to go, it would be a good time - but that you are pleased that she is dry. This is a way to provide a positive interaction about the subject - and since it probably needs to be asked a few hundred times in the upcoming weeks it makes a way to keep things positive. :)
It does take some time to get it to work - but it can be done. :) Try not to get frustrated (easier said than done, I know!). They have to figure it out, and if you get stressed about it, then they will too. You know she can do it... just keep telling her that, and how proud you are that she can do it. :) Accidents happen - but it sounds like she has the hang of it pretty well. :)

Sounds almost identical to my daughter. Even though she showed all of the signd of readiness, I realized it was too early and even though I said I never would, I started using pull ups. It saved my sanity and lots of laundry and within 6 months she was fully potty trained. I have found that 2 1/2 is really the best age for girls. She is now 3 and there are accidents here and there but she does great now.
Best of luck!

I am a Ca. St. Lic. Family Child Care provider, successfully in business over 20 years...and it has been my experience (in general..there is always an exception..bur RARELY..lol) that for girls..I won't even consider until they are approaching 3 yrs old...boy's a little later. Now..you can make yourself crazy..and spend hours sitting with her..and cleaning up poop...or you can basically sit back and do nothing and wait. This is a natural, biological transition that will happen if you do nothing! It will happen on their terms..no matter what you do...so..just go back to diapers and give her some time. Right now she is just not developmentally able to comply to your wishes. Those muscles are not ready..so just be a little patient and it will be easy.

Keep in mind that "putting her on the potty" when you think it's time..is not "potty" training..it's mommy training. WHen she can determine for herself that she needs to go, can control herself long enough to get to the potty, be able to pull down pants..get on potty HERSELF....That is when she is toilet trained...not before.

Keep it up. You know she can do it, but maybe the excitement has worn off. maybe work toward a new reward system. also, try to reward her for staying dry rather than going pee or poo. ask her occasionally, are you dry? and if she says yes, reward her. this is the goal afterall, for her to stay clean and dry.

My son would seem ready every month or so starting at age 2, and then not want to use the potty again for a few weeks. I think he just wasn't ready, sounds like your daughter isn't quite there either. I never pushed my son, just worked on it with him when he wanted it, and now at 2 and a half he is finally getting it and wanting to go. If you do not want to push it so much now, maybe try again in another month, or when she seems interested again.

It sounds to me like you and your daughter are doing everything you should be doing and she might just need more time to practice her new skill and feel fully in control about it. We all know that toddlers need to do things hundreds of times to learn things in their own time, and PT is no exception. Even though she knows what to do, is showing lots of readiness signs, and wants to do it, sometimes it takes toddlers more time than adults expect it to. In my mind, being "potty trained" comes after many months of "potty training."

My daughter and I had been talking about the potty, sitting on the potty, playing with the potty, etc... for about 6 months before she finally "got it." She went through stages where she didn't want to wear a diaper but hadn't actually peed in the potty, and it was very frustrating (for me) because she didn't seem to care that she was wet. There were times we went back to diapers for awhile and tried underwear again a month or two later. (Now that she is fully potty trained, there is no going back to diapers unless it is time to go to sleep.)

Bathtime was our most successful pottying time for awhile. Sometimes she would ask to get out of the bath 10 times to pee on the potty, and I figured it was a great way for her to practice knowing that she had to go and then going.

(btw my daughter is 33 months old now and I would say she was "potty training" for about 6 months and has been "potty trained" for about 2 months.)

Good luck! Your daughter will get it in her own time.

We trained DS at 26 months. He picked it up really fast and as long as we took him when he woke up, after meals and asked at other times he did great. He had a few accidents for a couple of weeks. Then maybe two more over the next 6 months. However he did not start heading off to the bathroom himself for much longer. It is asking a lot to expect a 2 year old to voluntarily stop playing to potty. They tend to leave it until the last possible second and then it is too late. I would keep going. I would also just tell her it is time to go to the bathroom rather than asking her if she needs to go. After all, we all tell our kids when it is time for breakfast, lunch and dinner, tooth brushing, daycare/preschool, bedtime etc. I never asked DS if it was time for nap or bed.

This is common, but you should never give up. They get used to being able to go on the go during the diaper days and going back to diapers will just slow down the process. However, pull ups may be necessary for night to save the bed. Some kids are harder than others and some have overactive bladders.

My daughter potty trained really quickly, but for quite a while we had to remind her to go because she just didn't come out and say "I have to go". So we just put her on the potty whenever we figured it was time, and after a while (a long while) she started just going in there by herself. No worries, you got past the hard part!

Potty readiness actually depends on three areas of maturation: neurological (recognizing signals in time), physical (ability to hold it long enough to get to the potty) and emotional (a desire to make this huge step).Here's one of several sites that gives some great "readiness" checklists, plus the skinny on the various approaches to potty-training, their advantages and challenges. See if you can find your situation here: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

Potty training is ultimately a process that the child must control, or else she's simply not trained.

Additionally, night training is a whole separate step for many children, and can lag a year (or several) behind day training. It's not too unusual for third or fourth graders to need diapers at night, and for a few unfortunate kids, they reach adolescence before they stop bedwetting. Their sleep is too heavy for the full-bladder signal to get through, and/or the sphincter isn't strong enough to hold a full bladder. (This is more common in boys.) They really are not doing this on purpose, and many of them are horrified and ashamed of not being able to stay dry through the night.

Sometimes rewards work in the short run if only motivation is lacking. But that introduces the very real possibility that rewards/bribes will need to escalate to keep the child "motivated," and that is a mistake that you will seriously regret someday.

So, what I would suggest is that, as hard as this will be, you drop your expectations, tell your daughter you are proud of how well she's growing up, and express your confidence that she will use the potty when she's ready. That may be when she notices that taking a few minutes to go to the bathroom will be easier than getting changed. And then just stop hinting, fussing, reminding, nagging, demanding, bribing, acting anxious or annoyed, or anything that you MIGHT currently be doing around the topic of potty training.

Kids WANT to make this developmental step when they're ready, just as they want to walk and talk when they're ready. Your daughter will probably need some "space" to work it through for herself. Or she may need a few more weeks or months. Even if that's the case, that's a few more weeks or months of you having to clean up after accidents. Many parents skip that aggravation altogether by waiting for the child to decide to be trained – at which point, the feat is often accomplished in only a day or a week.

Meanwhile, you can continue to make all your messages about using the bathroom as positive as possible. That can include modeling how easy/quick it is for you, reading potty books or watching potty videos, having her toys/stuffed animals role-play pottying, and in general making a game of it. With my grandson, once he could do it but didn't want to take the time, I would go into the bathroom and begin noisily ejecting all the dinosaurs that were crowding the room and sitting all over the toilet seat. My grandson couldn't resist that game, and would come in and help me wrestle the beasts, and claim his spot on the toilet.