McKid and I are starting today. She is currently running around bare-bottomed (which happens to be very cute), but we've already wet 2 training pants.
Oh, well, good thing today is wash day.
(And any of your tried and true tips would be appreciated! I'm trying to keep it very low key at the moment. We've put a stool by the potty, and her favorite books in a basket in the bathroom.)
How old exactly is McKid, again? I kept thinking, well, we have time, so I put off determined potty training while trying to get the rest of my act together; but now I realize my older son will be 3 in less than 2 months and we are still 100% diaper-dependent. He's pretty aware of how the potty thing works, and he goes through the rest of the routine, but won't actually take his diaper off when he sits down.
Try to keep to a regular potty visiting structure (like every 30-45 min). Lots of praise. Dr. Phil says to get them to teach their dolly how to potty while they are learning.
The more organized you are about it the more success you will have.
I took my Katie every 20-25 minutes. Couple days of that and she had it figured out.
The first day she did not know what I was expecting of her. It was all my idea. And to my great suprise, it worked.
r o, McKid is 2 1/2.
I think my "diaper meter" clicked over last week. I changed the last diaper I want to change without trying to potty train. So, I talked to McKid's mom and we decided to GO FOR IT!
No accidents YET this afternoon.
I am going to put in yet another plug for my all time fave book on the topic, "Toilet Training in less than a day". I used a slightly modified version of this technique on all my kids and it does work!
The biggest mistake that I think people make in potty training kids who are truly ready is to put them in diapers at all - if they are ready to train, they are ready to go into pants that they can pull up and down themselves.
You know, they used to have that book Alicia recommends at one of the Babies R Us's we go to. I didn't get it, and now it's gone. And I keep procrastinating on obtaining it by other means. Sounds like a good way to go. And I really should do the training pants thing. I have a feeling it is reluctance -- perhaps he just associates taking his diaper off with the unpleasantness of a change, except for bathtime -- and not unreadiness. Maybe big boy pants would open up a new world for him.
For next time, for whomever that applies,
ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION!!!
It's like breastfeeding on cue, but for elimination. Check out www.diaperfreebaby.org
I love that I've had a baby out of diapers since she was 6mo, even though that meant periods of wet pants now and again. But by 19mo, she was reliably dry AND even beginning to take herself to the Baby Bjorn potty (so they can do their pants at a younger age, if they have the motivation). And the focus is on communicating with your child about his/her needs, not about training. Consider it, for a moment :) And feel free to email me with questions.
--Amanda
We tried "child-led toilet learning" with Zooey. He got interested at 22 months...uninterested 4 months later...interested again 3 months after that, ad nauseum. Took over a year. Did tons of laundry. Ick.
Edyn is 2.5 and she's been a little interested on and off for the last 3 months, but we've had holidays, illnesses, etc. get in the way. Now the baby is walking (up to 8 steps), and Edyn is completely freaked out about that ("Mooooooommmmm! Laurel is in the kitchen cupboard!!!!"), so we're waiting for that stress to pass and then we're going to try a more focussed approach.
I like Dr. Phil's idea of having the child teach his/her dolly and then making a big deal for the doll. Edyn got a cabbage patch doll for Christmas and drags Eloise EVERYWHERE, plus Eloise is big enough to put on the potty and wear Edyn's panties (because Edyn has such a tiny patootie), so that's a natural. I'm checking out Alicia's recommendation from the library this week to see what other tips I can recommend.
Also, I painted a bunch of plain panties with Edyn's favorite character, Maisy the Mouse, for incentive and we have an assortment of Maisy books for her to read on the potty. Right now, though, she'll ask for panties and I'll tell her to pee in the potty first. She'll sit on the pot for half an hour, won't pee, ask for a diaper, pee in that, then take off the diaper and put on her Maisy panties. I think she's ready!!!!
Oh, and speaking of readiness, it's generally accepted that your child has to be intellectually, verbally, physically AND emotionally ready before he/she can use the toilet successfully. Intellectual readiness includes being able to understand where pee and poop go as well as being able to understand what it means to be in charge of something (because we have to put our kids in charge of their own pee/poop for this). Verbal readiness includes being able to understand and speak the words the family uses for pee and poop, as well as "Yes," "No," "Help" and the all important "NOW!!!" Physical readiness includes not only being able to hold/control pee and poop, but also being able to dress/undress him/herself and get on the potty/toilet solo. (We missed the dressing/undressing thing with Zooey for the first couple of rounds. Big mistake!) Emotional readiness includes being ready to let go of diapers, being ready to be in charge of his/her own poop and not having any other big stresses going on (new baby, new bed, new room, new house, holidays, birthdays, little sibling learning to crawl or walk, death in the family, death of a pet, etc.).
--Sparki
Probably of no help here, but I'll comment anyway. All of our children have been off diapers by their third birthday, dry both day and night, with a minimal of time and effort. Though I've not read the book Alicia recommends, we probably followed a similar method. Like I said, not much help! In my experience, training pants, even cloth, are a waste. Go straight for panties, hunker down for a few days to be super available, and resolve yourself to the fact that you will be doing more laundry than usual!
I'm with Alicia. I have Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. LOVE IT!! I haven't actually ever used the method, but I've learned a lot from it. Most important thing is that we reward *dry pants*, not peeing on the potty. Dry pants is the goal, so that gets the reward and encourages Junior to keep them dry to keep the rewards coming.
I think Dr. Phil must have read this book, too, as the peeing doll is a major tool.
My aunt used this method with her son and he was dry, with no accidents, in four hours. I think his "perfect record" is the exception, but the method makes really good sense.
Sandy
I have a boy who was just "trained" last May. He's going to turn 4 on 2/15, so he was 3 and 3 months old when he "did it".
I realize girls are different than boys when it comes to potty training...
However, I read a book when he was 2.5 that I absolutely loved. Here's the link to it: http://www.lowth.com/catalog/e8/gm3tm0-the-girlfriends-guide-to-toddlers.html
Even though in it, the author said to totally "let it go" don't fret or worry about it and every kid is using a proper toilet by age 4, regardless of what you do or don't do..., I still spent about 2 days (when he was closer to 3) trying to "catch" him needing to go, etc. After two soiled training pants that I loathed having to remove, I gave up.
Some mother in the hallway at his preschool told me "3 years and 3 months is the magic age". She was right! He indicated to me that he was ready. I left the potty on the floor and I think it took 2 days before he never tinkled in his training pants again or pooped again either!
Good luck!
I've just started training my son in earnest. He just turned three, and I think he's finally starting to get it, although he can't be trusted to tell me when he needs to go. We try to go potty once an hour.
As for rewarding dry pants..... my little guy doesn't seem to get dry pants as the goal. He better understands filling the pot and no more diapers, so that's what we're going with.
We have a sure-fire method here at Camp White: ship the child off to Grandma for a week. It works every time and she loves it.
I don't understand having dry pants rather than peeing in the potty as the goal. How does the child learn to keep the pants dry then? Hmm, guess I might try actually reading the book I checked out of the library last week. But just based on what little common sense I have along with knowledge of my particular child I think peeing in the potty is going to have to be the initial goal, followed by not peeing in the pants at all. Maybe other people can successfully go all the way at once. Maybe I misunderstand and no one tries.