Best potty training method? **update: we've started, pg 4**

[puffkin]

One big recommendation from me is to get the most boring, plain potty seat imaginable. They just think it is a toy if it has all the bells and whistles. Also, DS didn't really like the potty seat, he liked the regular toilet. The Baby Bjorn potty ring is absolutely fantastic. Worth every penny....he also did use the Baby Bjorn potty too, but he preferred the ring.

 

[Fintastic]

I second (or third or fourth or fifth) not using Pull-Ups. They're expensive and they really do hinder potty training. We put them on DD for the convenience, but she didn't potty train until after she was three years old! Once we took them off her and made her wear training pants, she could feel when she was wet. She trained completely in less than two weeks.

 

[KelleyD]

Hi. Just wanted to say my son is 27 months. He does go to daycare during the day, so they have been helping with the training, although they rely on the pull-ups.

We introduced the potty at at early age, but what I wanted to say was we didn't make any real progress until he started to realize he actually had to go. Within the past couple of weeks, he will sometimes say mama i pee pee in diaper, as he is going. That was something he never acknowleged before.

So now he is actually telling us before he goes and we tell him to go to potty and he does. This past weekend he was going commando and went 3 times in a row, but while outside got distracted by ants and wet himself. He was with his dad, and he came up to me and said sorry mama i peepee pants.

So to sum it up I think the acknowledgeing that he had to go was the breakthru....

the poop is going to be a whole different ball game...

 

[lacy1101]

We introduced the "Potty Fairy" to our kids when it was time for potty training. I put a piece of poster board on the wall in the bathroom with some stickers in a basket nearby. Everytime DS or DD used the potty, they got to put a sticker on the poster board. After they had so many stickers (maybe 10 or so - I really can't remember), the Potty Fairy came to visit while they were sleeping and would leave little things like books, treats, new underwear, etc. It worked really well!

 

[sohappy]

I would like to just throw this out there. My oldest showed signs around his 2nd b-day that he was interested. I went straight to underware. He understood what he was supposed to do- he knew what was coming, would grab himself and run to the potty. The problem was his bladder was not mature enough to hold it. He did this same thing (grabbing/running/not making it) over and over literally every 10 minutes. It was November, so nakey wasn't really an option. After several days of frustration, we gave up.

A few months later he was begging for a video. I told him that he could have it when he went potty- he went right away. I got a few other bribes- metal thomas trains. He was trained in days. He was mentally ready earlier, just not physically ready.

My other son wore cloth diapers, so he understood what was going on at about a year and a half. I didn't push it until he was around 2 and a half. Again, straight to underwear. For the first week or so, we had to ask him if he needed to go. He would say yes or no (and he meant it). He never asked, but didn't really have any accidents. After about the first week, he started asking to go.

With both boys, I would do a few trial nights with underwear in the evenings for an hour or so just so see how it went. Good luck.

 

[barnaby1]

The absolute best potty training method? - Mini smarties!!! 1 for a wee and 2 for a poo!!

On a sliightly more constructive not, I got my dd, then just over 2, use to sitting on the potty at certain times of the day (before bath, first thing in the morning etc) and built it gradually over a couple of weeks only adding a new time when she was happily going on the potty. When she was up to 3 times in the day out of the blue (actually 6 weeks before our WDW holiday) I asked her if she used the potty at nursery and she said no. That day at nursery she apparently asked to go 3 times and did. The nappies came off the next day and never went back on.

Having said that we did have a false start with it only 2 months earlier but that was down to me putting too much pressure on. Bit of a chill out and away we went.

 

[tartemis]

For those parents that use the reward method -- stickers, M&M's or Smarties -- do you give the reward only if your dc actually pees or poos in the toliet? In other words, if they try, i.e. go to the toliet and sit down, but nothing happens, do you just say good try and not give a reward?

MY DD is only 20 months, but she is very interested in the potty and for the last month will occasionally go on the toliet. But it doesn't seem like we are making any additional progress and I'm thinking about bribing her with M&Ms. (I wish we could get Smarties here in the States ---- so goood!)

 

[themousetrap]

My kid is only 3 and is down to accidents when he is not feeling well and at night, but, even as a father, I've learned dearly about the pull-ups (Why should I bolt for the bathroom when I can do it right here with no mess?) and using potty toilets with all the bells and whistles. We were set back for weeks when we bought a potty that did all the singing and lights when it was used. Kid saw it as a nice toy and never used it for its intended purpose.

DW is still adamant about using "training" underwear during the day and pull-ups overnight, but I'm trying to convince her that it's terribly hindering DS's progress. I think one member of her family who used this training method was still wearing pull-ups going into adolescence because he became a bed wetter!

We have to remember that cleaning up messes is part of being a parent. You don't put your 400-thread count Egyptian cotton Winnie the Pooh sheets on the bed until he's trained. Until then, use the 5-dollar Wal-Mart sheets that can meet File 13 if heavily soiled, ditch the pull-ups, and put the kid on some regular underwear!

...now if I can just stand up and tell DW that without getting my legs broken...

 

[mjkacmom]

My kid is only 3 and is down to accidents when he is not feeling well and at night, but, even as a father, I've learned dearly about the pull-ups (Why should I bolt for the bathroom when I can do it right here with no mess?) and using potty toilets with all the bells and whistles. We were set back for weeks when we bought a potty that did all the singing and lights when it was used. Kid saw it as a nice toy and never used it for its intended purpose.

DW is still adamant about using "training" underwear during the day and pull-ups overnight, but I'm trying to convince her that it's terribly hindering DS's progress. I think one member of her family who used this training method was still wearing pull-ups going into adolescence because he became a bed wetter!

We have to remember that cleaning up messes is part of being a parent. You don't put your 400-thread count Egyptian cotton Winnie the Pooh sheets on the bed until he's trained. Until then, use the 5-dollar Wal-Mart sheets that can meet File 13 if heavily soiled, ditch the pull-ups, and put the kid on some regular underwear!

...now if I can just stand up and tell DW that without getting my legs broken...

After 5 kids, I have to side with your wife, as would our pediatrician. Night dryness does not usually coincide with day dryness. Some kids take several more YEARS to keep dry at night. I've had kids as young as 3 wear underwear to bed, and as old as 8 wearing pullups. This is not something that is taught, like day training.

 

[themousetrap]

...you may have just saved my legs.

Thank you.

 

[TracyMags]

I agree with the star chart and a prize at the end of the week for trying (or getting enough stars) I alos would avoid the pulls ups, they are more expensive diapers.

I have potty trained 5 kids and found the star chart to work the best. Most importantly, your child has to be ready. I made a chart and put my two childrens pics on the chart (i was training two, one with autism) I had drawn some pics of toilets and put them in the bathroom, one with yellow water and one with brown poops. This was for my son who was a little more slow on the uptake. We made a big deal with reward and the kids got to add their own stickers. The were both trained within two weeks and one was less than two and the other almost 4, but both developmentally on par.

I had another boy who liked to pee on a tree. He pretty much trained himself playing outside during the day. (we live in the country) This worked well for most of the summer with the xception for the time that we were at the grocery store and he wanted to pee on the tree in the middle of the parking lot. sigh, he cried and cried because I made him use the potty in the store.

Good luck.

 

[Meghan NJ]

You can line your home with stickers, give them m&m's if they use a word with the letter "p" in it, make them sit on the potty all day and ever put another diaper on them. You can dance on your head and pray to the pee-pee gods. The bottom line is when they are ready they will do it, and you can't force it. My daughter will be three in the end of sept and just got it the other day. She has had three accidents over the past week. We didn't do any thing other than put her on the potty on a regular basis and let her wear undies at home. She just got it. Did the same thing with my son and he was 3 and one month before he got it, with LOTS of accidents.

 

[HappyPeach]

My son did very well with peeing in the potty but refused to poop. Eventually he decided he wouldn't peepee in the toilet either. This was at 2 y/o. Our pediatrician told us (since DS had no physical reason he couldn't use the potty) that it was a control issue for DS. Pedi advised us to back off for a few months and then cold-turkey stop using diapers. We had a few weeks of stops and starts and lots of messes. Then one day, it just clicked. We had told DS that our trip to see his Grammy wouldn't occur until he was potty trained. DS never had an accident again and has even stayed dry at night. He was 3 1/2 when he trained. I think the child just has to be ready. (oh, and we did reinforce the "good job" of no accidents with rewards: stickers and M&Ms.)

 

[eeyoremum]

important to remember when it feels potty training will never happen...NO kid goes to Kindergarten in a diaper, they train when they want to..That was what my pediatrician kept telling me when I was desperate for her to go

Actually my son went to school with a kid in diapers. According to his parents he was not "ready". He was not developmentally delayed in anyway just had his parents around his little finger.

I always have different views than others but I will share mine. My sons were both trained by age 2. I just stopped buying diapers and when I ran out they wore undies. We had a few accidents but they didn't like being wet or dirty so they learned really quickly. I did not put them in diapers at night we did the old "cold turkey" approach. We had some wet nights but they were both completely trained in 1 week for the time I ran out of diapers.

 

[ilovemyjj]

I go my daughter the the Once upon a potty dvd, it worked like a charm!! She would watch it over and over and over again...and finally was a big girl just like the girl in the movie!!! Its like 20 min long including the potty song, which will be in your head all day..lol!!
We got it at Toys r us for like 15 bucks, but they make it for boys and girls!!

I would recommend it for anyone, just like the Once upon a potty book!!!

 

[adventure_woman]

I just had to share. Since Saturday, my DD (32 months) has been going on the potty ALL THE TIME!! First off, I am so proud of her. Secondly - I feel RICH! (She pees ALL THE TIME, so that was a lot of diapers!! )

Anyway, I introduced the potty the first time around Christmas. Then we took a break and started up again a couple of weeks ago. We got a book from the library which I really think helped her - it was No More Diapers for Ducky - she just seemed to like it! The potty actually sits in the living room in front of the TV - at first I would have her sit on it in the AM and watch Disney, that got her to know what I wanted her to do in it. Again, she pees like crazy, so it is every 20-25 minutes she sits on the potty and goes pee. I also did reward stickers, by putting a sticker on each letter of her name. Once she had a sticker on each letter, she got to pick a prize from the potty prize bag (just little trinkets) and I also gave her a mini marshmellow, M&M or choc. chip when she went potty. Now, she doesn't even need the rewards (if she asks, I will give her one). The big thing is I made a HUGE DEAL about her going potty - jumping, dancing, clapping, yelling - she thought that was cool. I bring the potty with me to my mom's, I bring it outside with us, in the van (which fits PERFECTLY!) Oh yes, I forgot to say, she is PETRIFIED of the big potty. But since Saturday, she has been wearing big girl underwear and goes every 20 minutes. We go to a softball game and we leave and go to the car every 20 min to go potty, she sits, pees and then we go about our merry way. Same thing grocery shopping today - just left every 25 min to go potty. (I ordered a little fold-up potty from One Step Ahead which I'm hoping to get very very soon!!) Now, to just get the #2 down...

My little girl isn't so little anymore!

 

[TheCharmingLizard]

Since we're on this topic... I hope the OP doesn't mind if I ask a question since there are so many people on here with experience and great suggestions.

My son is in a regression period. He was going both #1 and #2 with great success.... and then he stopped. He's back to going #1 with only a few accidents, but #2? He screams and cries. If I catch him in the act, he'll hold it in and won't go.

I've tried bribing (actually, once I outright promised him a toy, and he went right then and there) with sticker chart to get a toy... nope. I've tried immediate gratification with a treat. Nope. Hellz - I've even threatened him with having to wear a diaper to visit Mickey which he does NOT want to do...

Less pressure? Keep up what I'm doing???

HELP! I really do not want to have to worry about poopy pants while in the parks.

 

[themousetrap]

That's sort of the problem we had with poopies. He'd feel his little tummy grumbling and knew it was time, but when nothing happened within 5-10 seconds of sitting down, he'd try to dismount. But, since we knew he had to #2, we'd try to make him sit there. If he isn't screaming Bloody Murder, something usually happens after about a minute or two.

But, if we let him down to go play again (when nothing happened), he'd be running around and stop on a dime as if he just saw the Poltergeist. Then, it's a mad dash to the bathroom before it's running down his legs. Then, we're back to the wait-and-see game.

My parents proclaim that when I was little, they didn't go the route of gifts after a successful trip to the potty. Rather, it was punishment for unsuccessful trips. They claim I was trained in a matter of days shortly after I learned how to walk.

I don't want to go that route because I don't want my kid afraid of communicating with us when he needs to go whether it be a successful trip or an unsuccessful and messy trip.

 

[GoinToDisney]

one thing to make sure of is that he isn't constipated. I'd give my daughter spoon size shredded wheat for breakfast almost daily around potty training time and get fiber in her in any way I could. The other thing I did was to tell her if she tried to go and couldn't, she shouldn't worry... just read some books while she waits and before she knows it, it'll happen.

 

[barnaby1]

For those parents that use the reward method -- stickers, M&M's or Smarties -- do you give the reward only if your dc actually pees or poos in the toliet? In other words, if they try, i.e. go to the toliet and sit down, but nothing happens, do you just say good try and not give a reward?

MY DD is only 20 months, but she is very interested in the potty and for the last month will occasionally go on the toliet. But it doesn't seem like we are making any additional progress and I'm thinking about bribing her with M&Ms. (I wish we could get Smarties here in the States ---- so goood!)

Definitely only when a result is produced. Your dd will be on that potty every 3 minutes all day if there is chocolate (or the like) on offer for trying. Keep it very lighthearted though and offer the reward after it is done not as an incentive to go - bit like when you are out shopping, the reward for being well behaved comes after the trip not "I will give you a reward if you behave". ps. I am not suggesting for one minute that using the potty or not is well behaved etc. just a reward example!!