How much effort was it to potty train your child?

[peg2001]

With my first child, I took the common advice to just wait. At every pediatrician appointment from ages 2 to 4, I brought it up, expressing my concerns. I was dismissed each time with an airy "Oh, she'll do it when she's ready." I'm sorry, but by age 4 I had had ENOUGH waiting and we forced the issue. Forced to the point of holding a screaming and fighting 4-year-old on the potty to get her over her fear. She was terrified.

With my second, we started when she was 2.5. She too had to overcome her fear of the potty but it was SO much easier with a younger child. She became clean and dry (even at night) within a couple weeks.

So, I have serious doubts about just how many kids "will do it when they are ready." I think most need a lot of parental involvement, coersion, and insistence. This poll is to see if I am right.

Peggy

If you have more than one child, I've set up the poll to accept more than one answer.

 

[grinningghost]

It was rough. DD had recurrent urinary tract infections as a baby and toddler, which made potty training very difficult. She knew how to use the potty, but those UTI's would cause her to have accidents frequently. It was confusing to her why she would suddenly go in her pants. Then she would cry. Whenever she did make the potty without an accident, she was very, very proud, and Mom was very, very happy!

But one fine day when she was 3 1/2, she went to bed without a diaper, woke up dry and that was it - she was trained for good. Crazy how it went from torture to paradise in one night.

 

[tinaw]

Don't hate me! It was so easy. At 15 mos. my daughter told me "no diapers" and refused to wear one from that day forward. She had maybe 3-4 accidents before she really got it. She was totally potty trained even at night (she never wet the bed) before she was 2.

 

[cgcw]

DS8 was a breeze. Potty trained in no time with very little effort.

DS3 was another story. He was trained before age 2. Then one day it was like "been there, done that" and he totally refused to do it anymore. Then he refused to wear diapers -- insisted on pull ups. 3 years old came and went and not much progress was made. By 3.4 months, I had enough. Got out the rubber pants and within a couple of days of using the regular underwear and rubber pants, he was trained. We've had a couple of accidents here and there but for the most part, he's done. I think the pulls ups enabled him to use them as a diaper.

 

[mrsv98]

DD was just past 3 yos and one day I said enough is enough and that was it. It wasn't actually that traumatic because she was totally ready. I really blame myself for ever using pull-ups. I think those things set us back 6 months, they are just too comfortable. I actually participated in a one-week survey using Pampers Easy-ups and I made a big point to them that the pull-ups wick the moisture away too much, kids need to feel wet and uncomfortable or where is the motivation to stay dry? Anyway, I digress, Dd is dry all the time now tho she still wears a pull up at night per her request. I will use this pack up and then I will tell her we are out and that will be that.

 

[FOJMO]

Our DD was around 3 when she potty trained. We waited until she started to show an interest in going on the potty and then my DH made a "PooPoo/PeePee" chart with squares on it. We told her every time she successfully went to the potty instead of in a diaper, she would get a star in the square. We posted it on the bathroom door. When it was full, she got to go to ChuckECheese.

She had all 25 squares filled in about 3 days!!! There was no turning back then -- she was terrific!

 

[reddixie]

Ok mine was very funny. At the time though I was furious. My DD was 2 and 3 mos. I had been training her and helping but she was in pull-ups. We didn't think she got it. WELL boy was I wrong. One day I was on the phone and she got up from her nap and came in and got ill with me and peed on my leg. My DH said oh it's an accident. Then 2 days later he told her time for bed she got upset. We put her to bed and she pulled off the diaper and pooh poohed right there. We knew she did it for spite. Well DH said if you ever potty in bed or in your clothes you will have to sit in time out or no Barney. Well that was that she never again had an accident.

 

[debster812]

Oh, I was convinced, totally and completely convinced DS was going to graduate High School wearing Depends.

It took a long long time, with liberal bribery. I think he was almost 4 before he was totally clean and totally dry ALL the time.

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I am not at all a believer in the "wait until they are ready, they will do it themselves" philosophy. All kids are ready at different times, but IMO it does not hurt to introduce training and see how it goes. My first DS was trained soon after he turned 2, and second DS before his 2nd birthday. Was it easy? No.... but it was not all that difficult either. If they can understand what you are talking about then a little persistence can go a long way. Maybe give up a day of adult activities and focus on training ALL DAY.

As a home day care provider I had a Mom who was trying to train her son. She brought him in underwear and said he would not go at home when he got up that morning. She tried to get him to try when they arrived at my place, but he kicked and screamed "NO". She left. It wasn't two minutes and he went... leaving the puddle on my living room floor.

IMO, her mistake was letting him refuse to "try" before she left. He always was in the driver's seat with her.

 

[MosMom]

I let my daughter do it when she was ready and just after her 3rd birthday she just started using the potty and had maybe 3 accidents total. Never made an issue out of it and we never had an issue.

 

[Mermaid02]

DD was easy...... I told her diapers were expensive and I didn't want to buy them anymore. She was just over 2 and pretty much said, "Okay".

DS was a NIGHTMARE! Lots of screaming and lots of tears and lots of threats. When your kids tells you he wants his diaper changed, he's old enough and capable enough to use the potty! He was almost 4.

 

[Kirby]

We decided that age 3 was a good age to start potty training for both our kids. A couple of months before their 3rd birthday we began talking about how big they were going to be at age 3 and how they were going to get to wear big boy/girl pants. On their 3rd birthday we began with Pull Ups and after a week or two of no accidents, they began wearing underwear. And they had no accidents after that either. So I guess we had it pretty easy.

 

[ncligs]

Originally posted by Mermaid02
DS was a NIGHTMARE! Lots of screaming and lots of tears and lots of threats.

..........

...............

 

[Loubon]

Originally posted by Mermaid02
Lots of screaming and lots of tears and lots of threats.

Yeah but how did your son do?

 

[Scratch42]

I dropped DD2 at the time, off at Grandmas before work and when I picked her up after work, VOILA! Did not need diapers again! I did not ask Who, What, Where or How? But glad it happened!

Scratch

 

[Jordan's MOM]

SOOO easy at our house. DS was the easy going kid that your told what to do and he did it. About a week before he turned two i went and bought a potty seat and a pack of BARNEY underwear. I told him that he was suppose to go in the potty because if he went in the underwear, BARNEY would be sad. He NEVER wet barney, had very few accidents at all in the next week or so and was overnight dry with in a month.

He did however try to pull one on us about a year latter. He was three and never had accidents. We were in a cloths store one day and he did not want to be there. He told me he had to go to the bathroom. I told him to wait a few minutes and we would go. I added don't wet you clothes or we will have to go home. He never had accidents and i never carried clothes any more. About 2 seconds latter, I looked up and he was wet!! Well nothing to do but buy him a change of clothes. Put them on and 2 seconds latter he was wet again. I was not going to buy more cloths. He looks up at me with this straight face and says, SO I WET MY CLOTHS ARE WE GOING HOME NOW! Well we went home and he went to his room. Only time he tried that. Now it is funny but not that day!!

Jordan's mom

 

[m&m's mom]

Scratch42- My story is like yours. Right when DD was 2 my DM was moving to a new house and we wanted Miranda toilet trained (cannot bring myself to say "Potty") before then. She just aced it first time, had maybe a couple of accidents and never at night. From the beginning of being toilet trained during the day she would come in and wake us up to take her to the restroom at night.
But, our first DD was a little different. She was 3 and still not really toilet trained. We had a trip planned to WDW and when we were at the WL I just told her Minnie Mouse did not allow diapers at WDW so she would have to use her panties. She said "OK" and off we went. We made sure we stopped more frequently to the restroom and took a change of clothes but never needed. Voila! Minnie and I toilet trained together. She never had an accident at night either.

 

[mom42860]

I made a big point to them that the pull-ups wick the moisture away too much, kids need to feel wet and uncomfortable or where is the motivation to stay dry?

So true

 

[cali2gagirl]

My oldest DD was hard...she was probably 3.5...4 by the time she was dry overnight...but I never forced it hard...maybe should have.
My youngest daughter showed interest in using the potty at about 18 months...I figured from seeing her older sister...so we let her when she wanted... I started pullups a few months later.. Well..those dang pull-ups lasted about a year!
The middle of June...I finally said "Ok..I'm gonna really try this" ..I never did much to force the issue. I got her a new Potty Video (Bear in the Big Blue House to add to her Once Upon a Potty collection) and I got new Disney panties. Well..the first day..3 accidents.. the second day...1 accident...the third day was dry...and by the end of the week she was dry overnight!!! I wasn't even attempting overnight..but after 3 nights of a dry diaper, I put on panties. Now, it's been about a month and a half...and we've had about 5 accidents total...that included our 1st trip to WDW too... I think she's pretty much trained.
She'll be 3 next month...and she was soo much easier than my oldest!!!!!

 

[shortbun]

For DS, I waited until just over 3. He had picked out the potty himself and it had been in the bathroom for several months. He
occassionally used it but it was too much trouble to stop what he was doing and go. We never fought. I had simply told him that when he was ready, he'd use the potty! I announced to him that he was finally ready with great fanfare! Then-
We went to the toy store, picked out a toy, had it wrapped and put it on the shelf in the
bathroom for all to see. We made a calendar for stickers and I
told DS he'd have the toy(a train) once he had used the big boy
potty for a week. In 3 days, he was going all by himself and
by the end of a week, he was trained AND the train was his.
No crying, no mistakes, simply motivation once I knew he could understand and was just being distracted. Never looked back. The end.