OT - Potty Training Questions

[TennisGirl80]

I'm potty training my 2 year old right now - its not going very well!! Shes had 3 accidents since last night, and when I said to her "Sophie, if you have one more accident, I'm going to have to put you back in baby diapers." She said "Oh thank you, thank you Mommy!"
One question I have, she has yet to do #2 since yesterday, and when I potty trained my first, she was constipated for weeks because of it - she was scared to poop on the potty Does this happen to other kids? How can you prevent it????


Thanks

 

[scottish mum]

I would say let her try for a few days and if she's not getting the hang of it, stop and wait a few months. I also think it is quite common for them to get constipated at first as they are frightened. Don't have any advise really but just try and make them relxed about it. I used to read my kids books while they were trying or sing songs as that helped them relax.
Don't worry about it, she is still young and will get there when she is ready.

 

[mjkacmom]

For the pee training, nakey butt. For the poop, put a diaper on her if she asks to poop in it - many, many times, this comes later (up to a year, in my ds's case!). Withholding can cause a serious (and embarrassing) lifelong medical issue.

 

[squirrel]

Is she ready for potty training? She should have a dry diaper for a few hours.

It usually takes them longer to do BM in the potty. Make sure she eats lots of fruit/veg and water to keep her regular. In the evening when you put a diaper on at night will probably be when she does a BM.

 

[TennisGirl80]

For the pee training, nakey butt. For the poop, put a diaper on her if she asks to poop in it - many, many times, this comes later (up to a year, in my ds's case!). Withholding can cause a serious (and embarrassing) lifelong medical issue.

Thats what I did for DD#1 - it didn't take her a year to figure it out, but she was so scared of poopin in the potty... don't really know why!

Is she ready for potty training? She should have a dry diaper for a few hours.

It usually takes them longer to do BM in the potty. Make sure she eats lots of fruit/veg and water to keep her regular. In the evening when you put a diaper on at night will probably be when she does a BM.

Shes ready for it - she will be 2.5 next month. We started late yesterday, and she did OK, had a few accidents, but nothing big. That night I put a diaper on her. This morning, she was downstairs before me, and I said to her, "Sophie, get on the couch so I can take off your diaper." (I had put it on under her panties the night before because it was easier!) and she says back to me "I did it myself." I was like WHAT!??! So I check her, and she had already taken off her diaper, thrown it away, and pulled up her panties and pants - I can't tell you how flabergasted we were - I was so proud!!!!


As an update - shes done very well today - one accident, but that was much earlier in the day. So far she has sat on the potty and gone several times, just no poops. She has had plenty of water, juice and fruit today, so I'm not worried at all.


Thanks everyone for the thoughts!

 

[maigheann]

The constipation thing is very bad. Very painful. It often will not resolve itself w/o an enema.

Answer? Give lots of water, or dilute juice, or whatever fluid to drink whether or not they are doing #2 consistently on the potty. Offer water all the time. Give water to drink so that things have no chance to get bad.

 

[klineyqueen]

Be patient...that is my best advice.

My first was completely potty trained at 2.5 years. He was easy.

My second...my daughter was a whole different story. She turned 3 this past January...and had ZERO desire to poop on the potty. The second week of January she went back and used the potty....she has not had an accident since!!! She did it on her own time. She was ready to use the potty and has been since her first use. Your child has the "power" in this issue. Don't push them.

 

[EricaG]

I agree with everyone who said the pooping takes longer. We had lots of poops in the underpants long after the pee accidents were over. We just cleaned them up and tried to encourage him rather than any kind of punishing . . . it came eventually, and he was very reliably potty-trained by his third birthday.

 

[PEANUT1]

i say let her stay in diapers...just my opinion but it sounds like she is not ready. If she says thank you when you tell her she will be put back in diapers, that should be a clear sign. Let her be a baby just a little bit longer. They grow up fast enough.

 

[natashag76]

My DD was completely dry (even at night) at age 2. But for months she would walk to bathroom, grab a pull-up, poop, and then let me know she needed changing! It wasn't until she was already 3 and had a totally bizarre conversation with our neighbor about ice cream (we had told her that when she would poop on the potty we would go out for ice cream). so somehting clicked like "oh! everyone does this, not just my weird family" and she went the next day.
My DS was in diapers until he was 3. I finally let him run around all weekend bare-bottomed and that was it. Monday he went to preschool in undies and hasn't reversed.
Good Luck!

 

[miprender]

i say let her stay in diapers...just my opinion but it sounds like she is not ready. If she says thank you when you tell her she will be put back in diapers, that should be a clear sign. Let her be a baby just a little bit longer. They grow up fast enough.

ITA, my DS3 is still having accidents once in a while, but at 2 there was no way he was even close to be ready. Just remember each child is different. My DD5, she started potty training at 3 too but once she decided she was ready we had no accidents, but DS3... well he is a different story!

 

[TennisGirl80]

Just wanted to say thanks to everything for their posts - Sophie is pretty much 100% potty trained already! Shes still not poopin on the potty, but thats OK, that will come with time!