Potty Training Adventures-Am I doing this right?

[inloveindisney]

My DD has been talking about "pee pee" for a few weeks now. She's been sitting on the potty and will say "pee pee" right before she goes. She's not gotten it in the potty yet, but today she really seemed like she was trying. She won't sit on the potty too long, but today I knew she had to go and she did sit there for a few minutes - even grunting, pointing at where it comes out and shaking her body trying to get it to work. She gave up and went into the kitchen, sat down at her table and peed on her chair.
Am I doing what I should be doing? I'm not pressuring her (we do ask her after about an hour has passed without going just because we know it's about time). I usually wait until she says "pee pee" before we go into the bathroom. She "practices" throughout the day with her new pink potty with flowers on it-really seems to like it.
We went to the doctors the other day and discussed potty training while we were there. We got lucky that she said pee pee while we were in there and sure enough 2 minutes later, she peed. The doctor said she is definitely ready to start trying, but I'm just not sure if I'm doing this right on my part.
With your experiences as Mothers/Fathers, does it sound like she's on the right track or should I be doing anything else to help her?

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Yep, sounds like she's ready. It usually takes time and patience. She may do it a few times and then backslide but eventually it will be consistent. My advice to keep her in Pull-ups and let her do the pulling up and down whenever possible. Take her to the potty every hour to hour and a half. If she's wet, have her sit on the potty while you get a new Pull-up and talk about going in the potty. When she does use the potty, give her a reward like an M&M or a sticker and lots of verbal praise so she connects using the potty with something postive. Above all, don't get stressed. She will start to feel your stress and it will slow the process way down. Also, try not to scold her for going in her Pull-ups. Just explain every time that she needs to use the potty and do the change while she's sitting there. Before you know it, she'll be a big girl! Good luck!

 

[Elmo888]

I would skip the Pull-ups. I would just use diapers until she starts to connect the dots.

Just put her on the potty at all of the times that every living thing needs to go...LOL! When she wakes up (morning or from nap), after she eats, etc. She'll connect the dots. When she goes, a small reward is nice (two MnMs or something). I also liked to give her dumdums (those little lollipops) while she was on the potty. And I would explain to her that it was only while she sat on the potty. It helped her relax and take her time. If she got up, I took the dumdum away and told her we would save it for next time!

 

[mjkacmom]

Give her the nakey butt test. Put her in a room, bare bottom, with a potty. If she has more than one accident, try again a few months later (dd5 passed the test when she was 2 1/2, ds5 didn't pass until he was almost 3). If she passes, nakey butt her a couple of days (shouldn't have accidents), and then if she's consistant, put her in loose pants, commando. Then work up to underwear. Do not ask her to sit on the potty.

I've done this method with 3, traditional method with 2 (underwear, having them sit, etc.), and nakey butt worked in about a week, while traditional method took several months.

Also, get the DVD (I think it's called It's Potty Time) - she'll want to watch it over and over!

 

[inloveindisney]

Thanks for the encouragement. I was feeling really good about it, but I think I just got a little over excited about it and I need to take a step back. After my first post, she has gone in and sat on the potty twice (with her pull up on) and peed. I did leave her alone both times. I didn't go in there just to see what would happen. I think she's just nervous about going without a diaper on or I'm making her nervous when I'm in there with her. Her doing that, though, makes me know that she knows what to do, she's just not comfortable doing it without that "diaper feeling" yet. It was funny, though. I knew she went because when she stood back up, she clapped for herself. How cute!
We're on our way, it just might take a while.

 

[tam626]

Keep at it, she'll get it!

 

[tassma]

I would echo skipping the Pull Ups. We did naked/underwear for a long weekend and it worked great. On the next child, we started with Pull Ups and it took much longer for her to figure it out.

Good luck

 

[candielips]

Any advice for those of us with really young ones. My DD is barely 16 mths & is showing interest in the potty. Last night she walked over to it, pointed, and when I asked if she had to go pee pee, she pointed to it again. When I put her on it, she went pee pee. And then this morning the same thing.
My DD is my 1st and only & I have no idea here. Should I just keep letting her decide or should I try putting her on it every couple of hrs?

 

[K and K's Mommy]

I would also skip the pull-ups. My third absolutely refused to be naked so he always had something on. But, once I took away the diapers, he was trained in two days. (He was three though so I think that may be why it went quick.)

Good luck!

 

[EthansMom]

I agree with getting rid of pull-ups, if only while at home. Once I put DS and DD in traditional training underwear and plastic pants, potty training went much smoother and quicker. (I bought them at Walmart.)

 

[puffkin]

We also did the naked method. He just ran over when he had to go and sat on his potty. We used 1 M&M as a reward.

He was trained liked this in about 1 day and was fine for months with no accidents. Gradually we worked in underwear. If we were at home/daycare he did fine with the underwear, but not out. Then one day (coincidentally the day we left for Disney) he connected the dots and decided he was only going in the potty. We used a pull up the entire trip (just for the back up in case we couldn't get to a bathroom in time) and he didn't have a single accident and has been trained since. We use underwear at home/daycare and either pull ups or underwear when we are out. We have been very fortunate that he has no confusion with the pullups vs. underwear and we can use them for that backup (which is what they were intended for in the first place).

ETA: He was "naked" trained at 2 years 2 month and fully trained at 2 year 6 month.