Any potty training advice... for DD...not the chickens...lol

[menkot]

Susan does exactly what I do. I have potty trained three so far and they have all been pretty much trained in a week and well before 2 1/2. I potty train them when I am ready lol. When I get tired of diapers then we set a date and start. No more diapers OR pull-ups. Pull-ups are just a glorified diaper.

One more piece of advice.... if you have carpet buy a hand held shampooer. I have a spot bot. No stinky carpets.

That thing has been a life saver.


Oh, and you really train yourself more than them at first. It is all about YOU getting them to the bathroom at any sign and getting them there every few minutes just in case.

I trained my youngest son just a couple of months ago. He is 32 months now but was trained around 28 months. I wanted to train him earlier but we were in the middle of ball season with two others playing. You really need all day every day at home for the first several days. I waited for the season to be over.

 

[barg]

Just remeber, you can potty train a child, no matter what their age, as long as you can pick up their potty cues.

Simply watch them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so that you know when it's time for them to go potty, then run with them, setting them down before they go on your carpet.

Finally, remember that this stage may go on for over a year depending on how young you wish to potty train "Them"

Just to add: I hope that my true meaning is not lost inbetween the lines

 

[yearofthedog]

I never pushed the potty training thing on my two kids(they are 4 and 2 1/2 yrs old) and my son also decided one day that he was going to use the toilet and, sure enough, he has since that day a year ago.

My daughter was a little different...I too used the naked method when she kind of sort of understood the whole potty thing and she pee'd on the floor a few times with that little experiment. Well, I was getting frustrated with that so the last time she just stood there and pee'd I immediately put her on the toilet and told her that she is not to pee on the floor(or anywhere else that is inappropriate) and told her that she is not to get up unless she is sure she doesn't need to pee anymore. She knew I was serious and she sat there for some time until she actually pee'd a little in the toilet and from that day forward she has been potty trained.

I don't know if it made any difference, but I never pushed the issue and as much as I wanted them to be potty trained, I never told myself that it should happen at any one point. I figured they would just do it when they were ready. That's what my mom did when my brother and I were kids and it just seemed the way to go with me.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Hey all, I've read every post and I want to thank everyone for their advice.

I like the idea of the reward chart and a schedule. I will have to draw up a chart since my printer has been on the fritz since this spring...I'm sure I probably could have gotten a new one, but I wanted Silkies instead.

I think the biggest hurdle will be that she spends one day a week over night at her Grammie and Papa's (grandpa, she started calling him Papa for some reason and it just stuck). They have a kiddie potty at their house, which she loves having her own potty and it shouldn't be too hard to convince my MIL to do a schedule and reward system as well...she's always been a great help with DD.

I will keep you all updated. I think we start Friday since tomorrow she goes to my MIL and I want to figure out my approach before passing it on the my MIL.


Again, thanks all! If anyone else has anything to add...I'm open to ideas as well.

 

[PeiTheCelt]

With pee we won through outright bribery. Every time she peed in the potty she got a sticker to put on her "big girl board."

It was that simple, and it worked really well.

Poop... uhmm.. It's been about 8 months (she is about 3 1/2) and she's only now starting to MAYBE shows some signs of the poop thing working out... Maybe.. And like yours, she is really smart, beats the milestones etc.. And in her case she is capable of the muscle control (since she's on a number of occasions sat on the potty for 20+ minutes, then as soon as she was back in a diaper pooped, she had held it the whole time).

NO bribery worked, no stickers, we tried chocolate, cute diapers, her own dora watch, you name it.

Tonight she FINALLY pooped after telling her Daddy she needed to right before her bath. Not sure if it is a sign or just a fluke, but.. So I'm going to go read now and see if there are any good poop recommendations in other peoples commments.

 

[mamaboyd]

Each of my kids potty trained at different ages. My oldest daughter was 3 when she was finally trained, she was at my mom's house while I was in the hospital having my son. In 3 days my mom had her completely potty trained, and I had been spending months before hand with no luck. My oldest son wasn't trained until he was a few days short of turning 4, but I think it because we spent so much time time in the hospital with his younger brother during his bone marrow transplant that it threw everything out of whack. My youngest daughter was 3 1/2 when she was trained, but sometimes she still has accidents. The having "pretty underwear" usually works though, she would get really upset when we had to throw out her fav undies. The pull ups do not work and are a waste of money in my opinion. I know the waffle weave material training pants with plastic pants over them like some else mentioned worked not too badly, and that's how my mom trained me so many years ago, when they didn't have disposable diapers or pull ups. The sticker method will work with some but not others, but it's worth a shot. Yes, kids tend to hide when they have to go to the bathroom, look for the signs!! Also, the "I have to pee dance", or crossing the legs are good indications, and grabbing their butts to "keep the poop in" (my son does that!)
Your daughter will get their in time, but they have to be completely ready, some kids learn at a very early age and others are much later. But it's always nice to get out of those diapers!!
Good luck!

 

[4myHennyPenny]

Our DD also reached most milestones very early. And while she would, on occasion, use the potty even before age 2, it took her a lot longer to actually get the hang of it. Luckily, her doctor and articles I read discouraged pushing potty training. They encouraged allowing your child to come to it in their own time. So DD continued to use the potty off an on in phases for over a year. She actually wasn't "fully" potty trained (i.e. accident-free 95% of time) until she was past age 3; in fact, might have been close to 40 months.

IMO, try it with your child every once in a while (for a week or longer at a time). If they show no interest or are having lots of accidents despite your best efforts, let go of it for a while for both your sanity and theirs. Try it again in another month or so.

And when they are finally ready, that little bit of congratulations goes a long way: DD got to choose who she would like to call and tell when she used the potty for the first time, both #1 and #2. This was a fantastic pat on the back for her. Of course, she loved getting to wear big girl underwear, too.

As with everything else with kids (let's face it, adults, too), there will be set backs. So just anticipate them and don't be discouraged or upset with them when they miss several times after being so consistent for a while. It's normal, and who wants to be punished for being that? Can't imagine what that would make life for the rest of us.

 

[EweSheep]

I have a three year old daughter who has been pee trained but not poop trained. Those pull ups are a mistake because it does not teach her anything so yes, its a money making things for the diaper companies.

I bought her some underwears and boy, do I go thru alot of them when she pooped. Once in a great while she would poop in the toliet on her own and boy, did we do the dance of joy and gets a treat. Other times, she wants to take a shower, she ends up pooping in the shower...UGH! It has been more often happening that way and now I gotta put a stop to it due to the water restrictions going on in our city. I ended up cleaning up after her and sterilizing the tub often....wondered if I would to tell her she has to clean up her own mess would make her stop?So getting the idea of cleaning up your own poop is getting tiring and she would eventually give up pooping.....I know warm water relaxes her.

So how much longer would she finally decided to poop in the toliet for good?

 

[ruth]

Quote:
I agree with all of the above and the exact same steps worked for me. My three were a year and half apart. My two oldest, girls, were potty trained at 18 months using method above. It took maybe a month or more of those regular visits to the potty before they caught on totally. When it was time for my son, my mother-in-law told me it would be easier if I waited till he was 2. I did and it was. I only had to take him to the potty one time - on his birthday - and he peed and pooped and told me from that point forward when he had to go. Of course he had the benefit of watching his sisters learn so that probably had a lot to do with it.

But Susan is right - don't ask - tell. Honey, let's go to the potty. I trained my dog the same way when he was a puppy - just took him outside every few minutes and put him down and waited. If he went, I could wait a little longer before going back - if he didn't out we went a few minutes later.

Like she said it's consistency and it takes a lot of work on the parents part. But if mine could be totally potty trained at 20 and 24 months anyone's can. If you don't believe me ask anyone from a generation back. They all think this new age stuff about let the child train themselves is just plain crazy. Children a generation back were potty trained by 2 - and it wasn't an option - just like good behavior (don't get me started on that one.)

Good luck - hang in there - you'll be making lots of trips to the potty and spending lots of time in there. When they do go, yell, shout and do the happy dance - they get a kick out of that. It was the only "treat" mine got.

 

[arlee453]

I have to say much of what I learned about raising kids, I figured out when I was doing a lot of raising dogs.

LOTS of dog training techniques work well with kids - from rewarding good behavior, using cues to help them know when they are doing well (ie, clicker, or catch them doing something good...) as well as lots of love and consistency. Frankly, puppies and kids aren't all that much different - we use the phrase from the old ads ' Love, Love and Puppy Chow' to describe our parenting style. You know, just keep them fed and give them love and limits and they will turn out pretty OK.

I know it's not 100%, but I always say you can tell a lot about what type of parents people will make by the way they treat and train their animals, especially dogs.

People who spoil their dogs and let them be the 'alphas' in the home often have kids who are the exact same way and then they don't understand why their kids and dogs are out of control. The 'dog whisperer' show kills me - all those people who let their 5 lb dog rule the house. I just don't get it! Then they are always amazed when Cesar comes in and just sets clear limits for the dog and the change it makes. DUH...

Just my observation....