A Week to Potty Train- HELP!

Give her lots and lots to drink, don't use pull ups, she needs to "feel" when it comes out of her body, use the 4 ply underpants found at sears and wall mart. Have her be responsible to "help" clean up any accidents, put clothes in washer etc. Let her know how much easier it is to flush than it is to clean up the mess. Stick to it, don't go back to pull ups cuz you are going to aunt mary's house with the white furnature. Don't ask her to "Hold it" cuz she will literally try to hold it with her hands. Ask her if she can keep the potty in her body for a few minutes. Sit with her and listen for it to come out. I like the potty seats that sit on the real potty ,it is such a thrill to flush.

I have a day care in my home for 28 years and this is the best advice I can give,
M. in Wisconsin

Hi M.:

Well, first of all, I wish you lots of luck :) It is possible that this may work, but hopefully it won't be too stressful along the way.

My only initial suggestion is to have her run around naked from the waist down and she can wear the new undies when she has reached some kind of goal (whatever you think is appropriate). My now 12 yr old daughter was a "tough trainer" and no undies was the only thing that worked for her. I really had to "push" to get her trained in a time frame as well, as we were going on vacation for a week just after she had turned 3 and I did NOT want to bring diapers (other than at night) with. It did work for us and she was dry the whole trip. The one thing that you may find is that she stays dry at daycare but not at home :) The only other suggestion I have is maybe not doing small treats as a reward. It encourages too many trips to the potty where nothing or very little happens just to get the treat, and I doubt daycare is going to do treats when she goes. I would do some overall goals that involve being dry rather than using the toilet like "dry until dinner, special movie after dinner." If you set it up that way, you can still use some kind of reward system even after she starts the daycare.

Good luck!

I didn't have time to read all of these so excuse me if I am repeating someone else. What worked for my daughter was to warn her the day before that tomorrow, we were going to use the potty chair all day long. In the morning, we changed into undies (that she chose) right way. I used a timer all day, starting with 10 minutes apart. EACH time the timer went off and she sat on the potty she got a mini gummy bear (later it was an m & m). When I finally "caught" her in the chair, she got two bears. I made a big deal out of it and she was so excited. I increased the time after this to about 20 minutes, then 30 minutes. She really caught on and had fun. I would say that within a few days we were pretty much accident free. We had an occasional accident after that, usually when she was overly tired, but for the most part she was happy to go in the bathroom.

My advise is to not get stressed if there is an accident. I made that mistake a couple of times and looking back, I can see that it upset her and possibly set us back a little. Also, don't make her sit there for a long time. That would get really frustrating for my daughter.

We had a good experience and a willing daughter so if you have any questions, pleae feel free to contact me.

All kids are different. My one daughter had potty-training figured out slightly before she was 3, and the other occasionally wet her bed at night until she was 5. I'm not sure if putting her on a schedule like that is the best solution for the long-term. You may be setting yourself up for a major disappointment. I also think that people who will not babysit a young 3 year-old unless the child is potty trained need some training themselves.

The most important thing you can do to help her potty train is to make sure you have a training potty for her in each bathroom of the home, and one by her bed. Make sure you have a little spray bottle of vinegar by each potty, so she can see you spraying it out...she'll eventually do it herself.

We hear it all the time, but consistancy, consistancy, consistancy! :) You're doing what we did with my children for the first few days. It will get annoying for both you and the child to have to go back to the bathroom every 30 min or so. Have LOTS of patience. It is best to either put them in underwear or just leave them naked from the waist down. We just did this with our son (turning 3 in April) and he pretty much had the idea in about a week. We still have some accidents, but I'd rather have that than changing diapers all the time! As far as a reward, for my son it was getting an m&m only when he'd actually pee or poop. That's also the only time he got to flush the toilet. The first time he went, I got super excited, jumped around, and even woke my husband up to tell him. I also got my older children involved in making it exciting. You'll have to experiment around with different ideas to see what works for you child. Something that only worked with my son was encouraging him to go so he could share an m&m with his sisters or whoever else was at the house. Good luck! :)

Before you start, check out the Dr. Phil One Day method. It's close to what you're planning to do. Sounds corny...Dr. Phil and all. But this is what I did and it worked like a charm.

There is a video of the show and how one mom did it on www.youtube.com as well. Check out the second link for the clip.

http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/264
http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/71/

I think it sounds like a pretty good idea! I have no advice... I just wanted to let you know I for sure think you are on the right track! Good Luck. You should deffinatly post after the week is over and tell us how it worked! :)

I did not use that approach; my oldest had ZERO interest in potty training until about a month after she turned 3, and we had tried MANY reward system approaches, all to no avail. (She would sit on the potty simply b/c she wanted an M&M). One night we offerred an ice cream cone from A&W and that was apparently the magic answer. She tried several times, and finally got 3 seconds worth of pee out in the potty and we headed off to A&W (didn't care that it was past bedtime!) Once she decided, she trained VERY quickly with only a handful of accidents and it was done! Good Luck!

I opted to send my son to his step sister for potty training- she had already trained her 2 boys- and stayed home and could work with my son- whereas I was working all day and didn't have enough time with him. She used reeces pieces for training. 1 for peeing and 5 for pooping in the potty. I don't remember how old my son was though. "they" say you can't make a child do it- but we can always try.
But is certainly time to eliminate the diaper- I still use pullups at night most times.

I didn't read all the responses, but I have a friend who strongly believes in "potty training boot camp" :) She's done it for all her kids once they hit 2 years old.

1) Take a Friday off
2) From the time your daughter wakes up, no diaper - no pants. Nothing. You explain what's going on and that she needs to tell you when she has to go potty.
3) Make sure you're ready to clean! :)
4) No pull-ups, no diapers, nothing all weekend (except overnight)

She says the longest its ever taken her is 3 days. :) Once her kids get that the poo or pee will run down their legs, etc, they hate the feeling. We haven't tried it yet, but there is a book about this method in the bookstores and on Amazon.

Hope you find something that works!!

Take a few days off of work or on the weekend and don't leave the house. Let her run around naked but have a potty chair readily available bring the chair with you to the family room or to the bedroom wherever you are the chair comes with.You may have to clean up a few accidents but it should work.

every 20 minutes is typically the "rule".

you HAVE to catch her when shes hiding, and tell her that she needs to hide on the potty. put here there. chances are this will interrupt her and she wont finish, but at least you will start giving her the idea of where to hide. maybe she can teach a doll how to go ? will that help ?

I have become a fan of most parts of the "3 day potty training method" now (as a daycare provider)....I have seen it in action for an otherwise completely uninterested, had NEVER gone potty for me, 27 months old at the time little boy.

Basically its potty training boot camp. The first part is sort of ceremonial..for BOTH of you...tossing out every single diaper and pull up, etc you have..from the car, the diaper bag, everywhere, so you do not fall back on them. It requires complete and total dedication for the 3 days (some might take a few days more or you may finish in 2 days).....but plan for the 3 days...have groceries in stock, no errands or visiting or chores or anything planned to leave the house..NOTHING but total dedication to your child so you can literally be 2 feet from them at all times including overnight.

Potty chairs belong in the bathroom...in the real world you can not go potty in someones living room, so why teach them they can? Also, never say "Its OK" to have an accident...figure out other wording that is not blame and shame, but still conveys accidents are not ok..something about how we don't want to have accidents and pee and poop go in the toilet, not our pants...so you are not OK'ing the accident , just explaining what they SHOULD be doing instead of NOT doing. And always say poop is ishy...not in a cutesy way either..but in a matter of fact way. Because it is, and that sort of ishy stuff belongs in the toilet. Its not silly or a funny game that poop is ishy...its poop and it goes in the toilet...plain and simple.

Also, I will never again be the trained person....I never thought I was..but now I see I was a half-and-halfer....I did watch the clock and make a child sit on the potty even if they said no they didn't have to go....I will no longer do that as I refuse to be the trained one! This method encourages and teaches you the approach that puts the control (which is where alot of training problems and regression comes from) into the child's hands..but you as the caregivers have to be hyper-vigilant and observant of their cues and clues and learn them to catch them before they have the accident..instead of making them go on a clockwork time frame, you are always saying (not asking) "remember to tell me when you need to go potty" and similar statements...then THEY learn to tell you....

After seeing first hand the success of this, I am a believer now. I hate pull ups, always have.....and this works but it is HARD....you have to be committed to it..

That is how I potty trained my children. Except they did not wear the underwear until they didn't have a accident for a whole day. also push the fluides. good Luck hang in there I is well worth it in the end.

M.,

Pick up "Toilet Training in less than a Day" through Amazon.com, eBay, Barnes and Noble, or the local library. A week of staying home should be enough. It worked for all four of my kids, but you have to use it like a recipe and follow instructions exactly. You can't pick and choose ideas and expect results.

Good luck,
S.

Unfortunately my secret is wait until they are ready then it will only take a week. This has been true with my first two children. So far my third (3 1/2 )is just wanting it to be her idea. I have taken time to potty train her 3 differents times and unless it is her idea she doesn't want to do it. I anticipate that she will do it in less than a week when she does decide. Good Luck! I bet she will be ready and having that extra time with mom and being in undies will work! You can do it!

Your pretty much on the right track. Take the time off of work for a few days to focus on potty training a 100% should work providing you stay relaxed and don't get stressed about it or she will pick up on your frustrations. Make it fun for her and the biggest thing is the first time she actually 'tinkles' in the potty, make it really exciting (my husband and I did a 'potty dance' for her immediately - picture two adults dancing, singing and clapping...) than we said she could have an ice-cream cone too because she LOVED ice cream cones. This pretty much sealed the deal and that's all it took. One time on the potty and she was completely trained. She did ask for another ice-cream cone when she went on the potty two hours later, and we gave her another ice-cream cone as we wanted to keep it exciting for the first few days. However, the next day, I bought whip cream (which has way less sugar) to fill the ice cream cones knowing she'd ask for one each time she went potty. We kept it up for about a week and than she didn't need a whip-cream cone each time and would just go on her own.
Find something your daughter absolutely loves but doesn't get on a regular basis and use it as positive reinforcement. It should help :)

A friend of mine potty trained her 33 month boy so he could go to a better daycare in one day. She did exactly what you're planning to, and planned to spend the day with her son, working with him to get to the bathroom. I'm pretty sure he had at least a few readiness signs, but your daughter probably does too--so it can be done. Good luck!