Advice on Potty Training Twins

You may have to buy that potty chair....They really aren't so bad as long as they are kept clean.

Good luck to you. I have twins as well. When they were potty training it was a fight over who got what potty chair. I have always hated the potty chairs and preferred the chair that went on the toliet, and eventually went to that. But in the beginning we ended up buying 2 of the same potty chairs. Our boys potty trained very quickly (lucky for us)and it did seem like a waste of money for the potty chairs but I didn't know what else to do. I hope that this goes as smoothly for you as it was for us. I do have to say though that I did not rush the boys at all when we potty trained. I introduced it to them a few times before they really got interested in it. They had just turned 3 before I could say that they were completely pottying on their own. Never have they had any accidents at night but many once. And also they had very few accidents in the day when they got started and I think that had to do with not remembering they had to get into the bathroom. I didn't have to say to them all day "Did you go potty, it's time to go potty" but only for the first few days. I DID NOT want to be trained I wanted my children to be ready and THEM be trained. So, I truly hope that your transition will go as smooth as it did for me. ALSO it is nice when they are out of the diapers, you will be soon too.
Good Luck and you will know when your twins are truly ready.

J.,

My situation is different than yours, but this is the problem I've run into with my boys. My son is 3 1/2 and totally potty trained, his brother has been working on potty training since about 18-19 months (he'll be two in Dec.). We OFTEN run into the problem of needing more than one potty at at time. My older son can do everything himself, so he goes in first and then by the time he's done, his brother can't hold it any more. So, I've been trying to use the little potty chair more with my second son. I never used it much with my first, but they literally fight over the toilet, and having a second option helps.

Good luck to you.
Jessica

SAHM to Charlie (3 1/2) Joey (nearly 2) and Baby girl due yesterday.

Hi J.,
Good for you. We used a potty book called "The Potty Trainer" which is downloaded off the internet. Lots of great information and an easy read.

I would get a little potty to go in the bathroom so you have 2 potties if needed. Also, if they will go on one, better there than not on the potty at all. It is easy enough to transition it out later.

Good luck with it,
K.

I would suck it up and get a potty seat maybe even two. I have boy/girl twins who are now 6 and I had two potty seats (the kind you sit have to empty when they go in them) and put them on them at the same time (while in the bathroom if possible). I used to have them just kind of hang out on there for a while, read them a story, play a game and then when one of them tinkled we made a huge happy deal out of it. Pretty soon the other twin wanted all that attention and they'd tinkle too. Good luck!

HI J.,
I am potty training my twin girls now as well. We have one bathroom downstairs and a 2nd upstairs. We just use the one downstairs, on the big toilet. They started potty training probably around 18mo showing interest and sitting there. neither of them liked the trianing chair - always wanted to be on the big potty. We do it as a team, all 3 of us go into the bathroom, one at a time and switch who goes first. I haven't run into the problem of both needing to go at the same time. They would always 'hold' it and cheer for the other one. They lapsed a little when we had to send them to daycare, so we are 'retraining' with daycare to get standard 'potty' time. But we were okay with just the toilet. The girls would refuse to use the training chair and rather cheer the other on till it was their turn. If they didn't go, we would try later as a team... always made it fun or at least interesting!

Hi J.! I have twins, also. Identical girls to be exact! They were interested in potty training early, also, but didn't really do the full potty training until they were 3. One would advance while the other wouldn't which made the advancing twin want to stay behind with the other twin. It's quite an accomplishment getting twins, or multiples, potty trained. Nobody understands that better than parents of multiples!! I put little surprises in the Easter Eggs that come apart. Each time they went on the potty they got to pick an Egg out of the Basket. My girls love jewelry so the Mardi Gras Necklaces from the Dollar Stores and anything else I could find at the Dollar Store worked really well! Mini packets of M&M's worked awesome! I hope I gave you some ideas!! Good Luck and keep us updated on the twins' potty training progress!

K. C

I would probably suck it up and get a little potty so you have two on hand, just in case. You could even turn that into a game... 'who gets to use the big potty this time? Hmm, lets go see' and get them into the bathroom.

You are doing the right thing, by choosing to potty learn early. My boys were both out of diapers by age 2 and it was stress free as they were both in the 'ok mom said it lets do it' stage, which will end soon, around age 2. And there will be accidents regardless if you train at 1 or 4. But at age 19mos, the ystill have some of those bladder muscles in control, they will learn quickly.

I potty trained my twin boys at separate times. First of all, one was much more willing to do it, and two, it was just TOO much to be right on top of two kids and tying to get them to the potty. I thought one watching the other go potty would seal the deal, but no luck. One of my boys was months behind the other one before he was trained. Mine were almost 3 when we really started. But they showed no signs or interest in the potty before that. My beleif is that kids will do it when they are ready (no matter how much we train ourselves or try to push it). I pushed and pushed with my daughter and she pushed right back. When it was her idea and she could do the process herself, she did it! (age 2.5) I wish you luck with trying to train 19 mon. olds, but I'm sure you realize that they are really young! I know it can be done, my niece/nephew were both trained at 18 months by their daycare provider. More power to you and I wish you luck!

19 months is very, very young to potty train. You can try it, but be prepared to back off and let it go if it doesn't work out. Both my kids had some successes on the potty before age 2, but neither were fully potty trained to go to the bathroom on their own before age 3. If you want to potty train very young, you need to know that your actually training yourself to take them at very regular intervals. If you're ok with that, then give it a go. Good luck!

Hi, J.. I'm a day care provider also and haven't tried potty training twins, though I've been through training more than one child at once. And the first thing I would say is embrace it! When more than one is training, it's more work (more trips to the bathroom, and some days I feel like I never leave the room), but it offers them both motivation to keep up with the other and have someone else to identify with. We have a small bathroom and though we bought a potty seat initially, I didn't like the way it seemed to hurt my son's bottom (he would stand up and have a ring around his bottom from the pressure of the seat) and it was a lot to have in the bathroom. So now we have a small stool and a soft seat that goes on top of the toilet, and that's worked out for us.

With needing a second toilet, we've been through that problem too. And really anticipating needs seems to be the answer. Early in training, try setting the timer to remember to go try, both at once. Then you have fewer emergency trips. And whenever one goes, encourage the other to try too, which ups their enthusiasm for doing it together as well as making it less likely that you'll have an emergency later. I also highly recommend "Toilet Training Without Tears," which advocates a number of training tools, but the one I find most useful is an "elimination chart." Write down (for each child) the times they go to the bathroom, what--if anything--happens, and any wet or dirty diapers with times. It helps you to see patterns in their elimination so you can anticipate needed trips, and you can see as the weeks go by that there has been progress, even when it feels like there isn't. When I was working with my oldest, I made several versions of this chart to carry us through the process, so PM me if you'd like me to email them to you; I'd be happy to.

Good luck!

I will be excited for an update from you. I have 20 month old twins (b/g) who are not ready to be potty trained yet and do not show signs of understanding potty training. When you posted, I got a bit panicked that I was behind the 8 ball or my kids were, but after talking with other moms, feel comfortable that my kids don't grasp it yet and will wait for signs. Please update if you can for us other twin mommies out there.