Any Advice on Potty Training a 2 1/2 Yr Old Girl?

Hi, my name is T. W. We have a almost 3year old girl. We started potty training her also at 2 1/2. What we did is bought her a potty chair and let her sit on it 1st with her clothes on and then probably after a week we took her clothes off. It was a pain, she had a few accidents on the carpet but I would say about after a week she got the hang of it and starting peeing on the potty. She's still not fully potty trained yet...we're still working on it...but now we have her in pull-ups and regular underwear....Good luck.

some 2 1/2 year olds are not ready. Wed tried with my daughter at 2 1/2 and she really was not interested. She would sit for a minute and lose interest. We tried reading books on the potty to try to prolong it long enough for her to have to go. Bottom line was she just was not ready. On her 3 birthday, literally, she decided she was ready and was potty trained in a week. As frustrating as it may be, she just may not be ready. I would try reading on the potty first though, to see if that might be able to prolong her attention, or is she has a favorite toy like a magnadoodle or something.
M.

Hi M.,

I'm potty-training my 2 1/2 year old, and she seems to have gotten the concept in about a week! We're using a kid's potty seat though. Maybe it seems more special in a way? Also giving treats (fruit snacks for peeing, chocolate for pooping, stickers before bedtime or if she prefers them any other time.) I let her run around the house naked or in "big girl" pants most of the time we're at home. Only had one accident. I bring her in with me when I go to the bathroom. Lots of oohs and ahhs when she does her thing. Lots of talk about wearing big girl pants, and how we don't pee or poop in them, right? She's still in a diaper overnight, but it's often dry. I have used pullups a few times when I knew we were going to be out and away from a convenient toilet for a while (once for a long car trip), but I tried to make her believe they were big girl pants, and reminded her not to pee/poop in them. When she did (inevitable) I didn't scold, just acted disappointed and reminded her that she could tell me: "Mommy, I have to pee" etc. I also ask her if she has to p/p about once an hour at least.

Good luck!! And remember, most adults know how to use the toilet!! It will happen!'

S., mom to Loretta

I had a hard time potty training my daughter. I put a piece of colored cardboard on the bathroom wall, put my daughter's name on it. Every time she went potty she got to pick out a sticker and put it on her special chart. It did not look like anything special to adults, but she was excited that her sticker board was growing.

Hi,
Here's what worked for us. We would put Alexis on the potty 10-12 minutes after each meal and then again 1 hour from that time. It worked everytime! I even did this for my friend's daughter when she would visit. It worked then too! Even at 2 1/2 and sleeping in pull ups, we eliminated liquids after 8pm. It kept her dry at night but in the morning and just before bedtime, she always had to go. The only thing that took the longest was getting her used to taking a poop. For some reason, she was always afraid. For that, we watched for her "poopy face" and rushed into the bathroom before she could do it in her panties or pull up. Whenever she'd stiffen her legs and try to hold it in, we'd push her knees into her chest so it could come out. She hated this but it worked! Good luck!

Maybe she is not ready. We also have an almost 2 1/2 year old and she was initiating the potty at one time and going successfully. She had a painful poop one time and has refused to go since. We are not pushing her. I think come this fall when it is nice enough to go out side for the day. I will put on real underwear and let the accidents happen. Don't push it! It will only stress you and her out! As my doctor said to me, you never saw a 5 year old attend kindergarten in a diaper. Relax and make it fun! Maybe a chart that she can put a sticker on everytime she goes?
K.

I'm still working on potty training my 2 1/2 year old girl too, but I do have a possible tip for getting the ball rolling... My daughter was very reluctant to produce anything and it got to be extremely frustrating to just have her sit there day after day. Finally I found a tip on a website that said trying the following: Give her a bowl of lukewarm water with a spoon and maybe some trinkets to play with while she sits on the potty. All toddlers love playing with water and apparently the concept is similar to dipping the drunk who has passed out on the couch's hand in lukewarm water to make him wet himself. That's what got the ball rolling for us, so maybe it'll work for you too. Once she did finally pee, we made a big deal out of it (called grandma, friends, etc. and let her tell them all about it) and came up with a special potty song that we sing when she goes now. Best of luck!

Hi M.,
I have just completed potty training with my daughter and she will be 3 end of Sept. I had the same issue and we started giving her books when she sat on the toilet, which resulted in her sitting there longer. Once she relaxed and sat long enough she would just pee and then of course we would get very excited and make a big deal about it. We started in April and I'm happy to say that for a month now she has not had an "accident". Also in the beginning she would get a very small treat each time she went. We would put a Hersheys bar in the cabinet and we explained that she only got it if she actually finished her business and not just sat there. It worked like a charm. We also used the big potty with the removable training seat like you have.
I hope this helps, it's a very trying time.
P.

Hi M.,

It takes time. I tried training my now 3.5 year old when she was 2.5 and it didn't go so well. We started out on a child's potty which she took to only after few months and then we bought her the removeable potty for the adult toilet. Then someone mentioned to me to wait until she was 3! Voila! -she started using it. I know it doesn't sound like a long time, but I wouldn't push the issue right now--6 months is a long time in her development and I'm sure she'll get used to the idea. Best thing is to keep a child's potty in the bathroom with you and when you go to bathroom have her sit on her potty. She'll get used to it, trust me - they all do! Once she is comfortable with that - then start with the removeable ones with her favorite character on it (we have a Dora one). Don't worry!

I had a very stubborn son who was not potty trained until he was almost 4 1/2 we tried everything! He was convinced "it" was broken and didn't work. LOL He would stay on the toilet, but for some reason would never go on it. He would sit on the toilet for a good 5-10 mins & then get off and go on the floor. One day he went on the toilet and has had very few accidents since. Here are some of the tricks I tried. I read books to him. Let him pick out special books that he could only read/look at in the bathroom. I even let him sit on our toilet and let him watch a movie. (I figured it would be a good way to distract him and maybe it would happen)

Don't worry, you'll find what works. You might have to try many things. Don't stress about it. If you get stressed she will too. Good Luck!

I would say to keep using the removable seat on the big toliet. I used that for my daughter and then she started to go with out it b/c she wanted to be a 'big girl'. When I first started, I kept her in pull ups and bribed her with one piece of candy or a quarter, only if she went to the bathroom. Then once she started to go all the time, I put underwear on her with a pullup over. That's when I started to only give her a piece a candy or money at the end of the day if she had no accidents. She finally went to just undies during the day but both at night. I stopped giving her a reward for the day time and just focused on night time. She now gets either chacolate/strawberry milk or one piece of candy in the morning if she is dry every other day. Some people may think that it's too much sugar for morning, but it does work. Maybe just something your daughter really likes she can have as a reward. Now my daughter is 3 1/2 and she is fully potty trained day and night. She even gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Yes, it's hard and can be frusterating, just make sure you always have extra clothes and undies whereever you go and make sure you praise her when she does go to the bathroom. I'm not sure if you're daughter is in daycare or not, but I know it helps when kids see that other kids are going to the bathroom by themselves and wearing undies. Good luck and just be patient. It will come when she won't want you to help her go potty and then you'll wish she was a little girl again. At least that's how I feel. :)

When we brought home a child's potty seat, my 1 year old sat on it immediately - and normal sibling jealousy took over! My 2 year old daughter quickly got upset that it was HER potty seat. We quickly set up a sticker chart with small ones for wearing her underwear and sitting on the potty and big stickers for actual success. The full chart meant a trip to a restaurant and toy store. She was trained in one weekend at that point (though we had been off/on for a few months prior).

There was no additional training for the big potty - she quickly made the switch during some days until she finally no longer wanted to use the little one.

We also never used pull-ups - sends a confusing message in my opinion, though I am certain many have had success with it. GOod Luck!

Potty training is tough and frustrating. My daughter is now 3 and I started Potty Training at 2, stopped and started again at 2.5. My advise. Get rid of the pull ups. Use underwear and plastic pants or the heavier cotton training pants. (You can use pull ups at nap and night until she gets better control). I used a potty chair (and she transitioned her self to the big potty, there was no retraining). She was more comfortable on her little potty, she could get on and off by herself and she could tell when she peed and she needed her feet on the ground to help her poo (at first). Plus, the only time she could flush the big potty is when she had something to put in it from the little potty.

Praise praise praise. Make a huge deal over it when she goes. We put stickers right on the little potty so she could see her progress and she liked to put them on there. She is going to have a lot of accidents, so don't get mad or yell or punish. It is not a big deal and let her know that accidents happen and we will try to get to the potty quicker next time.

Also, you should take her every hour or two. Even if she just sits down for 2 seconds and gets back up. Try it for one solid weekend. If she doesn't get it, maybe give her a break (leave the potty out for her to see and sit on if she feels like it) and come back to potty training again in a month or so.

Good Luck

You're doing great! Just getting them to sit on the potty can be difficult sometimes. I found that if I read my daughter a story while she was on the potty that it would help her to sit there longer. I have a younger son, too, so I would bring a chair into the bathroom and the three of us would read together. But my biggest piece of advice is from a friend of mine. She waited until her son was older, and her process went like this, "Sam, you're a big boy now. From now on you'll wear these underwear, and when you have to go to the bathroom, you need to use the potty.' His response? "OK." And never an accident. Of course you have to be willing to wait for that one!! I still find myself training my son even though I know he's not ready for underwear yet. But he still pees on the potty and feels good about that. I'm with you on the big potty issue. I used a small potty with my daughter, and then we just had to make a switch to a big potty later. Plus you don't have to clean out the big potty! So now we're just using the big potty for all the training for my son. He has a little seat to put on top, which helps a lot, but it's much easier for me, and he doesn't know the difference. Good luck to you! I hope this helps.

Hi M.,

I did not use the big toilet for training. I started out w/that for my son when he was 2 but found for both of my children they preferred the seperate kids potty. Mainly, because of the size & comfort (they could get on & off on their own & sit comfortably). I also found that "monkey see; monkey do" works very well. Currently, my 2yr old daughter uses both the kid pottys (1 in the kitchen), as well as the big toilets. When we are out & about they have no choice but the big ones...so you will not be training a 2nd time.

My daughter is potty trained for pee but we are still working on poopies.

Good luck with the potty training.
C.

We found it very effective to have a couple of those little potties that we could move around to where our daughter was playing so that she always had a visual reminder. We also let her be naked a lot of the time so there wasn't any interference. Once she got the hang of it (a few days) then we started adding clothing and then we began moving the potty into the bathroom. And of course stickers, etc don't hurt.

My daughter kept wanting to jump up off the toilet as well, after "trying" for about 5 sec. I found giving her books kept her on long enough to actually produce something and then after that she was just excited to sit and really try to do something everytime she sat on it. She still asks for books sometimes, but I'm ok with that.

At first she was on a little potty (she didn't like it so we've since transitioned to the seat on the big one) and I'd have to try to go at the same time she did. That did get her going, though. If you haven't tried it, perhaps show your daughter that mommy has to go potty and now it's her turn. And mommy doesn't flush until there is something in the potty.

My daughter also finds the toilet paper very interesting and if she can get her hands on it, she likes to rip off each sheet and put it in the toilet instead of trying to go. That's just a heads up for other distractors...