Ideas or Suggestions Needed for Potty Training

I gave my daughter stickers after showing her how to do it. Little kids have to be "ready". They have to decide to go themselves. Just keep trying and she will eventually get it.

When I was potty training my daughter years ago, I used bribery. I know a lot of experts and mom's would disagree, but it worked. She loved M&Ms, so I put some in a tupperware container (one that I knew she couldn't open on her own) and set it on the back of the toilet. She got a couple of M&Ms every time she went pee or poop. Before long she caught on so well that she would go a little, get her reward then go back a few minutes later so she could get another reward. She was potty trained in no time! Good luck.

2 is a really good age to start. We actually started with my daughter at the age of 1 1/2. All we did was introduce her to it, and up until she was 2, we went full throttle. By 2 1/2 she was completly potty trained. Really impressed me.. But it's really not when she is ready, it's when you are ready. We did a reward chart, which she was not interested in. Finally the thing that worked for us, was a treat everytime that she would go. Everytime she went pee, she got one treat, and for poop she got 2. I have never been a huge fun of giving candy, so we did the yogurt raisins, and she thought that was the greatest "candy" in the world. Trick is about every 10-15 minutes take her to the potty and sit her on it. It may take a while, but once she does go potty in it, make a BIG deal. Waking up in the morning or nap take her immediatly to sit on the potty. Eventually she will grasp. Also buy the thick cotton panties and the vinyl covers, they don't make a mess. Let her be uncomfotable in them for a while that way she knows that it's gross... I think that is all we did and it sure worked.. Good Luck and it takes alot of Patience and Encourgement......

If your daughter can communicate to you that she pooped or peed in her diaper it is time to start potty training.. This means she knows what she is doing. I potty trained all four of my kids when they started communicating about what they were doing in their diaper. My biggest suggestion is to not use pull ups... They are just diapers that are easy to take off. They feel like diapers and although it is less mess for you it does not give your child the feeling that anything is different. I used underwear that they picked out at the store (the padded colorful ones are the best and you can direct your kids to choose from the variety of those that they have) I then used the plastic underpants that many people use over cloth diapers.. This decreased the mess ratio, but also let my kids know what it felt like to be wet. I did not use a potty chair. I just got the seat adapter to make the toilet opening smaller and got a stool. They will be using the toilet for the rest of their life so they might as well start from the beginning. A schedule is great too. I took my kids to the bathroom every two hours for the first two weeks because then they got the hang of it quicker. If you are not a stay at home mom this might be difficult, but daycares usually follow a two hour schedule for diaper changes so it would be pretty easy to have them take the child to the bathroom at that time too. Hope this is helpful.. I gave this same advice to my friend and she was finally able to potty train her 4 year old son. Nightime is different and if you have to use a pull up at night then go for it so you do not have to wash so many sheets.

Hi E.,

If you're not in a hurry to have your daughter trained, I think it is so much easier to wait until she is ready. You'll know because she will tell you when she goes in her diaper and want to be changed because she doesn't like the wet diaper on her skin.
We went through the exact same thing with my daughter. We bought a potty seat and she went a couple times and wouldn't go back for months! I didn't think she would ever do it! Finally, I started to see signs that she might be ready (she was 2yrs,9mo old) and so we put aside a whole weekend to work on it. We started by letting her run around (mostly outside) without any pants on - just a long dress. Without the diaper to comfort her when she had to go, she would tell us when she needed to go and we would rush her to the potty. The second day, we put on panties and she had some accidents, but she would always tell us and we would go sit on the potty and change the panties. After the morning of the third day, she was completely trained and has only had a couple accidents since (it's been 4 weeks). For our daughter, waiting until we knew she was ready was the most impotant thing.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

A. G.

One of my sons was 2.5 when he potty trained and the other was 3.5. Each child is ready at different times. Consistancy on your part is good when she is ready. Don't ever let her see you frustrated about her potty training either it could cause set backs. Try the book "Once upon a potty" it is helpful. V.

My boys are now 4 and 14 and they were both completely potty trained four months after they turned 2. My girls who are now 7 and 12 were ages 3 and almost 4 by the time they were potty trained. The one thing that I learned is PATIENCE and CONSISTANCY! Just keep introducing it to her even if she only sits for 30 seconds or less. She'll get the hang of it. With my youngest son, I offered a penny every time he went on the potty. For him that was all he needed. :)

We are currently in the same position. My daughter went in the potty for about 3 months. Then decided it wasn't what she wanted to do. We are just starting again, the cotton panties (Target caries them, Wal-mart does not)are working great, and she hates the feel of them being wet, so she is starting to go on her own again. She is currently 2 1/2. This is about the age my 1st daughter started and finished. Good luck, just be persistent. We use the real toilet(with insert), that way I won't have to convince her to use the real one after potty training,clean out the little one after she uses it. I also have a take along potty seat that folds for trips to town. I think I got it at babies r us or target. It sure helps with the germ thing, and she is more comfortable on those scary store toilets.

Elisha,

People have different reasons for wanting to potty train their kids when they do. After potty training my first (a girl), I concluded that it helps tremendously if they want to. There aren't very many things little ones can completely control, but one of them is when and where they go potty. Our oldest wasn't ready quite as early as we were, so we left the potty out to be used when interested, until she showed signs of being easier to encourage. Then, a colorful paper next to the potty, with stickers placed on it when they went, was a big hit. Hope it goes well for you - N.

my kids were all trained by 2....and yes a potty seat is like a toy. Do you use it?

Instead go to the store and buy the foam insert for the regular toilet. Children copy what they see....

Using the toilet is like a new habbit. When you are serious about this, put her in panties and don't look back. When she wakes up, take her potty. Do not ask her, becauise she will say no.

Then when she is in panties, what goes in, must go out!!! monitor her.....Dr Phil's website has great advice.

good luck!!!

T.
www.tesabartell.myarbonne.com

ps is she staying dry at night? or when she naps? That is a good sign if she has bladder control

Hi Elisha,

I am a mother of 2 girls. A 4yr old and a 2yr old. I potty trained both my girls the same way and it went very smooth. I potty trained both right after they turned 2 as well. I got them a potty seat and at first I would take them in there when I would go and ask them if they wanted to go on the potty like mommy. They seemed interested so I went with it. I explained to them that they were big girls now and they had to go on the potty. I would make a big deal and get all exited. I'd clap my hands and sing "Pee-Pee-on-the-potty" and tell them how proud I was of them. I would give them big hugs and kisses like they just did the best thing in the world. You could see the excitement in their own faces when I treated them that way. I also would give them a potty treat. I know some people say not to, but it worked very well for me. I would give them one sweetart or a skittle. I did that for about the first two weeks and pretty soon they forgot about the potty treat and would just go. I would take them every half hour at first until they got the message. Then I would just ask them if they had to go potty every once in a while and they would usually say yes and we would go potty. I was a little confused on what to do with my second one about weather I should put her in a pull up while running my other daughter to school and gymnastics because I was afraid she'd have accidents. So at first I did put her in pull-ups because I wanted to make it easier on me. But she would go in her pull-up. So I got brave and put her in panties when we'd leave the house. I would pack a bag of extra cloths and panties. To my surprise she would tell me, "mommy, pee-pee". So it worked out pretty good. I do put her in a pull-up at night and during naps because she does pee so much. I thought I'd tackle that one when she has better bladder control, maybe around 3yrs old. My other daughter however, never peed the bed. Every child is different. My second child turned two in December. Both girls were potty trained in two weeks. Anyway, I know it's tiring but it's all about consistency so if you stick with it-I'm sure you'll do great. I know other people have made charts and placed stickers on them every time the child went potty and after so many they got a treat. Also, you can try buying a potty book to read to her. I hope that helps! Good Luck!

Mother of 2 girls!

I don't believe that 2 years old is too young.
what we did for our kids two boys and one girl was to make a big deal of it. Show them often how to do it Big person way the praise the heck out of them when they copy you right.
Bill Vann. Our were trained at one year old.

Hi E., i am potty training my 2yr old daughter to. What i am doing is when she gets up the first thing we do is sit on the potty with a book or we ever sing. I don't use pull ups because my daughter thinks that they are diapers so i am use the thick underwear. I would take her ever 10 to 15 mins and know we can go up to 45 min to an 1 hour. And she wears them all day. Yes they are messy but she but she tells me when she pees and sometime she tells my when she has to go pee. #2 we are still working on. I hope this helps . If you need more help you can write back.

both my kids were trained at 2. The trick was not to put them in pull-ups (except for maybe at night if you choose). They both wore the training underwear. At home let them play in just their umderwear (and shirt). It makes it easier for them to hurry when they have to go. Also, it doesn't hurt to have them go sit on the potty every time someone else has to go.

Hi E.,

I have two girls and I had my first daughter potty trained by 18 months!! I bouight the potty chair the whole thing and I set it un in the living room during the day when it was just the 2 of us, and i would ask her every 5 - 10 minutes if she had to go potty. When she did I would let her pik a prize!! I had yougart covered raisins for a prize for her and to make her feel even bigget I would let her get her own handful. I would clap my hands and make a really big deal out of it and she really caught on fast!! She even had the night time potty training down to a science by 2 years old!!! Good luck I hope this helps. C.

I am a 62 yr.old grandmother, but when I potty trained my own children, I would sit the potty chair in front of the TV with cartoons showing, also with a story book to look at, I would do this everyday at the same time; when they finally went, I would clap and cheer for them, I also would give them a surprise. after a few times they looked forward to sitting on the potty chair..they also figured out what a potty chair is for, eventually I would move it to the bathroom and I also would sit on the big toliet along with them and I also cheered for myself when mommy went, they also cheer for me, that made them even try harder to go in their potty chair. You may think this is a lot to do but it worked for me. My daughter was the youngest of the 3 boy, when she would sit on the big potty chair we would all have to clap and cheer for her. We laugh about it to this day. I started them all around a year and a half.

Hello E.!
I found that placing the potty right in front of yours (facing each other)and going at the same time with a book worked for us!!! It will be hard trying to sit her there alone but if you sit with her as in "Monkey see, Monkey do!"
She will respond better. Books are good or any kind of toy that will interest her for a while will also keep her mind off playing with the potty itself. Try it, and Good Luck!!!
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