Potty Training - Madras,OR

When she is 3, get her some special big girls underwear or a new bathing suit that she can get off easily by herself. Buy in May and tell her that she'll get to wear them in June. She'll be SO excited! Have talks about how great it will be when she gets to wear them.

I used the book Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" with both of my children when they were about 2 1/2. The author, Nathan Azrin, is a psychologist who had developed a method for toilet training profoundly mentally handicapped older people. He then adjusted the method for toddlers. The book includes a checklist for determining if your child is ready. It worked great for my children, and really only took about 6 hours!

Children can be ready at any age depending on technique and parenting and culture styles. The typical child raised in disposable or cloth diapers will be ready on average between 18 months and 2-1/2 years. Once they make the mind/body connection between needing to go to the bathroom and what happens in their diaper, they are ready to use the potty. A key note is that children in disposable diapers will on average take 6 months to 18 months longer than cloth diapers to make this connection due to the chemicals in the diapers making them feel super dry and comfortable.

To progress to faster potty training, you should switch your child into padded underwear. I love the ones by Potty Scotty and Potty Patty. http://www.punkinbutt.com/potty-training-c-61249.html They are the creators of the Potty Training in One Day Series shown on Dr. Phil.

The cloth will help create the understanding of what is happening when they go to the bathroom as well as make it uncomfortable and create a desire to be changed or prevent the discomfort right away.

Next, communication really helps. Talk to her and let her know what is happening. Take her to the bathroom frequently and sit her on the potty and even demonstrate peeing for her so she sees it is a natual act and that we all go in the potty. This helps remove any fears or stress related to using the toilet.

They have a great little pink potty and my daughter loved her "pink potty" she wanted to sit in it when she had to go pee. Later on once she was potty trained, she preferred to go in the big potty, but she still likes the pink potty when she has to go poo. She can sit on it longer and is more comfortable and relaxed. When she's done, she comes and gets me and I help clean up the potty and make she is clean too. My daughter is the same age as yours. :)

Make sure the handwashing is part of the fun of going potty, but make sure she knows you need to help her. My daughter went to go potty by herself and wash her hands on her own while I was on the phone. It was quiet for about 3 minutes. When I went to check on her, she had already peed in the toilet and then climbed on the counter and was sitting in the sink with the plug down and water running full force. The sink was overflowing and running all over the floor! I am glad she loves to wash her hands, but it only takes a second for them to become distracted and make a mess! Thank goodness I kept everything in her bathroom unplugged and out of reach!

I am a work at home mom and I have all the potty training supplies here. You are welcome to bring your daughter and let her see them all and try to generate some interest. Ther is also a book and DVD that I highly recommend parents review prior to starting potty training. While many parents do potty train in just a few days, I took many of the elements from the book, but chose a more relaxed approach. Once she made the connection that she preferred to be dry, she was all over the idea and it was easy. it also has a ton of ideas for reward and incentives. My daughter loves praise more than anything, so we just made a big deal out of her going in the potty and she loved that! Others love stickers, so potty charts are lots of fun. Some parents use food or treats, etc.

We could do a play date for the girls and if your daughter sees my daughter using the potty all the time, it may inspire her to want to do the same.

I would be happy to talk anytime if you need assistance!

A.
www.punkinbutt.com
Ph: ###-###-####

N.,

I too have looked at web sites. But the best advice I have gotten is from my mother who was also an elementary school teacher. A child is ready when a child is ready. If you push it before they are physically and emotionally ready to handle it, this could create other problems later on. If your oldest shows an interest in going in the potty then you can try to introduce it to her, but if she doesn't, you will only be pulling your hair out. My three year old appeared to show some signs of control but when we started to "push" it. She rebelled and all other development stopped. When I stopped pushing going in the potty but encouraging her at changing times, she showed more interest and other things began to pick up (saying more words, less acting out). There is no right or wrong time or way to potty train. You just have to have patience and when your girls are ready, they will let you know in there own way.

M. P

Hi N. Sue!

I had 2 in diapers at the same time. Daughter first, then son, 19 months apart.

Daughter began being interested in the potty at about 2. I was interested in her being on the potty when she was probably 18 months (very pregnant and wanting desperately NOT to have 2 in diapers).

The most important thing is not to make it a chore or a big deal. Let her do it. Set the potty out where she can see it. Get her involved with other children who are pottying so she can gain interest. (What are those big kids doing?)

I also highly recommend potty training videos. My daughter trained over the summer, so I put the potty in the living room, in front of the tv. She wore sundresses with no diapers, so when she had to go the potty was right there and no fuss to get out of clothes. Of course, you can only do this at home. I started with pull-ups and went to panties when she was closer to trained.

Dry in the morning and knows when they have pooped, or need to poop, are excellent cues.

Sons are different. My husband had to take over with our son.

Put your 2.5 yr old in underwear and let her wet her pants, she will start to understand what it feels like to get wet and eventually she will realize she doesn't like it. Put her on the potty once an hour and when she finally goes on the potty reward her. You will have a lot of laundry, but it works. i have done it with both of my boys. Good Luck!

Nancysue,

Some of the most common indicators are:

Is interested in the potty
likes to flush
can tell you when they have gone potty in the diaper

There are others, but I can't remember them right now. Jeanie Cole has a good book that my daughter has loved from 6 months to about 18 months when she shredded it called "My Big Girl Potty". It covers all the stages of potty training and has a lot of great tips in the back of the book for successful potty "teaching".

Good luck,
Melissa

Well I have a little boy, he began potty training at 2 1/2 yrs old. It seemed that he was ready when he showed some interested in using the toilet. He watched some potty training videos i.e. Once upon a potty, Elmo's potty training and others from the library. We got him a potty chair around 1 1/2 yr old to introduce the potty chair. I suggest if your daughter shows some interest in the bathroom or asks questions like what you're doing on the toilet and she has interest in putting and taking off her own clothes and can sit still for a while, then she might be ready... But don't rush her. Just remember to introduce potty training little by little and she'll tell you when she's ready... God bless and hope everything works out great for you all.
^-^
PS I also agree with Melissa P.

Hi,
Been a long time since I potty trained a child but, I remember that one of the important things to take note of was whether or not the child had a dry diaper in the morning. If it was dry, then it just automatically makes it a good time to start right at the beginning of a day. My daughter was 17 months when she was completely trained. I decided I didn't want to change two sets of diapers either so when her brother was born at her age of 17mo. 1 wk. she was trained. Oh, it was wonderful. The one thing you have to remember is that your little girl understands everything you say to her. I think if you don't make it too big of a deal you'll have success now. The best of luck. A.

I have a 3 year old that has been potty trained for about 8 months the things we did to make it easier was to have her potty chair in the bed room at first and slowly move it to the bathroom she now uses the adult toilet all on her own

I've been practicing potty whispering with my son since he was 6 weeks old. He was never comfortable with the peeing on himself thing. He would writhe and kick and arch his back and I'd take off his diaper and he'd pee in the sink or in the toilet. At about 4 months he started to refuse to use his diaper at night and would make a big fuss about going in his diaper, so I'd take him at night too. We co-sleep which makes it easier to read his cues. He is 10 months old now and uses 2 paper diapers a day, mainly for poo, because his cues for poo are virtually undetectable. I'm hoping that he will be pretty much be down to 1 diaper a day by 18 months.

The whole point of this story is that the techniques I used are very effective. Some people call it diaper free, others potty whispering, or the ever not lovely phrase, elimination communication. It's what moms in other countries like India and China use, because they don't have the luxury of diapers. The concept of too early to train is a very old Freudian concept that somehow early toilet training will damage the child's sense of well being, but I have to say that my child would have been damaged had I just tried to make him learn to pee on himself.

Also, the book that I read said that the techniques can be used at all stages of training. Some people may think that this is "extreme" but I think it's delightful to be able to read my child's cues and help him.

Good Luck and here are some links.

http://www.timl.com/ipt/
http://www.pottywhisperer.com/howitworks.html