Potty Training - Salinas,CA

Hi M.,

I used the three day potty training method (www.3daypottytraining.com) with my singleton when he was three. I wished I would have found it sooner. Now, I have twins boys that are 18 months old. I plan on using the same method. However, I will have to have someone help me with both twins when we decide to potty train using this method.

Good luck.

First, if she's interested, encourage her. You don't want to ignor it and then when she loses interest, try to get her potty trained. If she's interested, go with it. Ask her if she wants to sit on the toilet. Ask her twin brother if he wants to watch. Try putting training pants on her and see where it goes. If she's not really ready, then try again later. The key is to encourage her, not to ignor her interest while she's interested.

If she is truly interested you can get a potty chair for her to get use to seeing. I would put it in the restroom you use and show her what you are doing in yours and tell her she should do the same in hers. It sounds a little gross but they need to understand through sight because at 17 months they might not be big on wordy concepts but to see it is way different. And her interest might peak your sons interest. Boys have a tendency to be less inclined earlier to want to go potty in the potty and like you said there is no rush. But if she is interested, keep her interested.

Hey, this is a great time to introduce a a little kid potty and a potty book....you could try to get her to go potty..but don't pressure her....most kiddos when they first become interested play act in using the bathroom..and that is the first step. And the boy will follow suit on his own time, don't worry..boys tend to have more of an interest later on. What a fun time for you! My sister has boy/girl twins and it's such a joy for her everyday!

I just thought I'd share my experience w/ twins. I just waited til I thought each of them was ready. My daughter was ready just after she turned 2yrs old. My son I waited a lot later - it was not until just before he turned 3 that he was ready.

I did it the easiest way I think - what was recommended to me. I put a wading pool in our back yard. I put a potty out in the yard & had the kids play out there naked. I told the kids if they needed to go potty to go in the potty chair. My daughter did it right away so I figured she was ready. My son just went all over himself outside & was clueless so that was how I knew he wasn't ready! I stayed home as much as I could for that week & had her naked from the waist down so she could feel it if she went...this is what was recommended to me. It really worked. She was day trained in about a week & hads no accidents after that.

I did the same way w/ my son almost a year later & it worked great. He trained even faster - less than a week!

Another thing we did was keep a potty chair in the back of the car so we could use it much easier than public restrooms...and faster. I have had friends line theirs w/ plastic shopping bags for easier clean up too...never thought of that but what a great idea!

Good luck!

Good luck!

I have no idea how to toilet train twins, and my older son is 3 1/2 and did not start wearing underwear until a month or two ago (still has accidents). I just wanted to mention that I did care for twins once (boy and a girl) who were toilet trained at 18 months--apparently they just did not want to wear diapers anymore, and wanted to do the same things. I think it can be harder when your children aren't talking well--I was able to tell my 3-year-old that the diapers didn't fit him anymore so he was going to have to go in the toilet instead. He actually took that in stride and hasn't looked back. If they like to do everything together, and you go the "potty chair" route, buy two so they can sit in there at the same time. We used a soft seat insert and did everything right on the toilet, but I got a small chair so my 20-month-old can sit on it when his big brother is on the real toilet.

My son started showing interest at 18 months. I put him in pull ups and asked him from time to time if he waned to use the big potty. Once he was using the big potty 50% of the time for #1 and 100% of the time for #2, we went to undies, and he was fully trained by 24 months. The key is to make it an option but not push it.

I have almost 3 y/o b/g twins too. My daughter started showing interest around 2 or a little younger, then it totally waned. When she was 2 1/2, she just started going pee on the potty one weekend, with very few accidents since. Poop on the potty took a little longer--she's only been doing that for a month or two now.

We started out with two little potties on the floor, and wrote their names on them (at that age, they could recognize their first initial) and let them decorate them with stickers. We let them watch Elmo's Potty Time, and just asked them if they wanted to try to go potty. We use stickers for rewards--one for pee, two for pee and poop. Like I said, my daughter pretty much just decided one day that she would take to it and that was that. We focused on her since her interest was stronger, and we really didn't want to potty train them both at the same time. After she was used to the little potty, we got a seat for the toilet and now she's completely good to go, and normally doesn't even care about the sticker reward.

My son is still barely interested, and we don't push him. We ask him if he wants to go, and sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes he gets really excited about it, other times he cries if we just ask him if he wants to try.

Keep up your attitude though! I think it's great that you're approaching it so relaxed. I am a firm believer that they will take to it when they're ready. 17 months is probably a little young, but you can start encouraging the interest, and ask her if she wants to try to go potty. I think those potty chairs sat in our bathroom for about 6 months before our daughter was really ready to do it!