Potty Training - Des Plaines, IL

Children, like babies, pee right after drinking something. I found it easier to buy my daughter her own potty that sat next to mommies toilet. When she drank, I drank. We pottied together. I made a big deal when I peed and showed her then she always peed. She peed 1st by the second day. Give them lots of hugs, kisses, and a special treat if you find poop in her potty (a graham cracker or something good for her). Stick with it mom. Most mom and dads fail because they give up. All kids are different but they all need the same abundance of love and pride in themselves.

We just started with our 2 1/2 yo son about a week and a half ago. We started on a Thursday and had many accidents the first couple of days, then on Sunday went to the circus and everything and he stayed dry all day! Then Monday came and he had accidents all day! Then all of the sudden starting Wednesday he is telling us and doing great! he is not poop trained, but I know that comes a little later. He tells us after the fact. Just keep patience! I almost gave up on that Monday, but my husband just said you are doing great and he will get it and he did. It can just take time sometimes. Also remember don't go back and forth between big kid pants and pullups and night time training comes a lot later sometimes. Good Luck

Hi,
I know it takes alot of time and effort, but when my little girl was ready for potty training we ended up taking her every 15-20 min to the potty and sitting her on it to see if she would use it. We did that for the first day or 2 and then we extended the time between bathroom trips and it wasn't too long before she was either ready to tell us she needed to use the potty,or she would go on her own.

As far as day care and potty training, your day care providers should co-operate with you in your endeavor. They may have advice as to how to approach this. However, until she is to the point of sitting on the pot and waiting for it or telling before hand, she should be sent to day care in a pull up or diaper. It is hard to deal with the mess of very wet panties and is quite unsanitary for the other children in a group setting.
It is important to encourage her and yourself. Keep at it, she should be ready by this age. Most likely it will take awhile but trust she is progressing. Tell her, "You can do it" because she might become discouraged if her progress is slow. Also, why not reward yourself for keeping going, you know what kind of little treat you would like.

My son potty trained in 3 days @ 2 1/2 yrs. Clear off your entire weekend. Buy a bunch of underwear, and just keep on changing her if she has a accident. Everytime my son went I never got upset, I just put new ones on. We pretty much stayed in the playroom most of the weekend, but it was totally worth it. The first day was really hard, I think he went poop like 5 times that day! I only ever used pull ups @ night for about a month after he was trained. I think pull ups are a scam, because most kids think it is just like a diaper. Anyways, the second day was alot better and we even went to dinner with big boy undies and he was able to control himself, till we got back home. By the third day he was going potty all by himself. I was amazed, because at the time my daughter was only 3 months old and my son was not so used to her being around still! LOL
Best of Luck, Adriana :)

Sounds like she is very interested and so close! There are certain times it is easier to catch them before they go. Once they grasp that, it really can happen overnight. With my daughter, we did a sticker chart and rewarded for each step. When she woke up dry, we would put her on the potty, give her a sticker and she'd go! More stickers for going, wiping, flushing and washing her hands. Right before bathtime is another great time. On the long thanksgiving weekend (I work too so this made it an easy) we went all out, and gave her lots of water, etc and then with stickers and reminders, we had her go. Good luck!

When I potty trained our 4 year old twins, I put the potty chair in each room they were in.(they say if they can see it, it reminds them they have to go) And I did not put diapers on them, we got special undies...princess whatever their favorite character was at that time and we would tell them we don't want princess to get wet we want to keep her dry..within a week they were trained. It worked for us.Good luck. T. Mother of 4 girls

E.,
If she tells you after the fact she is not quite ready in my opinion. That is the step before being ready. I wanted to make sure the CHILD was potty trained and not ME. I was not interested in asking every 15 minutes. I have taught in day care and they are not going to have time to do that I don't think.

I would buy her the panties and tell her that she can wear them after she goes on the potty. Kids can be very verbal at 2 1/2 but fool us because it is hard for them to have the impulse control to notice they have to go to the bathroom and leave what they are doing to go. I would wait several weeks and try again. When she is motivated, she will do it. Tell her you are very proud of her for telling you she went to the bathroom in her pants and some day when she is ready she will tell you before she goes in her diaper and that is when she can wear the big girl panties. Be very matter-of-fact expressing a lot of pride in her and confidence that she will do it when she is ready.

Try rewarding her for being dry. Do a "Dry Pants Inspection" every five minutes or so and give her a treat, like a goldfish cracker or a star sticker (something little, since you'll be doing this a lot). Have her feel her underpants when they're dry. Then, when she pees in the pants, have her feel them too so she knows the difference. Make a big deal about her having dry pants, and when they get wet, walk her to the potty and have her take them off and sit on the potty. Then change her underwear and start over again. You want to reinforce the dry pants, but don't scold the wet pants, just remind her that pee goes in the potty and there's no treat for wet pants.

It sounds messy but on the weekend go without panties or a pull up. She will pee all over the house but every time just put her on the potty after and tell her that is where she should go. It really only takes one time that she actually goes in the potty and all clicks. then she will go on the potty all by herself.
It does take the whole weekend. I almost gave up with soo much clean up of pee. But by the end of day two she is trained and only wheres a pull up to bed. Try a room that is easy to clean. Carpet would be a nightmare.