Potty Training - Binghamton,NY

When my kids were little, I didn't use dolls, dvd's or anything like that. What you need to do is take your toddler to the bathroom! first, create awareness by using cloth diapers or heavy duty cloth training pants with waterproof layer/waterproof pants outside. This way, he learns what happens when he pees - his bottom gets very wet! Affer a time, he'll realize what it feels like just before that happens. Take him consistently to the toilet about every hour and a half, all through the day, even when you're out (diapering at nap and bedtime is fine of course). Consistency is the key if you are serious about training, teaching the expectation that going to the toilet is something you do, all the time. Do not ask if he needs or wants to go, it's not a game. I never did charts or rewards either,I didn't treat it as a game or something optional and I was not interested in an extended process
Good luck

We used treats and pennies. Her own training potty (it chimed a little tune when she went potty)downstairs, and a potty seat/step stool upstairs. Both seemed to work equally well.

The first few days were the hardest. Started with timing and pennies. I would take her to the potty about every 30 min. If she just sat and didn't go she would get one penny to put into her piggy bank. If she sat and went pee-pee then she would get 3 pennies to put into her bank...and a little music chime when it hit the potty ;) She loved it. Later we went to m&ms/skittles once the money kinda lost its luster.

I think what really helped was having her sister over the weekend. (she is 6 and absolutely adores her, we have her about every other weekend) every time big sis went to the bathroom she would take little sis with her and they both got pennies(or dimes/qtrs ect...big sis knows the difference). By the end of the weekend she could tell when she had to go! Its amazing what an older sibiling (cousin or friend works too) can do for a little one!

Now she is pretty much trained. Wears pull ups at night, and big girl panties during the day. A few accidents here and there but i much rather wash clothes than buy diapers! So Expensive with 2 in them!

Anyway thats what worked for us. We've been at it for about a month now and i can't tell you how good it feels to know that when she has to go i hear "Mommy go potty..hurry mommy potty." or "potty...treat :)"

Good Luck!

Potty Training in One Day

My friend taught me this and it worked, even with my child with special needs. Granted it took two days instead of one (and longer follow up).

The big idea is that you potty train your child in one day. You can start with a 2 year old. It’s best to do it before they get in to the ‘no’s, when they still want to please you. But it still works perfectly when they are older. It is not an issue of waiting until ‘they are ready’. I am not a naturally cheerful person, but I put on a big act all day. Amazing how it works. One cannot get angry or show frustration (trust me I know – I’ve done it with three kids). Cheerful! Happy! Enthusiastic!

You and your child spend the entire day from after breakfast until dinner in the bathroom. You fill them with as much liquid as possible as early as possible for as long as possible so they have to pee a lot and get to practice feeling the sensation of needing to pee a lot and of running to the potty a lot. If they take an afternoon nap, stop the liquid 2 hours before nap time (I diaper for the nap time, but my friend did not).

The child wears a tshirt and panties (thick training ones or thin normal ones) that she can pull down on her own easily.

You two play games, sing songs, have a great time together.

Then you say, “Are your panties dry?”
She feels her panties. “Yes!”
“Good job. You kept your panties dry! You get a skittle! Let’s run to the potty! Isn’t this fun?” You sit on the potty to show how much fun it is to do. She sits on the potty. Have a big drink of chocolate milk

The point is not to go pee on the potty or to wait until she goes on the potty. The point is to keep the panties dry (the derivative is that she pees in the potty).

Every few minutes you stop your song/game/puzzle and say, “Are your panties dry?”
She feels her panties. “Yes!”
“Good job. You kept your panties dry! You get a skittle! Let’s run to the potty! Isn’t this fun?” You sit on the potty to show how much fun it is to do. She sits on the potty. ! Have a big drink of chocolate milk!

Repeat every five/ten minutes. Eventually she will have drunk so much that she will have to go. It doesn’t matter if she has an accident. Be cheerful. “That’s okay. Let’s clean it up! (Have her help you.) Sit on the potty. Yeah! Let’s get on dry panties.’ In a few minutes, ask her, “Are your panties dry?”
She feels her panties. “Yes!”
“Good job. You kept your panties dry! You get a skittle! Let’s run to the potty! Isn’t this fun?” You sit on the potty to show how much fun it is to do. She sits on the potty. Have a big drink of chocolate milk.

In the afternoon, practice running from another room to the potty, repeat everything.

They will get a lot of practice feeling dry (treats), sitting on the potty (balance, coordination, success being independent). And eventually even peeing on the potty. The focus is on keeping their panties dry!

Before the Big Day
Let them be in a diaper. Don’t worry about potty training and previous struggles with it. For a week ahead of time, talk about what fun mommy and child are going to have, a whole day together – no sister, no daddy, no etc. We are going to have fun! You get to keep your panties dry! We will play! We will run to the potty! We will go peepee on the potty! So exciting.

The Big Day
Do not: answer the phone, check the computer, make dinner, call about the roofer coming.

Do: Put on an apron with good pockets filled with little favorite treats (skittles, m and ms, goldfish – whatever she doesn’t usually get). Fill sippy cups (stoppers out so easy to drink more fast) with whatever she will down huge amounts of (I never gave my kids full strength juiee or chocolate milk, but they got as much as they wanted that day). Stock the bathroom with toys, books (not a movie player), music, little puzzles. (Don’t have them all out to see and be overwhelmed with – have them in the bathroom closet or under the changing table – bring out a few things at a time to play with.

She will get lots of experience and joy out of keeping her panties dry and lots of experience running to the potty and experience in peeing in the potty. You are well on your way to having her out of diapers.

For the night time, I kept her in diapers. The reward for keeping her diaper dry for three nights in a row was getting to wear her panties to bed. Stop liquids of any kind 2 hours before bed. If she regularly has a wet diaper at night, no big deal. Tons of kids have small bladders. Just let it be. Make it a big deal to get to wear panties, but not cajoling/punishing/teasing/stressing about it. One of my girls wore diapers to bed for quite a while after being fully potty trained during the day.

You’ll do a great job!

S.,
Don't force the issue. My son is 3.3 and he is very determined on some days, and very determined to use the diaper on others. I want to keep his sense of self intact - I don't want his little spirit broken over something that may take years to accomplish perfectly - and more years before he is totally 'there'. Arguments over going potty are not something you hear in the adult world (oh hey, you didn't go potty? Are you going potty? Did you number 1 or 2? These are things adults don't talk about and I don't want to hear them from my sons either!)

Good luck,
M.

My "method" wasn't so much as a "method" as it was a culmination of lots of tips I read/heard about in different places...but it worked with my now 4 year old and I'm about to start over again with my 2 year old!!!

First: Create Awareness...We bought books and read them...books about going to the potty. Someone gave us the Elmo Potty DVD...it's kind of silly, but both my girls actually LOVE it. My 4 year old still asks to watch it occasionally! Have the toilet in the bathroom. Have your child sit on it from time to time. While you are in there, just whenever.

Next: Pick a Day to really start and start! I made a tree out of construction paper and put it next to the potty. I bought little apple stickers. Every time she peed we put a sticker on the tree!!! And did a little dance. Really made a big deal out of it! After the first couple of days I had a small container of m &m's on the back of the toilet...These worked WAY better than the stickers!! Sometimes we used fruit chews as well (they seemed a little healthier than m & m's!)

I gave my daughter a LOT of water/juice to make her need to go and I actually let her run around the house without pants on! (having a diaper or even a pull-up on just makes them feel like they can still go in their diaper/pull-up). That way as soon as she started to pee, she felt it and saw it and ran to the bathroom! At the time we didn't have carpet in our house so it wasn't as big of a deal (we had hardwoods and tile)...now we do, so I may just wait until spring/summer when we can be outside...figure out what works for you.

Basically, start taking/keeping the diaper off your child. YOu can put undies on, they will feel it right away if they wet them....You may want to buy a small portable potty to take when you go out ( I found this to be the most challenging thing! finding a bathroom quickly if we were out!).

Slowly, things seemed to progress...I've heard about these "potty training in a weekend things"...I dunno...maybe I'm just more relaxed, but I feel like it takes a good couple of weeks to establish a routine...and a couple of months before they've got it down...just be patient!!!!

Lastly: establish the peeing during the day...maybe switch to nighttime pull-ups at night if you think your child is not ready...but be warned...the longer you put diapers on them at night, the longer they may pee in them! We realized if we put undies on our daughter she didn't wet herself (usually), but if we put a pull-up on she did at night!

And: be prepared for accidents. Keep extra clothes with you. Expect to clean some pee up around the house!! (and on your child's nice $80 pottery barn chair!!!LOL). Put a protective pad on their bed and don't be frustrated if you have to change the sheets a few times...it happens...it's part of the process!

Hope that helps! Good luck!