Potty Training a Two and a Half Year Old

Hi K.. I started pt with my 2 yr old by making a game of sitting on the potty when I knew she would have to go, like when she woke up with a dry pull up, about 30 min after a meal or juice/water. We would just sit there for a little while. I discovered the problem was she didn't understand how to "make herself go" when she was sitting there. It's def.something they have to learn to do. I would tell her to be very quiet and listen because I hear the pee pee coming, and that I could feel it coming down and getting ready to come out. This made her think about the sensation of getting ready to go, and she would go almost every time. It took about a month of doing this very diligently to master the toilet. Once you start, don't be lax with it, You have to stay on her to make it work. Don't fuss, scold or get frustrated, it will come and the more relaxed you are about it, the more relaxed she will stay, make it fun, rewarding, read books about it, make her babies go potty and she will get it. It's so so so great when they do! No more diapers!!
J.

You're situation sounds so much like mine it's scary. My daughter is 2 1/2 and would even ask to sit on the potty but NEVER do anything. Her pediatrician said keep donig what we were doing and praise, praise, praise! Well, it finally clicked yesterday. She peed in the big potty 7 times and actually came and told me shee needed to go 3 times. Keep it up and she'll eventually get it. By the way, I also left her diaper off so she could also just go sit on her potty chair. We had one poopy accident but not a single wet one all day.

For me the trouble was getting her to go that first time as well. My daughter was 2 and a few months when we decided it was time. I had always heard to put them on the potty right after they wake up. I never could catch her in the morning because we lounged in the morning lol. After nap though I took her in there and she went! It freaked her out and she started crying. We had accidents the rest of the day. The next day she resisted sitting there after nap. But went any way. During these first two days we would sit on the potty periodically about every hour or so. Without any luck whatsoever! The third day it started clicking what was going on. We gave an m&m after each success. She likes chocolate and wanted it bad lol. She was pretty much done in a week. We still had obsticles like pee peeing on strange potties etc but she did great. I think going straight from diapers to big girl panties helped. Good luck with it and be sure to stay relaxed and calm because if you get stressed out it will make her resist it more. My daughter is now 2 years and 8 months or so and hardly ever have accidents. Usually if we do she waited to late to tell me or either I just don't get here there quick enough. I LOVE that she is potty trained!

Some have suggested turning on the water; that is a good idea, but what really worked for my son was pouring warm water down his belly and crotch. I got the idea for this when he started peeing in the bathtub every time he hit the water! We then made a routine of peeing in the potty before he was allowed to get in the bath, using the water to help at first. Once he was used to that, it was easier to transition to using the potty at other times.

Hi! Have you tried taking her in there everytime you go so she can see what to do? You could also try turning on the water, it really does work! LOL With mine and my nieces when did not use a potty chair we got one of the seats that sits on the toilet and then told them over and over that this is what big girls do! Hope something helps! E.

here's one thing to try that helped us - go buy potty time with bear in the big blue house.

This may sound crazy to some people but take her to the restroom when you go. Maybe put her potty seat next to the real toilet so you can go at the same time and no matter what if she says she has to go take her every time even if she dosen't catch on at first she will get catch on. Also, I have heard of putting a couple of drops of food coloring in the toilet she when she potties it will change colors. Hope this helps. I am a mother of five- four girls and a boy.

I did two things, well I guess 3. first I bought a special treat, my son's was hershey kisses (the small ones you make cookies with), kept them in the freezer, and everytime he went potty, he got like 4 or 5 and that was the only time he got them. Second, I made a big deal out of myself going potty, like the person before me said, I went pee-pee! and came out all proud. Third I had help with, we would sit and do puzzles for about 30 minutes, sometimes longer trying to get him to go, it helped him relax enough. good luck!

The best thing to do is to get her familiar with sitting on the potty. Try taking her about fifteen minutes after she has had something to drink. Give her books to look at while she sits to keep her occupied. The first time she goes in the potty, be sure to give her lots of praise so that she knows she has done a good thing. My favorite potty training book was "Prudence Goes Potty" (there is a video to go along with the book as well as several helpful pointers for Mom.) Good luck!

I bought some toys ($1 or less)...a bag of toys actually and every time they went, they got to pick one. This was recommended by my ped at the time my first two were at this age. It worked wonderful! Both my oldest wore underwear day and night from day one.

My current 2yo is a girl, but I will be doing this in a couple of months with her. I've just got to figure out what to get a girl. The boys were easy...hot wheel cars and trucks!

I have three children ages 7.5, 4.6 and 3. We trained in warm weather. because there is less clothes to have to get down when rushing to the potty. They can wear those that feel like cotton underwear on the inside, but have plastic on the outside. we stayed at home, wore those underwear and a shirt and played outside a lot.

This is what I did. I set my daughters little potty next to the big potty. Every time I went potty and I would say "Look - mommy went pee-pee in the potty." I left the door open and didn't push her or anything to come in with me. I let it be her choice if she wanted to see hwat I was doing. Within a week, she said she wanted to use the potty. I showed her how to pull her pants down and then she would just sit and do nothing. I think she did this for a few days until one day she actually went pee-pee on the potty. I made a HUGE deal about it. We made-up the pee-pee song and did a little dance each time. She loved it! She did this two months before her 2nd birthday. I have to admit, though, it took her awhile to adjust to pulling both her pants AND underwear down. Last summer I just let her run around in sun dresses with no bottoms at home (not in public:) ) when I ran out of her underwear for the week. I got to the point where I thought she wasn't quite ready yet. She just didn't appear to grasp the full concept so I put off having her wearing underwear all day until this last January. In January, I finally just put her in underwear for a week and she potty trained herself. I didn't get angry with her when she had an accident (which was several for the first three days) and then the accidents got less and less every day. Then with the poop, if it was formed enough (sorry if I am too graphic!), I would dump it in the potty to show her where it goes. A friend of mine also lent me her copy of the girls edition of "Once upon a potty" on DVD. My daughter loved and still watches it to this day! She potty trained herself with my encouragement (and my husbands!).

Try turning on the water in the tub, sink ect. That will usually make them go (can get a small cup of cold water and let her put her hands in the water). If she goes show her what she did and praise her for going.
Worked with my little girl. We also bought disney princess panties and she didn't want them wet.
Hope this helps.
S.

I tell anyone who is potty training to get Elmo's Potty Time and another video called Potty Power. My daughter was 3 1/2 before she started and I was about to go crazy but as soon as I got those two videos for her to watch, she gave in and began going. Best of luck!

Is she showing any interest in the potty? Is she staying dry for extended periods of time? Does she poop pretty consistently at the same time every day?

I ask all of this because each child is different and just because she's 2 1/2 doesn't necessarily mean she's ready. I know it's frustrating and other parents will make you feel horrible if your child isn't potty trained and theirs is.

Speaking from experience (two grown children and two grandchildren) I would agree that having potty chair is a good idea, as is looking at some books and DVDs. However, you really are going to have to watch your child for the signals that she is ready.

My son didn't mind wearing wet or dirty pants.....back in the "old days" (he's 27) we didn't have pull-ups so he was in cloth training pants. He would hide from me to poop and I joked that he was going to go to college in training pants or need a cheering section to go to the bathroom. As I recall he was right around 3 or even a little older before he finally was really potty trained.

My daughter started bringing me a diaper and saying "change me" when she was 2 (she's 24 now). I was thrilled and we started potty training...I just knew she would be a breeze to train. I was wrong....she was recognizing that she was wet or dirty but she didn't have the muscle control and brain development quite yet to master potty training. The day I yelled at her for peeing in the floor after getting off the potty chair I put her back in diapers. When we tried again about 6-8 months later, she was potty trained (night and day) in about 3 days. She had developed to the point that she understood what she was feeling when she had to go and she had the muscle control to do it.

We had that problem w/ our now 7yr old son. he did great for a while and then just refuced to go. I had a male friend of the family call and pretend to be Spiderman and encourage him to go and he would get a surprise. Every time our friend called he immediatly got his Spiderman toy and let it go "potty" and then he went. With our 3 yr old son he wanted to do everything his brother did so he let him go to the bathroom with him and taught him what to do. Our daughter is only 6 months old and I have NO clue about girls. I am sure I will be back when she starts.
Maybe if you get a girlfriend or female relative to call and pretend to be Barbie or Dora or Libby from Jimmy Neutron or whoever, it might help a little
also, NEVER loose your temper or fuss because she "missed". Always let her know accidents happen and maybe tell her a true or not so true story where YOU "missed"
let her go with you when you go to the bathroom if nothing else she'll want to imitate you.

take her in with you everytime you go and have her sit on the potty. we also gave her rewards-if she sat on the potty and didnt do anything she got a sticker, when she did something we gave her 1 or 2 m&ms. also buy her some real panties and tell her she cant have them until she goes in the potty like a big girl. this really worked for us and she was completely trained at 2 years old (including at night). good luck.

I started in small steps so that I would not get discouraged.
10:00 am until noon was potty training time only. I took him on schedule every 15 to 20 min at first to see how frequently he would go;I would let him sit for a few min. Lots of praise if he went or not. Then every 30 min. Slowly he would give me something, and he expected the potty trips soon he would tell me he had to go even before 10:00 am and after 12:00 pm. When he started to do that it helped me to stretch his time until slowly the whole day was potty time accidents included. Do not turn back when you start. routine,routine,routine. He will be turning 3 in june he is getting up at night to go on his own now. Lots of work involved.

You are doing the right thing. Just getting her to sit on the potty is the main thing. Let her drink a LOT of water or juice and sit her on the potty every 20 minutes or so. Sooner or later, she'll go in it. It takes time and no one way works for every child. There are some great books on this subject. Just give it time, no pressure and see what happens. Good luck!