Potty Training Slip-ups

Just remember 23 months is still really young. And sometimes having a new baby in the house will make them want to act like a baby. She sees you changing his diapers and she wants the same attention. I had this same issue with my daughter when my son was born. Same ages to. I didn't rush her. And over time she got it.

In my experience, you need to do this when they are ready. And if you miss it, wait until they are ready again. It sounds like your daughter was ready at one time, but is not now. Just keep her in pull-ups until she tells you that she is ready and will not go in her panties. Big girl panties are only for girls that use the potty, not just the ones that repeat back to you that they will. My 5 boys were potty trained between 18 months and 27 months, but my daughter had a mind of her own and waited until she was 3 yrs, 2 mos. She walked in one day and said, okay, I'm ready. She never had an accident after that.

Hi Rhonda,
My daughter was in a similar situation. She was 15 months when my son was born and began to show a big interest in potty training at that time. I think the pull ups did confuse her. She is now 27 months old and we have had much success but it took, 3-4 days at home with a lot of towels to clean up a lot of messes and consistency. She still has accidents but not huge messes any more. We now have potty breaks (diaper change for the baby and potty time for her) every two hours or right before we go somewhere, meals and nap/bedtime. A few weeks ago I fell ill and was not as consistent as I'd been and we started having bigger accidents. it has worked itself out now that I'm feeling better and back into the routine. I have noticed my daughter going through phases, she's the big girl, helping with the baby, feeding her doll and then she's the baby girl and wants to be carried and changed on the changing table. Have faith, it'll work out.

I think pull-ups are always a bad idea, except at night/naps. We ran into the same issue last year - my son was just barely 2 and was potty trained about a month. We took a trip that involved a 4 hour plane ride and then a 2 hour car ride. We thought we better put him in a pull-up just in case. But whenever he told us he needed to go potty, we went right away! This included going on the side of the rode twice!! He ended up never once going in his pull-up all day.

We are all so ready to get our kids out of diapers, but the reality is that once they are in underwear, you gotta keep them in underwear ALL the time - no going back and forth. Which means life is VERY inconvenient and you have to be willing to find a place for them to potty asap. My brother had this problem with his kids - it always seemed safer to put them in a pull-up when they'd be in a car for a while... and none of his 4 kids were really fully trained until after 3! Too much back and forth, too confusing, too much allowing them to go in the pull-up because it's easier for the parent. My daughter could always hold it for a few minutes and never had an accident, but my son... if he said he needed to go, you had about 1 minute and 42 seconds to get him somewhere to pee!

I would stay home for 3 days straight if you can and keep her in undies or even naked. Also, if she is having a few accidents a day (even before this set back) she may not be ready. If you have to "catch her" and get her to the toilet, then she is not recognizing the signs that she needs to go - and then it's really you who are training yourself, not her. :) But my son trained at her age, so I'm not saying it's too early. You just need to be very, very consistent. We got to know just about every restroom, from Fry's to Home Depot, very well!

(in my opinion, I am never interested in limiting my kids' drinking. If they are thirsty, I want them to drink! We did get into the habit of taking them to the potty before we went to bed - they'd still be half asleep - but I wasn't willing to control/withhold liquids.)

I had a very difficult time getting my son potty trained! He didn't even learn a little and wouldn't even sit on the toilet!! I tried everything!! I actually bought a book for $40.00 to help me find another way to go about it, it was awful, but it sounds like you are doing good so far :) This book helped me SOOO much! My son was fully potty trained in a week, day and night! Get a kitchen timer, $1 at the dollar store and set it for every 30 minutes..... What helped me to get him to sit on the toilet and actually be excited to learn was the fact that I jumped up and down yelling "It's potty time!!!! YAY!!!" when the timer went off...... Getting them to stay sitting is quite difficult but if your child knows what M&Ms are you should be able to brib them to sit there for 5 minutes and if they do, they get a couple of M&Ms.............. Eventually, when the timer went off, my son sat down and went the bathroom and he didn't have to sit down the whole 5 minutes.... And of course I gave him a big handful of M&Ms when he did go! Best $40 I ever spent!! Good Luck!

Yes you kinda confused her... Mom of 4 girls.. Potty training my 4th as we speak, she is now 27 months and is staying dry through most nites. During the day she runs the show...Pee pee or poo poo we run.. we now have learned to hold it for a little while. she would have been done a while ago but I did the same thing.. I, Knowing better, one day at Walmart told her to just go and there was our speed bump. After I said it I could her DR PHIL saying, "Now that was just plain stupid.. E., Are ya Teaching her to use the toilet or her pants..." In his long southern draw... Here's what I do.. one I am a complete freak about potty training in public restrooms no matter what they alway touch something... Buy the lil potty from ikea it is 3 or 4 dollars. Babies r us has a 9.99 one that is pink plastic all one piece like the one in the potty video almost looks like the bumbo chair. Anyway put this in your car under the seat for your long trips or for any emergency. You can just dump it in a bush wipe it out with a baby wipe and slip it into a big bag and back under the seat...My 4 year old uses it sometimes if she can't make it into the store to go... This will help and always wear running shoes so you don't trip while running to the bathroom yelling "hold it... " Allways remember that the walmart in surprise is use to my kids peeing on their floor during potty training they won't look at you weird if you tell them there is pee on any isle or that you have left a trail of pee from isle 4 to the restroom.. Embarassing yes but laughable now. I can't see what joys #4 brings...

I had a situation where my newly potty training daughter had to go, and i was on the road for work( we had our own biz) She got a quick lesson on peeing on the side of the road!!! Which she thought was pretty neat!!! I had a friend of mine with a similar problem, his daughter would sit on the potty,not go and five mins later go in her panties or pull-up. My advice was and is sit her on the potty every hour if you can. she may not have to go every hour,but she will get tired of having to sit on the pot every hour. and we used stickers as rewards. so when our kids went on the potty they got to pick out a sticker.

Hi R., i know how you feel My daughter is now 26 months and still wearing pull ups becasue she'd just not interested on GOING on the potty...she just wants to play. The one thing I may be able to help with is....next time you have to go on a trip take a little potty seat with you. that way no matter where you are you can pull over and let her go. Just a little tip. As far as the actual potty training....I'm not stressing. When she's tired of peeing in her pants hopefully she'll make the transition easier.

Does she stay dry at night? If so keep panties on her.
Do you give her something to drink after 6PM? Don''t and she will stay dry.

She is the BIG sister and needs to be treated BIG! Play up to her responsibilites. Talk about her infront of her re her successes of cleaning up her room and emptying the dishwasher with you, etc.....

Potty training is like a new habbit. Don't ask her, just take her. Then when she goes have a party!!!
Hang in there by the time she is 16 years old, she will be trained!

I didn't use pullups, there is no difference from a diaper!

T.
www.tesabartell.myarbonne.com

What I did with my daughter when she was potty training was to make it fun. I took her to Bath and Body works and let her pick out her own soap and lotion (which she loved since it was a mommy store) then every time she went to the bathroom she had her special soap and lotion and she knew she could only use it when she went to the bathroom. It worked even with my friends son. They learn two things: to go potty in the potty and to wash their hands.

I'm a fan of the potty watch. Basically it is a timer that you set to go off at specified intervals and when its time to "go" it lights up and sings. My kids hit a snag like this and the potty watch got them excited again. Plus you don't have to "catch" them, the watch tells them to go. They are only $10 at Pottytimeinc.com. Not the fanciest thing in the world, but for 2 and 3 year olds they love it!

Dear R.,

Forget about your "mistake." I have heard a daycare mom say that she potty trains by putting the child on the potty every hour for 10-15 minutes. At some point, she will "go," and then you make a very big deal of it with praise and maybe let her pick out her own "big girl" panties.

K.

When I was a young mother of my first child, I asked my cousin (whom I always respected as a mother, she had 3 boys)about potty training. She told me this, "If I had it to do over again, I would keep them in diapers until they begged me for underwear."

I thought this made a lot of sense. But, with all the social pressure around, who can resist the need to "train" our children. But, I learned with my son, that she was on to something. It seemed that everything we did was actually delaying his ability to use the toilet consistently. So, we eventually just let it go. He did eventually ask me for underwear and that was that. He never had another accident.

When our daughter came along, we did not potty train her. We knew better this time. It was so much easier on her and us to just talk to her about it and let her decide when she was ready. And when she was, she told us. We then bought her underwear and she never had an accident!

So, in my opinion, potty training is futile. My advice is stick to diapers until she begs for underwear!!

Potty training is frustrating because it is the only thing us as mothers cannot control and them as children can! I tried to potty train my 1 year old to no avail, then when he turned two I cried for that whole year because again......to no avail, then when he turned three I gave up and one day out of the blue he just got up from playing and went to the potty and I never mentioned it and he's never gone back to pull-ups. I learned my lesson so when my second child was born, I still had him in a pamper at one, at two and at three I put him a pull-up and his brother would take him with him to the bathroom to show him out and sure enough.......one day he just did it on his own and we've never looked back. So my advice to you is, even though it's frustrating, believe me they won't go to college in pull-ups.