Potty Training...What's Next?

Start by asking her if she has to go to the potty as you put her on. Tell her that if she feels like she needs to tee-tee, to tell you that she needs to go on the potty and better yet, either get her a potty chair or one of those adaptors they make for the toilet seat and the stool if she is coordinated enough to do it herself. The pooping is always interesting because many kids perceive it as a part of themselves and it freaks them out. My parents managed it with my daughter by teaching her to wave as it went down the toilet, who knew?

When I was raised, kids were potty trained at 1 year, the parents were really doing it but it was common practice to get the kids out of diapers. As long as she continues liking it just encourage her but they sometimes backslide so don't get into a power struggle or make a huge deal out of it. This is actually pretty traumatic for many kids because of the way that the parent handles it.

Also, always try to get her to go before you leave the house to go to the store or wherever. One of the difficult aspects for the parent is the propensity for the child to say they have to go NOW when you are in the checkout line at the grocery store, or somewhere else you probably don't have a snowball's chance in you-know-what in getting them to a bathroom. Always carry a change of clothes with you if you venture out without pullups.

I would start by putting her only in big girl panties. I did that with my daughter and she was potty trained in 3 days. If she is not able to tell yo when she needs to go you will just need to keep asking her or taking her on a regular basis each day. It might take a while for her to tell you since she is a little young, but she will get there. Best of luck.

My daughter is 15 months as well and I plan to start potty training after Christmas. She already tells me when she needs to poop but the toilet is way too big for her so she gets scared when I hold her on it. She is getting a little seat for Christmas and some big girl panties!
To teach her to tell me when she needs to go, I did several things. She goes into the bathroom with me when I go and I show her what I'm doing; I know, gross, but it worked. She helps me flush and she hands me toilet paper. When she poops, we take her diaper to the toilet and empty it. She says "bye-bye" and she flushes it down; then she closes the lid. She tells me "Mama, poo-poo" every time before she poops and has for a couple of months now.
Good luck with it; I know some people think we are crazy but I know my daughter is ready too and my Mom had me and my siblings out of diapers before 18 months.

I am going through something similar. My daughter is 23 months old and we have been doing potty 101 since 18 months. We probably would have had her potty trained by now except for the fact she is in daycare. They don't start the process until two and do not have a little potty available for her to go in. Also, we just had a new baby. So we just decided not to push it until they were at school so there would be some consistancy. However, it ended up working out quite well b/c she really enjoys it. In fact she sometimes comes to us to let us know she has to go pee or poop. I would suggest making sure that she has the vocabulary down before truly potty training. Also, i would take her to the potty as often as possible and expain at all occassions about poop and pee. There are books; also have her watch you go as well. Explain that pee and poop go in the potty. I have heard to not go the pull up route b/c that just makes the potty training process longer. However, I am not sure what we are going to do. I think we may start cold turkey with underwear when she turns two since she has the vocab down already and is familiar with the potty. Good luck!!

If she isn't in panties, let her pick some out at the store. Then ask her if she needs to go reguarly throughout the day.

Hi,

I know you are not going the traditional route of potty training since she is younger. I would suggest two websites to support you, since you may get a lot of "oh, just let her be a baby, don't push the potty training, it will backfire".
www.diaperfreebaby.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPTLateStarters/

Good luck! You are doing great! You are preventing your DD from being "diaper-trained."

M.