Trying to Getting My Daughter Potty Trained.

My friend taught me the one-day method, and it has worked for all my children. Plan to spend the entire day in the bathroom. No answering the phone/email/cooking/laundry, etc. Have books, games, etc all the things she loves to do with you in the bathroom. Have little treats (she doesn't usually get) as rewards for *keeping her panties dry*. Get her to drink as much liquid as possible. I'm a health nut but let the girls drink chocolate milk and undiluted juice all day. Big treat. Then you make it goofy fun to practice running to the potty (from inside the bathroom). "What do you do when you need to go to the potty?" over and over. Play a game, read a book, do it again. Let her feel that her panties are dry. "Wow, you kept your panties dry! Have a goldfish/skittle!" The reward is not for peeing on the potty, but keeping the panties dry. They will pee a lot that day b/c of all the liquids. You will cheer and be so supportive of it and give a treat for that, too. If she takes an afternoon nap, stop the liquids 2 hours ahead. I put my girls down with a diaper (my friend did not). You get 80% accuracy in the first day. Making it fun (nobody is watching how ridiculous you look) and positive really works. When they have an accident, you stay cheerful (so hard for me). But it really helps.

My son is almost 4 and still struggling to make it in time sometimes. Just take her every hour or however often you want. She is too young to do all the steps in getting undressed, using the potty, getting dressed and washing hands by herself yet (my son still needs a little supervision and has had 18 months of practicing). Target and other places have heavy training pants with a waterproof outer lining. Pull ups are mainly good for naps, nights, car trips, etc. I have heard the suggestion to put a pull up over the underwear so she will feel wet but I didn't really try it.
My friend has a just over 2 year old who is interested in potty training but doesn't have the physical maturity to quite get it yet. I waited longer than a lot of people because of I was having a second baby when the first was about to turn 3 (we started potty training when I was pregnant and then took a long break with the new baby and just came back to it 3-4 months ago).

Hi C.,
Your daughter is still very young, less than 2 1/2. A lot of parents think that telling you they have to go is the first or an early step in the process but it's not. It's the last step. She's too young to be responsible to tell you she has to go -she is used to you taking care of diaper time and making the decisions. This is the same. She may assume you know she has to go and that you'll take her just like you decided when it was time to diaper her. Then you don't take her, she doesn't know what to do and pee is running down her legs. She's trusting you to take care of things. Take charge. Put her in cloth diapers or heavy duty cloth training pants with water proof outer layer or plastic pants. This teaches her what happens when she pees - she feels very wet! She'll start to realize how it feels just before that happens. Meanwhile, take her to the toilet regularly, every hour or hour and a half during the day. With my youngest, I did this method and it took 2-3 weeks for him to go just in the toilet and not his training pants. It was still 1-2 months later before he'd announce that he had to go or take himself to the bathroom
Good luck

She just needs to pee in her potty pants, until she goes to pee in the potty.

My friend swears by the Potty Watch. pottytimeinc.com

This is a quote from the company:
The Potty Watch helps children remember to try to go potty by playing music and lighting up at 30, 60, or 90 minute intervals, as set by their parent. Children just starting their potty training will usually start at 30 minute intervals, and increase as they get better at knowing when they need to go.

To help children stay on the potty long enough to really try, the PottyWatch plays songs that they can sing along to while they're trying to go.

It costs $10. It might seem like a gimmick, but my friend has told me that it made such a difference for his child who was having a hard time recogninzing when she had to use the potty and then getting there on time. Good luck.

Peace,
J.

Dear C., It seems your daughter is not ready. The fact that she tells you sometimes says she wants to. It is really a maturity level that children reach at different times. It is when the message reaches the brain before she has to go,then she needs to hold it. You may want to back off until you see some more signs of readiness. My 5 all trained a different ages, when they were ready. Grandma Mary

What worked best for us was making it a routine to go potty. I didn't wait for my son to tell me, I told him. Throughout the day, it's our routine to use the potty. Before eating, before leaving the house, when we get to a store, etc. We were much more successful this way because it seems to take a long time for kids to fully understand they have to go potty BEFORE it happens. My son's been daytime trained for almost a year now (he's a little over three), and we still have this routine; however, he'll go by himself in between potty breaks if he needs to.

She has been peeing whenever she has to for 2 years now and it will take time for her to realize the sensation of a full bladder. You need to set a timer and have her go every 30 minutes for a couple of weeks. She doesnt always have to pee, but she should be made to sit for a couple of minutes. Soon she will put the feeling and the peeing together and be able to control herself better.