#2 On the Potty

First of all, she's only 3 and some kids don't totally get it until 5. Secondly, you just had a baby!! Kids react in all kinds of ways to new siblings, and this may be her way to get your attention or just still be a baby like the cute new competition. I would definitely STOP making a big deal of it. I know that's easier said than done and with an infant to take care of, you'd like to be done with potty training. But it sounds like she knows it's her power card with you, that you want her to do this one thing so badly. Usually when you stop caring, so will she, and viola, she just may start using the potty because it's nicer for her that way, too. If she is getting up from bedtime and naps with wet diapers, that tells you her body doesn't wake her up to go, so she's not quite ready for total potty training anyway. I'd just let whatever happens happen for the next couple weeks - no pressure from you, praise when she does a good job, neutral when she doesn't. Then, introduce Pull-Ups since she's getting to be such a big girl! And pretty new undies! And let her progress at her own speed. It really will happen, at her pace. Good luck!

She's maniputlating the siutation with the poop. She is waiting to go until she has a diaper on she knows what she is doing. Because of the new baby I would wait to do anything different. Just do what you've been doing. If you don't push the issue or pay much attention to it it may just sort of fix itself and one day she may just realize that it's time to go in the potty. But if not I would take the diapers away totally when the time is right and you have adjusted to having the new baby. Checking her panties frequently to see if she has kept them clean if so give her some reward (my kids were fine with stickers) And then give her a big reward when she actually poops in the potty. I bought a package of princess figurines and she would receive one when she went in the toilet. She received nothing for sitting except for verbal praise because she is expected to do that much without any reenforments. When you do this especially the no diapers at night you'll be washing sheets a lot until she gets it. Once you decide to go for it NEVER go back to diapers. I don't let my younger ones drink after dinner time which is anywhere between 6 and 7pm. If they are soooo thirsty they will get a dixie cup 1/2 full with water. They have pads that hold up to 6 cups of water. You can buy two and then put it right under her over the fitted sheet so when she does have an accident in the night you can remove the wet liner and replace it with the dry one. At least you won't have to change the sheets all the time if you use this technique. Good Luck. And congrates on the new baby.

Hi Doreon - I could have written your request verbatim! My daughter turns 3 next month and we've had zero success of getting her to regularly poop on the potty. She's in daycare and we sent her in underwear for the first couple months until I got sick of rinsing out 2 - 5 pairs of poopy underwear A DAY! So we put her back in diapers at daycare for a few weeks and recently switched back to underwear. So, putting her in underwear didn't work for us. Crazy amounts of praise the few times she's gone on the potty hasn't worked. Sticker charts, toy incentives, treat incentive, special outing incentives - all have resulted in absolutely nothing. BUT -what seems to be working, albeit slowly, is ignoring the whole thing. She now knows the rule is she can poopy in her diaper but when she does she has to go into the bathroom to do it (when awake - she will ask to get a diaper on to poop, we comply). We've just stopped making a big deal out of it and the past 3 weeks (since we've been back in underwear)I've only had to wash out ONE poopy pair of underwear. Mostly because she's just holding it all day until she gets home and like your little one, will wait unitl nap or bedtime to poop in the diaper. But, she has pooped on the potty at school 2 - 3 times which I'm thrilled about. With a strong willed kid like yours and mine, I think you just need to ride it out, and let them do it in their own time. I found the more we pushed and tried to coerce her, the harder she refused. Now that we're kind of ignoring it and not making a big deal out of it, I'm seeing some progress, slow, but progress. Good luck and I'd love to hear how it goes with you!

Here is what worked for me...I bought a toy that I knew my daughter would absolutely love. She loves making crafts, so I got her a huge set with lots of goodies in it. I put it on a shelf in the bathroom, and told her she could have it as soon as she went pee and poo in the potty. I also let her draw on her Magna Doodle while she sat on the potty. Kids get bored easily, so that seemed to work for her. She wanted that craft kit so badly, she finally did it. Then I praised her like crazy, and we had a potty party (cupcakes, pizza, craft kit for doing it). We even called the grandparents so she could tell them what she did. Her face lit up. We made such a big deal about it that she has been going on the potty ever since. No accidents. However, she does still wear a pull-up at night. Good luck!

I told the 3 yr old boy that I did not like cleaning up his poopy pants and I was only going to do it for one more week. (I have a day care home) As the week went by I reminded him of this, esp when I had to clean up his pants, etc. When the week was over and he did it I told him he was on his own and he would have to figure out how to deal with it. I gave him clean underwear but closed the door and did not oversee what he was doing. fortunately, he only made a little mess in my bathroom and he was at it for a long time. That was the last time he had an accident in his pants. His grandmother told me it was the smartest thing I'd ever done. We both knew he was capable of going on the potty.

I trained the 19 month little girl I watch and she did the same thing. She started holding it until she was sleeping. Her mother was getting up in the night to change her diaper.

So early in the morning I started giving her a teaspoon of flax seed in a cup of yogurt and a handful of frosted shredded mini wheats. By day two she couldn't hold it and had to go on the potty. I kept that up for about a week to re-schedule her body and get it to go earlier in the day. When she's at my house I don't diaper her for naps and I tell her that she must not go in the bed or she will have to clean it up. She had one accident in the 10 months she's been trained and she was so upset about it she hasn't pooped or peed in the bed since.

This sounds exactly like my son. When they are able to hold it until they are in their pull-up, they have control of their bowels. So we quit using the pull-ups and went to using underwear all the time- with rubber pants over them. When he didn't want to go in his pants, we would sit him on the pot. He got it then. Good luck!