How Do I Potty Train My 2 Year Old?

ahhhh, potty training time....I let my 18 month old (now 9 years old) run around naked or in satin panties for a weekend...i don't go for the child ready thing...children are amazing with what they can accomplish that we don't give them the chance to do half of it...after a few times peeing on herself she got the idea...feel the tickle, get wet and cold..she was out if diapers by the end of the week. still slept in diapers for a few months..(and of course had the occasional accident), but by age 2, i never bought another pack of diapers. (i did have to buy an extra bottle of resolve carpet cleaner)...lol...but it worked better than anything my girlfriends tried. One thing I truly believe in, is pull ups are just confusing...all they are are diapers that look like panties...so when they see real panties they still think they can pee in them...

hope this helps..

ps - BRIBERY (im lost without spell check and it's late, sorry for the bad grammer..lol) WORKS...i used to take her for a scoop of ice cream if she went all day without an accident...(she pee'd on the floor of cold stone once because they said the bathroom wasn't a public bathroom ...hahaha...they had to clean it up and my baby still got her ice cream!!!) She warned me/them she had to go!!

pss - always keep a change of clothes on your trunk..very helpful info that everyone forgot to tell me...hahah

Signs of readiness are crucial. I used the book, Potty Training 1-2-3 and had my daughter potty trained in 8 hours.

Good Luck!!

Hi C.,
Ah, the fun of potty training! Just finished this recently with my younger child. Here's what I learned going through it twice.

First of all, I think the most important thing is for YOU to be ready. Most kids who are 2 are perfectly capable of being potty trained (especially girls). Pick a time when you know you'll have help with the baby (so probably on the weekend when your husband is home). Plan on staying home all weekend. Then, take the diaper off of your daughter, and don't have her wear any pants or underwear. Just let her run around in her bare bottom. Then watch her like a hawk! At the slightest sign that she needs to pee/poop, run her to the potty. Be prepared for her to have several accidents; she won't get it at first. But if she has an accident, clean it up and firmly tell her, "Next time we will make it to the potty so all the pee-pee will go in the potty instead of on the floor!" The good news is, most little girls don't want to pee on their feet, so they will get it within a day or so.

At first you might think that this whole process is insane and you should just go back to diapers, but DON'T DO IT! Stay the course. Be firm that she needs to sit on the potty, and really watch her to see when she needs to go.

Within 3 days, she should be 90% of the way there, if you're consistent. You may still need to remind her often, but she'll have the general idea of where she needs to be going potty and when she needs to get herself there. The bare bottom thing was key for us - something about underwear or pants made my girls forget that they weren't wearing a diaper. All that fresh air down there seemed to help them remember to go to the potty!

And of course, whenever she does go in the potty, make a big deal and get really happy about it so she knows that is exactly what you wanted her to do!

I hope this helps. It's a challenging process but just think... in 3 days you could be done with diapers on half your kids! =)

Oh the joy!!! This is such a dreaded task. Kind of like the saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink." Well, I think they meant "You can lead a child to a potty but you can't make them pee." :) We went throught a couple attempts to potty train my now 4-year-old but she finally got it about 1 month before her 3rd birthday! We tried shortly after she turned 2 because she showed the "signs" of readiness. So we tried letting her walk around without a diaper and watching for signals she had to go but after cleaning pee out of the carpet about 8 times within the first 2 hours, I had had it. And it was exhausting trying to watch her that closely alllll day. We tried again when she was a little over 2 and 1/2 and it was again unsuccessful. Finally we threw in the towel for a few months and we our 2nd baby was born. Finally a month befroe she turned 3, I decided to go at it again. I put panties on her and kept checking with her about every half hour to see if she needed to go potty. And I kid you not, that was it! She was potty-trained without any real intervention. I was sooooo excited! I think she only had 1 accident and never wet her bed at night, which I was surprised because usually nighttime dryness comes a little later. My other 2 cents on this is that you can see how she reacts to it as a "big sister." If she has any jealousy issues or difficulty with not being the baby anymore, it might be a little tricky....f.y.i. Good luck with it though. I hope it goes smoothly for you and that it works the first time! Let us know what happens. :)

Hi C.,
Before you can potty train a child, you need to look for signs of readiness (three, I think -- you can google this). Your daughter needs to understand when she is peeing or pooping. For example, if she walks off to a corner when she poops, she probably has this awareness. She also needs to show some interest in potty training. Books like "Once Upon a Potty" (there's a girl version and a boy version) and videos can help with this. Also, have her join you in the bathroom if she doesn't already. There's at least one other sign of readiness that I do not recall. Many people I know (myself included) have had success with letting their child go pantless outside on a nice day, making sure a potty is always nearby (like w/in 15 feet). Also, put her on the potty every 30-45 minutes for the first week or so, and make sure she stays on it for at least a couple of minutes. You can explain to her that sometimes it takes a little time to go. Sticker charts can be a great incentive. However, if your daughter is not interested in using the potty right now, don't push her. You don't want to end up in a power struggle with this -- trust me!!!
K.

Have you ever heard of the book "Everybody Poops"? I believe - and I can't exactly remember - it was humorous and at a potty training age. . my boys laughed pretty hard when we read it for the first time...

R.