How Do I Potty Train My 22 Month Old Girl?!?!

Updated on May 24, 2010
D.H. asks from Dresher, PA
13 answers

Do I reallly have to buy a book?!? Gabby is totally interested in the potty but i can tell it has to be on her terms to crawl onto the seat to give it a try. She says potty a few times a day and then we go in there and i ask her if she wants to use the potty to pee-pee or poopy. She knows her diaper needs to come off to do this, and then we spend about 30 minutes encouraging her to hop up on the seat to go. It's not working - lol - so maybe i do need a book! She clearly does not want my help getting up on the seat and that seems to be the obsticle right now. She seems to need to get to know the potty like she is starting a relationship - lol. She wants to spend time with it before she uses it :)
Any tips out there ? i know you are all going to probably tell me to get a book!
PS - she goes to daycare every day and they said they are happy to encourage whatever decisions i make at home if she is ready for potty training. They have an installed toddler toilet. I bought something that sits on the toilet so the hole is smaller, but that's it. Is a seperate potty really necessary?

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So What Happened?

Thank you for all of the great suggestions! Gabby DID IT! With no pressure at all i gave her a little bit of privacy which was all she really wanted. She climbed onto the seat (baby bjorn that sits on top of our toilet) she peed then pood!!!!!!! The only pitfall is that she wanted to stay on the seat for the next hour, and she felt she needed a whole roll of TP to wipe herself. It was hard to get her to leave the bathroom but i distracted her with a book and snack. I did not buy underwear or pull ups yet and think i'll ease into that. I may post again with some miscellaneous questions!

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S.B.

answers from Kansas City on

I would get her a little stool. My daughter has a stool and we bought a little seat to go on the potty. (eventually we bought a new toilet seat that had a potty seat built into the lid, very helpful!) so that she can get up on it herself.

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B.D.

answers from Lancaster on

It may be that she is still a little young - but it sounds like she is close to being ready. Both of my girls trained "early" but closer to 25-26 months.
Anyway, with all of my children I took the all or nothing approach - I just quit putting diapers on and they used big girl pants. Sure, I had a little more laundry - they would have accidents, but they actually preffered the big girl pants so much and so quickly they refused to put the diaper back on for bed time. Every child is different - as to what will work for them - I just always felt the switching back and forth confused them. Also, I would tell them every hour (at beginning) or right before we left to go out that we were going to go potty - and they did. I didn't ask - I just said OK, now its time to go. Good Luck

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M.S.

answers from Philadelphia on

There's a free potty-training video from the makers of Pull-ups. My little one is only 9 months old, but free is free! I'll hold onto it.

Here's the link-
http://www.pull-ups.com/na/potty_training_dvd.aspx

Good luck!!!!

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D.S.

answers from Tulsa on

i would do a potty chair so she isn't scared of falling in. a real fear to them. other than that I think she will do it on her own. buy her some big girl underwear and let her pick them out and give time and patience.

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S.A.

answers from Los Angeles on

I recommend a small little potty. It is a little less intimidation for a small child, in my opinion. Also you can't ask her if she wants to go...you need to just take her everytime before and after she goes to bed and try to take her about every hour if possible. you say to her ok lets go try to potty and take her and make her sit for a bit. If she cant go say ok maybe next time. Potty training is aas much work for you as a mom as it is for the little one learning cause you have to be consistant and take her. if she is saying potty already and showing interest you are there this is the perfect time for her to learn. Go pick out some pull ups or undies, depending on your choice, and give em a try. Good luck.

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B.G.

answers from Harrisburg on

YES, smaller seat definitely!!!! The large potty can be scary to them. It is MUCH bigger than they are. Oh and NO pull ups. They are just like diapers to little ones that they can pull up and down.

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B.H.

answers from Philadelphia on

google julie felloms potty training in 3 days or less - free! this worked for my son at 18m!!

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V.F.

answers from Scranton on

Personally, I don't think 22 mos is young, my one friend had a dd who was wanting to potty train at a little over a year! The key is to put them on when they are most likely to go. When they get up from a nap, shortly after they've eaten, as soon as they wake up in the morning. Have you tried just putting her on the potty instead of waiting for her to crawl up? That may get things rolling for you. Or try getting a potty chair, if she's independent then she may want easier access. Big potty's can be intimidating!

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K.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Getting them interested in the potty is the most important part!!! I didn't buy a book and only used a potty seat that sits on the toilet (not a separate toddler potty). I will first say good luck! It's incredibly trying so just take lots of deep breaths. Once our son was interested, I let him run around the house naked for 2-3 days. Technically not the whole house though, just those rooms in close proximity to the bathroom that weren't carpeted. :-) I explained that it was time to go when he felt his pee pees were dancing. It was all I could think of to explain the feeling. There were messes during the 2-3 days, but after that he spent the next 2-3 days in underpants only and then since then, he's been pretty good about going on the potty all the time. I'm sure this means he'll regress and have 15 accidents today! Poops took a little extra time, but again we explained the whole poopies dancing and how it makes our tummies feel better to go on the potty. I also explained that poopies like to go swimming in the potty and I actually made him apologize to his poops if he went in his underpants. My hope was that he'd have empathy and put them in the potty where the wanted to be! Ha! Every time he listened to his body, we danced around and cheered for him and then I let him play a Wii game. Wii was the big bribery in our house, followed by Hershey kisses when the Wii broke. I'm sure many Moms and experts will tell you not to bribe, but I say it worked wonders for us. Good luck!

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T.G.

answers from St. Louis on

I have 4 girls. First, remember that 22months is still young. I bought a potty chair that sings when you "use" it. $20.00 at WalMart. When my girls turned 15 months, I put it in the bathroom. Since they follow me in there, when I used the bathroom I would ask them if they wanted to sit on their potty, no pressure if they didn't seem interested. I currently have a soomto be 16 month old and somedays she will pull at her diaper (her way of teling me to take it off) and she will sit on the potty w/o being asked. Some days she will use it and others she will get up and down about 20 times. I usually finish up and stayin the bathroom to see what she will do.
As my girls got older, say closer to 2 (I waited for cues from them telling me they were ready to potty train), I would set the stove timer for 30 minutes. When it would go off, I would take her into the potty and ask if she wanted to go. When we were done, I reset the timer. As my girls progressed in potty training, I would set the timer to 45 minutes, 1 hour etc.
I always let the girls choose big girl panties or pull ups. Either way we still used the timer.
As parents we need to remember that we want them potty trained for selfish reasons : less money on diapers, because our friend's children are potty trained . . .. What we need to do is let them go at their own pace. Children get stressed out if they are pushed into potty training before they are ready. All that does is make the process longer and frustrate the parents.

I didn't use the seat that fits on the big toilet until my girls were more like 3 and ready to climb up there. By then the little potty could be converted into a stool.

What ever method you use, be patient and use lots of praise!

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W.T.

answers from San Diego on

She is really young to potty train in my opinion. A study just came out saying the average age to use the toilet is 34 months for girls and 37 months for boys. That's average. So, some will do it earlier, some right around there and some later.

I would encourage her interest and set her on the potty. Or if she is a good size, get one of those seats that attach on your potty and let her sit. We didn't use a separate potty b/c my son is HUGE and couldn't fit on the little ones, but they are nice for travelling.

I wouldn't get a book, I wouldn't push it. Even if she starts now, I guarantee she will go back and forth for a while.

I would just encourage her and let her lead the way.

Your call, but I really think my friends who "pushed" it and tried to "train" them had way more fights and issues than we did and we just sort of let it happen on my son's timeline.

Good luck!

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L.S.

answers from Richmond on

My son was trained at 23 months. He was interested in the potty and peeing occasionally on the potty and pooping almost exculusivly in the potty. He hated the potty seat that goes on a toilet but is big and crawls on the toilet and just strattles it. At first we used either the toilet or a Baby Bjorn LIttle potty (it is one piece and inexpensive).

To finish the training, I just put him in underwear and watched him like a hawk for a few days. When he started to pee, I grabbed him and put him on the potty. At first when anything went in thepotty he got one chochlate chip. After the started to be dry some, he only got one when his underwear was dry. I announced that I had to go potty every 30 minutes to an hour and ran to the bathroom, tohelp him get the idea. I asked him often if he needed to go. After about 3 days he was doing really well with just occasional accidents. I also put him in underwear at night. He has one or two accidents a month ( he is now 30 months old). I put a shower curtain liner (non PVC from Walmart so it doesn't have that plastic smell) under his sheet. At this age I would wait until she is occasionally going in the potty to train all out. YOu can start by putting her on the potty as soon as she wakes up or just a bit after she has had a cup of fluids. When you know she is getting ready to poop (if you can tell) just take the diaper off and put her on the potty. Reward after these events if she pees/poops.

IF she is trained early, she may have more regressions later. GOod Luck

R.C.

answers from York on

I recommend getting Gabby her own small potty chair so she can easily sit on it herself. My son loves his potty chair and it is sitting in the bathroom right across from the adult toilet. He loves to sit on his potty while we sit on the adult potty. My son is 22 months and is 'poopy trained'. He has pooped in his diaper once since October. He already has days with only one wet diaper and the rest of the time he pees in his potty...so from what I hear from other parents, he is ahead of the game for a boy.

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