I Need Help Potty Training!! - Port Saint Lucie,FL

I used cotton balls to reach a goal. I had a tall plastic container that his growth chart came in and my son and I put stickers on it together and used blue paint tape to go all around the container about 3 inches from the top so he can see when it goes over.

Every time he sat on the potty, he got 2 cotton balls in the container. Pee pee or poo poo got him 4 cotton balls in the container. Once the cotton balls went above the blue paint tape, we go to the store and he gets a big toy. I would give him the cotton balls to put in himself.

I chose the cotton balls as they were big, cheap and reusable. Plus no sugar, like M&Ms. And we got to practice his counting. He liked the visual and was proud to show his grandparents when they came over.

Good luck!!!

I did a post on my blog about my experience. Instead of typing it all here is a link! http://abbabyboutiqueblog.blogspot.com/search/label/potty...

Hope this helps!

Warm Regards,
K. Lemoine
www.abbabyboutique.com

I personally never used one of those little potty chairs for either of my 2 older children. I bought one of those soft, squishy rings that sit on the top of a regular toilet. My kids loved going potty where mommy goes, and loved their squishy Elmo ring (I've seen Dora ones at WalMart and Babies R Us). If she really is ready (which means she is able to be aware of when she needs to go AND she needs to be able to stop the pee and hold it until she gets to the potty), then try sitting her on the potty and play games, sing songs, read books... until she pees-- then stop and focus on the peeing and make a really big deal out of it. Start the ritual of wiping, flushing, and washing hands so it all becomes automatic eventually. I think the little potty chairs are gross and an unnessesary extra step to potty training-- my daughter was so teeny when she was learning that sometimes she'd sit backwards on the toilet-- whatever was comfortable was fine with me. They have plastic rings that fold up and fit in your purse to take with you to public toilets, too. I don't get how people who train their children on a seperate potty seat transition to ever having their child go on a public toilet!

Tammi
www.DiscoveryToysLink.com/fox

I got some good advice awhile back that worked for me. Every time she did pee-pee in the chair I would give her 3 m&m's. I did this for about a week until she was going to the potty by herself with no problems. Of course, it took me another week to get rid of the m&m habit and still to this day (about 8 months later) she still asks me for them. Good luck!

We started my daughter on getting M & M's for peeing and tattoos for her bowel movements when we started. She started to realize she wanted the candy and tattoos. Plus, I let her go pick out some big girl underpants. I started training her in mid-February and she is completely trained-even through the night.

When my daughter started to use the potty (2 1/2) I put up a sticker chart in the bathroom. In the beginning, everytime she sat on the potty, she got to put a sticker on the chart. After a few days of that, she could only put a sticker on the chart if she went pee. then we moved to putting a sticker on the chart only when she asked to go on the potty. We did have to alternate. The stickers got old after a while. I bought cheap little things at the dollar store and she got to pick from a treasure chest. Within 2 weeks she was out of pull ups and in panties. Within a month of that, she wasn't wearing pull ups to bed anymore either. GOod luck. I have to say, I did NOT enjoy the potty training stage. My daughter was fine. I found it a bit stressful. Good luck.

Hello Tamya,

It's not a good idea to "push" her into using the potty. No matter what people say, this only makes it seem to the child that it's not so great and fun to use the potty. Now when my daughter was 20 months old, she was interested in using the potty and we did give her healthy gummy bears. After one week of that, we bought her "Big Girl Underwear" and I believe that the undies did it. We also did this with our son, when he was the same age. Both were using the potty by their second birthday. We've had a smoother and faster success with our daughter, though, because we did "push" our son to use it. After days/weeks we decided to just let him use it at his pace... and he did. So I do know first-hand that it's not a good idea to "push" the child to use the potty. I hope that this works out.... a Great Job Treat and then Big Girl Undies after a week or two of success.

Hi T.! All I can say is don't push her and never show her you are dissapointed or frustated (as much as I know you are). Our daughter is 4 in july and she did'nt get trained till a few months before her 3rd b-day. I tried the m-n-m incentive. Put a tube of mini m-n-m's somewhere in the bth-rm and let her know she can have one every time she succeeds, or keep her favorite little books in there only to read when she goes,or I found a potty book with aposter in it that had goal stickers in it and when she got to the end of the trail she got a surprise of her choice. These all worked pretty good but every child is different! In the end and using the pull-ups (which I feel they would wear till they were 6 if we let em)I used them for a little while and then let her pick out her own pretty (princess) big girl panties. AND what really trained her- when wearing them and she peed in them a few times she felt really bad she messed on the princesses AND I would have her help me clean it up! It only happened a 1/2 dozen times and that was about it! Good Luck and just be patient!!!!! P.