Potty Training - Glen Ellyn,IL

I have a 3 year old girl and pull ups do not work for us during the day. She is potty trained for peeing on the toliet, but if I leave a pull up on her during the day she will just pee in them like a diaper. She dooes great if she is in underwear. When I first introduced underwear we got the padded type (people say its kinda like a diaper, but I don't think so, and neither did my daughter.)They add just a little more protection during accidents. Then I took her to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so depending on how much she has had to drink. After about 2 days I started streatching the time between bathroom trips. You will have accidents, but if she is ready she will get the hang of it. You will have to take her at first, but eventually she will be able to tell you when she has to go. When we first started I used pullups when we went out to the store and things like that, but like I said my daughter treated them like diapers, so eventually I just let her wear her underwear and I bring an extra pair of cloths and a plastic bag in case I need them. We have not had an accident in public yet. My daughter still does use a pull up at nap time and night time though. I'm trying to break the nap time habit as it is not as long as night time, but she still wakes up wet. Those will come with time I guess.

My daughter is 2 and a half, and I just got her fully trained other than at night. I still put a pull up on her at night, but most mornings she wakes up dry. For about the first 2 days, I took her to the bathroom about every 15 minutes (kind of a pain) but it worked. I also bought a sesame street potty training book with stickers and a sheet in it that you hang up in the bathroom. I bought this at dollar general, it was $1. So everytime she went, she got to put a sticker on it. My sisters little boy will be 2 this month, and she gives him a tootsie roll each time he goes. I don't know how healthy that is, but he is pretty much potty trained. Good Luck on the training.

Hi M.,

We just finished potty training our 2 yr old girl/boy twins in the last few months. I did my daughter in November and my son in January just to make things slightly easier. I followed my own timer system. (I did this with my firstborn, too, and it was WAY easier with just one!!) I swear it's more of a parent commitment than anything else! I told them we were getting rid of diapers and took them to the store to pick out underwear and a cheap digital kitchen timer. Basically, I get them to the bathroom first thing in the morning and set the timer for 45 minutes. So we'd go every time it went off. By the end of the first day, it was clear both (though this was happening at separate times) could make it over an hour. So by the end of the week, the timer was set for every 90 minutes to 2 hours. They wore underwear all day and a pull-up at night. They got 3 Smarties for peeing and 3 M&Ms for pooping. After 2 weeks, we didn't use the timer and could go out on any errand comfortably for about 2 hours in underwear. However, I still set it occasionally just for myself so I didn't forget to make them go! Also after 2 weeks, I noticed they were ALWAYS waking up dry. So we did 1 more week of pull-ups at night and then they slept in underwear. My daughter had one overnight accident when she was sick and fell asleep very early without going to the bathroom first. My son has had 1 overnight accident, too, and again only because we were out later, he fell asleep, and we didn't take him before bed. For me, this was REALLY an easy method, but in the first week, it felt like a big commitment on my end. After 1 week, they started to tell me they had to go or they'd show signs that I could pick up on. After 2 weeks, they both told me all the time if they had to go. We dropped the Smarties & M&M rewards after the pull-ups were gone at night. They did miss that, so we did a daily treat after dinner for the whole family - like a Hershey Kiss for everyone - to celebrate waking up dry and using the toilet all day. My twins will be 3 in May and it's SO nice to not have diapers or pull-ups!! The important thing for us was to be consistent, explain the plan, give tons of praise, and NOT go back, even if it would've seemed more convenient for us. With my older daughter, who is now 7, I did basically the same thing and the entire process, including no more pull-ups at night was only about 2 weeks. I think now I'm just older & more tired and couldn't keep up with both of them on the same time table!! When it was all over with, we took the entire family out for a big kid celebration dinner at Chuck E. Cheese, which my daughter appropriate named - The Potty Party. Just some ideas... Good luck!

All I can tell you is that my son was similar. He was 3 and would go on the potty everytime I sat him on it, but he never told me he had to go. He would pee in diapers, pull-ups, or underwear...he didn't care and it didn't matter what he was wearing or how often I took him to the potty. I would go between underwear, diapers, and pull-ups b/c I would get frustrated and give-up on the underwear.

One day a little over a month ago he told me he was ready to wear his underwear. I let him, but figured it would be the same old situation. He had a lot of accidents the first 2 days, but then magically stopped peeing in his pants. He started telling me he had to go and even started going into the bathroom on his own. He went from 1 extreme to the other. He wears pull-ups at nap and bed time, but if he is awake he refuses to pee in them. He now treats them like underwear. We didn't do anything different...it was like he decided he was ready and that was it. I can't explain it other than when he was ready he was ready. He wears underwear all day and it great at telling us when he needs to go when we are out. I can't remember the last time he had an accident. He isn't staying dry at night, but always during the day. I guess each child is different and for the next one I'm planning to do the same thing...introduce the potty and the concept, but wait until he is ready to really push it.

Good Luck!

Spend the day in the bathroom naked until she pee pees a few times on herself....put her on the potty quick. Seems like she knows what to do if she will go when you put her there. Problem is you are putting diapers on her still...that's what pull-ups are, glorified diapers. Personally I've never known a child to train quickly using them. I just put mine in a diaper when we went anywhere and explained I didn't want them to go in it...I just did it in case we couldn't make it to the potty in time.

Put her in the panties...buy a can of carpet cleaner for accidents. She should have it down pat in a day or two...no more than a week. Don't use the pull-ups unless you really think you need them to go somewhere in the car.

Really I've seen kids take as long as a year or more to train using pull-ups. Both my girls were trained in a week with panties. My neighbor's daughter in one or two days when I put her in panties. My other neighbor's daughter at 19 months was trained in about two weeks with panties.

Pull-ups are the biggest waste of money on the planet. Just buy the diapers and use those if you need to use something.

I always took the potty chair in the car when on a longer trip and pulled over to the side of the road. We have a van so weather is not an issue.

pull ups can be confusing. if you do the underwear she will probably have a few days of mistakes and then she wont want to be wet, she'll learn the feelings before she needs to go and she'll get it. you'll be surprised! just be ready for a few accidents. my daughter had two days of learning then hasnt had an accident since. she's 2.5 my older daughter was the same way.
if you will be away from her and are worried about an accident or are on a long car ride use a pull up but still encourage her to use the bathroom and keep her pull up dry. maybe reward her for a dry pull up? good luck. it can be trying.