Potty Training - North Little Rock, AR

A., my little girl will be 3 in June and I just wanted you to know I'm in the same boat! She just doesn't want to sit on the potty for me anymore! She goes to school 3 days a week and will go potty there, but puts up a fight at home. I wanted you to know there were other moms out there thinking, "Yes! That is happening to someone else too!!!" Good Luck!!

M&M's work better than stickers. I don't allow my children to eat many sweets so that worked very well for us. You have to have small immediate rewards because three year olds aren't interested in waiting for a big prize in a month. They need immediate reinforcement. However, sometimes a big special thing at the end of the road helps as long as there are immediate treats along the way(it can be a kiss, a movie etc. Does not need to be food )

My daughter did the same thing and until i gave up on the pullups and things to make mess cleanup easier on me she just kept peeing. Once I decided I was done with pullups she wore panties and nothing else i think she caught on for the most part in a week or less. Granted the mess was ick for a while but now she has it down pat. I even made her sleep in panties and just got the waterproof pad from walmart (cost like 7 bucks) so even at night she can realize when she is wet.

Hello! I'm a SAHM of 3 kids! 2 girls and 1 boy. My girls were potty trained around the age of 2. But my son was a different story! He is almost 3 and since he turned 2 my hubby and I tried a few times to potty train him with no luck! That is until I found this website www.thepottytrainer.com I am in NO WAY associated with these people. As in I don't work for them. But this book truly HELPED me! I read it (in one sitting) and followed the advice in it very closely and in 5 days my stubborn son was potty trained!!! Yep, 5 days! It is a very helpful book and I've already recommended it to several friends! I hope this helps! Good luck!

I only have boys, so not sure if it will work the same, but my husband always took our oldest one with him when he went. We had his potty sitting right beside the "big potty". He thought it was special to be just like Daddy. We also used the treat idea, but used M&Ms instead. For boys, I think it may be a little easier, because we would put Cheerios in the toilet and tell him to "shoot" them!

Well, having older females around that are close to her will help to encourage her to potty. If you could explain to them that every time they are around her if they could emphasize the times they are going it would help, too. My daughter used to go into the restroom with her friends and when she started pre-k she decided on her own to go to the restroom. My twins needed to see for themselves that nothing bad would happen if they sat on the toilet, they also learned by watching others, but my son needed more encouragement. Much easier to train girls than boys. When my hubby and I got custody of his son, at age 5, he still was having trouble with potty-training. (He was developmentally disabled.) So every time he would have an accident we would tell him that if he couldn't go to the bathroom then he would have to clean it up. Then he would have to sit on the toilet for 5-10 minutes to teach him that that's where the poop & pee go. If he had an overnight accident we would tell him that he would have to start diapers again, if he couldn't be a big boy and go to the potty at night too. Plus we decided that maybe he was scared of the dark and started leaving the bathroom and hallway lights on for him. Then we stopped letting him drink 1 hour before bedtime and reminded him to potty before bed.

try letting her go without anything on her bottom. I am doing that right now with my daughter because like yours...she could care less. After trying the bare bottom thing, she doesn't like it when she feels a trickle down her leg. If she pee pees in the potty then she gets to pick out a pair of panties to wear. If she pee pees in them then they go away again until she pee pees in the potty. Then we start all over with picking out new panties.

Good luck!!!

Hi A., I can relate to your frustration! My daughter, who is now 3 yrs 2 mos. old, was showing all signs of readiness to potty train when she was 2 yrs. 5 months old. She absolutely knew she was *about* to go; could physically get her pants up and down; knew what the potty was for; and had no problems sitting on it. She just didn't feel like it or see the need, especially when she was busily absorbed in doing something else.

Knowing that she was fully ready and able, and understood the process, I then adopted a few strategies that made all the difference.

1. I didn't use pull ups; I used diapers. She was very much into wanting to be a "Big Girl", and diapers are definitely for babies. I didn't shame her or scold her; I just calmly told her that when she goes in the potty, she will get to wear panties like a big girl and won't have to wear baby diapers anymore.

2. I bought panties with her favorite characters on them. She loves Dora, and definitely wouldn't want to pee on Dora! I washed them so they were nice and soft, and I got a lot of them, because accidents do happen. I held these in reserve until...

3. I cleared my calendar for a whole weekend. Sometimes, a 3 day weekend is better. I got her little potty set up, had a favorite book of hers to read while she sat (and *only* when she sat, no other time), and then told her, "You are a big girl now, and you are going to use the potty now when you tinkle and poop, so let's take these nasty diapers off and put on these panties."

After that, she ran around in panties and I sat her on the potty every 20 minutes, without fail. I set a little kitchen timer for 3 minutes every time she sat, and when the timer went, she could get up. She resisted a little at first, but then really started getting into it.

When she had an accident, I didn't scold her, just told her to try and get it in the potty next time. Then I had her pick up the wet panties and put them in the bag...she didn't want to do that again.

She started feeling pretty good about being a big girl and made several comments about how soft her panties were!

I unfortunately came down with the flu in the middle of this process, so I put the potty next to the couch and crashed on the couch. I hadn't intended to fall asleep, but I had done, and she woke me up tugging on my sleeve to inform me that she had made a bowel movement in the potty, and was waiting for me to help clean her. Yay!!!

She has had only a few rare accidents since then. It seems we just needed that intensive weekend to matter-of-factly make the point that this is what we do: we use the potty.

All this said, children are ready at different times. I have potty trained four very different children, and there was no point in starting until they were consistently displaying signs of readiness. Once they were, though, a focused weekend usually did the trick.

Good luck!

Don't get discouraged! While boys and girls pottty train differently, I had the same experience with my son. I had heard others say that when they're ready, they are READY and it happens magically. I kept trying to push it, and nothing was changing. Finally when my son was about 22 mos the lightbulb came on and he decided that he would use the potty. Since that time, he has probably only had one accident. HE had to decide when HE was ready, without me deciding for him. The other thing I had to do was take his pull-up away. That only worked as a glorified diaper, he didn't care if he used the bathroom on himself, it was just like wearing a diaper to him. I know every situtation is different, but hopefully this will help. Good luck!

We are dealing with some of the same things. Advice I have received includes a potty timer. Set it at 20 or 30 minute intervals and when the timer goes off...they go. It takes the pressure off of YOU being the one to 'make them go'. We have the potty chair in the living room (lovely....I know) so that she doesn't feel like she is missing anything. Of course mine won't even sit on it yet...she prefers to carry it around (she's only 2 and 3 months) but her stuffed hippo uses it all the time. Harriet has been potty trianed for months, I am hoping the lesson will carry over. We also watch the Elmo Potty Training DVD. Very annoying, but she has been interested and my friends swear by it. I have also heard of 'naked days' take a weekend and let them roam free of any bottoms, or use real panties and when they mess themselves, clean them up and use the time to explain about the body functions. Messy, but I am told it is effective. Good luck!

It makes for more laundry, but we use the no pull up method sometimes on the weekends. If we let her go with nothing at all, she sometimes thinks it's fun to play in the puddle, but she is very uncomfortable with wet panties/pants, so you may want to give that a try too. Just make sure she's not wearing shoes!

Hi A.,
I am a 59 year old who has raised 2 daughters and 1 niece. I had that problem with my first daughter and it is very frustrating. One day it came to me to try taking her to the potty WHEN I had to potty. I took a story book set her on her potty and then I sat on my potty and I started reading HER book out loud. Then as she heard me "tittle" I acted very surprise and happy that I had done that then I handed her the book and said, "can you read to mommy." She did, she didn't "tittle" but after a while of doing that she did finally potty and it was like a light coming on for her. You have to remember you have 'let' her potty in a diaper but now you're trying to change all that and it is confusing to them. Once you have them trained try NOT to put her back in diapers that is confusing her all over again. You will just have to deal with the accidents once she really understands you will see that the accidents soon stop. You also might try using her 'baby doll' so she will be the mommy of that baby that helped with my youngest daughter.

Good luck and remember it just takes patience.
Nana from Oklahoma

Hi A., I am a 31 year old mother of four and let me tell you they are all very different. My first two children were potty trained by 18 months, the third was not potty trained until his third birthday. He knew what to do but decided that he would not comply. On his third birthday we woke up and I exclaimed "Happy Birthday! You are a Big Boy now and it is time to start using the potty!" The birthday boy lokked me in the eyes and said "alright mommy" and that was it. My last one however is now 3 and a half, and we just accomplished the deed this week. He has been defiant about the whole thing, it is easier to just play and let the diaper do the work. And although he has used the potty here and there in the past lately he refused to even sit on it. We finally agreed that he was too big for diapers and taped up the box together to give away for a little one, he does not like the idea of being a "Big Boy" though so we have changed our verbage from big boy pants to special pants. After about four rigorous days of cleaning up messes and finding out why he was so determined not to use the potty we have done it. I really think that when our little ones wear disposable diapers they don't feel the wet on themselves and it is very easy to go about their business. Once they realize how wet clothes feel against their skin, from underwear, they don't like it. Another thing to watch out for is developmental issues, sometimes bladder control is not very good and before they realize that they have to go the bladder has already begun to release. Just be patient, let her know that is is time, and try to find out the reason behind why she has no interest, all of the answers lie within your daughter you just have to be the detective and solve the mystery. Once she is ready and knows that mom won't budge, she'll probably be very compliant, fun outtings or games are good ways to initiate compliance too, and it is not like a bribe with toys or candy, it is simply letting her know that her and mommy, daddy too if he wants to come along(it makes it much easier when dad gets involved in the praise and working with them) can all spend quality time together, that is irreplacable. The thing is to make it fun, natural and a positive experience, accidents will happen and we clean them up but always re-inforce the positive and have faith, it will happen before you know it.

Read the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" by Azrin and Foxx.

Does she have a favoite baby doll? You could show her for about a day that her BABY goes potty. Reward her baby. SHE'LL GET IT.

I put my 2 year old son in underwear and took him to the bathroom every 15 minutes or so. We've been working on this for about 3 weeks and now he just tells me when he has to go. The only time he wears diapers is at night, it's important that you don't get discouraged and put her in a diaper during the day. It does get tiresome but it works.

My son turned three recently, and is newly potty trained. I was pulling out all of my hair at first. Then One day I decided no more pull ups because I would get discouraged when he would go on himself and just put on a pull up and give up. That was a big mistake because it only confused him. so take this weekend and only use underwear. Go invest in the plastic mattress covers, Mr. Clean, extra undies. Whenever you think you have to go take your daughter. Try it for the weekend and see if it works. It worked for my son I am so happy to be pull-up free.

First of all when a child is ready then they will go. They go better at school/daycare because their friends are there and going as well. Let them go with you or daddy or big brother or sister. Put her a special treat bag by the potty and each time she goes she gets to pick a treat make it stuff she really likes, small toys (un-opened happy meal toys are great for this, books, colors ect... anything that she really likes. Go buy her favorite character panties or if she is a princess buy her some pricess panties and a crown, make a big deal about them. Tell her no tee-tee on dora or blue's clues or in your special princess panties, if she has on princess panties put her crown by the potty and each time she goes she gets to wear the crown. Reward her in a way that will get her to the potty, and remind her constantly and then walk her there and tell her it will just take a second and then you will feel better. Singing is also an excellent way to get a childs attention, make up a song about going to the potty, make it a happy song a fun and exciting song and start singing it about the time you think she might need to go and get her singing it with you and walk her to the potty.

good luck!!!

I saw some advice from Dr. Phil where you have your child teach one of her dolls to potty train. You're supposed to make a big deal out of it when the doll "pees" in the potty. The hope is that your child will see how much fun it is to use the potty and start going herself. W/ my son, I bought a little potty and left it out in the room where he was playing. Then I just let him go naked from the waist down. He would run over and pee in it constantly. It only took a couple of days for him to be out of pull-ups. Good luck!

This worked like a charm on my 2nd daughter, who is turning 2 in a month. Buy the padded cotton training panties (I bought Gerber ones at Babies R Us, I think you can find some at WalMart). Just let you daughter wet her panties to make the connection with what's going on with her body. (try to stay in a room without carpeting and stay off the sofa!). It takes about 4 days and she will realize it is easier to pee-pee on the potty rather than stopping to change and clean-up. You can get her to help you clean up the floor with a rag and put her in charge of getting a clean pair of panties and pants each time. I put a diaper over the panties for naptime and just use a diaper at bedtime. Just put her on the potty the second she wakes up and start putting her on the potty every 2 hours or so. She will soon learn to go potty, if she needs to, between the regular potty stops. I also believe in rewarding progress with treats--cookies, etc. and then one big toy when she can keep her panties dry for a few days. Good luck.

Hi A.. I don't really have any advice, but more encouragement. My little girl turned 3 last July. I had struggled for months trying to get her to use the potty and she wasn't interested. Like you said we did the jumping up and down and excitement, etc. Didn't help. Well, literally the day after her 3rd birthday, she went in to use her potty without being told to. From that moment on, she went every time. It still took another 4 months or so to keep her dry at night, but daytime was great! Just wanted you to know that it is probably right around the corner. Don't sweat it. Keep up the good work and it will pay off soon.

I would suggest using a kitchen timer and set it for 20 minutes each time and that will help her remember that she needs to go to the potty. Also, if she is in childcare, ask the daycare workers to do this for you. Now if they do, you would need to keep this up at home also. I know it will be hard at first, but I have a two year old boy that will be three in April. My daycare worked with him and I kept it up at home and he is potty trained and only wears a pull up during the night. He has been potty trained for almost 6 months. She will start potty eventually, oh try to not use potty chairs, get the potty set that goes on the big girl potty. My child never like being near the ground like that and when I changed his set he loved it.

I hope everything goes okay.

I am a mother of one boy and pregant with my second child, I have been married for almost three years.

A.,
Potty training with girls is all trial and error. My daughter was nearly four before we really were potty trained. I was working so hard to get her trained by three. I finally gave up until one day she wanted to pick out her own panties from the store. I told her we weren't getting panties b/c we couldn't use the potty. She said the would. I told her that if she went in the potty for a week like a big girl we would come and get the panties. It took a little bit longer than a week to get it but she began to have something she wanted to work toward. She is now 11 and hates me telling people about how hard it was. I decided that I wasn't going to stress over it and then when it became her decision it was a piece of cake.
Blessings,
C.

A.,
I am a mother of 3, 2 of them being girls. I had no issues with my oldest son and oldest daughter...they were both trained shortly after turning 2. However, I struggled with my 3rd and youngest. She just didn't seem interested. With the other 2, as soon as I switched to big kid pants, instead of pull-ups, they caught on quick because they didn't like the feeling of pee trickling down their legs...and I'm sure it was quite embarrassing as well. My youngest is 3 ...she will be 4 in August. She just caught on after Christmas. It was seriously like night and day. I am a SAHM, so she was always home with me....while big brother and sister were at school. I also kept smaller children in my home, which were in diapers, so I'm sure that contributed. After Christmas, we enrolled her in a Mother's Day Out program and it was immediate. The first two days I took her in her pull-ups. And the children in this class were meant to be potty-trained. I explained to the teachers that she will sometimes go potty...and other times she just doesn't seem to care. Within days she was potty trained!!! It was amazing. And she was so proud of herself. I remember one night she fell asleep on the couch with us without going potty first, so I carefully put a pull-up on her. The next morning she woke up very mad at me. She said, "Mommy, did you put a diaper on me?!?"... which I said YES to....then "But, I'm a BIIIIIG girl now, not a baby!!!!" She has since been in big girl panties day and night and we've had absolutely no accidents.
Think positive. Maybe she needs to be around other children who will motivate her... by seeing them use the potty she will want to do the same. Don't give up.

My daughter is 4 and has no interest in the potty at home. I recently switched to a more structured child care and she has been staying dry at her day care, so I started sending her in real panties. She goes to the potty when she needs to and flushes! As soon as she gets home.....poo-poo in panties!!! Maybe you should switch to a more structured place. If they can stay dry all day for their teacher, that is a start.

A. S. I to had this same problem with my two boys. I know this going to sound bad, but it was the only way I could achieve the goal. I will use my first son as an example.

My son was 2 1/2 years old, I to had to get him potty trained. Like yours, he would use it when he thought about it or when he wanted to, but not on a regular bases. So I sat my little boy down one day and I told him: You get one diaper today, If you wet it, you will still have to wear it. If you poo-poo in it, you will still have to wear it.

So he went off to play in his room. A couple of hours go by and my son bought me a new diaper and laid in the floor for me to change him. I stood him up and looked directly in his eyes and said do you rememeber the talk this morning about one diaper? He put this little confused look on his face, and said YEEEESSSSS. I said well, we don't need a new diaper, you only get the one today. So go to the potty or you are going to be wet all day. Sorry! But your a big boy now and it is time my big boy to go to the potty every time. A few hours later we repeated the same thing but about poo-poo this time.

I didn't change him. He was uncomfortable, he didn't like it at all. He kept bringing me a diaper and saying ddddirty! But I stuck with my train of thought here. He went to the potty the rest of the day, and if you want to talk about a mess. Huh! The next morning first thing, after sleeping in is dirty diaper, he bought me his big boy underwear. He was potty train.

My train of thought was: He is comfortable and dry as long as I changed his diaper every time. So why stop his playing, I'll just get mom to change me. THEY ARE A LOT SMARTER THAN WE THINK. But take that comfort away and hey hey hey!

When my son was 18 months I started to potty train him. I was going to be having my second child right around the time of his 2nd birthday. He loved being read to, so I would sit with him and read books to him the whole time he was on the potty. Then he got to where he would never want to get off the potty. He is now 25 months old and rarely has accidents. Just remember that it may still take a while before your daughter will be able to stay dry at night. Also, in the begaining, you will have to take her very frequently but she will eventually get the hang of things. Good Luck!

Is she in pull ups or underwear? Kids know that they will not make a mess in pull ups or diapers............leak proof. try the underwear when you can be home for a few days straight.