Potty Training! - Lakewood,OH

The first thing you need to do is prepare yourself. I felt like potty training was the hardest thing I ever did as a parent so far. You can’t really TEACH your child how to go or how to feel they have to go, they have to figure that out on their own, and you have no control over when that will be. It might be by 16 months, it might be around 3. So be prepared for lots of frustration (not at your child but with your feelings of lack of control or knowing what to do). I felt like a failure because I could teach my son his ABC’s, to count to 20, ride a bike, etc. all things he new before he was potty trained. My oldest was trained about 34 months; my youngest was trained by 28 months. Some things I used that helped – a baby doll that potty’s so she can see what you are asking her to do (I got one at Toy’s R us, made by fisher price), Bear in the Big Blue House, Potty Time, fun books on potty training (we had a Dora one that made a flushing sound, and “Princess and the Potty” that were the favorites) and lots of running around naked in the house. Both my kids were trained if left naked about 2 months before they perfected the task with cloths on all the time. Good luck.

Hi A.,
My little girl will be one April 23! Can you believe how quickly the first year has gone? Anyway, I bought a little potty for her a couple months ago just to see what she would do with it. I started sitting her on it and we would read a book. I even made up a little song to sing for the potty (a little goofy but she likes it). She didn't mind sitting on it at all, although she didn't do anything at first. After many tries, she finally pooped in the potty. Of course, I praised her. She has continued to poop and pee on the potty since then and has never had the anxiety that a lot of children experience. I work full time, so I try to sit her on the potty when she gets up in the morning and at night (more often when I am home). I even moved the little potty seat on the adult toilet (it is convertible) and she doesn't mind that either. She does not tell me yet that she has to use the potty, but I figure that will come when she gets a little older. I think it is most important to make everything very positive, low pressure and fun. My daughter does not have any negative associations with the potty. She even looks for her book when I sit her on it. So good luck!

You're right she is young but that jsut means you can take your time getting her used to the idea and not feel rushed or make the mistake of pushing her to fast. I took my oldest son out and let him buy a potty chair and then sat it in my living room and let him play with it, he knew what it was and it had never been used so it was clean but he became very familiar with it and it helped avoid the fears some kids have of the potty, one day after a bath he was streaking through the house and went in to t eh living room and used his potty and he was only about 18 months, after that the potty got moved into teh bathroom and anytime we was without clothes he would go and use it but we never asked or pushed we just let him do it on his own and made a big deal about it when he did, we even bought cheap little toys for a surprise if he used the potty, but within a couple of weeks he was out of diapers and we never had accidents which was amazing, not even at night, because his potty was his favorite toyu in the world even when he was using it as designed. hopefully whatever you decide works as well for you, my other two were jsut as easy but it did take my daughter longer to get through the night. good luck.

Buy a potty chair and introduce it. Don't force anything. Forcing leads to fights and tantaums and longer potty training time. When she is ready she will give you the signs. My son was saying the words and showing the signs from articles but just didn't want to do it. I spent over a year trying to potty train him...I finally just gave up and he did it on his own a few weeks later! The day care center my son went two had a no pull ups/two week rule. Where they went from diapers to underwear when they were ready and in two weeks, if they were ready when you started, then the potty training would be done. If they weren't ready then by the end of two weeks you would feel like you had gotten no where. Give it a month or so and try again. Their potty training is simply reminding the child every hour to two hours to go to the bathroom, walk them in and help them if they needed it. This worked for every child in the class except my son. :) Best wishes. I hope your experience is better than mine. Just remember, don't force it.

You should try to wait till she shows signs of being ready. My daughter is 3 and she potty trained at 2yr and 3months of age. She wanted to use the potty like mommy and her big brother(5) so I put her in underware and that was it. We haven't looked back.

hi, my name is C., and i have 5 kids, and 3 grandkids. all kids are different. with my first i listened to alot of parents, mostly of whom had girls. of course everyone was saying 2 yrs is the age! i tried and tried. he did start showing signs at 18 months. but though i did not force him, he was nearly 3 before he trained both ways. the second boy, i was told to wait until he was closer to 2 1/2.. was told boys are a little older when they are ready. i was amazed. he broke boht ways in 2 weeks! it was a cinch! #3 and #4 were also boys and it went pretty good, though not quite as well as #2, but still pretty quick. my fifth was a girl. she started showing signs at probably 15 months. i just let her, and praised her whenever she did want to. by the time she was 2 1/2 she was done. i will say one thing that personally i have found to delay things........PULL-UPS! along with some other parents, we decided they make things harder cause the kids cannot distinguish the feel in them from diapers. to them they feel the same. my daughter in law is finding out the same thing. so don't rush things for your convenience, or because so and so's kid is trained early. my former sister-n-law thought her daughter was trained at like 1 1/2 only because mommy had it timed that she got her to the bathroom every 15 minutes to keep her from having an accident. that's mommy being trained, not the baby! LOL good luck to all!

Hi A.
It might be a little too early to start training now. I always read that they don't even really have the capability to control and hold it until at least 2 years old when their system is a little more developed. I also read that the older you wait the easier it would be for them to understand the reasoning on potty training. Of course, you don't want to wait too long!! I guess it is all about timing. I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and she isn't potty trained yet. I have a little potty for her and keep it out in the bathroom all the time. Occasionally she will ask to go potty but she dosen't do anything. She will tell me when she has done something though (in her diaper). I figure she is getting close but I don't force the issue. I guess you could buy one just to see what she would do. Every child is different! Good luck!