Potty Training in 3 Days Method - Has Anyone Tried

Hi,

I used the online version for my son when he was three years old. It worked like a charm, but it did take about 4 or 5 days. I think it took longer because he was a little older. I now have twins, and I plan on using that method with them.

Good luck!

My son is 20 months old and I have been thinking of potty training him. Everyone's advice and tips are great and I will be definitely trying out these methods. What online book is everyone talking about?

I didn't use a book, but last year, when my son turned 3 (November 25), we focused on potty training over winter break (3 weeks after his birthday). Basically, I started by letting him be naked from the waist down for a few days. I stayed with him so that when he looked like he needed to go we sat on the potty (I took it with us room to room). I also checked in every 30 minutes to one hour to see if he wanted to go. He got this quickly. Then we used underwear only for a few days and then to full pants. It takes constant vigilance but it went very quickly with very few accidents. Gradually, I just stopped reminding and he would tell me when he needed to go.

Good luck!

We just started the 3-day training method. We used the online book from Johanne Cesar (www.thepottytrainer.com). After we got it, we realized we really didn't need the book after all. The only thing it taught us was to be specific in our words.
My son is 2 1/2 and had been showing interest in the potty, but wasn't telling us when he had to go. We still decided it was time to try. We got the big-boy underwear and told him for several days ahead of time that he would be allowed to wear them come the weekend and no more diapers for him. We blocked off three days where we didn't go anywhere. (Or, if we had to, one of us was always home with him.) We also went to the hardware store and bought plastic paint dropcloths. I wrapped the couch and any chairs he was likely to sit in with the plastic, then covered that with towels.
Days 1 and 2 were a little rough. There were some messy pants and one carpet cleanup (get a cleaner meant to clean pet urine). We were visiting the potty every 20 minutes. Day 3 got better. Day 4 he was back in preschool and had an accident, but it just got better from there. We're now on Day 9 and he's been staying dry all day long. He's still in what we call a "nap diaper" to sleep and he still won't tell us when he has to go, but we're taking him every hour and he knows what to do. I think tomorrow we're taking the towels off the couch!

Is that the book by Richard Foxx? We used that method and it works. Good luck, be patient, and keep a sense of humor.

We used it in April when our twins were 3 yrs, 2 months. It was a great success. They were more than ready. Method is supposed to work for night training too, but I got tired of changing sheets in middle of night, so I've resorted to overnight diapers for now. Frequently they are dry in the morning, but not always so I'm going to keep using them for a while longer. They are 100% potty trained for day-time, and boy are we happy! Good luck!

I would like to know about this too!! My 22 month old will walk around with no diaper on and the min she needs to go she will go and get one. I figure if she can do that then she can use the potty.

I didn't use the book but did the cold turkey, no diapers, only underpants and naked outside. By the 3rd day there were no more accidents. Going #2 is still an issue and took some getting used to for my son. Still wearing the night diapers. some mornings are dry and he asked to go potty and some nights are wet diapers. Still trying to determine when we will tackle that one:-) Best of luck!

As the parent of two, I would say skip the book. We did Dr. Phil's One Day training with our first and it was a disaster. We did goofy potty dances, peeing dolls, all sorts of ridiculous things that did nothing to train our son. You will look back and laugh if you try these things, but we were desperate at the time, as so many are. I'm guessing this book offers a similar strategy.

What is comes down to is ditching diapers or pull ups and committing to a weekend of cleaning up messes. Put towels on your furniture, stock up on cleaning supplies, including laundry detergent. If your child is ready, you don't need to set timers, you just have her use the potty periodically. Obviously, tons of verbal praise when all goes well and no reaction if it doesn't.

It doesn't have to be as complicated as the books make it out to be. And keep in mind that some kids are just harder to train than others. It's luck of the draw. It took a good year to train our first and our second initiated the whole thing and was done within a month or two. If the child is ready, you lay the foundation by a weekend devoted to panties and basic trips to the potty and refine things from there. If not, try again in a month or two.

Good luck!

I am part of a Mom's group with multiples (twins, triplets, and quads). Almost every Mom used the three day method successfully. They used the on-line version of the book. One of my girls has special needs so it took us a bit longer than 3 days. Good luck and be patient.

I too am waiting to read responses to this. My DD is 2 1/2 and regressed back to square one after being in a leg cast for almost 4 weeks. School begins in a couple of weeks and I don't want to go back to work (I am a teacher) defeated =( since I swore to all my teacher friends she would he potty trained and binky free by the start of the school year. I have failed in both so far. The leg fracture weakened me!

I used that book and another book my friend gave me that she bought online called called the 3 day method by Lora Jenson. I did it with my 3rd child when she was 22 months old. It took about a week but it worked. I was so proud when I took her to her 2 year wellness exam in panties! I used pullups with my older 2 and the whole process took about a year. In my experience, going straight from diapers to panties is the way to go. I think the most important thing is to make sure you're able to stay home with her for several days and monitor her constantly. After that make sure she uses the potty before you go anywhere and also get her used to using the bathroom when you're out in public. There will be accidents but I think it's much easier than dragging it out with pullups. Good luck!
Cara

I just got a copy of the book from my sister in law. She used it successfully with her daughter. And she bought the book because two of her neighbors and three of her friends swore it worked. I will be trying it next weekend. Hopefully all of the endorsements I have heard are true.

I potty trained my daughter right before her 2nd birthday basically in a few days.She was starting to tell me when she had to go and she would take her diaper off.

It took about 2 weeks for her to fully get the concept but we did it basically did it in 4. The way I did it was I took her and let her pick out big girl panties, then on the day we started I made a HUGE deal about the fact that she was in big girl panties. I blocked the days off and didn't go anywhere. I took her to the bathroom every 15 minutes on day one and day two day three we did every thirty minutes and day four we did every 45 minutes. Then from then on I would reminde her about once an hour to go potty and she would go. The first 2 weeks she had a few accidents but after the 2 weeks she was pretty much day potty trained. It took her awhile longer to night train. Just be consistent and don't put the diapers on during the day

My youngest it took him longer to get the concept of the potty but when he did he was completely day and night trained.

i didn't follow the book, but i would say do it. I trained my duaghter in just about 2-3 days. i put her on the potty every 2 hours and it worked great for her. after just a few days she knew what to do on there, and she would tell us she has to go and would go. i did think about using the book if i needed to, but at the same time i didn't want to push her into it.

good luck.

Updated

i didn't follow the book, but i would say do it. I trained my duaghter in just about 2-3 days. i put her on the potty every 2 hours and it worked great for her. after just a few days she knew what to do on there, and she would tell us she has to go and would go. i did think about using the book if i needed to, but at the same time i didn't want to push her into it.

good luck.

We just did it with my 27-month-old son, and we were delighted with the results. I have several friends who used it, and all but one said it took more than three days...but within a week, their kids were virtually potty-trained, and it was maybe three weeks before they were comfortable putting them in underwear all day during their waking hours. (Before that, they were still doing a lot of "naked time," just to reinforce the training.) We're on Week 4, and we're thrilled. My son had a couple accidents the first few days, but after that he started using the potty 95% of the time. In the three weeks following that first week, he's averaged one or two accidents a week--and most times, he's on his way to the potty but just doesn't quite make it there on time.

I think the biggest key (in my opinion) was to not give in to the temptation to put the child back in diapers after a couple accidents. With our son, we had to be firm about "we're not using diapers anymore except for naptime and bedtime," and although he cried for about 45 minutes straight on the second day, that was it--after that, he accepted it and has been very comfortable with it ever since. I think putting them back in diapers for anything other than sleep could be really confusing--one minute you're telling them NOT to go in diapers, and the next minute you're telling them to go in diapers.

Just my two cents. For the record, my son is VERY willful and stubborn (in addition to super sweet and wonderful, of course!), so we thought potty training would be a real battle. But he took to this method beautifully. Every child is different, of course, but I would recommend any interested parent at least give this method a try. It has worked great for everyone I know who has tried it.