Preschooler Potty Training My 3 Year Old

When my grandson (I have full custody)was just about 3, I was concerned that he was not potty trained. I stayed at home with my 2, so I had more control, thus they were trained earlier. I decided that the daycare depended too much on pull-ups and it was up to me. I decided that I would have a "Potty Training Boot Camp" over the 4 day Thanksgiving holiday. I put him in cloth underpants and ran him immediately to the potty if he tinkled a bit in his pants, or if he showed the signs of having to go. By the time Monday came along, he was potty trained. He has had no more than a couple of accidents since then. You have to be very very diligent and let them know they are big now. I also have a potty that would applaud when he tinkled which helped. Good luck!

I have had the same problem with my 2 year old. I just had to let her go for a bit and she started telling me potty one day. I was so upset when it didn't work the first time I tried it. Now she forgets to tell me most of the time but she will go in there with me and go potty. Maybe she just wants you to go with her. The only other advice that I have gotten that seems to have helped is to have an open door policy with her. Let her in the bathroom with you or her daddy and maybe she will get the hang of it.

V.

well sweetie, the only thing i have to give is that it takes along time to potty train and all kids are soooo different... just give her time and understanding.. i dont have a little girl but i have raised one from 1 month on and it is hard , but just keep trying and i promise thin will happen and she will get it at some point... some kiddos just take their sweet time.. cheers , S.

Hi my name is S. and i have a 4yr old daughter. I potty trained at 1yrs old. I was a single parent and was working part-time and really didn't have the money to buy diaper, you see my child had very senative skin and could only wear huggis. So when she turn one I quit buying diaper and I bought panties. I let her take her potty chair everywhere around the house with her. If she wanted to take it in the living to watch t.v. I let her or on the porch I didn't really care as long as she went. And at night I would not give her anything to drink after 8pm and put training pants on her and wake her about 3am to go to the bathroom. This may seem a little nasty because i let her carry it all around the house but hay she was potty trained in a week with no incidents. But you have to be patience and persistance. This is one of those things that you can't stop just cause you think she not getting it. take to the potty every-hour on the hour if you have to. And it also helps if she goes to day-care that they do the same thing.

Best Wishes
S.

I think you need to let her be herself. My son is now 4. He finally became fully potty trained at 3.5. He would first just pee in the potty. You may want to try undies but just be prepared for messes. That is pretty much what I did. I didn't punish for accidents, but I did explain to him where he was suppose to poop. I also put the poop in the potty so he would see. One day he did finally get it and just went by himself. The peeing part, I finally ran out of diapers and just went to the thick undies.

Good luck! Sometimes it is a challenge. My other kids were a breeze.

Hi M.,
My best advice is to take any and all diapers, pull ups, etc. away. She is old enough to understand some reason at this age, and she won't want to be wet or dirty. Also, take her to the bathroom frequently. You may have to spend a could of days at home so you don't have troublesome accidents while out and about. Give her a big drink and take her to the bathrrom in half an hour. But, you definately have toget her out of diapers, she has to feel that wet sensation! Good Luck!

Have you tried letting her wear panties with a pull up over. It saves you from a bigger mess, but still lets her feel the wet panties and you can still reward her for keeping the panties dry. That helped with my daughter.

You just have to stay on it..potty training is a full time job...my oldest was trained at 2 and my youngest at 1 1/2...i just stayed on it..put them on the potty after eating and in the morning when they got up....i was a stay at home mom so that made training easy. Plus i wanted my kids to go to headstart and they will not take children who are not trained....so i was on a hustle to get them both trained b/f they turned 3.....LOL

Good Luck

FYI
If your using pull-ups throw them out the window...get nothing but those thick undies, and put the plastic undies over them...

in my opinion you should not punish her for not going to the potty. everything that i've seen and read has said that punishing them can lead to UTIs and constipation. if they aren't comfortable going in a toilet, they should still have the chance to relieve themselves.
i know that girls are different than boys, but my son did really well when we (my hubby or i) attended the 'potty sessions' with him. all we had to do was give him immediate verbal praise and eventually we just tapered out and stopped going with him... now he'll do it alone!
we also didn't push at all.
he's 2.6 years.
hope that helps
T.

My advice is to try not to care and get her in a social situations where it is advantageous to her to be potty trained. ie dance, soccer, play dates ect. Sounds like you are doing a great job, and your daughter may have not fully developed the neurological synapses needed to consistently use the potty. The synapses relied on to wake a person from their sleep upon a full bladder fuse last. She, your daughter, will be ready when she is ready and often this battle when chosen to be fought by parents only extends the length of time their children remain untrained. Very rarely do children develop content to soil themselves. Soon the very thought will motivate her to change her ways...

I know it's the tough love approach, but sometimes if rewards don't work with my kids, the opposite will. They will lose something they love if they're not giving a good effort. Then when they DO give a good effort, they get that beloved activity/toy/TV/etc back, along with an extra amount of praise.

Potty-training is just hard with some kids. I wish you luck and patience! :)

M. B

My youngest is 10, but the 1 thing I remember is taking her to potty every 3 hours; sometimes I would turn on the sink faucet to give her the urge; good luck

My son just turned one so we haven't started potty training yet, but one of the women I work with said that she finally just threw out the diapers and put him in undies. He had a few accidents but ultimatly figured it out.

The only advice I can give, is just be patient with her right now. Don't put her in diapers. Keep her in underwear except at night time and bed time. With potty training it's usually 2 steps forward, one step back. She'll get it. Good luck!

I have a 5-year old that is still in diapers. My older son wasn't potty trained until he was 4 1/2. He just wasn't emotionally ready to take that step, but when he was ready he was potty trained very quickly and easily. I would not panic if I were you. As for my youngest, nothing worked with him. We tried charts and Spongebob undies and games and just plain taking away his diapers. Now, we are having him tested for anxiety-related conditions. This is probably not the case with your daughter, but professional help will be available if you ultimately need it.

When it finally happened with my oldest son, we took him to the candy aisle at the grocery store and let him choose 3 bags of his favorite candy. We let him have one piece for trying, 2 pc for #1 and 3 pc for "#2". Something about letting him choose his own reward seemed to motivate him. And he was emotionally ready to take the step, then everything fell into place. Blessings and best of luck to you!

i have a little girl who is 2 1/2 she'll be three in feb. but we just accomplished potty training. our dr in florida told us to not push her, she will get it when she is ready!! so we waited and waited, and one day a few weeks ago, she peed and it went out her diaper and watched it go down her leg. well my husband fussed at her alittle bit but to too bad, and told her that she should have went to the potty. well thats all it took, the next time she had to go she wanted to go to the toilet. i would tell you that she probably isn't emotionally ready yet. the dr told us some don't train until they are 4-5. so be patient with her! she get it when she is ready.