Potty Training Tricks?

I agree with Clarissa. You can potty train in a day or so, but only if it is the child's idea. If it isn't, you are in for several months of misery.

With my first I tried to potty train at 2 1/2 when he first showed that he was ready. It took close to six months. Night time took several years longer. I think he learned to hold it in until he was asleep!

With the next 3 kids, I waited until they wanted to. All of them arrived at that stage around their 3rd birthday. They were potty trained within a few days, and dry all night within a couple of weeks.

So, the end result was that all were finished about the same time! The oldest was just harder!

I havent read the potty train in a day books. But, we used the rewards chart where our son was able to put a sticker on the chart each time he went potty/poopy. And then after he went he also received a treat. One weekend we just didnt leave the house and I let him be naked and when I saw him start to pee I would scoop him up and run him into the bathroom and put him on his toliet. He caught on pretty quick. Good Luck!

I have no tricks to offer, but for what it's worth I do want to share my experience potty training my kids.

My daughter showed all the classic signs of being ready at 2 1/5 also, but in retrospect she was not mentally ready. Potty training her was a nightmare for the both of us, and it took forever. I wised up with my son (2 years younger than my daughter), who showed all the classic signs of being ready at about the same age, but this time I listened and waited until he told me he was ready to use the potty. Training him was a breeze! How I wished I had waited with my daughter! It would have saved us both the frustration.

Good luck potty training your daughter!

**Edited to add the following**

Like Kiran, I highly recommend NOT using disposable pull-ups. I used the Gerber training pants (thicker cotton underwear that you can find at Target) on both my kids. Granted, they don't hold in all the pee (pee WILL run down their legs and form a puddle on the floor), but it will be uncomfortable for them and therefore encourage them to go in the potty and not in their underwear. Besides, they've got to be more comfortable than diapers/training pants. :)

I think some kids pick it up easier & more quickly than others. And they do have to be ready in order for the experience to be successful. That being said - I highly recommend using underwear (or going completely bare) during the day. Apparently Pull-ups are so absorbent and comfy so the kids never feel wet. In our case the underwear worked - DD figured out that wet underwear was not as nice as a wet Pull-up. We have been doing it for over 2 months. There are occasional accidents, but DD is potty trained for the most part. She still wears a pull-up at night.

Ditto on Lora Jensen's e-book at www.3daypottytraining.com. Of course it's not like 3 days and then your child is perfect, but it made it concrete for my daughter and I feel that it was great for her. I know about 6 other people who did this around the same time I did and we've all had great success! Good Luck!

Just wanted to add a few important things to the advice you received. First off, i've met many people that did the 3 days thing or day thing with great success, so i agree that that must work. Secondly, I wanted to address the caveats people posted a bit, becaue they are on target but i took a bit of a different approach and it might help you. I've potty trained 2 boys and both trained really young. here is how it went. (and this is just to show you how much it varies from child to child, same mom, same circumstances!)

First child-totally surprised me when he took off his diaper around 11 months (he walked early, so he had been walking a few months before this). Anyway, he took off his diaper and carefully peed on it (didn't miss a drop!). when i saw that, i realized that i should go buy a potty chair (this was in 1998). so i went and did and he took to it immediately. loved it! that child never had "accidents" period. At 14 months we took him on a trip and he peed and pooped in the potty the entire time (we took potty chair and would stop if he had to go (my parents idea, not mine)(but it worked well). he peed at his other grandmas house and pooped on her potty and she was amazed. Anyway, i want to emphasize all this was nothing I did, the kid was just ready (and he's mentally advanced too, as well as an athletic child, so im sure that helped) but at the same time, i 've learned a lot since then to know that even children that are not as advanced could probably do what he did if they were motivated. My kids have big bladders too and were dry when they would wake up in the rmoing when i would check the diaper (even though they drink a lot) so nighttime was never an issue in this family.

Second child, i KNEW not to expect that he would necessarily train anything like the first one. IN the interim (7 years) between children I had learned about EC (Elimination communication) so this time around (2004) I bought a BBLP (Baby Bjorn LIttle potty). I kept it available from the time he was just crawling even and he enjoyed peeing it from time to time. Basically, the theory behind that whole thing (EC) is that you are letting them be able to go potty in teh same way you do, whey they are ready. So we worked with him and if we knew he had to pee, etc. we'd try to let him do it in the potty (the BBLP) or a big potty whenever we could. Peeing he liked to do in the BBLP, but he only pooped like once in there and must not have liked how it was, because he woudn't do it again. I bought various things for the big potty and he did finally take to it, with a lot of that happening around 18 months (which is a common potty training window of opportunity) . they aren't as stubborn as older toddlers yet nor as resistant to moms ideas. So they still feel like they have more control, even though you are suggesting whereas when they get older, they get even more independent (which is good, but i personally like to potty train BEFORE they hit that stage). Anyway, before he was 2 or right around his second birthday he was always peeing and pooping in the potty, no accidents. However, as i mentioned earlier my first child NEVER had an accident. SEcond child, totally different personality and he would sometimes pee somewhere just for the fun of it almost (at 14 months and stuff). So i did have to clean up pee and all , (but i've had pets before!) so i just learned how to clean up really well and do everything I could to minimize. I knew that it was worth it because i knew that he would be trained and totally out of diapers before age 2 and he was and without me forcing, cajoling, etc. So, every child IS different but i just really don't like changing diapers, so I liked doing it the way we did and if i had more children, I'd go the EC route again, probably even work at it a little harder, as i was very lax with it. Far as the age of your daugther, i'll just say that its good you are starting now rather than age 3, as you may still have hit the "window of opportunity". you'll know if you have or not after a week or two and if she's already stubborn then something like the one respondent posted may be all that will work for you at this juncture :).

There is a method called Potty Training in 3 Days. http://www.3daypottytraining.com/
If you stick to her plan completely it works! It sounds similar to a couple other comments. It's amazing. My daughter at 21 months did excellent with it and I have many friends that have had success with it.

Good luck!

I know you have received a lot of suggestions already, I just though I would put my 2 cents in as well. I have 5 children and my youngest decided to potty train himself. I tried potty training my oldest 2 1/2 at the time (girl) and it was just anger producing, the poop in the underwear, the poop and pee in the bed and on the carpet, not worth it, so I just stopped and decided to go back to the diapers. I decided, that she will eventually go to the bathroom on her own if I just ask every now and then if she would like too. If she wanted too, great, if not great. No problem. She potty trained herself by the time she was 3 on her own even through the nights as well. I decided to do this with my other 4 children and it has worked splendidly. No stressing out with it, they decide on there own and best of all, no clean up. :) My philosophy is if they are not potty trained by the time they go to Kindergarten (and everything has checked out okay mentally and physically with my child)then they can go to school in a diaper, the kids will probably notice and say something (probably not nice), then I am sure after the comment he/she will be potty trained from that day on. I think all they really want is some control, if that is what it takes let them wear the diaper.