Question About Potty Training

I purchased a book from amazon that was a "Potty Train in 3 Days" book. I read, reread, and finally jumped in to go for it. Well, at the end of the 3 days, my son was not without accidents, but had a good grasp of the concepts and pees were extremely successful. Poops were still needing lots of help, but at least there wasn't pee all over the house and 15 loads of laundry from all the undie washing! lol! Anyway, the books just emphasize the need to be sure your ready, committed, and that you don't turn back when the going gets rough. It teaches you some of the things to say when there is an accident and you are at your wits end that shouldn't damage your child's psyche for the rest of their life! lol! That kind of stuff. I found it helpful, but not a garauntee that in 3 days I had a potty-pro! Hope this helps! BTW, good luck with your teacher training! I was a teacher for 7 years before staying home with my children and I love the job! I know I'll go back to teaching one day too. Best of luck in your new career - it is a great one! :)A.

before buying any books i would go out and buy like 12 pairs of underwear and put your child in them, we did that with our daugther when we started potty training. Within 2 days of her wearing underwear and feeling herself getting wet or noticing the "feeling" before she got wet she was potty trained. She did that 2 weeeks before her 2nd b-day and only wears a pull up for naps or bedtime. you may have a couple of days of changing lots of underwear or cleaning up but it is worth it.

I think that buying a book would be a waste of money. Just put your child in training underwear and talk to them about going to the toilet. Most children do not like to wet themselves. It is very uncomfortable when it runs down their leg. I just potty trained my 2 year old and it took her two days of wetting herself to realize that she did not like that. Whatever you do, don't go back to diapers. Just be patient and they will catch on. Also, take them to the toilet as soon as they wake up in the morning. That is the best way to learn. The strategy I used with my daughter was to give her 1 sticker to put on her calendar for #1 and 2 stickers and a sucker for #2. She gets so excited when she goes in her toilet. I let her pour it out in the big toilet, wash her hands by herself and pick out which stickers and which sucker she wants. It only took us 2 days and on the third day she was potty trained!

Hi J.,
I don't know if it's worked for other people but my 3 1/2 year old son was so resistant to potty training. I tried so many different techniques. One night we went to a Love and Logic class at church (which has been wonderful!) The next morning I sat my son down and told him that I wouldn't be buying anymore diapers so he would have to either go potty in the bathroom like a big boy or he was going to get wet and have to change himself. That was in February and we've only had 2 accidents since then. That day I did prompt him a few times by asking if he needed to go potty and then walk him to the bathroom. I'm really loving the books "Love and Logic". There's a few suggestions in the book that seem a little manipulative but we've done a pretty good job of tailoring it to our family. Hope this helps.

I think probably anything works if you use it at the right time. LOL I used Toilet training without tears. One of the things they mention as successful with older kids (3 up?) who haven't yet potty trained is a 72 hour potty training intensive. Basically it involves, for 72 hours, nothing but eating, drinking, sleeping, and pottying. Seems like it would work.

I used the technique described in the book "Potty Training in Less than a Day". Here is my experience- for my very stubborn, high-intensity, ADHD son it seemed unsuccessful at first (this technique involves a very intense 4 hour training session.) Within 2 hours I gave up and put him back in Pull-Ups (this was at age 3.) One month later he came to me and said he was ready to wear underwear and get rewards! And he did not have any accidents at all- he remembered everything from the training session and even told me what he was doing (words straight from my mouth from the session.) So, while it was not "in less than a day", it was successful once he decided he was willing to do it. He still wore a pull-up at night though.

When my daughter was three I tried it again. Things went much better for her, but it was still more like 3 days before she was completely trained (just a few accidents in those 3 days.) She also still wore a pull-up at night.

I plan to do it again when the time comes for my 3 month old! I like it because you are actually "training" the child to recognize when they have to go to the bathroom, not just saying "OK, tell mommy when you have to go pee." This technique was developed in the early 70's originally for mentally handicaped adults who were not yet potty trained- but they adjusted it for children and found that it worked very well.

If you are opposed to giving your child food rewards then this technique would not be for you. My kids both asked for the rewards for a few days after the session- I told them that they would get the reward only after dinner if they kept their pants dry all day and then only for one week. They were fine with that and did not even remember to ask for the rewards after about 5 or 6 days.

Hope this helps! Good luck with whatever you choose to do. I liked this one because it was not a long, drawn-out process- six months of taking them to the bathroom every hour or so was not my idea of fun! My biggest piece of advice is DO NOT use the disposable potty training pants!!! They are just fancy diapers and the kids know it! Buy the cloth training pants and just be prepared to wash them!

P.