Need more potty training tips and ideas for 2 year old.

[ginadodson]

Our daughter is a smart, independent 23 months old and has shown an interest in the potty for a number of months now. When she was about 16 months, we bought her a cute little potty that plays music and talks to you. She will go into the bathroom (where her potty is, also), disrobe and sit on the potty. We read books while on the potty. She very often accompanies (or tries to) anyone in the house while they go potty, so I'm sure she knows basically whats going on. She has once gone "pee pee" in her potty and I praised her highly, we celebrated and everything. Nothing since then, however.

She will tell us after she goes "poo poo" or "pee pee" in her diaper and will even go get her own diaper and wipes, and lay down to be changed. When she has a solid BM, I will take it and her to the bathroom, dump it in the big potty and we wave and say, "bye bye" and flush it together. I've tried pull-ups - both the regular kind as well as the ones that supposedly feel cool upon becoming wet. Didn't make a difference to her.

I've tried letting her run around "au naturale" and watching her carefully to make sure she doesn't have any accidents, but inevitably, she catches my back turned for a split second and has an accident anyway. We have bought "big girl" panties, and she loves them, but she still won't tell me when she needs to go. We have a nightlight in the bathroom (no window), but I've also left the light on so that it's not too dark for her. I can't go anywhere without her following, so I've tried bringing the potty into the living room, where we spend most of our time together, thinking the bathroom might be too far to make it.

She eats like a bird (and usually on the run) so she doesn't have BMs at the same time each day, but she doesn't try to hide when she has to go potty, or when we ask her if she is pottying, either. She will stay dry through a nap and I try taking her to the potty as soon as she wakes. We've even tried using her favorite candy (M&M's) as a reward and sticker incentive too. Recently, she's gotten to the point where I can tell when she is going, because she will usually grab her crotch, and almost immediately want her diaper changed.

At her 18-month check-up, her pediatrician told us that she'd potty train in her own time. He gave us some tips, which we have implemented, but per his instructions, we've not tried to push it too much more than just trying to be as consistent as we can. We'll try something for a few days and when there are no results, wait a few days and try something else.

Does anyone have any more ideas we can try? I wouldn't mind saving the money we spend on diapers, but I'm not feeling pressured to train her; she just seems ready to me.

Thanks in advance!

[Molly_B1]

From a pure behaviorist point of view: although you are trying to be consistent, I'm not sure you really are. If your daughter is much like mine - smart and stubborn - it can be a fine line to walk. I very often find myself wondering what the "right response" is to various situations. You have a long list of things you have tried but also state you aren't pushing and if something doesn't work in a few days, you try something else. The most important lesson I learned with potty training is that no matter what, I can never make her go on the potty. Ultimately, she was in control. You sound amazingly perceptive to your daughter's needs but I think you may inadvertantly be sending her mixed messages. If I were you, I think I would just "make a decision and stick with it." This advice is something I tend to give quite a bit. I think I would get rid of diapers, buy only the pull-ups (I found the easy-ups and the kroger brand to last all night) and just commit. Don't switch back and forth and change your mind due to no results. While she's in the pull-ups just keep talking to her about being a big girl wearing big girl pants. Be sure to pull them up and down as if she had panties on (provided no poopy presents are there for you).Let her keep wearing those for a while. My daughter finally made her final transition when I took her to Target (they seemed to have the best selection of little girl panties) and let her pick out what she wanted. She put them on that day and has worn them ever since. She did wear a pull-up at night for quite some time and I just told her that she was still learning to not go pee while she was sleeping and that she would soon sleep in her big girl panties. She did, of course, have a few accidents, but once she got to feel the freedom of no diaper and experience the true independence of it all, she took off and hasn't had an accident in months. I hope this helps and if anything seems unclear please let me know and I will try to elaborate. Good Luck!!

[Shannon_47]

Our daughter was also interested in the potty before her second birthday, like your daughter. We thought she'd be trained in no time, but it seemed to take "forever" (and we're still working on night-time). We used a sticker chart and it seemed to help her to see the chart filling up. We also gave her two M&Ms or Skittles for going "poo-poo" on the potty since that was a more difficult task. Once she had a better handle on going poo-poo, we adjusted the sticker chart to give her a goal. I created my own that had blank spots followed by a picture of a lolly-pop. Once all her blank spots were filled with stickers, she got to pick a lolly-pop out of a big bag. Sometimes it took her a few days and sometimes she would get to pick one in no time. It was totally up to her. She still had a lot of accidents until she decided one day she wasn't going to any more. That was really all it took...her deciding. (It seemed to help a little when she started wearing "big girl panties". Also, we called Pull-Ups "special panties" in hopes she would recognize them as panties and not diapers.) I know it can be frustrating to hear the doctor say she'll "potty train in her own time", but in our experience, that proves to be correct. I encourage you to continue being patient and encouraging to her. She'll suprise you one day. Good luck!