Hey moms! So, I’m always noticing how people are struggling with potty training their little ones. Here’s the deal, I am absolutely NOT an expert, however, I asked my mom how to do it, and followed her advice perfectly, and also have passed on the method to many of my mom friends, and VOILA! I’ve never known for it to take anyone more than a week! Most of the kids with this method only take 3-5 days, some only 2! So, I thought I’d take time on this Thanksgiving morning to share and pass on my mom’s/grandma’s/great grandma’s advice.
Day one: Get a lot of books and favorite movies out. Put the little potty on the floor in the livingroom. Place your child on the chair with only a shirt on and sit and play with him. He may not want to sit at first, but if you find something he loves to do, whether it be reading a favorite book (or 10), or playing with a certain toy, he will become less interested in getting up, and will sit there for you. If you have to, buy a few new things and only let him play with them while he’s sitting on the potty. Sit there with him until he pees (so you definitely want to give him a bunch of juice about 15 minutes before you sit). On the first day, you may sit there for over an hour, I know once I sat there for almost 2 hours! Sounds nuts, but we played the whole time, and he was enjoying the extra attention. So, be ready, because when he finally pees, act crazy excited! Show him that he peed, bring him into the bathroom with you when you flush it, and have a sticker chart made (make it a big one) with all his favorite stickers to choose from. Set a timer for an hour, and do it again, sitting until he pees, in between, put underwear on him with thick pants, like corduroy or sweats, and two pair of socks. This will help with cleanup because it keeps the pee from reaching the floor. Just be ready to do a lot of laundry that day! On the second day, start again right away in the morning. You’ll notice he will go a lot quicker than the day before at times. Keep the underwear and thick pants/socks on to help you out with accidents. He may or may not poop this day. But in case he does, have a “poop surprise bag” that you have shown him from the beginning, full of toys for each and everytime he poops. When he does poop, let him reach his hand in blindly and pick his surprise. On the third day, get out the shampooer and leave it in the livingroom because out comes naked boy! Get rid of the potty and let him start sitting on the toilet, since he will go much quicker now. (If day two seems to be going well, skip to the naked bottom that day) I left a shirt only on mine all day. This way, if he had an accident he would see it happening and I would tell him, run to the potty! Plus, a child is a lot less likely to poop if he’s not wearing underwear or a diaper, so he’ll save it for the potty. By this time, they’re going to start telling you when they have to go. If you notice he’s asking you to go potty every 5 minutes or so, be patient, he may be fighting having to poop because he is scared of going on the potty, so be patient and take him each and every time he says he needs to go. My son cried the first time he went poopy because he thought it was scary, but as he was pooping, I was sitting in front of him telling him how proud I was of him and how he would get a new toy from the poop bag when he was done. After that time, he never had any issues with pooping, and the prizes lasted all of the first week, so it became exciting getting new toys all the time! On the fourth day, it’s time for underwear! Make sure you’re still setting the timer so there aren’t many accidents. Voila! After a few dry overnight diapers, they can be thrown out! Oh, and start on day one to limit liquids 60-90 minutes before bedtime every night, to help with being able to stay dry throughout the night. It take A LOT of patience and effort, but they WILL potty train quickly! I trained my daughter two months after her 2nd birthday, and she took about 6 days before she had no accidents, and I kept pullups on her for naptime and bedtime for the 2 weeks following. With my son, I potty trained him 2 months before his 3rd birthday, and he potty trained in 4 days, and I was able to get rid of all his pullups on the 7th day. All my friends and family who have dedicated themselves to this method have had the same type of success. Good luck! Pass it on!