Potty training your child

United States
November 27, 2007 10:23am CST
I would like to know what worked for you when you were potty training. I have tried pretty much everything with my daughter. I am doing to potty chart now I just started yesterday so I don't really know how it's doing. She seems to like it so far. I have tried candy and everything. I would also really like to here from the mothers or fathers that also had a little one while potty training. My daughter is 2 years and 3 months. We have been training for 3 months now and getting no where. She uses it and she will go poop in it but she still keeps peeing all over. She has a little sister that is almost 7 months old. Please help, I am at wits end.
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9 responses
• United States
27 Nov 07
I never had any attention on it. I didn't have any beliefs about what age they should stop wearing diapers or any of that. I did have a little potty chair in the bathroom though, and I know that children learn by example, so I brought them in with me every time I went and explained to them what I was doing. My son stopped wearing diapers at a very early age, about the same time he started walking, and he never even used the little potty chair... he would clamor up onto the big seat and get it all over the place. My daughter didn't get out of diapers till she was around 2, and she liked using the little potty. But again, I never put any attention on it whatsoever, except to take them with me when I went. Relax about the subject and let them grow at their own pace without censure and criticism or the fear of disappointing you. As it turned out they both potty trained themselves.
1 person likes this
• United States
27 Nov 07
Oops! Mentally delete that last line, since I didn't do it physically!
1 person likes this
• United States
27 Nov 07
I tried the charts and candy, and pull ups. They dont work. I found the best way is to take the pull up and undies off all together. If they have something covering them they feel they can go in it. With nothing on but a pair of shorts they will go to the bathroom. Once they learn that the pee runs down there legs and not in a pull up. I did this with both my boys. Once they get the hang of it and are "Big Boys" they get to go get there own new underware from the store. It will take some practice but she will get it. Praise her when she goes. Make sure you cut out drinks 2 hours before bed. And make her go before bed. This way you eliminate accidents at night. Just keep tring and she will get it soon enough. Good luck!
• United States
27 Nov 07
I have tried letting her run around the house with out panties on or anything. She does fine at night. She goes to bed with a sippy cup but she wakes up dry and goes to the bathroom right before bed and right after she wakes up. The pull ups I only use when we are going out in public so she doesn't make a big mess in the car. But shes great in public she rarely has an accident. It's only at the house. I have her in panties but ones with out the liners so she still feels and runs to the bathroom. I think shes just not getting the feeling before hand that she needs to go.
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@wmaharper (2316)
• United States
28 Nov 07
Well, you are on the right track. WHen my youngest was 3 months old, my oldest (2 years 3 months) decided he wanted to potty train. He had a friend come over who went pee in the potty, and he thought it was the coolest thing. Because of the new baby, I had planned on waiting until my son was a little older, but when opportunity knocks, i've learned to go with it. NOw, he wanted to learn initially, but then decided it was too much for him.. but I wasn't about to lose all the momentum, and time I spent with him. I read a great book called "potty wise" The authors have other books out, that alot of people think are too strict, (I personally like most of them) but that doesn't matter, because THIS book, hands down, is what helped me to potty train my little guy. THey Have 3 different ways you can do it , One day (for older children, or children who already have a hang of the potty thing) over a few weeks for those in between or over a course of a month. Because of our situation and that my youngest was so little, We did over the course of a few weeks, I didn't have the energy or the undivided attention to do it in one day.. If I can remember correctly, He started to go pee in the potty immediately, He refused to poop, as I think he got scared when he almost fell in the big toilet at the mall. So after a few months of him still refusing to poop in there, we bought him a bribe. We went to the store, picked out Mack the Truck (from the movie Cars) and put it up above the toilet. We told him "son, if you poop in the potty, you will recieve mack" He looked at it, and asked, "if I poop, I get mack?" I answered yes. For a few days after that he continued to poop in his pullup, then one day he came to me, and said "mommy, I poop in the potty, because I want mack" and he did, and he recieved mack, and he's been pooping in the potty since then! (: HE's now three.. SOme things that helped. Rewards, I gave him little m and m's he got one for sitting for 10 minutes when I told him it was time, and then if he produced anything he got 5 or 6 of them. Phone calls, when he was just starting to go pee in the potty, I had him call his Grandpa and tell him all about it.. I had coached grandpa before hand to be really excited, and My son was so proud hearing his grandpa praise him the way he did. And for awhile, everytime he'd pee he'd ask if we could call grandpa. (: We also, got rid of the diapers, pullups unless we were leaving the house (and with a baby so young, and a potty training toddler, we rarely left the house) He peed all over himself, the floor, the rugs etc. quite a few times, but I made him help clean up the mess, change his clothes etc. Also, just be patient, it takes a while sometimes. It's not going to be as easy to potty train a 2 year old as it is a 3 year old. SOme of your friends kids may do it faster, but it doesn't mean that you are doing anything wrong. If you are trying new ideas, that's great, just make sure you are giving them time to work, before you move on to something else. The chart worked pretty well for us to, after he was going consistently, I used the chart instead of m and m's He got to put his sticker on the chart, and I gave a sticker to him as well to put on his shirt, that way when daddy came home they could count how many stickers he had on his shirt together. Good luck, and don't give up. I remember being in your exact situation, thinking I'd never get my kid out of diapers, just hang in there.. she'll get it soon enough..
• United States
28 Nov 07
Thank you so much. We have started a reward thing with the chart at the end of the day we count up the stickers that she got and minus how many accidents she had then we give her pennys. At the end of the week I told her we could go to the store and pick out a present. I will try to calling thing though. She loves to talk on the phone. So maybe that will help. I am not really worried about other friends' kids getting it quicker. The only other one of my friends' that has a two year old trained also has a 4 year old and no babies. So i know that has a lot to do with it. We let her start on her own. We got her potty seats one for each bathroom when she started crawling so that she could look at it and play with it and get used to it. Then on day while I was in the bathroom she decided she wanted to use the potty too. So i will just keep up with it. Thank you everyone so much for all your advice.
@violeta_va (4831)
• Australia
27 Nov 07
My son who is 4 years and 7m was toilet trained about a year ago. It was hard I must say but dont give up and keep insisting. Our first problem was getig him to sit on the potty than to sit long enough then to do something in the potty and than not to do it in his pents. It took us few months to do it. I tried reading to him puting the potty in front of the tv nothing worked. Then I got some baby powder and some brushes and I would sit him on the potty and give them to him he would sit for hours just puting powder on his legs and brushing it off I did that with cream as well as he loves that. I would do it few times a day around the same time and he got the idea of what he was suposed to be doing. As I needed to get to him every time he mada a mistake in his pants I would disciplin him (send him to his room without toys, corner) and then when I knew he needed to use the toilet but was too busy I would say you dont want to stand in the corner do you so he would run to the toilet. since november 2006 we had only one mistake around new year as went for a picnic and he didnt know where the toilet was he did it in his pents but other than that he is fine. Also she might not be ready so dont push it if you think that is the case.
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@lipscare (23)
• Indonesia
28 Nov 07
hi..., my daughter can pee and poop in the bathroom since 2 years old. Now she's 4 years. What i do is put the potty train in my room, i told her if she want to pee or poop just sit in there. And before she sleep at night, i told her to pee before go to sleep. And every 2 hours i wake her up to pee or when she still sleep, i hold and help her to pee in the toilet( bathroom ). And now, she not peeing in bed anymore and she can go to the bathroom for pee and poop by her self. And the thing's that make me relief is she is not using pampers anymore......
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@mummybec (685)
• Australia
3 Jan 08
With my daughter I started putting her on the potty after tea and before a bath at night then after she was used to that (she would do a wee every night) we started her on the potty in the mornings and afternoons too. Then one day she came up and told me she needed to go to the potty so from then I put her in undies and it only took 2 weeks to train her :) That is how it was for us anyway - every child is different but at least it gives you an idea....
• United Arab Emirates
28 Nov 07
Actually for my son, he started using the potty after he crossed his 2nd birthday. I had purchased a soft cushion type thing that we can keep on our normal closet. I started trying when he was one and half yrs old but could succeed only after he completed his 2nd b'day. One fine day he suddenly said to me that he wanted to use this thing. Don't worry, your daughter will learn it soon.
@garnet80 (349)
• Australia
28 Nov 07
My son is finally toilet trained. Well most of the time anyway. He is 2 1/2. He had a week where is was pretty good and then a few months where he wasn't interested. I was told when the child is ready with a helping hand from parents they pretty much train themselves. That's what my son did. I encouraged and he did all the hard work. The occassional lolly treat works wonders for sure though.
@lostdoor (26)
• China
28 Nov 07
Sorry for that i cant give you some useful suggestion, but i think there must be many mothers or fathers here can offer some help, and i think you also can ask your parents for some advices.