Potty-training an "Almost- Four-year-old" Girl.

Updated on April 15, 2008
A.C. asks from Canton, OH
23 answers

Any advice on what I can do to help my little almost-four-year-old girl use the potty?

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S.P.

answers from Indianapolis on

Insist on it.
Use a sticker chart.
Set a date when there will be no more diapers and stick to it.
Also, make her help you clean up any "accidents".
She is way old enough to be potty-trained.
It should have started to interfere with her life already....

I gave a star for every time they peed in the potty, and a sticker of their choice for every BM.
Sticker for being dry through the night and so on...
It would be ok to give a special "privilege" after a preset number of successes.
In other words, she could have a treat after a week of success for example.
New, pretty panties could be an incentive.
You could give her a pair each day that she has no "accidents".
I would stick around home for a week while you concentrate on this training.
Good luck.

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D.W.

answers from Jacksonville on

We used a potty chart with stickers (1 for pee, 2 for poop) and a treat basket (same number for each). After he filled up his chart with stickers that HE got to put on we took it to the store and he got to pay for his toy with his potty chart. After we filled up the chart we did away with it. He has been potty trained for about 7 months now and every now and then he'll still ask for a treat. Now we're working on #2!!

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L.G.

answers from Lima on

Pull ups are often NOT reccomended because they are the same as diapers, just easier for convience when they no longer fit on changing tables.

With two little boys we had in foster care and with my now 6 yr. old daughter, the only thing that really worked was finally putting them in regular underwear. There were a few accidents the first 6 months, but not many.
Also, my 6 yr. old could climb up on the toilet and wasn't afraid of it at all, so I never used the potty chair very long at all.

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C.B.

answers from Lafayette on

i got my daughters fav. candy (mini m & ms'), i set an egg timer for 15 min. and every 15 min. i took her to the bathroom, if she went she got 3 of her treats, if not she didn't get any. it took 3 days but afterwards she was 100% trained and hasn't had any accidents since.(that was 11yrs ago), she'll be 14 in dec.

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S.F.

answers from Dayton on

Use the "Potty Training in One Day" book -- it WORKS!

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A.C.

answers from Bloomington on

My sister had a similar situation with my nephew when he was about to turn four (he turned five in February). They live with my parents, and my mom watches him while my sister works and goes to school, so my mom helped a lot with the potty training. They're not sure why he wouldn't go to the potty, except for maybe pure laziness and not wanting to stop what he was doing. He was wearing Pull-ups at the time, so when it got closer to his fourth birthday, my mom and my sister told him that they wouldn't buy anymore once the Pull-ups ran out. Sure enough, there were no more Pull-ups about a week or so before his birthday. They made him wear regular underwear, and from what they tell me, he was instantly potty trained. There were probably accidents here and there, but by that point, he had enough control of his bodily functions to go to the potty successfully. Hope that helps!

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B.M.

answers from Evansville on

YEAH SMACKS! Just kidding. First of all you need to keep her in underpants all the time. If you use pull-ups at all she will stay lazy. Then let her see you use the toilet whenever you can. She would want to be like mommy. Does she at least peepee in the toilet? Do not let her drink anything after 7pm. You must put her on the potty every two hours. That means if she goes to bed at 8pm. Then 10pm and 12pm you wake her up to use the toilet. Soon she will not want to get up through the night and you will find her dry in the morning.
Let me know how you make out, Mother of three (ages 4,3,and 20months).

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K.A.

answers from South Bend on

Good Luck A...I have an almost four year old son and he refuses to poop in the potty. He will pee in the potty on his own without a problem but he will not poop. I dont want him to be four still pooping on himself but I dont know what to do. If you find something that works for your daughter let me know PLEASE!!!!

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K.P.

answers from Cleveland on

My daughter was 3-1/2 when I finally potty trained her. I finally just told her that they didn't make diapers big enough for her anymore and once "these" (and we counted them - 10) were gone, she would have to wear underwear and use the potty just like all the other big girls that diapers no longer fit. Counted them down to 0 and never had a problem at ALL. Never even an accident.

Good luck!

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J.R.

answers from Canton on

Does your daughter like being clean? When she potty's in her pull-up does she want to have herself cleaned immediately? Well if so, then that is a sign to go ahead and put her in big girl underwear. Maybe then she will go to the potty. Or if you put on those plastic covers over the panties... Some kids don't like the heat that attracts down there. She comprehends well at age 4 so there might be some underlying issue.

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K.P.

answers from Columbus on

I read the advice of the other moms and think it is great, but wanted to add that a little "magic" goes a long way. Put drops of blue food coloring in the water and let her change the water to green when she potties.

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K.J.

answers from Columbus on

Have you read the "No cry Potty Solution" by Elizabeth Pantly? It's full of good ideas. The one my daughter liked best was making her own potty book.

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D.K.

answers from Indianapolis on

Abbie was almost four when she finally got it. We kept telling her that big girls don't potty in their pants and talked about the things that she would be limited from if she didn't learn to go to the potty. Truth is........they'll go when they're ready.

I had a niece who refused to go. One day, her older sister, at five, offered to take her........that was the end of it.

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B.D.

answers from Indianapolis on

I am in the same situation my little girl just turned 3 and refuses to use the potty. She knows when and what to do but will not do it. I hate it when someone says there is an underlying issue. All kids are different. My first child was trained by 2 1/2 (boy) by second child was trained a little after 3 (boy) and now this is my third child (girl). All the advice here has been great, just dont listen to anyone that says something might be wrong with her.

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L.M.

answers from Albuquerque on

Buy some nice girly underwear and have her wear those during the day at home. The pull-ups become a saftey net for them. My daughter didn't get the hang of "going potty" until I took her out of the pull up. We also used a "potty pass" I printed out a clip art photo of a potty and laminated it on cardstock. She would get a smile face sticker each time she went - 1 for pee and 2 for poop. Once she earned 10 stickers she got a small prize. We would also use jelly beans as success rewards when the novelty of the pass wore off.

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C.J.

answers from Columbus on

Hi:
This is what a friend of mine did and it worked! She went to the store and bought some very cute undies for her daughter and of course she wanted to wear them. Anyway, she told her that she did not get to wear them until she started using the potty. It worked she did it for the cute underpants! Maybe that will work for you? I hope so and good luck
C.

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M.C.

answers from Cleveland on

I put my daughter in underpants (with her favorite characters on them) and let her tell me when she had to go.. After a fewe times of being wet, she didn't like it much. We used stickers on our calander after each successful time on the potty. For poops, we promised her chocolate, but only if the poop went in the potty. She's four now and she's been trained since this past fall.

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M.P.

answers from Indianapolis on

Put underwear on her and don't go back to diapers. Sit her on the potty as soon as she wakes up. Everyone has to go in the morning; make her sit there until she goes. Then 2 hours later, do it again, and so on throughout the day. If she has an accident, make her help clean up, wash herself and change her own clothes. She will soon be going all by herself. She is more than old enough and I'm sure she is smart enough. I potty trained 3 children all by age 3. There will be accidents, but at her age unless she makes a mess she is not going to care about using the potty. Good luck!

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W.L.

answers from Columbus on

Daisy was "mostly potty trained" at almost 3 What got her over the hump and going potty every single time was a visit to her cousins house. They are just a year or so older and when she saw them use the potty and get praised she HAD to do it too. Never needed a diaper after that visit not even for bed time. :)

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M.S.

answers from Canton on

Ok I have an almost 4 year old too. she's been potty trained for about a year but still has accidents occasionally. What I've found works best is if you are using pull ups or something like that and they are working make sure you stick to it. If you have time and patience get her some big girl panties let her pick them out and ditch the diapers completely (except maybe naps or bed time). reward her with stickers or paint her nails or something like that. You know what she likes so go for it! I hope this works and good luck!

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S.M.

answers from Dayton on

Our oldest boy was stubborn about potty training. We needed to get him out of pull-ups before he could start preschool. We sat him on the potty chair in front of the TV, played a movie and filled him full of juice. When he still hadn't peed near the end of the movie, my husband had the idea of wrapping a cloth diaper around him. Sure enough, that did the trick! As soon as our son sat back on the potty, he let go. After that he used the toilet, and hardly ever had an accident. He just needed the sensation of that cloth touching him to relax enough to go, and since it ran right through, he didn't need it next time.

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B.J.

answers from Columbus on

I went through the thing with my now 7 yr. old daughter. I thought she would never go potty. I bought her some Dora the Explorer undies and told her if she went potty in them she would drown Dora( my mom thought it was kind of mean) but it worked. I honestly believe they will go when they are ready you cant force them.

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S.K.

answers from South Bend on

I didn't have any girls, but I did successfully train 3 boys (and still have one to go!) I borrowed all the "potty" books from the library to start. We would read those books, and then take them to the bathroom, and I would read them while they would sit on the potty chair. We always had some kind of reward system going on. (it varied from child to child with me) I've had the sticker chart on the bathroom door ~ so when he'd go, he'd get to put a sticker on his chart. That worked for a little while... but eventually I think my boys kind of lost interest with just putting a sticker on a chart. So when they'd get a certain amount of stickers on their chart... they would get to pick a prize from the treasure chest (cheap dollar store prizes that I bought ahead of time and kept at home for this purpose) Another thing that worked for me was an M&M each time they'd go potty... and a mini bite-size snicker for poop. Candy worked great with my boys. For first time poopy on the potty, they got to pick out a decent size toy from Walmart or Toys R Us. Bribery always worked best for us!

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