Busy Mom Needs Potty Training Help

If you start potty training now, you are in for a long and difficult learning process. Since you are so busy, I think you would be happier waiting until after her second birthday and just using the potty for play and practice right now. If you wait until she is really really ready, it will happen in less than a week.
If you do choose to do it now, it will take a lot of coordinating with her grandparents and daycare provider so you are all on the same page and doing things the same.

It is really great that your little one is so clued into the process of going potty and using the toilet. However, she is very, very young and while she may be starting to understand the process she probably isn't quite as in tune to her "need to go" as she is "already gone and needs to be changed." I think that if you try to potty train now you will probably be in for a long and frustrating road. Keep encouraging her to let you know when she has a dirty diaper. And let her play with a potty chair and follow you into the bathroom etc. Then try when she is a little bit older.

My advice is take it slow and easy! When I would go to the restroom, all three of my kiddos followed! With all three I would help them pull off their diapers so they could "potty" too. Asking her often helps but mostly don't rush it! My first daycare provider rushed my first child and it caused her to cry and avoid the potty. Broke my heart. Once I put my foot down and left things alone, she realized that being a "big girl" was more important. A fun potty is cool too. I have one that I bought for my son last year and he only uses it to stand up at the sink. It sings when something goes in....If you would like it I would be happy to hand it over. It's been bleached often I assure you! My second job is a nurse and bleach is my favorite cleaner! You can contact me here or at ###-###-####. Good Luck! Sorry, just noticed my mother was still signed in on here. She's now in Texas! My name is Jancey and you can call or email ____@____.com

H.,

I wrote this information a while back to another gal who was working on potty training. Hope this helps:

Here are some other considerations as to know when a child is ready to potty train. I took these excerpts from this great book on the subject called "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day."

Bladder Control: Do you notice that she urinates a good deal at one time rather than dribbling throughout the day? Does she stay dry for several hours? Does she appear to know when she is about to urinate as indicated by facial expressions or by specific postures she adopts? If yes to all three than she is aware of her bladder sensations and is ready to begin training. If she does the first two, she may still be ready for training, since not all children give this visible indication of their desire to urinate.

Physical Readiness: Does she have enough finger and hand coordination to pick up objects easily? Does she walk from room to room easily and without the need for assistance? If she does, she is sufficiently developed physically.

Instructional Readiness: To determine if your child has sufficient social responsiveness and understanding, ask her to carry out the following ten actions: Ask her to show you (point to) 1) her nose, 2) her eyes, 3) her mouth, 4) her hair. Ask her 5) to sit down on a chair, 6) to stand up, 7) to walk with you to a particular place, such as another room, 8) to imitate you in a simple task, such as playing patty-cake, 9) to bring you a familiar object, such as one of her toys, 10) to place one familiar object with another-for example, "Put the dolly in the wagon." If she carries out eight of these ten instructions, she should be considered intellectually ready for training.

If She Does Not Pass the Readiness Tests:
Most children over 20 months of age seem to be able to pass all of three of these tests. If your child does not pass the test for Bladder Control or Physical Development, you should wait until she has developed more coordination and more bladder control. Initial bladder control and physical coordination are very much a matter of simple maturation.

(There is some more about if she doesn't pass the instructional readiness test too if you want me to give you that information, let me know.)

Anyway, these guys did a lot of research on the subject and I think the key here is that if you want her to learn quickly and not have relapses that it is wise to wait until she is completely ready. My son is 3 and we just started him yesterday. It is working pretty nicely as he is able to pull his underwear up and down, which may be a more difficult skill for a younger one. The question you want to ask yourself is do you want to have to step in and help with various steps in the process or do you want her to do all the "potty" stuff herself? I think at a younger age, you will find that the former is true. When they are a little older, they will be able to do more for themselves and then it is not just a glorified diaper change with more work for you, but an independent act that they can do and feel good about too.

Good luck to you! I highly recommend buying the book. My mom used it when she trained my brother and I and said we were both trained in one day without any regression or problems afterward. The only thing I would say is that the book tells you not to have any toys or distractions while training. We ignored this advice and spent a day entertaining him in the kitchen dining room/area where there are wood floors and if he didn't want to "practice" (every 15-20 minutes or so) we would take some of the toys away and that worked wonders to motivate him. They advised to buy some "special drinks" that he would be encouraged to drink all day so that there were more opportunities to practice. That did the trick....we had lots of opportunities to say the least! And then we had M & M's to reward him (a couple at a time) when he did it successfully. (Those are two tips from the book also.)

Blessings,

H. C.

You can start by letting her run around (outside) without a diaper (in your back yard). Put the potty out there with some toilet paper. Tell her what it is for. Take her to it a number of times and see if she uses it. When she comes in bring the toilet inside, have her use it before nap time. Don't say anything if she doesn't use it or makes a mistake. Praise her if she does. I am of two minds whether or not to put her back into diapers. Your choice.

Good thing it is summer. If she completely fails for a week, stop pushing, and wait a while. Good luck.

I am a 25 year old single mother, and during my daughters potty training stage I was going to grad school full time and working 3 jobs just to get by, so I definitely understand being busy while potty training! My daughter would do the same thing (just sit on the toilet, or wipe while dressed), and did so for probably a year. She's now almost 3 and has only been potty trained for about 3-4 months. When your daughter is ready, she'll just do it. I had a bag of m & m's sitting by the toilet, and she got one every time she sat down on the potty and "tried" to go. The thing that got her going the most (I think) was being in daycare and around other children that were potty training. She saw them going potty and wanted to do the same thing.

She may well be ready to potty train. Don't let anyone insult her capabilities otherwise. I used the book Toilet Training in Less Than a Day on my 27 month old, and it worked like a charm! It takes a bit to read it, then you need a block of time set aside to do it (several hours, usually). If you follow all the steps, it works!

I agree with the previous poster - don't rush it! This can cause problems down the line; better to let them take their time than try to force things...

We also had a really fun potty; I can't remember the name but Fisher Price makes it - it vaguely looks like a "throne", and plays a different *kind* of music based on what's going into the potty (lovely, huh?)

Good luck!

you could put one of those little potty seats on the big toilet. I found that it was a lot easier to potty train my son on the toilet he would always be using than to confuse him and not to mention clean up the mess from the little potty. Ask her often if she needs to go potty, put her on it every hr or so and maybe give a reward (never food) for every time she goes. Like a sticker or something on a board and when she gets so many she can get a prize.

Dr Sears book have some very good ideas in them. We have found leaving them diaperless especially while playing outside is helpful. ( put a long dress on your girl or a long t shirt on a boy) they feel it when they go and want to not have the pee on them. I also use just panties as much as possible @ home, yes I have to wash more clothes but it is ok.

I also praise every step toward the right thing ( sitting on the toilet or even just going to the bathroom in the right room) Using cloth diapers at night almost guaratees she stays dry since she can feel it. I take her and put her on the toilet as soon as she wakes so we have one victory to start the day off. I also take her every time she wakes and shortly after eating. I also ask if she needs to go every time I need to go. ( which is more often than the little one, but at least I do not forget.

It is harder when I am gone, mine does not do so well for a mom's helper. I am sure that they praise her as well and we work on using cloth and panties when she is gone from me as well which helps, it's just she does better with me.

Hope some of this helps, I shoot for doing really well with it on weekends and not as well during the week when I am gone more.

After 3 kids I found the easiest method of encouragement is utilizing a toy...a baby, doll, bear whatever they value. Say the bear has to go potty. Put it on the potty chair, and then make a big deal about it going and give it praise and maybe even a treat.
Also, keeping a book for your child to occupy her time while she is waiting for the big event to happen also helps pass the time.

My oldest started showing interest at 18 months. I put him in pull-ups, encouraged him, and celebrated his successes with stickers and such. By about 21 months he was pooping 100% if the time in the potty, and peeing about 50%, so that was when went to big boy underwear. The first few days he had a lot of accidents, but we stuck with it and he was fully trained before he turned 2. Of course every child is different. My youngest just trained and he will be 3 in Sept. He did not show he was ready until about 2 months ago, so we waited until he was.

If she seems ready ease in to it, if she starts to not want to do it, then back off and wait till she is a little older, she will lead the way.

blessed be.

If you have hard wood floors I highly recommend letting her be naked from the waste down at home, or in the backyard. It did so much for my daughter in terms of awareness about what she would be feeling before she would pee. We would just have cloth diapers (hand towels you don't care about would work) close by for quick clean ups.
Know that it will be an up and down process for months and months. It would seem like it had been months since she peed outside of the potty, and then suddenly she would. It's all in the continuum of normal. I just brought extra panties and leggings and waterproof bag with us.

I've had 4 kids and each one was ready at different ages, though they showed interest early. Just encourage her and don't get stressed if it doesn't happen when others think it should, remember that many of your childs accomplishments happen on HER time table. Your little one will become potty trained, just patience Mom!! Trust me!

Well, my perspective is that at your child's age is too young for most children. I have been teaching preschool for almost 20 years and have a three year old. Most of the time children will let you know when they are ready to use the potty, they can tell you when they are going, when they are wet and when their diapers are full. I have heard some parents being successful around this age but I for one have not seen it in all my years of teaching. They really need to be physically and emotionally ready or you will end up working on toileting issues for a lot longer period of time. At around 2 and half my daughter informed me that she was ready to poop on the potty and it still took a few months to get the idea of going potty. She could feel the need for pooping where the potty part seemed to take her longer to figure out. When she was ready she did most of the work on her own. Now my niece was started early and her parents worked on this for over a year. They pushed it a little harder and she wasn't quite ready. yes, you are right about being consistent! What ever you decide, your child will let you know if it the right thing for them. The more parents push the toileting the more issues I see the children having. It is a physical and emotional development thing! In the meantime, I would encourage doing all the things you are doing and just not make it be a big deal! Good luck!