Help with Potty Training My 2 1/2 Year Old

Wendy Sweeney can be found at www.bootycampmom.com is AMAZING!!! YOu can take your child to her or buy the DVD for $80 and do it yourself. It worked for me right away for my 2 and a half year old child. I had been doing it all wrong. Wendy is a MIRACLE-worker :))

Hi T. Just be patient with her she'll catch on. Maybe she thinks when she has on her underwear, it there to hold it LOL She sounds like the apple of you and your husbands eye.

Believe me I'm not making light of your situation, but I got a little chuckle out of this one. I've trained four thus far and I found that one to be a new issue.

Have you tried to take her to the store and let her pick out her own "Big Girl Panties"? Make a huge deal out of it and even give her a chocolate chip or two if she goes on the potty and not in her panties. Sometimes charts with stars work too, though my kids could have cared less. They probably would have liked little stickers for their hand or even a stamp though.

My daughter went through the same thing for awhile. Now that she has gotten really good at knowing she needs to go, she is fine wearing panties or shorts. But, like you, for several months we just had to have her in dresses only. It is a phase that will pass as she continues to know when she needs to go and can hold it for a bit longer. She'll get used to it. :)

H.

Hi T.,

We have been going through this very same thing with our son. Just a week ago he finally allowed us to put undies on him and he went in his potty instead of in them. He is doing well so far. We basically had to bargain. He was asking for something from the store and I told him that only big boys who who wore undies and went on the potty could have it (he wanted Cars undies -he already had Thomnas and Elmo at home). So I said if he put on his undies and used his potty chair while wearing his Thomas or Elmo undies then the following weekend he could have the Cars undies and we shook on it. It worked. He was very excited and we spent a great deal of time talking about it all week. If he forgot then I reminded him of our agreement. This week we also made a point to ask him if he needed to potty while we were out in public and he went several times. Only once did he get scared when the bathroom echoed and the toilets flushing were extra loud.

Before this agreement he would beg to wear a diaper (little brother is in diapers) or pull-ups. We said no because we felt he was being lazy about going potty. He would just go in his pull-up. Like your daughter he did great bottomless. Is there something your daughter would love to have that you can bargain with?

Good Luck - I hope this helps you as much as it has us.

Blessings,
L.

This is normal / not unusual. My oldest was fastidious and did not want to mess in his pants; the youngest could care less. With the youngest, I was more relaxed, so I would just put pull ups on him early on when we went out. Note: I was not in any hurry to train him and this can backfire or set you back -- child potty trained at home, not when you go out. Also try scheduling pottying when you're out -- go before you leave, when you get to your destination, every hour, etc. Another thing that worked with us after bare butt for a while was to wear sweatpants w/ no underwear (we were potty training in the winter); maybe loose fitting boxers under the dress will work the same?

Good luck and keep your patience -- it is just a phase of training and you'll all get through it! :)

I make my kids sit in the laundry room or bathroom until they take off their wet clothes themselves, and then put new clothes on(I had to help a little with this step). They all had a really hard time getting undressed with wet pants since they can barely dress themselves to begin with that the work alone deterred them from wanting to go through the hassle again.

I recommend the following resources...

http://www.askdrsears.com/faq/az36.asp

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t106600.asp

Best wishes,
J.