Potty Training 3 Yr Old Girl

I would stop putting pull ups on her. Pull ups draw the wetness away from her body. Start putting regular panties. When she wets herself she will be able to feel it and will not like the way it feels. After a few accidents she will start to recognize the trickel and want to finish in the potty to avoid getting wet. I know you will be cleaning up a lot of messes and doing more laundry, but it will only be for a little while. My son was trained in one week. He was almost 3. Hope this helps.

Jessica H

try the kohler transitions seat.
It is almost like the grown up seat so maybe she'll feel more like a big girl using it.
We love it.

Some children are really afraid of the pooty and especially having a bowel movement on the potty. Have you tried some potty movies? Also, Dr. Phil had a potty party on a show a long time ago. It worked wonders. You may want to go to his web site and see if you can pull up that info or gooogle search potty parties for kids. Good luck. She will come around. Every child is different. This is probably a fear factor. My youngest child (very smart) had the same problem. He would ask me to put a diaper on him so he could go poop in the diaper. He was a little over 2. He would hold it for days so he wouldn't have to sit on the toilet.

I am in the process of training my 28 month old daughter. She had no desire to be potty trained or to want to start, but she was waking up dry. So I used the 3 day potty guide. I just kept her big girl undwear with light weight, light colored knit pants so I could see as soon as she started to pee. It took 2 days of lots of accidents then the 3rd day she only peed twice all day. I was so worried, but then by the fourth day she has gone potty each time with no accidents for almost 3 days. I know she will have accidents, but so far so good. The only thing is I cannot get her to poop in the potty yet we are working on the now. You might try that process there is alot of laundry at first, but they catch on quickly.

Hi K.,

My name is H. and I am a mom to Aden 3 1/2 and Kadence 1 yr old. Potty training with us was kind of stressful. You name a bribe we tried it with no such luck. Finally, my husband and I decided to put him in actual underwear (we called them big boy underwear) leaving the training pants behind. Within 1 week he was using the potty and hasn't turned back since. In my opinion the diapers/trainers still absorb alot of the urine so they don't "feel" dirty. But with the undies, it is on their body and they don't like that.

We also purchased (but you can rent it at the library) Elmo's Potty Training video. We watched it together numerous times and would talk about the potty and Elmo when he would sit down to go, even if he didn't have to.

Hope my story is helpful!
H.

K.,
We are also in the process of potty training our little girl, she's about the same age as yours. We are doing very well and hope to have her in her big-girl panties soon.

It sounds like your daughter is afraid to go potty (#2) because it'll hurt. One bad experience with constapation can do that sometimes, especially when they don't understand what's happening. Give her lots of fiber and maybe something more for her tummy (ie. yougart, prunes, etc.), whatever she'll eat / drink and see if that helps matters. If you don't see a change in her bowel habits then I'd ask your pediatrician for help. But I think that once you get that resolved things will go much better for you.

And remember, every child is different. Your daughter will come around. Just try to be patient and not get upset with her, that'll only make matters worse.

Good luck!
K.

My daughter was 3yrs.old when my sister went to the public library and rented a potty training video, after my daughter watched that she started going to the toilet. That was 9 yrs. ago, but I'm sure they still have something like it today. Hope this info helps you and good luck.

Don't Use PullUps. I swear my child could hold it for hours until she was in them. And this is with asking her to sit on the potty every half hour. I tried stickers, bribery, singing and reading to her on the potty. I think I even let her watch a movie on the DVD player to see if I could get her to go. I had more success with real" big girl" panties and letting her run around naked. (But Mommy, I WANT to be a baby!) After a several accidents, and it is going to happen, she got the picture. We had accidents in panties off and on on a decreasing schedule for a while. We had to quit putting her in PullUps at naptime and eventually bedtime too because she would wait for them. Buy lots of cheap panties (in case you want to just ditch them, in an emergency) and watterproof sheet and when she gets better I let her pick out her own special panties. I also bought her a (little) big girl toy after one week, and month of potty success. My child had so much trouble pooping we had to try little or no dairies(not much effect), changing diet, and natural laxatives(she actually liked prune juice for a while) to get things moving. In Emergencies we used Glycolax. We were desperate. Her bowel problems(since birth) have gotten much better but stubornness last a lifetime. The doctor laughs when she sees us coming.
Mom of 2 wonderful girls.

Put her in panties when you are home. I used this with both of mine and after a week of wetting their panties/underwear they finaly got the idea and started going to the potty. They didn't like the wet feeling, which is worse in panties/underwear than a pull up. My daughter was 2 years and 4 months when she was competly potty trained and my son was a couple weeks shy of turning 3 when he got the idea.

W. P

I agree get rid of the pull ups! Use them just at night. I have fostered and potty trained so many little ones and they are each different. Some would respond to rewards, others to grown up underwear... One thing I do know is that if you praise the good and ignore the bad it helps. The bad being when she wets, make her clean & change herself, have wipes handy (but don't let her waist them) Put wet clothes in dirty clothes basket, mop up any puddles (you will want to go back and redo the cleaning) PRAISE the times she goes potty! As far as the pooping I have found Benefiber works wonders, it does not taste and you can use as much or little as you figure out you need. Put it in their drink (something they will finish)I don't recomend putting it in the food because it is harder to tell if they got it all if they do not finish their food. My 3 year old grandson would "hold it" for days and it would hurt so much he hated pooping. He did good to go once a week and that was us using supositories. Now he will go in the rest room lock the door and poop, then come out for someone to wipe him, after he shows us what he did!! Benefiber worked a miricle! They eat healthy too, his older sister is the same way so was his dad, it's in the genes!
GOOD LUCK!!!

I didn't read the other responses, but the main thing to remember is that kids will get trained when they are ready and you can't compare children. I had one trained by her second birthday, but the other one, not till she was three and a half. My nephew just refused till he was five and informed his parents that he would be trained after his birthday!

It really depends on the child. I tried to train my son using the "put on the real underwear and steam clean the carpet all day" method, but he wasn't having any better luck. I also tried the "don't change him when he is really wet" but I am afraid that is a bad idea in retrospect because they can get rashes from the urine or vaginal infections from being constantly damp and then physical pain can interfere with the potty training. So I just try to take him periodically to the potty and have him sit. I give him M&Ms as a treat when he does go...reinforce positive behavior. Other than that, wait until she shows interest again is the best advice I can offer. She isn't too old to still be in diapers, don't worry about that!

My daughter was three when she was ready to start using the potty. To give her extra incentive I made a chart on a big piece of posterboard, with rows of six squares. In the last square of each row I put a picture I'd printed of a prize: Barbie Doll, Chuck E Cheese, books, the Toys R Us logo, etc. The preceeding squares were left empty. Each time Madison used the potty she was given a sticker to put in a square. Once the stickers filled up a row of five she received the prize pictured at the end.

I just wanted to say that when my daughter was 3 and a half, she wasn't potty trained either. There's a nasty little myth :-) going around that girls are supposed to be easier to potty train than boys, and my kids debunked that myth. My boy potty trained at 2 and a half, and my daughter was almost 4 when she was finally potty trained. That being said, don't feel alone and don't be discouraged. She will be potty trained in time.

One thing that I discovered in potty training 2 kids was that pull ups are the detriment and downfall of potty training. They are basically big kid diapers. Not only are they expensive, but kids don't really have to learn to use the potty with pull ups. My sister is currently struggling to potty train her daughter (the same age as my son) and has been using pull ups. I have never used pull ups with my son, and he's potty trained. As soon as my kids were ready to potty train, I gave them a week of running around the house with no underwear on. It only took a few days for them to figure out when to run to the potty. After that, I put them in the thick padded cloth underwear if we were in public, which gave them just a little absorbency but absolutely no comfort if they had an accident. I had to learn to carry a change of clothes everywhere, but it was totally worth it for them to have an accident or two. We didn't shame them when they had an accident, just said Uh oh! and went to the potty. They learned from their accidents, and potty trained very quickly. I wish you the best of luck and offer the best advice I can, stay away from pull ups!!

My son did not potty train until he was almost 5 years old. This is because my husband kept him in pull ups and then underwear with plastic cover. My son was "too busy" to go to the potty. When I finally made my husband understand that he needed to just wear his underwear he got uncomfortable and went on his own. Pullups are like a diaper and the kids do not get that wet feeling so go on and on. Try the underwear at home and see what happens.

I did the samething with my daughter I finally just took her out of pullups and put her in panties. This caused some more accidents for a little bit but the end result was worth it. It took about 3 weeks but she finally figured it out and now she just goes on her own.
From what I understand the pullups just give the kids a false sense of security. Now we are working on the panties at night. GOOD LUCK

Hi I just potty trained my daughter (the same age as yours) and we had similar issues. I found the best way to get them to go was not to say ANYTHING! I was always nagging "go potty" and they sense that YOU really want them to go so it becomes a power struggle. When I quit nagging and just held her hand and said "come on lets go potty together" she decided she could do it herself. As far as restaurants she did the same thing too. I just said "when you can go at home you can go at a restaurant." I think that was a motivation to just be able to check all the stuff out! Shopping for cute undies helped us too. As far as BM's I am sorry I don't have any experience with it! Hope it helps!

I have a 3 1/2 yr old girl and it was HORRIBLE getting her potty trained. And she still has accidents--at least a couple a week. Not poopy ones, but wet ones. In fact--she wet the bed last night. My boy--like yours--never had an accident after age 3 and he almost 11. I TOTALLY disagree with the girls being easier philosophy. IT IS NOT TRUE!!! It depends on the kid. I am 26 wks prego w/another girl and I am already worried about her potty training! All I can say is keep it consistent and it'll come to her. That is what I am hoping for as well!

i went through the same thing with my three year old just a few months ago. i used rewards when she'd go on the potty like tattoos, new coloring books, books etc all from the dollar store because it gets expensive! so she had the pee-pee thing down great but she hated to go pooh on the potty. the thing that worked for me in a matter of 2 days was a electronic hand held dora game that she could only play with while trying to go poop. she wanted to play that game so bad she wanted to go poop all the time and truly it only took 2 days. so find something your daughter loves and use it ONLY on the potty.
good luck!

Hello K.,
You are not alone. My daughter will be 3 in March and she refuses to go to the big potty most of the time. My son was trained easily. I try to take her every 30-45 mins.

Good luck,
J.

Hello,

I have 3 small children 2 1/2,4,and 6. I have been potty training 2 children at the same time for a while now and I've had great success. Your baby is probably straining when she trying to use the potty if it's taking her 30 min or so therefore it might be a little uncomfortable for her. I give my children yogart with fruit and they love it.It's good for their digestive system and it helps move the system as needed. Give her as much fruit as possible and maybe less starches. My 2 1/2 is potty trained right now and what I have used as an incentive to promote them in their training is happy stickers and the children love it, because children love to be rewarded and every time they go to the potty, reward them with a sticker, even if they miss it, reward them for trying and you will find that her lack of cooperation will increase.

My daughter was difficult to train, also. At age 3 she could stay dry for hours at a time, so physically she was ready. I tried putting her in cloth training pants during the day, using Pull Ups during naptime and bedtime. She would save her pee for the Pull Ups! I finally decided to quit using Pull Ups, because apparently their stay-dry liner was so comfortable, she didn't mind peeing in them because she couldn't feel the wetness. After a few weeks of waking up cold and wet in her cloth training pants, became a lot more receptive to being potty trained. I guess she just needed an incentive.

My oldest daughter started using the potty willingly at almost four. She wasn't fully potty trained until the month of her fourth birthday. My second child will be four this month and has only peed in the potty twice. She has no desire to get out of diapers. I'm not pushing her because if anxiety is linked to it (and there may already be some anxiety which is causing her to want to remain in diapers) then it will be even more difficult to train her...my third started potty training herself when she was 16 months old. She's almost 3 and not FULLY potty trained but doing very well.

Everyone is different. Something that helped my third child was the offering of a special cake (the castle cake or the doll cake at a local bakery.) For your daughter it might be a video game or something. For everytime she SITs on the potty I give her a mini marshmellow. If she PEES then I give her a big one. If she will pee in the potty every day for a week, not pee in the diaper except while sleeping, I will buy her the cake. I figure if she can pee for a week in the potty she's pretty much trained.

That's not always the case. my 8 yr. old daughter took forever--she was in kinder b4 she stopped having a lot of accidents, and i still had to check her bottom after bowel movements forever it seemed. my sister has 3 boys and they were all trained by 3. it will come when she is ready, just hang with it and offer different kinds of rewards to keep her interested. good luck, i'm getting ready to start with my other daughter soon, and not looking forward to it at all except for the savings on diapers!!

L.

3 1/2 sounds like you may have missed a good window opportunity a ways back. But for now, she is set to keep it that way, like a habit. I know my own kids wanted to get up at restaurants at that age just because they wanted to get up and look around and see what the bathroom looked like. Their exploration was just a distraction from setting still at the table. I found the most successful of potty training is to put the thick, cotton underwear on the child and then put the plastic covers over them. I never used pull-ups because the child really knows they are just like diapers no matter what marketing tries to tell you. The child will naturally just feel free to pee in the pull-ups because of their "lifetime" of wearing diapers and how they feel the same. My kids were potty trained within 2 1/2 weeks after realizing the difference between the dry, cotton panties and then the feeling of the wet and heavy feeling.

I am having the same problem with my 2.5 year old girl. She has very bad constipation problems and has no interest in using the potty. I have tried everything!!!! Please let me know when you find the right answer for your little girl. Good luck.

Take your child out of pull-ups. They are just glorified diapers. Your child will have no incentive to potty train unless she feels it running down her leg (it won't take long for her to get the idea). Here are some things that I tried : Take her out of pullups. Let her help pick out big girl panties. Read How to Potty Train in One Day (book). Be positive about the whole experience. Block out some time at home to potty train. Set the kitchen timer and put her on the potty every hour. Wrap presents and put them on the back of the potty and only give them to her when she goes (from the Dollar store or Dollar bins at Target). If your daughter is constipated, try to get her to eat more veggies or drink a Green Drink to help clean out her colon. Hope this helps. This process can be very frustrating, but try to remain positive!

When my oldest was 3, she did not potty train well at all. We were using pullups for a while, but when we changed to panties at about 3 1/2, it made all the difference in the world. Plus, the teacher at MDO somehow had nack with getting her to go every 30 minutes to help train her. We went through many dirty pair of panties and poop on the floor under the bed on occasion before she was finally trained during the daytime. She is still not trained at night. When she has a poopy accident in her panties, I always had her dump it in the potty and clean her panties herself the best she could. I am not sure if this is the best technique, but I tried to teach her that if she made a mess, she had to clean it up. We have lived by that policy across the board.

1st take her shopping for preety undies and tell her they are for big girls who do not poo in them or wet if you want. Before she gets them put her in cloth diapers my son was trained in one week! Hated to be wet. In the cloth diapers put her off a bit oh honey i am busy can you wait and say not in a bad but supportive way if you used the cute panties you would be a dry big girl. Hope this helps, and remember most kids do not start kinder in diapers peer presure. Very old mom of 6.

They're all different! My oldest daughter, now 32, was potty trained before age 2, very easy. My youngest daughter, age 21, was not easy. I finally put her in cloth diapers at age 3, it was very uncomfortable for her and that is what finally did it. It only took several weeks once I finally did this. Good luck! Be patient and don't stress about it!
L.

I am a stay at home mom of five beautiful kiddos. I also babysit for extra money and have potty trained my share of kids! Girls are generally easier but if bowels are a problem she may make it worse by waiting until she cant wait any longer. My son had this problem because he feared the pain of the movement he would hold on as long as possible making the movement even more uncomfortable. We put him on one 8oz cup of citrucel a day every morning at the same time. Within two cans of cirtucel (we lovingly referred to as "poopoo juice") he was moving his bowels on a regular basis without pain and now has no problems with regular movements. Once that was no longer an issue the potty training was less troublesome. When I potty train, we do not go anywhere if at all possible; we wear panties/undies all day...(no pullups) and I pump them full of water and juice! Once they figure out how to stop and start themselves its pretty much all smooth sailing from there. I hope this helps. I am sure this is just one of many responses you will get!
Best Wishes,
B. P

I let my little girl run around naked in the house and the first time she tinkled on herself she freaked out and did not like it, so she wanted to go potty all the time after that...just what worked for me. Best of luck with her!!!!!