Potty Training?? - Lake Orion,MI

I'd go for it. Girls are quick to pick it up and she might be trained by the time you deliver. Also, Hubby can help too if the baby comes sooner.

If she is really interested I would give it a try with the knowledge that she may go back to diapers when the new baby comes. Who knows she may completely potty train in a couple of weeks and stay dry when the baby is born! Good Luck!
K.

Go for it! It's such a big help when you can cut down on the number of diapers! A lot of times, if you don't sieze on the oppertunity when it arises, you miss out on it indefinetly. That initial excitement *may* be rekindled at a later date, but a lot of times it's simply forgotten and it ends up being much more of a fight. 6 weeks is a pretty good chunk of time to work on it before the baby, and once the baby is born it will be a long time before the extra work and laundry of potty training sounds attractive again. So sieze the oppertunity with your little one and save both of you the extra frustration later on. :)

Amy,

I would say try it. It not going to hurt anything I would think. I would think that if you would wait until the baby is here she might not want to. I would try telling her that the baby needs those diapers, and shes a big girl like mommy... things like that. But you never know. I know if my daughter stayed dry I would try, and I am due in 4 months. My daughter is 14 months old.

Good luck.

J.

I would go for it. Heck, you'd save on diapers in the long run.

Start now. It's been my experience that children seem to have "windows" where they are ready. You may find that the waking up dry is just a fluke, or it may be the beginning. When my youngest was ready she was potty trained within a month. She's still in Goodnite Shorts overnight, as we occassionally have accidents, but during the day she is in panties - and loving it. She may relapse a little when you have the baby, but if you remember, and make the time, to continue to work with her she should be fine. If you opt to wait, the interest may be gone and she could be 3 before she's potty trained.

Hi Amy,
I guess I will put my 2 cents in....I think that maybe you should let her train if she is ready. I totally hear you though about possibly relasping, but on the other hand maybe she will be one that doesn't. I think we hear about it so much because when it does happen for parents they make it sound so horrible (and I'm sure it's a lot to go through with a newborn and all) but I would guess that less kids relapse than what is thought. I think sometimes kids don't get enough credit for how intelligent they are. So personally if it were me I would go ahead and go for it. Then maybe if she does relapse she will be easier next time, but she might just stay in her groove and keep up the good work too! Maybe if you continue (once the baby arrives) to tell her how great she is doing she won't miss a beat. I have a 20 month old son and I plan to start potty training next week because I think he is ready as well! Good Luck with potty training and the new baby!

I would wait. She is still young and its great that she is showing signs...but really the first 6-8 weeks home with the new baby is soooooo much harder than with the first. (My second is now 7 mos). Keep encouraging her, but that last thing you need to be doing is changing dirty clothes and cleaning up messess once the baby is here. If she continues to show such promising sigs once the baby is here...go for it.

Just a note, my son was a little older - 3.5, when we had our second and we didn't notice any behaivoral changes until Isabel was about 5 mos and started getting into his stuff and developing more of a personality.

If she tells you she has to go, make a big deal about it and let her go! Praise her for doing such a good job and make her feel special. Don't push it though because she may relapse when the baby comes home, or she may like being the big sister and like the attention that she gets for being a big girl and going potty since the baby can't do it yet. There really is no right or wrong way to do it. I just don't think it's necessary for you to over do it...it's not easy bringing a new baby home when you already have one to take care of! Potty training isn't a life or death situation when you have other things to focus on. Follow her lead and don't have any expectations. Don't be discouraged if she falls back into diapers, she will master it sooner or later!

Hi Amy, I am a mom of 3 kids and was in a similar situation as you. From my own experience I would recommend getting your little girl potty trained before the new baby comes along. Not all children regress backwards. If everyone around your daughter praises her for her accomplishments and reinforces to her what a big girl she is that will help boost her confidence. She will be willing to be the big sister instead of the baby. If she refuses not to potty train right now then don't force her, go on her cues to you. Good luck.

Hi Amy.
My opinion is wait until the baby is born and you have a good schedule set. I went through the same thing. Why put your self throu ajusting to a new baby and potty train? Potty training is tuff enough. Good luck!

It sounds like your daugther is ready to be trained, but sometimes they start out w/a bang and then have a few relaspes along the way. I would keep doing what you are doing. When your new baby comes, your daugther will most likely relapse anyways. My daughter did when my youngest daughter was born. Only for about a month thou and then she was back on track. My daughter was a little older then yours thou and that has a lot to do w/it. I would humor her w/what you are doing now but not push it. Good luck and Congrats on the new baby!

Hi Amy,

My daughter was 21 months old when my son was born and she started showing interest at 18 months. She was doing really well with potty training and then the baby was born. The biggest problem would be that she would have to go potty when I was nursing. We had a few accidents, but really didn't have a set back. We never had to go back to diapers. I let her pick her favorite character undies and would say, "Just a minute. You don't want to pee on Cinderella." It usually worked.

I would start now while she's interested. That is half the battle right there!!

Amy,
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I would try to continue and at least for now your saving $$ on diapers. I've had it happen the first time with my son and my sisters son went backwards after his little bro was born.
We took our son out shpping and let him buy his own underwear, picked out and everything. Usually the cashier's make a big deal about a child buying their own underwear as a
sign of a big boy or girl.
Best Wishes with your daughter and your upcoming arrival,
D. V

follow her lead...
If she goes, she goes, but don't force the issue. Take the relaxed approach so that when the baby does come, you are not over taxing yourself trying to "train" a munchkin while healing and nurturing a newborn.
If she's dry in the morning, put her on, make a big deal of her being a "big girl" when she goes... Try to put her on after meals, if she goes, she goes, if not oh well, but in the long run its about getting her used to recognizing a feeling and this is what you do when you do..
Congrats!!!

Hi Amy,
I am a SAHM with two children. A daughter who is 2 1/2 and a son who is 8 1/2 mos. old. I was in the same boat as you are now. My daughter showed signs of wanting to use the potty, but I did not push it. When my son was born, she decided that she was not interested in it at all. About a month ago, she decided that she wanted to use the potty again and it only took 2 days and she went from diapers to panties. What I did was stay home with her while she had no diaper on at all and she used the potty every time she had to go. I think not having the diaper on, made her realize when she had to go, plus she did not like having the accidents. Sure there were a couple of accidents the first day, but the second day she had no accidents at all. It was rather pretty easy! Good luck. L.

Hi Amy -

From everything I've read, if there's any kind of major change coming up soon, it's best to stop the potty training for a bit. However, since she's doing so well, you may just want to keep working with her, BUT when the baby comes, expect some relapsing. And if she does seem to be having problems when the babe arrives, simply stop and wait until she seems ready again.

(I'm currently trying to decide if I should begin my 21 mo triplets on the potty, or move them to a big boy bed first!)

Good luck
Dana

Hi Amy,
I faced a similar situation when I was pregnant with my second daughter. My oldest daughter was just two-years-old and very interested in going on the potty. She wanted to go everytime I went, and since I was seven months pregnant, this was often. However, she HAD to take every clothing item off when she went, and I became tired of repeatedly re-dressing her multiple times throughout the day. I wasn't really pushing for her to be trained since I planned to nurse my baby and knew that it would be crazy trying to nurse a newborn and put a toddler on the potty often. (Also, my oldest had some "issues" with playing with the potty and flushing things down the big toilet, so I couldn't allow her to go on her own even if she could.) Anyway, we lost some ground after the baby was born, but we re-gained it quite quickly once the baby was a couple months old and life was a little less crazy. My advice would be to stick with it if you want, but don't be discouraged if she loses some ground when the baby is born.
Blessings!

Rachael

I would try it, however, don't be shocked if she goes back to diapers once the other child is born. They (doctors) say the child really can't "control" their bladder till they are about 2, so don't worry if your child has a lot of accidents. I would take the chance to potty train while you have it. My daughter started at 18 months old, and she is now 2 1/2 and still not potty trained. We had our second child when she was 18 months old and she thought it was great she was going on the potty, but then realized she wanted more attention, so she started back with diapers...ugh!