Potty Training Advise - San Mateo,CA

I tried to potty train my twin girls at 2y 2mo, and wasn't successful. I tried again at 2y 5mo, using the 3 day method. It actually took about 5 days, they just "got it" on the 5th day, this included night time training too. I think it's a little more difficult with two at once. The girls are now 2y9mo, and have never had a night time accident. They rarely have day time accidents. It really helped to wait until they were a little older. =)

Hi M.,
The "naked and $60" method worked for me with both kids. Basically the idea is this: pick a weekend when you don't have much to do. Then, remove your child's clothes from the waist down and put the potty chair really close by. Watch her like a hawk - when you think she might have to pee, run her to the potty and sit her down on it. You might get some false alarms at first. If she goes on the potty, celebrate! If she goes on the floor, calmly clean it up and tell her, "Next time you'll make it to the potty." And then make sure she makes it to the potty. For me, the first day or so involved my girls screaming, crying, throwing fits, etc, and requesting diapers back. I just refused and stayed the course. By day 3, they were potty trained just fine. (So you get the "naked" part, that's obvious... the $60 is for cleaning your carpet once your child is potty trained! =)

Potty training, in my opinion, isn't really about when the child is ready, it's about when the Mommy is ready! It's not easy and it's not fun to spend an entire weekend watching a toddler for signs that she might have to pee... but getting them out of diapers is SO worth it!

Good luck!

Sound like she is not ready yet. Put away the potty chair and pull ups and stop trying. Try back in another two months or so. Potty training is fairly easy WHEN your child is ready. I potty trained my boys in about 4 days because I waited until they were ready. A couple more boxes of diapers is worth the money compared to daily tantrums.

Good Luck!!!

Hi, M.,
Please do not pressure her. If you make it into a power struggle, your daughter will win, every time! She will go when she feels ready. Don't worry. Just try every month and if she puts up pressure, then just let it go and wait again for a few weeks or a month. She is still young. We tried with our oldest when he was 3 months shy of his 3rd birthday and he wasn't ready, so we waited a month. Then I just let him run around the house with no pants or underwear on and he was able to recognize the fact that he needed to go to the potty. He still would not poop in the potty, so I just let that go for another several months. So, just relax. It should be a fun experience for the both of you. She will be potty trained when she is ready. Good luck!

She's not ready! Give her a break for at least a month before you try again. Rewards didn't work on my son either.
If she can't "feel" when it's time to go yet her body isn't developed enough. there is no magic age for potty training and at 2 years old the more you push something on her the more she will fight it on principle. keep in mind, her potty training pal is 8+ months older - that's a lot of time for a toddler!
I know you're excited to see the end of the mess and expense of diapers, but you have to follow her lead on this one. In the meantime - get her a Big Girl set of bedroom furniture - ditch the crib, etc. Get rid of the changing table so she has to get her diaper changed on the floor - less comfy.
Invest in 2 waterproof mattress protectors & two 100% cotton good quality mattress pads and 2 sets of her favorite color sheets or Dora or Cinderella in anticipation of her upcoming achievements. Give her something to look forward to! My nieces did well getting to pick their own big girl panties, it made them proud and they were careful not to mess up. they were 3, by the way...
Take a break - it sounds like you both need it!

You really need to NOT make it an issue. She will go when she is ready. Bribing will not work, and pressuring will probably backfire.

My son showed interest at that age. Like your daughter, he was/is bright and energetic. We rewarded, bribed, punished, and got all caught up in it for a LONG time. We put him back in diapers for a few months, then tried again. When he was 4 1/2, we started making him clean himself up because he was pooping his pants EVERY day. We didn't get angry about the "accident", though he sometimes had timeouts in the bathroom for not listening when we told him he needed to get cleaned up before he could keep playing. After about a month of his cleaning himself, he finally decided to use the potty. He will be 5 next month, and he has been 3 weeks without poopy pants. It has been a long road!

Feel free to message me privately if you wish...

She's too young. Wait until she's ready, maybe another year or more.

Hi. I thought my daughter was ready around this same age too but she just wasn't. She wanted to sit on the potty but never relaxed enough to do anything on it. But if we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere I would let her sit on it in weird places like the living room (she wasn't doing anything on it so it wasn't a mess issue) and I let her watch Elmo's potty time. She would request to watch Elmo. Then around 2 years 8months she was just ready. I did away with diapers and just put on those thick cloth training panties. The first day we didn't go anywhere and I asked her to sit on the potty like ever 30min. and yes we had some accidents but the next day she was even dry through pre-school (about 2 hrs). It's been about a week and a half now and she just goes in the bathroom and goes potty. We did have some issue with number 2 but that is starting to work out too. If she really doesn't want to wear a diaper then I would use the training cloth panties (I use a pullup only for night time) We did use a pullup for naps at first but now she is dry during nap so we are not using them for naps. Also after everytime she would go pee in the potty I would give her a hershey's chocolate kiss, 2 for #2 in the potty. It's a great incentive and she is already not asking for it everytime. So if you think she is not ready then wait and revisit it in a few months. HTH! Good luck!

www.3daypottytraining.com

It works....I promise!

S.

My now 4 yo daughter was very bright early on. She was speaking in complete sentences at 18 months. So naturally we thought she would potty train right at 2. Unfortunately, she just wasn't ready. She did not fully potty train till a month before her third birthday. My advice to you is to just wait till she starts showing more of an interest. It will be so much easier on you and your daughter and she will have less accidents. We came to realize that just because our daughter was very bright didnot necessarily mean she was ready to potty train. Good luck!