Hi Ladies,
My daughter turned 2 last month and since the end of summer/beginning of fall, I started putting her on the potty. We have had lots of success, and she has had moments of telling me that she needs to go potty. She gets so excited and proud when she goes in the potty...screams and cheers for herself :)
Anyhow, my husband was told that he needs to find a new job, so I was thinking maybe we can try to rid one expense and get her trained. At the same time I don't want to force it, so if it has to wait...then it has to wait.
Today I put her in training pants. We went on the potty every half hour. We had 7 successful times in the potty, and 4 accidents before naptime. I'm not sure what to expect or how to really go about this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
It sounds like she's doing great! Accidents happen and that's all part of it. She may get so excited that she doesn't relax enough to completely empty her bladder, etc. Just keep trying and keep praising.
Best wishes!
I started with my daughter in panties and took her every 30 minutes. Take your daughter to pick out panties she likes. Encourage her to keep her panties dry. Ask her if her panties are dry (every 5 minutes or so). Don't make a big deal if she wets. I put up a cute piece of paper on the fridge and she was able to put one sticker on for each time she successfully went potty. Just keep it a positive time and she should get it soon. You are on the right track. It took my daughter about 4-5 days to get the hang of it.
Going 11 times before nap is a lot. Try to extend the time you put her on the pot so she can hold it longer, extending/increasing her bladder. Knowing when she needs to go and how often helps the both of you. ie I know my dd needs to go every day at 11, two hours after breakfast. It took me 3 months to get my dd trained. My friend's dd one day. Other than that is sounds like you are both doing great. It is hard to train the little ones, the toilets are so big and it is harder for them to pull their pants on and off. It will be harder at than diapers at first, so just keep it up the good work.
wow, that's way too many trips to the bathroom! Try to span it out further to teach her bladder control. Typically, the children in my daycare use the bathroom 2x before lunch & once after - before heading to naptime.
every half hour is a bit excessive. You want her to have a full bladder so she recognizes when she has to go to the potty. She needs to know the feeling of having to go, not just going to potty for the sake of going. It isn't good to try to force going pee. Wait until she is wiggling around or try an hour or two after a successful pee or have her try sitting on the potty after she eats or drinks. You need to recognize her signs that she has to go and immediately say, let's go sit on the potty or come with mommy, I have to go potty. the more she sees you go the more she'll want to go. Every half hour is too much and she will tire of it really fast. Try every hour or so. Her bladder needs to learn how to fill up so that she gets the feeling to go. If that at all makes sense. ;)
Well since she already is interested and excited about the idea you could consider giving her rewards as well for when she tells you she has to go and keeps her underwear dry..? Also I have heard of people who have taken their daughters underware shopping and let her pick new panties and maybe had a big girl undies party...here are more details and a few different ideas you might want to check out:
http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/search/potty+training?utm_c...
I would say keep doin things the way you are. But I'm not sure what you mean by training pants..is that pull-ups or underwear? If its pull ups then your not really getting rid of the expense..also underwear are more noticable to them, which helps remind them about the potty. It sounds like she is doing really well though for her age. So good start! As for what to expect..look to her for that..too many expectations about something thats ultimately up to her would surely only set you up for disappointment. Its a huge stepping stone! for both of you to enjoy! :o)
Keep up the work with the training pants, or just undies. She needs to get to know the feeling when she starts to go, and associate that with actually getting to the bathroom. :)
My experience (with a 27 and 22 month children (girl, boy) ) was that it takes a few days for them to get this right, and you may have ongoing accidents for some time (like weeks) - but switching back to diapers confuses them. (My girl called pull ups 'the pretty diapers'.)
The other important thought is to keep it positive. Sounds like you are doing this already, because she is so excited about making it. :) Accidents, especially when you have a series of days when you have had none, can be really annoying. Guilt, shame or anger have no place here. She has to learn a new skill, and if she gets sick, or distracted she may forget. Keeping it positive can be hard, but works really well. :)
I am a fan of the 3 day potty training ( http://www.3daypottytraining.com/ ) I did buy the book with my first, and have used it with both my kids. In it she covers some of the questions that come up.
That said, you seem well on your way without that. :) Your little person understanding what to do when on the potty is important. :)
Sounds like you are already doing a good job with this. Just stay consistent, and she should be able to get it. :)
Sorry about the epic - I do think that she is totally ready to train at this point, although you may get comments about her age. We put off training my first to 27 months, because my second was born when she was 25 months old, and we did not want to be stressing about a new baby & potty training. My second insisted on using the potty at 22 months.. Maybe odd kids, but totally able to do it. :)
Good luck with it!
Everyone thinks I'm crazy but my son (now 4) trained himself in less than a week (during the day, night time took about 3 months longer as he is a hard sleeper)when he was just shy of 2 1/2. We didnt use a potty chair, he hated it. We just used the seat that sits on a big potty, it worked. We did have great help at his school also. If she is going 11 times before nap time that is quite a lot so she may not be ready since it sounds like she can't hold it well yet.
Accidents stink but that's how they learn. :) It sounds like you are doing great by putting her on the potty every half hour. Be consistant with it for sure. I'm sooooooooo not saying be hard on her at all but maybe after a week or so, remind her when she has an accident that big girls go pee pee in the potty. Make sure you tell Mommy if you have to pee pee. We did this for a while with my DD but it did work. As for going #2 in the potty, once she did it once we made a HUGE deal out of it and gave her a pack of fruit snacks. That was our bribe from then on. You poo in the potty, you get fruit snacks. Potty training that child was one of the easiest things ever. LOL! Good luck!
