Suggestions from Mothers Who Are Potty Training

I don't agree with some moms that say she's too young.
My daughter will be 2 Sept 7th and I started training her a few days ago. As soon as she gets up in the morning I take the diaper off and let her run around with just a shirt on. On the first day she went on the floor a couple of times (we have hardwood floors-easy to clean up), and I explained that when that happens you need to go on the potty. She would sit on it for a while but nothing would happen. Eventually one time when she was sitting on it, it did happen and I started clapping and cheering. She loved it. From then on she runs to the potty and goes in there all the time. On her second day - no accidents and she even pooped in there a couple of times.
We're on day 3 so far and she's doing great. The only time I use the diaper is when we go out of the house and for sleeping....

H.,

You can try right now and see if she is ready. If after 3-5 days you are not making any progress then just wait a few more months before trying again. There are websites that list different techniques (just google potty training). I found a combination of approaches worked with my dtr. I did go "cold turkey" and just put her in underwear/cloth training pants. The first day 8 accidents, day 2 6 accidents, day 3 4 accidents, day 4 2 accidents. I bought a doll at target that goes pee when you give it water (cheaper than the dolls on-line). I used a combination of Dr. Phil's approach and other mother's suggestions on this website! Good luck.

Hi H.,
My daughter is 3 1/2 and just is starting potty trainig. Just like your daughter, when she was 2 I honestly thought she was ready. But she just refused to go, I really starting thinking something was psychologically wrong. Dont force them cuz they'll resist more. Pull ups really dont work it's just a more flexible diaper. Best bet are little panties. Buy her panties of her favorite show. Dora potty and undies worked for us. My daughter loved to go under the dinning rm table or in her play tent. So I put the play tent in the dinning room with the potty in it. If she peed she would get an m&m from the gumball maching. Honestly I put the gumball(a little toy one) infront of her when I sat her on the potty. The other thing that helped, was my husband would show her videos on u-tube of kids going potty. Then she really want to go, when she realized kids her age are sitting in little potties. We started on a Thursday..by Friday she was going on her own and even pooped. I stayed home for 2 wks with her. Now it has been a month, she still sleeps with the diaper, but she wakes up in the morning and takes it off to use the potty. She wont sleep with undies, i guess the diaper is still the "baby" thing she's holding on to. But when she's ready I'll try to transition her. Her twins therapist told me something that stuck with me. She said "there are no college kids in diapers, so relax she'll do it when she's ready"...this was a year ago and she was right. Good luck

H.,
My two children (4 and 6) were completely potty trained by 3 1/2. Be patient and give her time. I know it's hard because some daycares do not take kids until they are two year's old and potty trained. But try rewarding her, putting cereal in the pot and having her watch one of her favorite programs while sitting. The most important thing is that you are exposing her to this now because it takes them a while to learn certain things.

All the Best

They say girls train faster, but I don't believe that is always the case. in March of 08 my son turned 3 and a week later he was completely potty trained in 3 Days!! I did the 3 day rule...no PULL UP, just underwear for 3 whole days. The first day was crazy...I think he pooped in his undies like 8 times!!! But the 2nd day was good, and by the 3rd day, it was like MAGIC!! I was so glad I did it like this. I think Pull ups are the work of the devil!! LOL
My son wore them a couple of times last summer, and he didn't give one care that they were like undies! Good Luck, everyone's little ones are different, but if your daughter is engaged and doesn't want to wear diapers...try the 3 day rule!

Hi H.,
waited until my son was 3 1/2 to potty train him. We put together a sticker chart to just get him acclamated with the potty process- not to actually go. He was still wearing diapers, but 4 times a day we would put him on the potty. He got 1 sticker for coming into the bathroom, one for taking off his diaper, one for sitting for one minute, one laying down so we could put his diaper back on and 1 for washing his hands. If he got all 5 stickers then he could have a cookie (we used animal crackers and swedish fish).
We did that for two months. Then we knew he could do it by himself- as long as there were no zippers or buttons on his pants. So we set a timer and when it went off we said it was potty break time. If he gave us a hard time, or if he refused to participate willingly then he didn't get the sticker and then at the end he didn't get the cookie. This only happened a few times. After that he knew that he wanted that cookie and that he had to do all 5 things by himself to get it. We did this for another month.
After that I got some M&M's and told him 3 for pee and 5 for poop. This worked for pee, but not for poop. So I went and got some dollar store toys and wrapped them up and told him he could pick out a toy every time he went poop on the potty. That worked awesome. We did that for about two weeks and then faded it out and praised tons instead.
I also just put him in his big boy pants whenever we're at home. We've had a few accidents, but I think that's all part of the process of them getting in tune with what's going on down there. The diapers we have today are so absorbent that I doubt they actually feel that they're going.
For a while- maybe for a month when we go out we would still wear a pull up just in case- but I tell him he can go on the potty if he wants to. And still a pull up for bedtime. He seemed to do pee great, but poop was still an issue for him. His teacher said that developmentally he had to get used to pooping sitting down. Usually he's standing up. So I just tried to stay off his case. I knew at that point that he knew how to do it, he just had to want to do it.
Now he's going on the big potty with a safety seat on it which is awesome! He's so proud of himself and we're pretty proud of him, too. He wears big boy pants all day- diaper at night- and tells me when he needs to go. Being consistent I think is the main key- well that and alot of patience! I hope that helps.
Blessings,
J.

Two may still be a little early for full-fledged training, but what I would do since the weather is still warm is try letting her go naked. See if she is more interested in sitting on the potty this way, and also whether she goes to it before (or during) peeing. Just be prepared for accidents on the floor! Good luck.

I recently went through potty training with my son (4) and my daughter (3) is in the last stages. I almost paid ridiculous sums of money for Booty Camp, but thanks to my Mamasourcers, I passed on that. What's working for my daughter at daycare, and what generally worked for my son at home with me, is keeping them hydrated and making them go to the bathroom and at least try about every half hour. My daughter is wearing panties with maybe one accident a day. She's even waking up at night yelling "Mommy, I gotta go pee-pee!" It's time-consuming and tedious, but it worked for us. Good luck!

I am currently parenting a 3 year old and a nearly 15 mos old, both boys. I know boys are different than girls, but with my son he started showing interest and we just encouraged that for some time. Rewards for actually going. He eventually got very good at it and then we just went cold turkey one week when we would be available to clean up if accidents happened. He's really great about it now, had very occasional accidents and hasn't had one in a very long time. We just went with the flow and tried to sense his readiness.

Now pull-ups in my very recent experience are nearly useless. They hold very little and my son and other friends of his found that they used them just like diapers, even though they don't work like diapers. My boy called them "diapie underpants" and peed in them often, without even making an attempt.
I know each kid is different, but encouraging his interest and sensing his readiness worked for him. Now our little boy is starting to want in on the potty thing, we don't expect much, but we're encouraging him! Good Luck!!

She's too young! Don't waste your time trying...way too stressful for both of you!

I didn't read the other responses, but I say she's TOTALLY ready. I just finished training my son (started at 18 mo's, he's 20 now). I'd keep it casual. Don't stress. Just keep offering the potty. Is she still in dipes? If so, I'd get rid of them cold turkey. She needs to see the stuff come out so she learns what her body is doing. I've talked to many moms & my doc. (another mom)and they all say letting them go bottomless is best. Not the neatest at first, but it will give you the most effective and quickest results. Everything I hear about pullups basically says they're worthless. Unless you have to go out and you're going to be dilligent about taking her to the toilet every hour or two, pullups are just diapers. I'd go with some cloth trainers when you go out. They're pricey but so are pullups.

It was definitely scary when we took our son out for the first time in undies, but he actually seems to do better out of the house in terms of accidents, thank God! Let her go nekkie at home, offer the potty every hour or two, if she has an accident, take her to the potty to finish (even if she's gone on the floor, she might have been shocked into holding it in so she'll need to finish in the potty), then have her "clean up" the mess (you can start or finish and have her go through the motions), note her patterns (there will definiely be times in the day when she'll have more accidents - be prepared) and get her to the potty more often during those times. The whole process for daytime training took about 4 days for us. I kind of have been taking it easy on the nighttime training and he's down to about a 80% success rate. Pretty good for not doing anything! I think the times he is wet is because we might get to him too late when he wakes at night or in the morning (we still put him in a cloth diaper for night just in case). HTH's
K.

I would take it slow. If you just bought her a potty this week, I would give her a week or 2 to get used to it. Take her potty w/ you (just to watch you go), every time you go for a couple of weeks. Explain what you're doing, let her sit on her potty w/ her clothes on. Let her get used to it (a few days isn't long enough to get used to it). Buy her a book on using the potty. Does she show several of the readiness signs (get a book to see what they are)? If not, I say she's not ready, if so, then she is. Does she verbalize when she is going ("pee pee" or something like that? If not, touching the diaper consistently is a pretty good sign). If she shows other readiness signs besides this, then when you see her touch her diaper take her to the potty, get all excited, take off her diaper & tell her it's time to go on the potty. After my son went on the potty I sang a potty song that I made up, then we'd both clap a lot. Take it slow. Once she starts going, take her on a schedule (before bed & before naps, then after a week or two add every morning & after naps, then after a week or two add mid-morning & mid-afternoon). Being a SAHM will help you a lot b/c you can be consistent. My main suggestion is make sure she's ready by looking up the readiness signs. My 2nd suggestion is take it slow. My 3rd suggestion is you don't NEED to use pull-ups.
My son is 2 yrs. and 2 mo. old & is 95% potty trained. I started at 19mo, so it's been a long & slow process (I took it very slow...partly b/c of my fear of putting him in underwear too soon). I did not use pull-ups at all (I hear they don't help at all). After doing the slow approach to going potty for some time, I started putting him in underwear at home (last month), and in a diaper for sleeping & leaving the house. Once he stayed dry at home for 2 weeks in underwear, I started putting him in underwear when we left the house (just this week). I tracked all this on a calendar. He's been dry at night for over 2 weeks straight, so in a couple of days I'm going to keep him in underwear for sleeping. I'm sure my 7 mo. approach was too slow, but I started training him very early so I didn't want to mess it up. Good luck!