Toilet Training--no Diapers at All or Underwear

I don't have the slightest idea. My daughter is the same age and I am anxious to hear the reponses. Thanks!

D., my daughter and granddaughter, who is just turning 2 have moved back home for a while and all of the sudden, we are seeing this behavior of taking off diapers. None of my kids ever did this, so Im a little at a loss.......If you figure it out, please post it. Nancie

My daughter was about the same age when she showed interest in the potty. It was summer time, and we were in Greece, and there was alot of "naked time" for her. She did not like wearing close in the summer, especially when we were close to the beach and went swimming alot. She potty trained really quickly because we asked her to tell us when she needed to go, and we would get the potty. She only squatted once and peed on the ground, and we corrected her by bringing out the potty, and praising her EVERY time. I would give your little one the option of naked, or underwear. I explained to my little one that we had to wear underwear when we were in public, but at home it was okay. Eventually, she liked wearing her brightly colored underwear around the house too. Give it about a month....and expect there might be accidents.

a friend of my daughter's removes her kids diapers to toilet train them. she says that they get instant feedback and she has been very successful with 2 out of 3. I think it depends on how you feel about frequent floor cleaning and furniture. It would drive me crazy.
Whatever you do, be sure that she sees the poop go into the potty. Let her flush it. This may be a way for her to have it around a little longer. I second the "big girl panty" buying spree. And it could be she is not ready and then it might be best to put her in pullups. Is she dry after a nap? If not, she might just not be ready and you will have to wait until her body is.

I would let her do what she wants at this age, unless it's inappropriate or will backfire. The only thing that I would suggest, but only since you said that accidents don't bother her, is to insist on soft pants even if she doesn't want underwear. That way when she pees, she will still be getting uncomfortably wet. You could insist that she wear a diaper/pullup after every accident until she can go potty in the toilet. Then reward her by going in the toilet - even if she just finishes going in the toilet - by letting her go without. She will understand that she doesn't have to wear the diaper when going to the tiolet - but will if she is having accidents on the floor. The underwear can fix itself out later when you let her wear jeans or something without it - then you can insist she not be in pain by putting on pretty panties. But, for now, I would push the diaper or toilet choice.

What a smart little girl you have! All kids are different, so this may be her way of trying to learn. Just go with it and let her take the lead. If she wants to roam in the buff, let her, but be on close stand by. Chances are that she will learn the ques of having to go, so explain to her that when she has that feeling to tell you and make it a celebration. Run together to the bathroom and sit there with her and have a little chat. Make it some quality time that you both spend together. But, make sure you are still doing this after the baby. You don't want her to regress.

My daughter pretty much potty trained herself too. I just sorta went along for the ride and was there to support her.

We just potty trained my son in the last month. We had been attempting for awhile. I found the best thing for him was to get rid of all his diapers and pullups. I just got him up in the morning and asked him which underwear he wanted to wear. I didn't give him and option of not wearing them. That seemed to work. Before we got rid of the diapers, he would tell me no to the underwear. And we did underwear in public. We've only had one accident. I just take a couple pairs of underwear and a change of pants with me.

Good luck!
S.

Have BIG excitement when she "goes", tell her what a big girl she is and reinforce that big girls wear panties. Take her to the store and let her choose the panties that she likes! Not wearing them is not bad, I think when she does go, and feels that she is wet or dirty!, she will decide that she will not like it! When my son was training, my dad would get on the phone and pretend to be Shrek congratulating him every time he went, then we would reinforce with a sticker! Good luck!

Actually, allowing toddlers to go naked at home is one of the best ways to potty train. So if that is what is working for you, go for it! Once she gets the hang of it I am sure she will want to wear the big girl panties!!

D.,

I have most certainly been there. When I was potty training my oldest daughter she was naked as a jay bird for about 6 weeks. I think the UPS guy and mail lady thought we didn't own clothes for her...lol! However, it made it easier for her to "make it" to the potty on time and not have the disappointment associated with accidents. Eventhough, we as moms, says "It was just an accident" it can discourage potty training and they may start asking to wear their diapers again.

Tha issue of wearing panties I did not have until my second daughter. I could NOT figure out what to do. She absolutely refused to wear them, but she knew to use the potty. My mother saved the day! She came for a visit and we were going out to eat and I explained that she would not wear panties, so just put her pants on without them. At that point, I thought that was the only way we were ever going to get out the door. My mother, being so creative, simply slipped the panties inside the pants and put them on her together! She never saw it coming and never complained. After that we took her shopping and let her pick out her panties for herself. All we ever owned was Minnie Mouse panties for about the 1st year, but after that it was smooth sailing. I think the fact that SHE had input made her really feel like a "Big Girl"!

I hope this helps and best of luck! Just do what works best for your daughter to keep her comfortable with the whole idea of using the potty. She sounds like she is well on her way.

J. F.
The M.O.M. Team
http://www.4MeAndMom.com

The naked thing isn't a big problem. I did what my mom did with me naked waist down all day and put a potty chair in the room where she spends most of her time. Then gradually move the potty to the bathroom and introduce the panties. I would let her pick them out. They usually like seeing whatever characters they're into on their pants. And I re-enforced that with "Dore doesn't like to be peed on, we don't pee on our friends." It worked. Now if we could just master the night time part so that I don't have to buy pull ups for bedtime anymore.

We did the naked method with our first son. I honestly don't remember him peeing on the floor alot. It was more about him recognizing right away when he was peeing and catching himself in time to get to the potty. Once he got pretty good at it (don't remember how long it took, but he was over 3 years old, too) then we went right on to underpants. The pull-ups are great for night time, but just are too diaper-like for real training to happen. They just are too easy to pee (or poop) in! She's young, but since she's self motivated I'd say go for it! I intended to use the naked method again with my youngest, but he didn't want to try this summer while it was warm and instead last month put on underpants one day and two days of accidents later, he's more or less trained! (oh, thank goodness!)

It's ok! I let both of my boys run around butt naked while they were potty training, simple because it made them more aware of when they needed to go teetee. Everytime I put underwear on them they peed in them because it felt similar to a diaper. I found if they were naked they never had mistakes! Once they got the hang of the whole potty training idea, underwear went back on and everything was fine. Worked for mine:)