Any Ideas to Motivate to Potty Trained

Yes, I put my kids on the potty just before their bath and then if they went they got a reward. I did not start untill they were three to really potty train. Then they can really know they have to go and tell you. Just let her grow into it and don't be in such a rush. I'd keep the pull ups though so she can be a big girl when she wants too. I know her bing in day care is a problem as they may not have time to attend to her needs in this but hang in there. My friend bought M&Ms for a reward when her kids were at this stage and they got one every time they went. Sounds a bit like Pavlov's dogs to me though. LCK

I struggle myself with the issue. I however have a son which I have heard boys are more difficult when it comes to potty training them. But...at home I made him wear underware and just let him get wet when he peed. And at first I would set the timer and take him every 15 minutes to go to the bathroom, even if he didn't have to go and when he finally did I would give him a 'little' prize (like a sticker). After a couple days he would start to understand the sensation of needed to pee. I did use pull-ups when we went out, and just asked him ALL the time if he had to go potty and if he just drank something, I'd make him go potty after about 30 minutes of drinking something.

hope this helps you.
-J.

I made a sticker board and every time my daughter actually did something on the potty she got to put a sticker on the board. I also never got mad that she had accidents. Try to stay positive and hug and kiss and make her feel like she just did the most wonderful thing in the world! Potty training takes time and patience...a lot of patience!

What worked for both my daughters was simply lots of patience. Your daughter will get the hang of it. Stickers or her favorite candy could work. With my girls we tried around the same age as your child and just kept encouraging them. It can take around 6 months but just let her go at her own pace and before you know it she'll be potty- trained. My daughters are 3 and 5.

Pullups are EVIL!!! Just get rid of them. She'll have a few accidents, but i found this works best. Try some rewards too. I also found telling her she was SUCH a big girl and no longer a baby helped, and that if she pee'd ect in her pullups or panties i'd ask her if she wanted to be a baby or a big girl..

You can also come vist www.mommiesnbabies.com there are LOADS of ladies going thru the same thing. Register, post your intro in the intro room, then C&P the newbie questions and post those as well, then your in. Good Luck!!!

Hello! I'm a SAHM, I'm not sure what your time is like but this is how I do it for my 28 month old and we are having some success.
I wake her up in the morning, I don't allow her to wake me up. The reason is that if I wake her, generally she hasn't pottied yet. Anyway, I wake her up, and I ask her if she wants to go potty, she usually will say yes, and I tell her to go, be a big girl and go to the bathroom. I let her do most of it on her own, ie. opening the bathroom door, turning on the lights, and setting up her potty seat. When I let her do that, she feels like she's accomplished a lot, even if she doesn't potty in the potty seat. Then, I will remind her to go potty about every hour or so. I also, placed books and little toys in a basket next to her seat so that she has something to do while waiting to potty (sometimes it takes her while to go).
Remember to always praise her when she goes to the bathroom. If she doesn't potty, still praise her for other activities that take place in the bathroom,like washing hands, opening the door, taking of her own pull-up and so forth. That way she will be more excited to try it out.
I hope that this helps some, your daughter is young and sometimes it take children until they are three to fully catch on to the idea of using the potty.
Warmly,
A.

I agree that pullups hurt more than they help. I also think your daughter may not quite be old enough yet to potty train, which will only frustrate both of you.'

The advice about Once Upon a Potty is excellent, we were given a book and video by a neighbor, these had been passed around from one family to another. It works, plain and simple. If you watch the video together every day for several weeks, read the book, and talk about it BEFORE starting to train her, you will have the best results.

Best wishes for success,

Lee

Your daughter is at a great age for potty training (for girls anyway). I potty trained my oldest at that very same age, and my youngest was exactly 2 1/2.

My advice is this: I find that Pull-Ups are a little too similar to diapers, and children that age don't really understand the difference. I used the thick-ply, training underpants instead. (You can find them at Target.) They feel like "big girl panties" so your daughter will immediately understand that they're different, and it will seem like a BIG DEAL to her that you're letting her wear them. Plus, although they're more absorbent than regular undies, she will be wet and uncomfortable if she goes potty in them. This may sound harsh, but it gets the point across pretty quickly. You can use the plastic panties over them to avoid leaks, and you can put a waterproof mattress pad on her bed for night-time accidents. They're not as convenient as Pull-Ups, but they make for a MUCH faster potty training transition. And let's face it -- Pull Ups aren't cheap. As parents, our incentive for potty training is partially due to the outrageous cost of diapers. I have so many friends that used Pull-Ups to potty train, and are STILL using them "just at night", even though their kids are 4, 5, even 8 years old. Imagine the cost.

OK - I'm off my soap box, and however you choose to potty train, I wish you the best of luck. Every child is different, so go with whatever works for you.

Another fun little piece of advice: For my youngest daughter, I bought a few packs of orange TicTacs, and used them as rewards for using the potty. I had read an article suggesting M&Ms, but I felt better about using TicTacs, and they're easier to keep in your purse (without eating them all - ha ha!) Anyway, she loved them, and it really worked.

I'm still trying to get my son fully potty trained. The thing that worked best with him was stickers and a chart. I went to Dollar Tree and bought a package of 1000 stickers for a dollar. Then I made a chart to put a sticker on every time he goes peepee in the potty (just a plain piece of paper that I drew lines/boxes on, nothing fancy - but you can get as creative as you want). It's very cheap and the kids get excited to be able to pick out which sticker they put on the chart when they are successful. She also may still be too young to be fully trained at her age. All kids are different. Hope this helps!

I wish I had a great suggestion. I have two children and they both had their own challenges. My daughter was pretty much accident free just after she turned 2, but then she started a daycare part time for the first time... She was the oldest there and thought that climbing up on the changing table was more fun than using the toilet, so she reverted back. Now she is almost 4 yrs and still has accidents... It has been frustrating. My son was 4 before he potty trained, and it wasn't for lack of exposure and trying on my part. He would refuse to do #2 on the potty and instead would go hide, bend down and poop in his underwear! Oh talk about frustrating.

The only thing I would recommend is loose the pull ups. Kids know them as diapers (essentially they are) and use them as such. Cloth underwear albeit harder to clean up, are much quicker in helping kids understand the cause and effect of pottying sensations.

Blessings!
M.

Agree 100% with Angela's opinion that pull-ups hurt more than they help! After being diapered and expected to "go in the diaper" for 2+ years, our babies need to be retrained & helped to relearn how to recognize the sensations that occur befor peeing/pooping, and one of the best ways to relearn that is to be able to feel what's going on - immediately - and plain, cotton simple underwear (or no undies at home) is the fastest way to get there. It's important NEVER to shame a child when accidents happen (and they will happen - just like learning to walk, your child fell many times before becoming a good walker, right? - it's the same w/ learning to use the potty). Just be supportive, work as a team to clean up any accidents and do any laundry.

As for using rewards... well, it works for some kids and not for others. Personally, I'd not use a rewards system -- rather, I'd focus my energies on helping my daughter recognize what it feels like right before she has to pee/poop, putt little potties in all the rooms to increase her pottying success rate, and really talk about how good it feels to go in the potty, to stay dry, to not have to have poop in your pants, how she's using the potty just like mommy does, etc.

Some other good sources are:

Dr. Sears Potty Training Tips
http://askdrsears.com/html/10/t106600.asp

How To Tell Your Child Might Have To Pee/Poop (so that you can recognize it first, then help them learn it and reconize it)!
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/Articles/GettingStartedBobr...

Hi! I use a really great book called "toilet trained in less then a day". The book is rather old but if you do what it says it works. It's very intense training for several hours in one day. It's best not to have any distraction when you're working with her. Forget about everything and focus on the training. I stress this because it doesn't work unless you give it all your attention. It's all in the book!

I really do not have much advice to give. However, instead of pull-ups when you are sure you can devote a full day, try underwear. I learned from my children that the pullups are reminders of wearing a diaper and they feel it is okay to go to the bathroom in them. Underwear make them feel like a big kid and you should make them feel excited to be in big kid.

I kept toys on the back of the toilet that my kids could play with only when they were on the potty. They would sit backwards (facing the tank), play with the toys and go potty. If they successfully went potty then I had toys on the refrigerator that they could pick from to play with for 1/2 hr. When the 1/2 hour was up then they had to put the toy back on the refrigerator until they went potty again. You have to faithfully stick to the schedule for it to work. Good luck.

She's not going to do it until she is ready. BUT, continue on with the pull ups at daycare. At home, put her in regular panties or let her streak naked. If you see her doing the 'potty dance' or grabbing at herself, RUN her to the potty. Make a really big deal! Clap, sing, whatever! This is what I did with my daughters when they were that age, in a few weeks, they were set. Night time is a different story, use patience. My girls used pullups for awhile at night. I'd go in and wake them before going to bed myself and sit them on the toilet. They eventually got in the habit of noticing if they had to use at night. Good luck!

Hi Marangley,

Potty Training can pretty easy, if have someone helping you, I don't now when you started potty training, But what I did was , I did not put on pull up, I took her to the store and I allowed her to pick her own underwear, and then I bought the plastic underwear for when we went out, now every time Kylah( my daughter 3 years old)ate or drunk anything, I would put on the potty 30 min later because they can hold it, and once you do that then she will start letting you know when she has to go. (Remember) If you switch back and forth between pull up and Underwear she will then get confused.

Hi, I am the mother of two teenage girls...I was potting training just when pull ups came out on the market. I found they hurt progress more than they helped and used them only for travel and away from home. Try putting regular panties on your little girl so she feels what "potty" is. (I also just threw away any panties with poop...buy cheap panties you don't mind tossing!) I also let them wear dresses so they didn't have so much to pull up and down...I kept a potty chair in the kitchen and in the bathroom so they could get to it quickly. I recommend waiting a little while and trying it when you have several days off from work. Consistency seems to be very important, it took awhile before they started telling me they needed to go, more often it was me just telling them to "try". I would set my oven timer for 2 hours and tell them when it went off it was "potty time"...easier for them to accept than Mom just telling them. When they were small I kept a string of bells tied to the toilet paper dispenser and they would ring them instead of hearing the dreaded "MOM COME WIPE ME!!!" Good luck, eventually they all get it!

Ellie is 25 months old and we have been working on potty time for about a month now. I bought "Once Upon A Potty" and we sit on her potty and read it. I do bribe, she gets stickers for sitting on it, m&m's for actuall peeing, and she has a My Little Pony waiting for the big POO. I have little doar panties that I let her wet herslf in and I make it a game, like every morning when she waj=kes up, we RUN so we can potty and then on the weekends, we let her run half naked and every few mintues see who can run the the potty faster. It's slow and sometimes she doesn't like it, but for the last three days, she has been going there to go pee. Just be patient.

I never had any luck with the pullups. My kids would pee in them like diapers. I had to take a couple of weeks off of work at the time to train them. I had to be consistant in asking and putting my kids on the potty about every 10 minutes if they had to use the bathroom. I offered M&Ms as a motivator and reward every time. Everyone uses something different. Use what you think will motivate your child. If your daughter is in daycare, you have to make sure they are on the same page as you or else, all the work you have done with them can be lost. Then you'll have to keep starting over again. Some days they didn't wear their clothes long because of the accidents. There was many times they would be running around bare bottom so, they would know what was happening. They don't like the wet feeling and ask to use the potty after a while.

J. mascorro wrote:
> a few things we did that really helped was we got her piggy bank. we
> named it the potty piggy and everytime she would go potty we would
> give her a few coins, she doesnt know the difference between pennys
> and quarters so it didnt cost much. but everytime wed ask her if she
> had to go potty wed also tell her that shed get money for her potty
> piggy, she had so much fun with itand it worked like a charm. also
> another thing we did was hung a peice of paper in the bathroom and
> called it her potty chart. evertime shed go potty shed get a sticker
> to put on her chart anywhere she wanted, i know it sounds like a
whole
> lot to go through but eventually she just started going potty and
> forgot about the stickers and piggy. now shes potty trained and were
> diaper free, except for at night of course. another helpful hint for
> outtings... we bought one of those seats that fit ontop of our toilet
> for at home so we didnt have a little potty taking up room in our not
> so big bathroom. we put her little training potty in the back of the
> car so that if we were out and had no potty to go to she didnt have
to
> resort to her pull up. works great, just carry extra plastic bags so
> you can dispose of it well. anymore questions let me know, our
daugter
> is 2 1/2 so we may have been there already. im 25 and a mother of 1.
>

Consistancy is the best thing, and rewards for staying dry and going on the big potty. If you don't have a potty seat I would suggest getting one, and making sure every hour to hour and a half to take her to the restroom. I know it is taxing, but what worked for me was to stay home for a week of vacation, watching when and how many liquids I gave my son and just gauging when he was ready to go, a watchful eye and staying on top of it really works. It is a lot of work but so worth it. Stay at it and good luck.

Hi, my daughter potty trained pretty well but my son was the hardest. I tried everything that they tell you to try. the stickers, the calendar, the potty books to read while on the potty and nothing worked. Finally, someone told me to buy a present that he really, really wanted and put it up high yet somewhere he would see it all the time and tell him he couldn't have it until he went potty for x amount of days in a row ( I think I used a week) and that finally did it. I think every child reacts to different ways and you just have to find the way your child will react to. I have also had quite a few of my friends swear that Doctors had told them to let them go diaper-less while at home and to run around with nothing on at all and after only a few days that worked. They were told the child won't go because it's "out there for everyone to see" and they can't hide it in a diaper so they will be less likely to get "caught" that way. I didn't feel comfortable doing that but it worked for all of them that tried. Good luck.

Make it hard when she goes in her pants. Don't use pull ups. Put her in big girl underware and when she goes in them, make her change them. It might be messy for a few days, but she'll get the idea that going in the potty is easier. Pull ups make it too easy to go in your pants.

Well, for my son, who began potty training at 2 years old, we tried letting him run around nude and use the potty when he felt the urge. We had very few accidents, and were able to get him into underwear within a few months. It took a while for him to understand that pull-ups were not an extension of his diaper, so that break was a bit hard at his age. He is now three and we still use them at night, but never during the day.

I hope this helps... My sister-in-law is an ER nurse at Children's Hospital & a mother of three. She says don't even attempt potty training until the child is three. Maybe your little one is just not ready. With my son the Once Apon A Potty video did the job. I started him at two & it took a FULL year. I now have a 21 month old girl. I THINK she's ready, but am not going to start it yet. Good luck! It takes a lot of patience.

Hot summer afternoon, give her plenty of liquid and have her potty chair with her,then let her run around the yard free with real underpant. Encourange her to use it every 30 minutes.

There have been many suggestions done by psychologists that have proved that when rewarded, people will continue to do the previous act. I have a daughter who is 2 1/2 and I am potty training her. Every time she pees on the potty she gets one M&M. She has now had underwear on for a week straight and had no accidents. I still put pull ups on her at night, but through the day the rule is underwear only. I hope this helps!

one word...REWARD! My daughter was much easier than my son, but we did stickers and after so many stickers she could go to the movies or pick a toy...NEVER USE FOOD AS A REWARD! My son was much harder. We got him pee pee trained but poopy training was much harder. He loves playing the Harry Potter games on the computer. He would go in his pants because he didn't want to get up from the computer to go potty. After two weeks of taking away Harry Potter for going in his pants, we changed our strategy. When he went peepee in the potty he could play Harry for 15 minutes. When he went poopy he could play for 30 minutes. Use something she really likes or something she really wants to do as the reward.
Good Luck,
R.

My daughter just turned 2 in May. We have been using gummy bears and M & M's as incentive. It's worked really well....except for nap and bedtime, she is going to potty all the time. I only give her a treat when she actually pees in the potty and I do a "dance" and sing pee-pee in the potty!!!! She thinks it's funny. GOOD LUCK!

My chid was potty trained at about 2 1/2 years with no problems until a year later when she started having accidents all time. I have friend with your problem and she took the pull ups away. They give kids the sense they are still in a diaper. Keep her in undies and everytime she goes on the potty reward her. I did this with a sticker sheet. I hung it next to the potty where she could see it and everytime she went I let her pick a sticker to put on the sheet. After she got 10 stickers she got a dollar to spend at the store. It worked for me and my friend. She is a little young still but you can try. Do not get frustrated most do not grasp potty training until they are about 3. Hope I could help! M.

I tried the jelly bean or m&m with my little girl and it worked. Keep the excitement high. It is a big deal to finally "get it" and she will. Buy her some big girl underwear and tell her that if she goes on the potty, she can wear the underwear for a while. They love big girl dora or princess undies. Have her try to go every 45 min to 1 hour. It is still your responsibility to get her into the bathroom. She won't go on her own yet. Good luck and don't get frustrated with yourself or her. Cheers, E.

Hi
I never thought the pull-ups were a good idea. They feel like a diaper on. I suggest using plain panties. Start on your day off. Plan to go nowhere for a couple of days. Since it is summer let her run around in just her panties around the house. Nite time use pull-ups. She is at the right age. Don't get to upset about potty training. Believe me I have never heard of them starting school with diapers on. You will have to be consistent with this every day. No punishments just constantly taking her to the bathroom. Good Luck.
D.

be patient...she still might be too young. but dont worry the end is in sight. with my daughter we didnt buy pullups because what i learned was they associate thjem with diapers. it might be messy at first but it took no time once i stopped the pull ups

M.,

How is the potty training going? I have 3 kids boy-4, girl-2, boy-18months. From my experience I can tell you that it is not easy but once you make it to the other side you'll be glad. The method (which everyone has different approaches) that worked best for me is the cold turkey method. Going straight from diapers to underwear-no pull-ups. We had alot of accidents and alot of tears (mostly mines-when I had to clean up the mess). But I have heard that this is the quickest way. I have heard that the pull-ups only delay the process...so I would let the pee/poo fall where it may even at night and before long they're trained, they don't want to feel that stuff running down their little legs. Much success, and remember it's like child birth you go through and in a couple of months you barely remember the pain.
R.

Hello! I also have a 2 year 4 month old trying to potty train!!! She just doesn't seem to want to. She knows when she's going. For a couple of days she was doing good, but she's back to the diapers. I'm just going to be patient. I think it will happen when she's ready.

I use to work in a daycare before i became a SAHM. I think that age has nothing to do with if your child is ready to be potty trained or not. I worked in the 18 month to 2.5 year room. I had every child potty trained at age 2 and it only took about 7 days to potty train each child. I never used pull ups because once the child figured out they could pee in them they would not stop. I think pullups let them be lazy when it comes to being potty trained. i only used underwear on the children. They would pee in them a couple times and realize that they were getting wet. Once they saw this they started to want to use the potty. I only recommend using pullups at night and on any long car rides. Otherwise they are useless in actually helping potty train your child. I had to go through a course for potty training and the nurse who did the course said it should only take about 3 days. The first day the child will rebel against potty training, trying to control their environment, the second day lots of accidents but will try to go to the potty, the third day they should really grasp the whole process of going on the potty. This has worked with all the children i have potty trained including my & year old who was potty trained at 18 months old and the little girl i currently babysit who is 2 years old. I plan on using the same techniques for my 10 month old staring around 18 months.

HI,
My daughter is 2 yrs and 3 months old and you are doing much better than I am with potty training. She has never gone on the potty. She will sit on it and tries but has never went before. We also have pull ups and now got the cool alert ones. She will tell me now after she has gone because it feels cold when she wets. They have made the diapers now days so good that the kids can't tell they are even wet. The cool alerts are really good. I know the doctor told me she will be ready when she is ready so I can't make her go. I am getting a bit upset though because she isn't really into it. I have even bought Dora panties to entise her. We have a Potty book that is really good, she loves to read it but just doesn't care about trying it.
T.

I found pull ups to be a disaster. When my son was looking like he was getting ready to go. I took him to the store and let him pick out a pack of his own "big boy" underwear. He wanted that Thomas underwear so bad that potty training became a lot easier and faster.

Also, I bought a few packs of cool stickers ... Every time a succesful potty- we had a little celebration and he earned one of the stickers.

Good luck!

I have a boy the same age (born March 25, 2004) and I'm starting to potty train now. He seems to have success when he wears no diaper around the house. I put the potty in the room where he is playing and ask him every 20 or 30 minutes if he needs to go potty. He went 4 times that day! I gave him a couple skittles every time he did it to encourage him. I've heard a child who is ready can be trained in a day or two with constant ecouragement. Good luck. I know it can be frustrating!

Hi M.. When I potty trained my oldest daughter, I did the following:

We talked for 2 weeks about wearing 'big girl' panties. We then went to the store an picked them out (Hello Kitty I think). She wore them at home for a few hours, then had an 'accident'. She decided she did not like the 'feel' as they do not absorb like diapers or pullups. That was the only accident she ever had!

Good luck!

T.

It's hard when they are in day care. I trained my son while on vacation. We went to the dollar store and bought a cute piggy bank. We put it on the back of the toilet. When he went in the potty we put a quarter in the bank. He loved money at the time and it worked.

Patience is the key. All kids are different and will catch on when they are ready.

Hi M.,
I don't know if you want the advice of a mom who now has an 18 year old daughter but I can share my experience I had with her. We were trying to get ready for my sisters big wedding with my 2 year,6 month old daughter planning to be the flower girl. I was really hoping to have her in girlie panties for the wedding. We tried and tried with little success (leaving a puddle on the reception dance floor). After the wedding I backed off and went back to pampers. No pullups then! Just after she turned 3 we started trying again. Amazing! No accidents. There is an emotional and physical readiness that we just have to wait for. Sometimes unfortunately the daycares are not willing to wait for each individual childs maturity to develop and just tell us a child must be potty trained by a certain age. I hope you don't have to be pressured into training her before she is ready. Otherwise YOU are the only one being trained! Good Luck and enjoy your little daughter, they grow-up SO fast!
K.