More Potty Training Tips?

Updated on February 23, 2010
C.M. asks from New Baden, IL
9 answers

My 2.5 year old daughter has been in underwear for 2 weeks now (mostly). She had her first dry day all day at daycare on Friday and pooped in the potty this weekend. So we are making progress!

The thing is that she doesn't TELL us when she has to go. We set a timer and she goes every 30-45 minutes (or tries). If we miss out and take her later, then she'll pee in her underwear and tell us. She's pooped in her underwear every night, but I think that this will change now that she's gone onto the potty.

I guess I just figured once she wanted to wear underwear and wanted to go on the potty, that the rest would come naturally? Maybe she doesn't recognize the signs yet BEFORE she has to go?

Our plan now is that we take her every 30-45 minutes and she gets an M-n-M if she tries, 2 if she potties and 5 if she poops. She wear underwear or padded undewear with the plastic covers over them. But she doesn't mind still going into diapers sometimes (we took her to this bouncy play place and I didn't want to risk the pee so we put her in diapers).

So my concerns are:

1. She's not telling us BEFORE she has to go
2. She wakes up from naps/bedtime wet still

Ideas? I don't want to go back because we're already on week 3 of wearing underwear during the day! I don't mind the accidents and cleaning it up...

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So What Happened?

Thanks to everyone for your suggestion!!

I do realize that 2.5 is still young, therefore I am not expecting her to be perfect or get it right in a day or two!! We are consistent with going to the potty every 1/2 hour - hour. She goes every 1/2 hour - 45 minutes at daycare. I think we'll slowly start to extend it until we don't ask anymore.

I do realize that at some point she'll start to recognize the signs of having to go BEFORE she goes, maybe her body is just not telling her now. However, yesterday I was in the bathroom running bath water and she came in and said she had to go....so that was a FIRST!!

I realize this may take time. In the past week, she's been dry for the first time all day at daycare, pooped in the potty and told me she has to go! She's getting there and I'm so proud of her!!

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K.J.

answers from Kansas City on

She's only 2 1/2. Don't expect her to be perfect right off. She's definitely within the window for starting potty training, but still on the youngish end of that window. It's hard for her. And it takes a long time to perfect the skill. Months, not weeks.

One thing you might try is to leave her in nighttime pull-ups (or cloth training pants w/ a waterproof cover) when she sleeps. Control while sleeping takes much longer than control while awake. Focus on daytime panties first. Don't try to get her into panties at night until she can keep her pullups dry most nights. It doesn't sound like she's ready for panties at night yet.

It takes awhile for kids to learn to recognize the signs of when they have to go. Be patient with her. It's a hard thing to learn. Make a big deal of it when she goes and don't scold her when she has an accident.

Bribery works okay sometimes. We used stickers.

If you're having trouble getting her to go once she's on the potty, I have a tip that worked for us. put a stool next to the potty and put a bowl of warm water on it along w/ a small bath toy. Let her play in the warm water while on the potty. If she has to go, the water play will make it happen. A little messy with the splashes and all, but it works. It will also keep her entertained so that she stays on the potty long enough to go.

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L.O.

answers from Detroit on

I took my daughter to the potty every hour for a couple of weeks.. then we went to a 90 minute potty time.. then 2 hours..

But it takes them a long time to tell you they have to go.. in the beginning mom is trained.. to take them potty.

There are 3 steps to potty training.. pee training,, poop training and being dry while sleeping.

my daughter is 4 and is wet every night... she is wet at nap about once a week.

so work on pee training.. first... gradually add more time between potty trips..

remember Rome wasnt built in a day.

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R.J.

answers from El Paso on

Well I don't really have any advice but wanted to say just stay patient though I know it's hard.

My son is 3.5 and still waits until the very LAST minute to tell us he has to potty. 95% of the time he makes it but it's always a rush to help get him there on time. We've tried everything but nothing has worked yet to convince him to tell us earlier or to go on his own when he has the urge. And though we don't use pull ups at nap time, we use them during the night. Just makes it easier on all of us. A majority of the time he wakes up dry but if not, we don't have a big mass of clothes and sheets to wash.

It will all come in due time! HTH!

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M.S.

answers from Springfield on

I am going through the same thing with my daughter... Her thing is she will run and hide to go in her pants and then once she has she will ask to go potty... I have finally resorted back to pull ups when we are out, and try to do the panties at home... Right now she is sick so I just have her in pull ups cuz she doesnt even want to sit on the potty and just lay around watching movies... I do still try to sit her on there... We have made a "potty chart"... I just decorated some poster board with things she likes (lady bugs and butterflies) and put her name on it... Everytime she goes in the potty we put a sticker on it... I got several different ones for her to choose from... Then she does the potty dance lol... I am just not rushing it now... She will do it all when she is ready :) Good luck with your training!!

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S.S.

answers from Lawrence on

1st I think you should stop the reward for just if she tries. At 2 1/2 they have somewhat of a concept of 5 is more than 2, but not really. She probably sees it as just going to the potty and getting some kind of reward. 2nd, if you don't mind cleaning up the accidents, you should stop setting the timer. She needs to get in to the habit of feeling wet and feeling like she has to go. So, I suggest throwing away the timer and start making a routine of asking her if she has to go before bed, wakes up, and leaving the house. If it has been 2 hours and my daughter still hasn't went to the bathroom, we will ask her then. Your child should be able to hold it longer than 30 min by now. 3rd I wouldn't worry about waking up from naps & bedtime still wet. My pediatrician said that usually potty training at night will come naturally when they have the correct hormone development and for some it is a little longer than others (my daughter is 3 and still wears a diaper to bed). Good luck and stay positive & consistent...

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B.G.

answers from Springfield on

This sounds exactly like my oldest daughter. I started with the underwear exactly 2 months ago and I am just now feeling like we are making good progress. She is starting to tell us when she needs to go more often now and has only had a few accidents in the past week. She usually stays dry during nap time, but is usually wet when she gets up in the morning. The best advice I can give is to just be patient!

C.S.

answers from Charlotte on

Just give her time, she'll figure it out. Each child is different. I have twins and I potty trained one twin over the weekend when he was 2 and he hasn't had one accident. It took 3 months to train the other twin, and he still wears a pull up at night. One suggestion I do have is to help her strengthen her muscles so she can hold it until she gets to the bathroom. Have her start and stop her urine flow while she's peeing (like kegel exercises). This will strengthen those muscles and help her hold her pee.

C.B.

answers from Kansas City on

i don't think she's really quite ready. if you've been at it for two weeks already and she hasn't made any more progress than this, i would give it a break for awhile. you need to explain to her that big girl panties aren't for pottying in, and until she can go in the potty instead of getting her panties yucky, she'll have to keep wearing diapers. stopping what you're doing every 30-45 minutes sounds like way too much hassle to me, especially for two weeks straight. and you're still having to clean up accidents all the time? make things easier on yourself - give both of you a break. wait until she asks to go to the potty. or can stay dry for a couple hours at a time.

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J.L.

answers from San Francisco on

Our 3-year-old is going through potty training with the help of his preschool. What helped for us to was to put underwear on him, then pull-ups over that so he would feel the wetness from accidents but we wouldn't have a huge mess to clean up. He wasn't willing to go to the potty on schedule at home like he does at school, so he would often have accidents in the beginning. But we just kept saying, "If you need to pee pee on the potty, just tell mommy or daddy and we'll help you." Soon he was able to tell us beforehand. I do think it takes time to learn to feel the sensation to pee beforehand. I sometimes told him he might feel a "tickle" down there that will tell him he needs to pee...

Instead of a sugary treat, we got some animal stamps (melissa & doug brand) and gave him a hand stamp whenever he peed in the potty. That helped him too.

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