Need Some Advice on Potty Training - Joplin,MO

My son did this, and we finally just put him in undies for his nap...he then held it until bedtime -- for two days! He wouldn't go all day, and then do it all in his bedtime diaper. So I put him in undies for bedtime. The next morning, he had to go so bad, he finally went in the potty and we had no accidents or problems from that day on. Good luck!

You could try something that worked for my son at that age: food coloring. Put a few drops of blue in the potty and then you could try going first and show her how it turns the water green!! For some reason, at that age, when they poop in the potty they fear that they have lost a piece of themselves!! Since she's two, maybe the reward system may work. (Maybe a small piece of her favorite candy or a sticker?) Good luck. The food coloring was actually the FINAL thing amongst about 5 or 6 other different ideas I tried and it finally worked! Weird!

ok so i have heard it all when it comes to different "tricks" that lead to potty success. the one thing i know for sure, as a mother of six, is that kids LOVE positive reinforcement. i have twins who just turned two and i started introducing them to the potty several months ago. first thing i did was when i changed their diaper, i would say pee pee or poo poo. then when i went to the bathroom i would say, see mommy pee pees too! one of my twins showed great interest and the other, not so much. when the one interested goes potty, we save it to show daddy and sisters when they get home. that's after i give a grand celebration and dance, followed by a piece of candy. (some people don't believe in bribbing kids but i say whatever works. we bribe ours with candy to get them to take medicine.) anyway, she gets so excited about her "accomplishment" she dances and claps with me. another thing that worked with another one of my girls was sitting their potty chair in the living room, in front of the tv, and giving her a sippy cup to get her ready to go. she just thought it was "time to watch barney" and when she went pee, mommy was so proud and excited and she didn't even realize what i was setting her up for. you just have to be patient, never get angry, and you will find what works. all kids are going to react differently. i researched potty training years ago and found out that kids do not have full control of their bladder until they are five. therefore, you can't blame them for "accidents" you simply say, it's ok, everyone has accidents. no kid will intentionally wet their pants. that's just ridiculous. who wants to walk around in wet pants and humiliated at your failure. my sister-in-law did a sticker chart for her boys. everytime they went on the potty they got to put a sticker on their chart. then when daddy got home they could show him how good they had done. then once the chart was full, they rc'd a prize or a special treat like going to get ice cream or going out to eat. good luck and don't get discouraged.

She sounds like she is having separation anxiety from her bodily functions. My daughter and son both went through it. Be careful not to get to upset about it in front of her. She may try not to go at all and that could cause constipation Show her that you do it to. Sounds kinda yuck but it worked for my two. Also, much encouragement. Have the boy also involved in the show and encourage.

Hi L.,

I am not a big fan of the TV but when my daughter was just over a year I bought the ELMO Learning to use the potty DVD. Soon after that she started telling me when she had pottied in her diaper and then bu about 18 months she started to want to use the potty. She just turned 2 and is pretty much potty trained (few accidents here and there). They address everything on the video from being scared of the potty, to accidents, to big boy/girl undies. We hadn't watched in awhile but I recently stated playing once a day and that was all she needed to really turn the tables and start going to the potty everytime she had to go. She has never been scared to poop in the potty which I hear is pretty common. Maybe this will be a good, fun, different than you trying to tell her way that the potty is OK and get her to start using it again. Best of luck, I know how time consuming potty training is!!!

SG

I started my daughter potty training a little before she was 2 and it took sooooo long--many months--so don't get discouraged just yet. I got her the Elmo potty DVD, gave her a treat for using the potty, celebrated with her and called important people in her life to tell them the great news (which she loved) everytime she would accomplish something, acted disappointed but not mean (well, tried not to) when she had an accident. She also would wait for a diaper to poop, although she had many accidents all over the house as well--so at least you don't have that problem. There are many stages to learning to potty in the toilet and some children are better than others at it--I'm sure you had different experiences with your son too. But most importantly, if I could go back and do anything different, I would just make sure to be patient and as calm and nice to her as you can. You can really tramatize children very easily in regard to potty training and I probably did a little bit of that to my daughter. But she'll be ready when she's ready and you'll know when she is. She'll just all of the sudden get the hang of it and feel comfortable, so in the mean time just use encouraging words and habits. Teach her and try not to punish her. She'll get it soon. It seems like girls may be a little more timid than boys on the toilet. Good luck!

Hi L. I'm new to Mamasource my name is L. H. Concerning potty training your child have you tried a reward program or taking her with you when you go to the bathroom and having her sit on her potty while you sit on yours. I did this with my children and it was a success. Hopefully if you try it it will work for you. You can also play some relaxing music in the bathroom to help ease her anxiety with potty training. Best of Luck.

I am no expert. I have a seven year old son and a four year old son (will be five in February). Anyway, our first son potty trained right around the age of 3. With our second son, we went by past experience and started to potty train at 3. He was just not ready. So we kept him in diapers until around age 4. Then he started to be interested. We used those small portable toilets and he seemed unafraid of those. When he was ready, he began to use the big toilet. I don't think it hurts to go at their own speed. Put her back in diapers, and just ask her from time to time if she wants to use the toilet. Maybe in a few months she won't be so afraid, and you can try again.

well, we had a similar problem with my son. We found that if you put the chair in their room and let them play with it (i.e. sit on it and read books, play with dolls and show the dolls how to go potty) that seemed to help. We did that for a couple of days, then when he sat on it to read, we opened the lid, then a few days later he sat with only his diaper, etc. Eventually he was not afraid of it anymore. When our babysitter starting potty training she would put him in underwear all day, no more pullups. then she set the timer for every 30 minutes, he would go and try for 5 minutes. If he went, then he got to hand out a gummy bear to every child and they told him "great job" and stuff like that. He was potty trained within 5 days. He only wears pull-ups at night now. He is 3 1/2 years old. Good luck! If we did not have our babysitter helping us out my son would probably still not be potty trained. Remember too, to keep your cool. If you start getting frustrated or mad, she will pull back even more.

I invested in a store bought "Potty" to help train my girls. I just had them play with it at first, then had them sit on it and get comfortable with it before I explained what it was really for. And of course there's always positive reinforcement. It's something the kids can use whenever they want without permission from mommy. My kids love independence so this was a great plus for them. Make her feel important when she uses it, even if she doesn't actually go. I always gave special treats (usually of the sweet variety - it works for my kids) when they poop because that's always a lot harder.