Potty Training - Greer, SC

I agree with the first poster. My first was the same way... always talking and ahead of the milestones (if that even means anything) so I expected her to be as quick to the potty as she was with walking and talking. No such luck! ;) She liked the whole potty thing and the attention, but once the potty became work it lost its luster. Wait it out, don't push... I haven't been in a preschool that requires a 3YO to wear panties all day... at least not one with carpet. ;) She won't start kindergarten with diapers... there are so many wonderful things to discover with a 3YO... why add the stress of you hovering over her every 20 minutes, "DO YOU NEED TO GO POTTY!!!" ha ha ha, sorry that was more for me than you. Its going to be stressful enough with the accidents that will undoubtedly come... don't draw it out more than it needs to.

I have one piece of advice - BACK OFF!!! I went through something very similar with my now 4.5 year old daughter. She also is very intelligent and I couldn't understand why she wasn't getting the potty training. Unfortunately, her's turned into a more difficult problem with urinary reflux and constipation because it turned into a power struggle. I had someone tell me that on day she'll just start doing it, like someone flipped a switch, and that is exactly what happened. She woke up one morning, asked to wear her underpants and has been potty trained since.... Your daughter will get it, she just needs her time. Good luck!

My son was also like that. He did everything early, even the potty thing then when i had my 2nd son he stopped going. He is 3 1/2 now and has been fully potty trained for about 5 months but i say just keep working with her. We did the underwear, let him pick it out. Had him running around the house with no bottoms on, gave him rewards and it worked all over again. Make sure shes no longer in diapers but training pantes. My son did much better when he was out of the diapers. Well hope this helps some, good luck

Hi J.,

My son was like your daughter. Very intellegent, very verbal, etc, etc. Potty training was another story. If I drove us both crazy, he would use the potty most of the time. Because he was as smart as he was, I asked him, "Why won't you do you pee's and poo's on the potty?" He told me , "I know how to do it, I just don't want to." It didn't matter if he was in a pull-up or big boy pants. So, obviously, I had to add an incentive. His birthday was a few weeks away, so I told him that I wasn't taking him to Chuck E. Cheese for his party in a pull-up. It was going to be big boy pants or cancel the party. He looked at me about a week before the party and said, "You can throw the pull-ups away, I'm done now." And that was the end of it... day and night trained.

Good luck!!

My daughter was a stuborn potty trainer too!! I tried all the bribes, potty candy, potty money, stickers, etc and nothing worked. Then I got the idea to put regular panties on her cause it seemed that pull ups were just too much like diapers and she never cared as a baby how full of pee or poop she was. I let her pick out her own big girl undies at the store and when we got home explained to her that they were like mommies and that she had to pee in the potty when she wore them and that if she had an accident in her panties that she had to clean herself up and put the dirty clothes in the washer (I didn't make her wash them though, just toss them in there). And if we left the house I would put a pull up over the panties just in case she had an accident while out and about, she had to clean herself up when we got home. Well, after about a week of cleaning herself up several times a day she got tired of it and started using the potty pretty much all the time!! I only had problems when she wouldn't want to stop having fun to take a break to go potty. And I do agree with the other ladies, you need to get her in a social setting with other kids her age too even if it is only a few hours a day a couple times a week. It will help her see the other kids going potty and will help her learn proper social behaviour she will need when she starts pre K. Good luck with the potty!!!

S.

Hi J.,

I put mine back in diapers when they reached this stage (all 5 of them!) and started talking about "BABY diapers" and "Look at the BIG GIRL PANTS" and such. It only took a couple of weeks of this and we were back on the potty with success! A smart kid is just that! You have to outsmart them!

You are in my prayers!
W.

Sounds like you are in the same boat we were. Our daughter turned three last July and still had absolutely no interest in using the potty. We had tried to start a few months before her birthday and had to back off cause she actually got pretty angry when we tried to make her sit on the potty. We didn't want it to be a horrible experience for her. She would run around with poop in her pants all day if we let her...she just didn't care either.

But we were actually frantic and desperate to get her into panties cause she is so tall that she was about to outgrow even the largest pull-ups. I was afraid we were going to have to start using Depends. :)

We tried everything. Schedules...kitchen timers...rewarding her with stickers...showing her potty training videos...buying her potty training dolls...having her wear panties all day (and cleaning up nasty messes all over the house)...letting her go pick out her own special panties...telling her Santa didn't come to little girls that wore diapers...

Yes - come November she still wasn't potty trained...so we're talking almost 7 months of trying - and still nothing.

The story I had heard most often from parents is simply "they're ready when they are ready...one day it will click". That just one day such-and-such happened and their child never wore diapers again. "We told her she couldn't have a sleepover until she wore panties." "Some older boys were laughing at him one day and called him a baby and he came back in the house and said he didn't want to wear diapers any more."

I'm not really sure what it was that finally motivated Sadie, but suddenly Thanksgiving weekend she magically started going potty on her own without us asking or forcing and went to bed that night with panties on. Have only had a couple accidents since.

It's not like your child is going to be still be in high school with diapers on. She will figure it out in her own due time. Wish there was a magic answer...but patience and encouragement is really all you can do.

hi my son is 2 1/2 years old and he will use the potty if i take him. he doesnt tell me he has to go yet. so i just put him on big boy underwear and take him to the bathroom every hour. so maybe you could try that. i will really be glad when he starts telling me he has to go. but everytime i sit him on the toilet he goes. keep us posted

When my son was about that age we were going through the same thing. You might have answered your own question... It really helped my son to go to a play group where he saw other kids his age going potty. We tried not to make a big deal out of it, but when one of his friends went potty, all the Mom's clapped and said "good job!". Before long, he wanted that praise too...and of course, to be just like his friends.
I agree with you though, I wouldn't push. I did for a while and it just stressed us all out. I have a two year old now, and I am waiting till he is good and ready! :)

I agree with most of the other posters. She isn't 3 yet. Most peds will tell you that many children aren't ready until well after their 3rd birthday. After my son was 3 1/2 we started making him clean himself up...use "big boy underwear...just like daddy's" it worked like a charm. Only took hime two times before he decided it would be easier to just use the potty. My other son, it didn't phase him. He was nearly 4...and he decided, out of the blue that he wanted to use the potty. AFTER we stopped pushing him. My daughter was a breeze. She followed me EVERYWHRE once she could walk, including the bathroom. She's sit on the edge of the tub while I went to the bathroom and decided she wanted to be like mommy. She was potty trained before 2. Shocked me to death, but all kids are different. I have a 13 month old baby now, who knows what she'll decide to do??

hi my name is J. my son is 3 and I have been trubbled with the same peoblem but afriend gave me a dvd called Potty power and my son is wearing big boy pants now going on 4 days he still only goes pee no poo yet but that's ok we will have to just keep trying, I was trying to hard I think they seem to do it in their own time he will tell me that I can't come in the bathroom with him so give it time it will come,I hoped that helped anything else just e-mail me