Potty Training - Valdez, AK

Well the first thing is to make sure she is potty ready. Does she show interest in the potty? My daughter showed interest at about 2 but was almost 3 before she was fully potty trained.
The biggest thing is consistenancy; taking her first thing in the morning and at least every couple hours throught the day.
I took my daughter shopping and let her pick out her own big girl panties, a piece of poster board and some stickers, she got to put on a sticker everytime she went potty, we also purchased a childs toilet seat that fits on the big potty becasue she had no interest in the potty chair. Having this seat also enabled us to take it with us, it fit right in the diaper bag. I also had to get rid of all diapers (pull ups included)

Good luck!

Yes, get rid of the diapers!! Put them away and save for long trips or outings though! But for my two girls we had to go without diapers or pullups to train. And try to remind that it's time to go potty every hour instead of two, less potty accidents! The peeing in the toilet is easy for them, for some reason they almost always have poop accidents! So if they have a timing on when they go poo, try to get them on the potty before they mess the pants. And not drinking anything right before or an hour before bedtime helps too along with them going potty right before bed! With our first we were able to put the potty chair in the living room on a thick towel and let her go naked, we also had the easy seat that rests on top of the toilet too. GL

Hello,
My daughter is 2 1/2 and she is potty trained, mostly. We used rewards for going potty on the potty. Another idea is to just start putting her in panties and she will probably get the idea fairly quickly when she gets her pants all wet and messy. I would even show my daughter the pee spot on the floor and explain to her that it wasn't good to go potty on the floor but she should go in the potty. All kids potty train at different times, maybe she's not ready. If she is, I hope these suggestions work. Of you find something that does. Good luck.
A.

I was anxious when I was first involved in potty training. I'd heard so much about how difficult it could be and if not done "right" could damage the child's self esteem, etc. I've found that potty training, tho it does require attentiveness and consistency, is not difficult if the child is ready.

One of my friends put off potty training until her daughter had to be trained to be in preschool. She learned in 1 week. The mother put a potty chair in the bathroom and she and her daughter talked about the process. At first the little girl just liked to sit on it but when she saw her mother using the big toilet she got the idea and had fun running to her potty, even when she didn't need it, during the day. Her mother's positive attitude and lack of pressure helped this process a lot. I think she also used stickers as a reward.

Both of my grandchildren took several weeks to learn but then I was babysitting them and I wasn't consistent. When their mother took over and when my grandson went to a small daycare it was done in a couple of weeks.

When we say babies have to be ready we mean that their sphincter muscles must be developed enough to hold back urine and poop. Being ready also means that they are emotionally wanting to learn. The reason that they take longer to learn to poop in the toilet is that those sphincter muscles develop later.

It is quite possible that a 2 1/2 year old girl is not physically ready to use the potty. But you could get started by reading a child's book about learning to use the potty with her and putting the potty seat in the room in which she plays so that she will start to get used to the idea. Talk about using the potty. And never discipline or get angry when she has an accident or even if it seems that she's purposely peed on the floor. I saw that both of my grandkids would stand or squat very still as if frozen when they needed to run to the bathroom. It was as if they knew they were to do something but didn't quite know how to do it. Sometimes they would quietly stay behind the sofa or chair. That was another clue. This is all brand new to them.

I've read on this site that some mothers do a "potty dance" which sounds sort of like cheerleading. We always clapped our hands and praised them for "getting the job done." High fives work too.