Potty Training... - West Plains, MO

First, you are not doing anything wrong. At that age they just love to take everything off because she just learned how to do it and she is excited. The more she gets a reaction from you the more she will want to do it. My advice to you is to explain to her that taking off her clothes at home only is OK but she needs to leave her diaper on unless she is going to start using the potty. Then just keep putting the diaper back on until she realizes you are not going to give in. She is going to test you endlessly so stay consistent.

Hi, H.,
I am a grandmother who had 2 daughters and 1 grandson that I potty trained. I have also been a teacher for 20+ years. This is what I have learned.
First of all, it is winter time right now and hard to potty train. I would suggest that you relax and just let things ride until it warms up. Have you noticed that you go to the bathroom more when it is cold? Another point, does she go throughout the night without wetting her diaper. If she doesn't, she is not ready to potty train.
When it gets warmer, let her go. She doesn't understand the "feeling" of going in the potty. Take her diaper off her and put her in panties or let her go without if you are in a position to do that. The new diapers do not allow the wearer to feel the wet, so she doesn't understand the wet feeling. AND be consistent. Sometimes potty training at first is not Child Training, but MOMMY training.
Have fun and just enjoy.

she might not be completly ready to be potty trained. or if you really want to start you might just have to completly go to underwear and use plastic covers that go over, that way she will be able to feel when she has gone peepee. the plastic covers are what go over cloth dipers. it seemed to help with my daughter when i first started potty trainng her.

J.

I was a full time student when my first was learning the potty ropes. She was still almost three when she finally started using the potty without accident. Mine was in a daycare setting while I was at school and if yours is too they can be a huge help. Let them know that your little one is showing signs of wanting to use the potty and ask them to encourage her when they can. Some of the daycare centers, Early Learning Centers, have classrooms with bathrooms that they take kids into that are learning to potty train. If she isn't in a daycare setting then just remember to remain calm and give her the benefit of the doubt. She is only just beginning and it could take a long time or it could only take a weekend. Each kid is different and so are each parent. The first one is always the hardest, patience is something learned over time (which is why each child gets a little easier, not because they are better children but because we are better moms.)

Hi H., When my kids were little we use to have a poo poo party, I bought some hostess cup cake and a party hat and a balloon, I told them when you are done going potty, we will have our poo poo party, kids love partys. Good luck B.

From my opinion you are doing nothing wrong. Just always encourage and never schold. It takes time and consistnacy. Your daughter will know when the time is right. For my daughter it took time after time and she had to make the choice herself that she was going to use the potty. She will be three this month and she has only been potty trained for maybe 2 months. So it is still new to her. she still has an occational accident but we work through it together. I started with her at 2 also, but for her the time was not right, she understood what she was to do but didn't want to do it. I continued to "educate" her on the potty with books and special items, and did the speical princess potty which we sat on with countless times and nothing happened. There was a point i did give up, but then picked up the steps again over the Chrismas holiday when i had a good weekend break and that is when she really showed me she was ready to do it, plus I was very consistant on reminding her about going potty. I of coure at that time motivated her with Chocolate... All Girl! But don't get discourage, with some children it just happens and some it just takes time. Another motivation was they type of underware, like Arial or Belle (her favorites) I explained to her how Belle or Arial don't want to get all wet, and i made and Arial chart with pockets that she could put hearts in every time she went... well it is hard to explain in text but you will find your way as a mother to help your daughter learn. Don't get discourage and frustrated, and don't let your daughter think it is a bad thing when she has an accident, just tell her it is okay, and take her to the potty. A book we really liked was Zoe's Potty, it help with the getting to pick out pretty underware. But agian it takes time, consistancy and encouragement.

She might be too young. Just keep making using the potty fun and exciting, but she may not be able to control those muscles or understand her body's cues yet. You'll have alot less accidents (and hassle) if you don't push for potty-training too soon.

It's too early! The signs that she is exhibiting are just play or practice right now. Most kids take off their diaper when they figure out they can (kind of like sticking their finger in a electrical outlet when they figure out they can). She not telling you she wants to go potty. She's just telling you "look Mom, I can take off my own diaper!" I made the mistake of potty training too early. It was a living hell that I wouldn't wish on anyone. I got married, moved, and started to potty train all at the same time when my daughter was 2. In hind sight, I was putting her though WAY too much at once. Don't make the same mistake I did! She'll let you know when she's ready. Good luck!!

It sounds like she's ready, if she's coming to you to tell you she's pooped. She just doesn't yet recognize the feeling of being ABOUT to go.

When my daughter was almost 2.5, I chose a weekend when I was going to be home for 3 days and made potty-training my priority. We basically camped out all day in the kitchen with her potty chair. I only put her in a shirt (I made sure it was warm in the kitchen)-- no pants, diapers, undies, socks, etc. I had rags, papertowels, baby wipes & a bottle of cleaner all ready to go.

Then every hour, I'd have her sit on the potty to look at a book. When she would pee on the floor, I'd say "You need to go pee pee? Go pee pee in the potty." and carry her quickly over to the potty and have her sit on it while I cleaned her and the floor. (This should be a cheerful learning experience-- no scolding her for going on the floor) I also watched carefully for when she seemed like she was going to poop and I'd rush her over to the chair. We didn't have any pooping accidents because I could tell when she would start to concentrate on it. Like I said, I made it my priority, so I didn't really do anything other than play with her, so I could watch for signs of her needing to go.

We had lots of accidents the first day. On the second day, I put her in training pants and we only had a few accidents. We only had 1 accident the third day and that was it!

H. I would give her a few more months. I have a daycare and have potty trained alot of kids. Girls seem to catch on faster than boys. normally they start potty training around 2 1/2 they get the concept a little more. As for her taking her diaper off It is something she realizes she can do so she is going to do it. I can tell you though when you do start training her I would stictly put her in underpants that way she knows when she is wet maybe she will catch on to go to the toilet. save the pull ups for bed. good luck it will all happen soon. M.

H.,

It sounds like you are doing everything correctly! She is still very young. It is a good sign that she is interested in the potty. I have a nine year old son and three year old daughter. My son was almost three when he was trained, and my daughter was a little over two. Every child is different. In fact, my son wanted nothing to do with the potty, until one day he told me he didn't want to pee in the bathtub anymore. I thought ya right, but he has been using the toliet ever since. Be careful not to press the issue too much at this stage. It could become a power struggle. Good luck!

Do not force your daughter to go potty. She will let you
know when she is ready. If you force her you both will
just continue to get frustrated and it will take longer.
I know that everyone is telling you that she should be
potty trained at this age but all children are different.
Just be patient with her it will happen.
K. S

I was a two year old teacher for many years,if you don't want her to take her diaper off try putting it on backwards so she can't pull at the tabs.
Every child is different and most will succeed when they are ready. Some signs to know when children are ready are: when they tell you right away after they have already gone(they don't like the feel of it)or when they stay dry during a nap.
Your daughter is still young,alot of kids are not ready that early.

I have a 2 1/2 yr old boy, and still haven't had a whole lot of luck with training yet! We have had occasional luck with running a trickle of water while sitting on the potty, or even letting him play with a plastic fish...in a large cup full of warm water! I'm sure these are not technical solutions, but they've worked for us several times.
Good luck!

My oldest(who will be 5 in july) would tell me when he did his job or went pee. He always took his diaper off. My husband and i sat him on the toilet every hour and it finally worked. The hard part was for him to poop in the potty. Now my 3 year old is just being plain stubborn and cries when he gets sat on the toilet.
I would start taking her every hour, explain to her what the potty does so she isn't scared when it flushes, even letting her flush it would help. Also, what helped my son was having him pick out his own underwear at the store and then we bought pull-ups. we put the pull-ups over the underwear so that he could feel it when he went pee. Eventually, we didn't need the pull ups. Also, if you try to potty train at night, remember, night potty training and day potty training are two different things. Stop the fluids at a certain point at night. Say she doesn't get any more liquids after 7pm. Then take her to try to go to the bathroom before bedtime. Good luck on potty training.

I went through the same thing with my son. The first thing I did was get rid of the diapers. I had him walk with me to the dumpster and throw away the pack of diapers. I told him he could never wear baby diapers again since he didn't want them on anyway. I let him put the pack of diapers in the dumpster (I kept 4 or 5 just in case, but didn't let him see them). I decided to make him accept responsibility (as silly as that sounds) by saying what he's done (ie "I pooped" or "I peed"), then I made him clean up after himself. I'd get him the wet wipe or wash cloth and clean himself first and redress himself, then if he's peed, he had to wipe it up with paper towels. Then I'd make him wash his hands afterward. After 3 times of cleaning himself up and the floor, he went on the potty consistantly with very few "accidents". The less you treat toddlers like babies the better. This also taught him quite a bit about accountability at an early age. It may sound a bit far fetched, but if you have patience with this lesson, it pays off.

First let me say that I have three children and potty training has always been one of the most trying parenting tasks for me... I think you are being way to hard on yourself! Honestly, she is probably not ready yet...
I know you will hear of these children who are trained at
1 1/2 or something ridiculous, but that isn't the norm...
I tried everything with my oldest, feeling the pressure to have him trained, right after he turned 2. He would go on the potty some but always regress after a few days. When he turned 3, almost to the day, he went in and went and told me he was a ,"Big Boy", he put on his big-boy underwear and we were lucky enough to not have any accidents after that.
I truly believe that each child has there own time that they are ready and until then you are just going to make yourself crazy worrying about it! You are doing just the right thing by letting her sit on the potty and asking her if she wants to
go, one of these days she will. Eventually all of this will be hard to remember. She won't go to college in diapers, and those kids who were potty trained earlier aren't going to
get any college scholarships for it!!! Good luck...
L. O

First off you aren't doing anything wrong. She is LEARNING how her body works--- it just isn't completely connected yet.
I think the first step for a child in learning to use the potty is deciding they don't like the feel of being in wet/dirty diapers - and having the skill to remove them or let you know that they need to come off.

I think some kids stay at this point for awhile --w/out developing an awareness of when they are ABOUT to go. (as opposed to "I went") Once they start to recognize the signs--- the internal impulse that says "I need to go" then the process goes more quickly. THere may still be accidents- but with my kids I found it started with "Oops I am going...." in the living room.....then the next time it would be in the hallway on the way to the bathroom..Then it is 'near the' potty....then it is 'as I am pulling my pants down'.......

I think the process is easier if they don't have a lot of cumbersome clothing to take off (less time for the muscles to release before they get on the potty)That is why summer time training seemed easier...the kids wear less and can run about the house in a long tee-shirt or dress with nothing underneath....

Keeping a potty near where they are at will also increase the chance of them making it.....

Until they make the connection between the internal signals that they have to go and getting there----the work of not using diapers falls to the parents. (YOu are being trained to watch for signs of pending potty activity or constantly taking them to the potty --in the hope that something will occur and they will make the connection. These can work - and you may find you are comfortable doing that)

My oldest was using the potty consistently at age 2 -- but my younger two were around 2 1/2. I can't really account for why there was the difference for sure.I do know that training pants and pull-ups didn't help us...Going straight to big kid pants worked best for my kids - I think they were 'cool' to them and easier to put on/take off.

Keep in mine that it is a process and will take some time.

And remember, although it is frustrating to deal with the mess.......it really isn't important how old your kiddo is when she uses the potty. Harvard doesn't ask "How old were you when you were potty trained" on their applications!

All I can say is keep putting her on the potty, its a long process, you can buy some books and read them to her showing big girls sit on the potty and go and babys wear diapers. I just bought this book its called "you can go to the potty" they have books for girls and boys. Its a cute book. I bought this other book "Its Potty time" and it has a press and listen button that makes the sound of the toilet flushing. You can start by taking the poop from her diaper and putting it in the toilet telling her this is where the poop goes and let her flush it and say bye bye poop. You can tell her also when she pees on the floor you can let her help you wipe it and put the toilet paper in the toilet and let her know its where pee pee goes and let her flush it. I bought the books to start my son on the training process.

Good Luck

Hope it helps

Every child is different my girls were almost 4 when they finally got that down. I did everything as far as rewards, candy, trip to the store, new underware. Nothing worked for me. I wish you luck and can only say don't push and when she is ready it will just happen. Keep trying and Good luck

Hi H.!
When we were trying to get our daughter to pee on the potty, we noticed that every time we stood her in the bathtub she would pee. So one day we put her in the tub, waited a second or two, then moved her to the toilet. It worked! Getting them to do it the first time (so they realize what we want) is so hard. Our first son was almost three when he potty trained, and it was completely on HIS schedule! We're working on getting number three potty trained now (just starting). Everyone has always told me, they will do it on their own time. And as much as I hated to hear people say it, it is true! It is important not to punish for "accidents", because sometimes they really can't help it, and sometimes they do it on purpose to get the attention. I don't know what your surroundings are like where you live, but another thing you can do, when the weather gets warm, is let her play outside without pants on (my in-laws live out in the country, so my older two used to "water" the trees!) You can't really do this with close neighbors, but maybe it will give you some ideas. Good luck!!

Rest assured you are not doing anything wrong. My son who is now 7 did not potty train until he was 3 and refused to go poop on the pot until shortly after his 4th birthday. After numerous visits with our family doctor and even a couple of visits with a child pyschologist, I was assured that he was fine and with him it was a control issue since most things in their lives at this age aren't in their control. It was hard not to compare him to others his age and I totally fretted about it. I swore when our daughter came along I would not fret over this. She will be 4 in June and has been pooping on the pot for about 6 months, but is just now as of this month peeing on the pot. I haven't let this stress me out this time around. One other piece of advice, I don't advise using pull-ups although I have at times, but I think they really are too much like diapers. What works best for me are the training pants that are made from a thicker cotton. I use these on top of her panties so there is a little more absorbency plus she love the idea of picking out her undies each day. Good luck an keep up with the encouragement.

I am a 42 year old married mom of 4 kids ranging from a 22 year old to a 3 year old. I am a daycare provider and have lots of experience in the potty training department :)

With my kids I thought the training pants were too much like diapers and the panties didn't work either because of the obvious. You can buy at Wal-Mart or other stores a cloth training pants that are a heavy cotton material and then you buy the plastic training pants that you put on over the cloth one. They KNOW when they potty in those. You have to wash them and often, but it works quickly. They get a look on their face right away when they go that they realize what they just did. Its not as comfortable as a diaper when they don't pay attention at all to what they just did, its what they have been doing all along, and not as messy as panties.

Hi H.,
My granddaughter is 2 also and she is so excited to wear big girl panties! She doesn't quite have the concept of what they are for. Try not to get frustrated, because you are not doing anything wrong. She is beginning to pick up on some concepts. It takes a long time for most kids to make the transition from being totally unaware of their bodily functions to recognizing the feeling of starting to pee or poop. Then they have to develop the ability to hold it till they get to the potty. Finally, they have to have the maturity to know they can control it, they think it is just something that happens to them.
Just be patient with her and keep letting her try. Putting panties on her is good because when wets she will feel uncomfortable and that helps her to be aware of what is going on. Take heart, this too will pass! God bless!

I am going through the same process right now, The daycare provider does not put them in diapers, she keeps them without a diaper and just their pants (I keep my daughter naked). Once you put underwear on them you can't retract back to the diaper. It took my daycare provider 3 weeks to potty train her son, no diapers, cut back on some fluids and literally every time you look at the children tell them to go and use the potty, she even took her son in public and let him pee his pants if he did not tell her. I also allow my daughter to keep the potty in the living room and we slowly have been moving it towards the bathroom. It is not that she doesn't want to go it is that they do not want to take the time to stop and go. They are just busy for the whole thing. When my daughter does wet her pants or have an accident on the floor I tell her it is ok and next time we need to hurry to get to the potty. Hope all this helps!

If she just turned two, then she is still a bit young, you may try waiting a bit. Potty training is a battle that should never be fought, the parent will always lose. Taking off the diaper is just a thing kids do when they learn that they can. When she is ready, I suggest the book "Potty Training in 24 Hours". The book has been around since the 70's, but it works. Basically, you load your daughter up with liquids and sit by the toilet with her all day. If you have the time and commitment, it really works.

I have a son who is turning 2 this month so I've been thinking about potty training,too. I've done some simple web research (just a google search 'signs toddler ready for potty training' type thing) and found several articles on reading the signs that your child is ready for potty training.
As much as I would LOVE to get my guy potty trained and he definitely DOES display some of the signs, they're not all there so I know he's not ready yet. Check it out and make sure all the 'signs' are there for your daughter, and if they are you know your efforts will be worth it in a week or 2. If not, maybe wait another month or 2. Good luck!