Fair warning--if you have no interest in reading about potty training and/or baby poop and pee, now is a good time to stop reading.
Okay. So I feel totally unprepared in the area of potty training. We don't have one of those little chairs. I have no idea when you're supposed to start, or if it depends on each child, or what the signs are to look for.
What I do know is that Lizzy has started consistently telling me when she goes to the bathroom, and immediately wants her diaper changed. Kait asked me yesterday if we had thought about potty training and I said that I haven't thought about it at ALL. Maybe I should because she's starting to talk about it, but 16 months seems really early, doesn't it?
How did you do it/How do you think you might do it? What "gear" do you need? Any advice?
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
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I started with Jayden when he was 23 months. It was never perfect, but we just kept-at-it and he finally was fully potty trained by 27 months.
ReplyDeleteWe didn't do it on a little potty, we just wanted him to get use to doing it on the big potty and I read that it was better to get the kid use to that so when he goes everywhere he can use anything.
Every kids is different so you just have to feel it out. I don't recommend doing it before 23 months. but that's your discretion. :)
Landon will be 3 in two months and is what we call "daytime" potty trained. Meaning he will wear a pull up at nap and night time. Sometimes his pull up is dry after nap time.
ReplyDeleteWe started laying the foundation right after Thanksgiving so he was 27 months old.
We purchased the potty chair and he wasn't very interested. Then I got a tip from some random woman on Black Friday who said just put him in the underwear, cold turkey. And it worked!!!
It sounds like it wouldn't hurt to buy a potty chair and see how she reacts. I'm not an expert by any means but I really believe in 2 things when it comes to PT.
#1. Consistency
#2. Do not force it
If they have no interest in going on the potty don't make a big deal about it.
Yes, 16 months seems young to me but she is obviously showing some signs. Every child is different.
I am, obviously, not ready to potty train. However, what I have heard/read/been told is that telling you when they go is a BIG sign of potty readiness. However, I've also been told that to really be successful in potty training, your child needs to be physically ready, which has something to do with being able to hold it for 2 hours (or something). How you tell this, I do not know.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the first step would be to put her on the potty (chair or big potty with little seat on it), just to get her used to the idea. It might be good to do this before and after bath, when she's in the bathroom anyway, and possibly after you change her diaper. I think, this early, it would just be introducing her to the potty and not really focusing on being day trained?
Of course, since I have a boy and they are notorious later potty trainers, I'm not planning on being concerned with potty training until age three!
Hmmm...no advice, mama. I'm pretty much clueless on this. But it sounds to me as if Lizzy is one smart cookie already indicating when she needs a diaper change. I'd say try offering her the toliet and see what happens. She may take to it right away or not. But either way, it couldn't hurt.
ReplyDeleteAnd a sidenote...one of Jim's co-workers and his wife had their kids potty trained by a year!!! Is that not insane or what? I don't think I have the desire or strength to even figure that out but apparently it can happen at an early age. Good luck!
I am so afraid of potty training!
ReplyDeleteI think that introducing the potty and talking about it is a great first step but her telling you she's wet is a good sign that she's getting ready. They also should have to be able to pull up/down their own pants too, not something i didn't think about before but when i taught preschool it was something we had to teach! :) Ahhh, when did these kids get so big????
My son Kyle was "pooped" trained first.(18 months) We used baby sign language at an early age and we would make the poop sign when we could tell he was doing it in his diaper. We did this because it was funny not because we thought it would help him with potty training. This signing made him aware of his bowels and he was able to tell us he had to poop, so then we just quickly put him on the big potty with a little seat attached. Maybe since Lizzy is able to talk you could start having dialogue with her when you see her doing her thing in her diaper? Either way I don't know anyone who wasn't potty trained by high school;)
ReplyDeleteMy only experience is through daycare, but I would say if she is showing interest, you can at least start talking about it. I would buy some sort of potty seat so she can get familiar with it.
ReplyDeleteYou can let her go in the bathroom when you need to go, and tell her you are putting your potty in the toilet, ask her if she wants to sit on her potty, etc. Just tell her that potty can go in the toilet for a few weeks. Then if she isn't against it start sitting her on there regularly. If something happens to come out throw a huge party :o). At school the kids would get a goldfish if they put potty in, an m&m if they put poop in. We also had a sticker chart. Every time they had a dry diaper and peed or pooed in the toilet they got to put a sticker on the chart. When the chart was full they got a prize.
We usually didn't start trying to potty train kids until at least 18 months, but I did have one mom of a 16 month old who wanted me to start, and she was actually very successful. I want to say she was completely 'daytime' trained by 19 months, and fully potty trained before she was 2.
I'm not a mom, but I have potty trained a few kids I've nannied. I've known kids that have been potty trained at 13 months, and some at 3 years - it all depends on the kid.
ReplyDeleteBuy a potty seat, and maybe get a book or two about potty training from the library. With my cousin, we just had him sit on the potty every 2 hours, until he was able to realize what needed to be done. He sat for 5 minutes, regardless of if he needed to go or went at first.
Sounds like she might be ready! I'd get her a chair and go from there.
ReplyDeleteWe have a potty and decided that when I go to the bathroom to start taking her with me and letting her sit there if she wants while I go. My mom started changing her diapers in the bathroom... so we would relate that room to that kind of thing. I thought about doing that too. But I am as clueless as you. :)
ReplyDeletemere, my cousin potty trained their girl entirely before she was 2!! she just turned 2 and is totally trained. seems wild to me, and quite early, but apparently it's totally possible. i will pick her brain about ideas and insights. :)
ReplyDeleteI would just buy a potty seat, let her sit on it and praise her if she goes. Don't force ANYTHING and go with the flow (hee hee) for now :)
ReplyDeleteMy older son PT'd a little after 2 with no issues. He had some friends who were a little older and PT'd. We started by having him go before his bath and just cheering him on, he is a ham so that worked for him, lol.
Clearly, I have no experience in this department yet...but oh my gosh, she's getting so big! Potty training already? :) It sounds like she's got an inkling to start, though, if she's telling you all the time, huh?
ReplyDeleteI would say skip the little potty's and just get a step stool and the little potty ring that fits on the regular toilet seat. Much cheaper, and then you haven't added another transition for her to go through...from the small potty on the floor to using the "big" potty.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that really works well (although I'm a neat freak and didn't listen to friends advice at first when they told me this!) is to let her pick out some big girl panties that she likes, and let her wear them during the day when you're hanging around the house. ...not at naps or going out unless you want to live on the edge! ;)
I just rolled up my area rugs and let her wear them, and she hated the feeling of being wet, and could feel it right away unlike with pull-ups or diapers.
But the best advice is just to trust that it will happen when it happens. We tried with Charlotte for almost a year! and she never showed any interest. I really thought she was going to go to college in pull ups! Then all of a sudden the month before her 3rd birthday she just up and decided it was time. Now she's pretty much "day time" potty trained.
My son is 19 months and officially telling me every time he pees in his diaper. I'm really not ready to potty train, but am thinking I need to jump on his interest. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteWith my older two kids, it was suggested to me to read
Potty Training 1-2-3 and it was a lifesaver!
It suggests that you reward for the ultimate goal: clean, dry underpants. Yes, you give stickers or an M&M when they go on the potty, but you ALSO set the timer for 10-15 minutes (to start) and reward for dry pants, making a big deal out of it.
I pushed my son to train before he was ready b/c I didn't want two kids in diapers (I was very pregnant) but he learned just fine. With my daughter, I waited until she was two, bought her big girl panties and she never looked back. I think she had one accident and was nighttime trained while my older still wore Pull Ups at night b/c he had accidents. So every kid is different.
I hope everyone's advice is helpful for you!!!