As a mother of three under three, my life is all about potty training right now. In the year and a half that I've been potty training, well, this is my story. Hopefully someone can learn from my mistakes. :)
When Lady Bug was 18 months old, she started having interest in the potty. Being the enthusiastic Mom I was and not having potty trained before, I jumped right in. We bought her a little potty, had her pick out some underwear she liked as well as prizes, and grabbed the largest package of pull ups there was. Those first two weeks were super hard. My Sweet Princess got overwhelmed with it and it wasn't long before I too was overwhelmed. My mistake here was that I rushed into it. I didn't have a game plan and I didn't wait to see if she was only interested in it for a moment or if it would last longer.
At two years, we tried again and this time I had a game plan. I found this website: http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/05/how-i-potty-trained-my-daughter-in-3.html The site points out signs that show readiness: Language - which, at 18 months, my daughter wasn't yet talking, especially when she peed or pooped. Staying dry for periods of 1-2 hours is another sign - This one she did have. An interest in the bathroom habits of others - at 2, she was now asking why we need to go potty and where did it come from. Awareness of Bodily functions - She definitely wasn't aware of this at 18 months but, at two, she was now telling me when she was poopie and if she was wet. I followed the site plan; I chose a weekend about a month out and set it aside so that we could just stay home all day for three days. We spent the weeks leading up to it talking about the potty and how to use it. She went to the potty with me every time so she could get a visual idea of what we had been talking about. Occasionally, Lady Bug would even sit on the potty. Meanwhile, I took her big girl underwear and picked up some PUL fabric from Joann's Fabric Store, pulled out my extra flannel fabric and set to work making semi water proof underwear. I found the idea on this site: http://itsourlongstory.blogspot.com/2012/01/diy-cloth-training-/diy-cloth-training-pants.html?showComment=1328030266224#c6638174278670575212. I used both the potty training thick Gerber underwear and the princess and flower underwear she picked out. I loved these, the only thing I'd do different next time is, maybe use soft towels instead of the flannel. Here is one of my own,
With the extra PUL fabric I had and a hand towel I bought from Dollar Tree. I brought my daughters car seat in, traced out the seat and where the buckles go, cut it out and sewed it all together. It made a decent water proof pad to and made it easier to clean. You can also find them online and at Buy Buy Baby.
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| The under side is the PUL the top is the towel. |
Since we were going to be taking away her diapers I made big girl underwear for her baby dolls as well.
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| Sorry its so hard to see the underwear. |
We made her a potty chart. You can find many on line, but we used this one: http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/Potty-Patty-Potty-Training-Chart-Activites.html I modified it slightly so that the activity section was just squares like the rest and took the week days off of it, put Lady Bugs name and picture on it and tada it was the perfect chart for us.
For pee treats, we had a clean recycled gallon ice cream bucket filled with her favorite candies; for when she pooped, we had a gift bag that I filled with bracelets, stamps, toy necklaces, a Sophia coloring book, crayons, play dough; basically anything I could think of to intrigue her. If she peed in the potty she earned a sticker and a "pee treat". When she poops, she received one of the bigger prizes and a sticker. (To get her off of getting a treat every time she peed, we had her make it in the potty 3 or 4 times in a row and then we moved it to her having to go all day without peeing in her underwear).
Now, back to our three day potty/naked weekend. We spent the three days in the kitchen. We talked about when she peed, we sat on the potty every 30 minutes and if she messed in the kitchen we cleaned it up together. It wasn't quite the magic turnover I was hoping for, but it got us closer. We did really well that first week or two, we even had a day where we had no accidents. However, we still, occasionally, had her in pull ups and I began to notice a pattern of accidents around the pull ups. After she had been in a pull up for any length of time we back tracked and had more accidents.Then, one morning she refused to wear her big girl underwear; no matter what I did I couldn't convince her. At this point, I decided that forcing the issue wasn't worth it. So, we went months with pull ups. When we found out I was pregnant, my hubby and I talked about Lady Bug's situation with potty training. We knew she was capable, we knew she could do it. We just had to quit using the convince of pull ups and just be vigilant in paying attention to her signs so we could catch the messes and help her clean them up. We set a date for a few months out and told her that soon she would have no more pull ups, would have to wear her big girl underwear and go pee and poop in the potty all the time. We kept things positive and worked on making it exciting. We again had her help us pick out treats and we set a goal for when she could get them. It worked!!!! We still haven't mastered pooping in the toilet but she rarely has pee accidents.
So basically:
Make sure they are ready!
Talk to them about it, practice and more practice!
Have a game plan! *Rewards, charts, activities, pull ups or no pull ups, a small baskets of books or magazines so they can be distracted while they try to go potty. There are even potty training apps you can try.
Set a date!
Go for it!
The most important thing......Stick with it!!! Once you start, keep going no matter what gets in the way. There are always going to be set backs and life changes. When these happen, they may have an accident or two. That is completely normal! :)
Lastly, smile and use kind words. Don't yell at them when they miss or you will find they've peed in thier panties and didn't tell you. Its really hard and the Hubby and I have slipped once or twice, because, lets face it, when you just asked them if they need to go and they say no and then not even minutes later tell you they've wet themselves, its really frustrating. But they are trying and learning. Be patient.
My favorite part about potty training, and yes there is a good side (besides not buying more diapers), is the conversations we have in the bathroom. Lady Bug's even made up her own pee and poop song. lol. Or when she tried to convince me that she could stand and pee like her daddy. That one might just be told at her wedding. ;) HeHeHe
Megan
Sounds like success to me!! s wel as good work.
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