Personal Potty Training Tips
Those two words can bring on all kinds of emotions. Fear, excitement, worry, concern, disgust, wonder, hope, hopelessness, just to name a few.
I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish this task. Seriously, being a Stay-At-Home Mom is one of the craziest jobs ever! I mean, you can't go to college for it and even if you have an older child, you can't expect the second or third or whatever to be the same. It is true that every child is different! This also goes for potty training.
Every child has their own clock. I've read, in almost every article or mom posts, that when your kid is ready, you'll know. I thought, but how? How will I know? What if it takes forever? On top of that, I had this need and desire for my daughter to learn before her baby sister arrives. Because seriously, who wants two kids in diapers?
I kept telling her that poopy and pee pee go in the potty. I would also sit her on the potty every half hour hoping she would go. Some kids actually go and don't mind if you put them on, but my kid refused. She would cry and scream no. She had her diaper on and would say poopy when she was peeing. So she knew when she was "going." She must've had a fear of actually letting it go into a hole other than unto her diaper. I really didn't have any hope that she would pass this major milestone before my due date.
I left her in underwear and a shirt while we were home. As predicted she would just pee herself. I thought maybe she thinks that the underwear is like a really light diaper. I just took the underwear off and let her be. Then I grabbed a piece of computer paper and taped it on the wall behind her potty. I showed her Mickey Mouse stickers and said if you go potty you get a sticker. Slowly she began to get it. Once her 2nd birthday rolled around, she just decided herself that she would pee in the potty! She did it! On her own, without forcing her. Now she was ready for undies :)
Wait that's not all. What about poopy? Yeah, that came on its own time too. My daughter would hold it in and sometimes even ask for a diaper/pull-up so she could poop in peace. Eventually she ended up pooping in her potty. She would get so excited about getting a sticker. She even wanted one for no reason. I would say that the stickers were only if she went potty. When she did her business, she would run and say, "Sticky, sticky" of course meaning sticker. When we left the house I would put a pull-up on and tell her that she had to go on the potty. But I guess the pull-up still left like a diaper, so it didn't work for us.
I went to Babies R Us in search for a portable potty. I found the Dora Traveling Potty Seat. It's awesome because it folds and goes in your bag. The only down side is that if you're not near a toilet then you can't use it. It only goes over a toilet seat. One day I left her in underwear and told her that she didn't have a diaper on so she needed to tell me when she needed to use the potty. That one day worked, but the following day we went to the park and she peed her pants. She said, "Pee pee on floor." I told her that now we had to go home to change her pants. I was hoping that leaving the park, because she peed herself, would let her know that she needed to say that she had to go potty. Also, walking home in wet pants probably wasn't very pleasant anyway.
She seems to have the hang of it now. The only thing is being diaper free at night. It's a little scary for me. I don't want her to have an accident in the middle of the night and then have to change her and the sheets. By the time I'm done with that she'd be wide awake. I have to find a bed wetting pad or something. I'm going to search for that now.
So I searched and apparently GoodNights makes them. But I wanted something to go over the sheets not under. I guess I'll have to try it.
Below I've added pictures of the three things I've bought and have found very useful in this potty journey. I did forget to mention that, the toilet seat with the toddler and adult seats, was a little to big for my daughter at first. But the good thing was that her potty, featured below too, has a seat that comes out and fits over this toddler toilet seat. But now that she isn't afraid to hold herself on the actually toilet seat, she sits just fine. She sometimes likes to dip her little butt, but I tell her to stop, "No, you're going to wet your butt if you go to low." She thinks its funny.
Good luck on your adventure into Potty Realm. Try anything you can and want; see what works best for your child.
Every child has their own clock. I've read, in almost every article or mom posts, that when your kid is ready, you'll know. I thought, but how? How will I know? What if it takes forever? On top of that, I had this need and desire for my daughter to learn before her baby sister arrives. Because seriously, who wants two kids in diapers?
I kept telling her that poopy and pee pee go in the potty. I would also sit her on the potty every half hour hoping she would go. Some kids actually go and don't mind if you put them on, but my kid refused. She would cry and scream no. She had her diaper on and would say poopy when she was peeing. So she knew when she was "going." She must've had a fear of actually letting it go into a hole other than unto her diaper. I really didn't have any hope that she would pass this major milestone before my due date.
I left her in underwear and a shirt while we were home. As predicted she would just pee herself. I thought maybe she thinks that the underwear is like a really light diaper. I just took the underwear off and let her be. Then I grabbed a piece of computer paper and taped it on the wall behind her potty. I showed her Mickey Mouse stickers and said if you go potty you get a sticker. Slowly she began to get it. Once her 2nd birthday rolled around, she just decided herself that she would pee in the potty! She did it! On her own, without forcing her. Now she was ready for undies :)
Wait that's not all. What about poopy? Yeah, that came on its own time too. My daughter would hold it in and sometimes even ask for a diaper/pull-up so she could poop in peace. Eventually she ended up pooping in her potty. She would get so excited about getting a sticker. She even wanted one for no reason. I would say that the stickers were only if she went potty. When she did her business, she would run and say, "Sticky, sticky" of course meaning sticker. When we left the house I would put a pull-up on and tell her that she had to go on the potty. But I guess the pull-up still left like a diaper, so it didn't work for us.
I went to Babies R Us in search for a portable potty. I found the Dora Traveling Potty Seat. It's awesome because it folds and goes in your bag. The only down side is that if you're not near a toilet then you can't use it. It only goes over a toilet seat. One day I left her in underwear and told her that she didn't have a diaper on so she needed to tell me when she needed to use the potty. That one day worked, but the following day we went to the park and she peed her pants. She said, "Pee pee on floor." I told her that now we had to go home to change her pants. I was hoping that leaving the park, because she peed herself, would let her know that she needed to say that she had to go potty. Also, walking home in wet pants probably wasn't very pleasant anyway.
She seems to have the hang of it now. The only thing is being diaper free at night. It's a little scary for me. I don't want her to have an accident in the middle of the night and then have to change her and the sheets. By the time I'm done with that she'd be wide awake. I have to find a bed wetting pad or something. I'm going to search for that now.
So I searched and apparently GoodNights makes them. But I wanted something to go over the sheets not under. I guess I'll have to try it.
Below I've added pictures of the three things I've bought and have found very useful in this potty journey. I did forget to mention that, the toilet seat with the toddler and adult seats, was a little to big for my daughter at first. But the good thing was that her potty, featured below too, has a seat that comes out and fits over this toddler toilet seat. But now that she isn't afraid to hold herself on the actually toilet seat, she sits just fine. She sometimes likes to dip her little butt, but I tell her to stop, "No, you're going to wet your butt if you go to low." She thinks its funny.
Good luck on your adventure into Potty Realm. Try anything you can and want; see what works best for your child.