My daughter is going to be 2yrs old April 1st and she shows an interest in going to the bathroom and sitting on the little potty that I bought her. Now the only thing is I also have a 3 1/2 month old son. I've have been told that because he is in diapers, she is going to want to stay in hers also. And although she is saying that she wants to sit on her potty,I've been told that she really isn't ready. I've put her on there, but she'll sit there for 10 to 15min and then I'll take her off. So should I not even try yet? Or is this how it begins with all children, the sitting on the potty? I think she tells me while she is in the process of wetting her diaper. My Pediatrician says that the bad thing is, she will train late, but the good thing is my son will train early. Is this true? I'd love suggestions please!
Get the "Once Upon a
potty" DVD...it really works!
My daughter is already telling us when she wants to go, and she does poo-poo and pee in the potty at 15 months. This DVD is really helpful because it makes potty training fun.
Good luck.
You may try to play it for her as setting an example for her brother, also make it fun maybe even a reward for each time she really uses it and has a dry diaper. Also when you go bring her in with you because they like to copy what they see. My boys are 2 years apart and were both potty trained by 2 my oldest world copy his cousin and my youngest copied his brother. Just don't be too demanding and try not to get upset if she doesn't use it or she won't out of spite, praise the good not the bad and you should do just fine. Good Luck!
Hi J., This is a MUST READ. IT WORKS!
On my son's second b-day he was potty trained in one day and I can tell you it really worked. I saw this on Oprah years earlier and tried it. But you MUST dedicate the whole day to just this. If you do it WILL work. First plan ahead and gather the few items you will need:
1. A baby doll that pee's (A new one, not one that she already has)
2. Small presents for your daughter
3. Noise makers-party hats etc. fun stuff
4. Several packages of new and fun big girl underwear.
5. Get a friend to help by playing the roll of your child's favorite cartoon character, (over the phone) like Dora or who ever your child really likes.
6. A package of BIG GIRL pull ups. Don't let her see these. They are for bed time only.
The top five things are vital and if followed will guarantee a potty trained child in one day. So follow these steps;
On the day chosen for the BIG day have all the five things in order without letting your daughter know.
1. Take the new doll and put a diaper on her.
2. Put all the small presents in individual gift bags, enough for the whole day. About 15, put those in the bathroom in a drawer or someplace where she can't she them.
3. Put the party hats, noise makers etc. next to the presents.
4. Put the new. still in the package underwear (2 or 3 packages to choose from), in the same hiding place.
5. Prepare your friend for a phone call to you and your daughter. I set up a signal with my friend. I had her on speed dial and called, let it ring once and hung up which told her to call me back and play her roll. This friend needs to be available all day and be good at playing the part of her favorite character.
When your daughter first gets up on this special day, (I did it on my son's actual b-day) change her diaper as usual. Don't mention anything about potty training etc. Put a new diaper on her. Tell her you have a special present for her and give her the doll that already has the diaper on it. At breakfast feed your daughter then after she eats feed the baby doll. This is where it all starts. Give the doll the water bottle it came with. It will pee right away so take the doll with your daughter in the bathroom. Pretend the doll wants to go potty on the big girl toilet. )I decided not to use a potty chair and started right away with the big toilet) Feed the doll and the doll will go potty on the big toilet. AS SOON as the doll goes potty in the toilet make a real BIG deal about it. Pull out the noise makers, party hats etc. Really play up the party. What a good doll for going in the toilet. Give the doll a present. (like a new outfit for the doll) not something for your daughter, but for the doll. Next, pull out 1 package of underwear and let your daughter pick which pair the doll wants to wear. Pretend that the doll asked to wear the BIG GIRL underwear. Next the phone should ring. OH MY, it's Dora on the phone and wants to talk to the doll. Your friend tells the doll what a good girl she is etc. and that NOW the doll will NEVER have to wear a diaper again. Play it up big.
After all that make sure your daughter did not see the other presents and other things. In about 3 to 5 minutes ask your daughter if she has to go potty. Remember she just had breakfast and probably will have to go now anyway. This is the time you tell her that if she goes on the BIG GIRL toilet like the doll did, she too can have a party just like the doll. Who knows, maybe Dora will call back for her too. Every few minutes keep asking if she has to go and is she ready for her party. Don't give her a party if she just sits on the toilet. ONLY if she really goes in it.
The first time she tinkles in the toilet make the BIGGEST deal about it that you can. Bring the doll in the bathroom too. The KEY here is that on the first time she goes in the BIG GIRL toilet and you have the party with the noise makers and present (only let her see one present) then you bring out all the big girl underwear and let her pick which pair she wants to put on. Just like the doll did. From this point forward DO NOT put a diaper back on her EVER AGAIN. NOT even at bed time. She should get the phone call and have the biggest party ever. After she puts on the underwear you will need to keep asking her about every 5 minutes if she has to go again.
Only do a party and phone call if she goes. KEY STEP: When she goes in the toilet for the 3rd time tell her she is now a big girl and won't ever need to wear a diaper again. Both of you go around the house with a garbage sack and gather up all the diapers. Check the diaper bag, the car, closets, everywhere to make sure there are NO diapers in the house at all. Both of you take them to the garbage can outside and say bye bye to diapers forever.
You will have to stay on top of asking her all day if she has to go and each time she does you need to have the party.
My son went potty and poo that first day in the big toilet with Sponge Bob calling him to congratulate him each time and has never had a diaper back on.
It's your job to stick to it after you throw the diapers away. She might ask for the diapers back but you are the one who needs to stick to your guns and remind her what a BIG girl she is. The habit of going potty in a diaper for two years is hard to break but if you follow the above steps it really works.
At bed time: Bring out the pull ups. Tell her these are BIG GIRL underwear for bed time. Let her put them on. In the morning there will be no more parties but follow through with the doll needing to go in the morning and put your daughter in her underwear first thing when she wakes up.
Once the diapers are all gone the only thing you will have is underwear in the house. She can do it. Call all your family and friends and let her tell them she is a BIG GIRL now and does not wear baby diapers any more.
Good luck and let me know how this works out for you. Many of my friends have used this approach and not one child has gone back to diapers. But it's up to you to keep on top of it. You must ask her often if she is ready to go potty. Remember she has not had to think about it for 2 years because the diaper was there. So now it's up to you to help her remember to use the toilet.
Done in one Day guaranteed. I also have a great site for a personalized Children's book called "Bye Bye Diapers". The book will have her name, friends and family members, personalized throughout the whole story book. It becomes a great keepsake and will mark the day she got potty trained. Order the book for her and that can be one of her presents. You can get it at: www.landbgifts.com
Good Luck,
L. A
If she is showing interest, do not delay, but don't push either. Allow her to practice on the potty. Read books or watch DVDs about using the potty. Once Upon a Potty (girls version) is great because it explains why babies wear diapers and big kids don't and goes through the process of getting a potty, sitting and sitting with no pee pee, talks about accidents and then success on the potty. Allow her to watch you using the potty since you are a big girl too!
Since she tells you when she wets her diaper, let her know that next time she needs to run into the bathroom to try to make it to the potty and to tell you so you can help. Tell her what words to use. After she tells you when she's peeing in her diaper, talk about how it feels before she starts to go pee pee (full tummy feeling) and let her know when she feels that way, she needs to use the potty.
Once she is telling you regularly and beginning to make it to the potty, take her to the store to choose/buy big girl panties. Have her begin wearing them when she decides she is ready and then begin gently reminding her every 15-30 minutes to not go pee pee on Dora or whoever is on the panties. If she has accidents let her help rinse her panties out and clean up the mess with you. Let her know it is okay because using the potty is hard to learn and she can try again. I found that once they have their first accident in underwear and realize it runs all down their legs, they don't really want to do that again.
Also, provide her with a reward for success, but do not ever give the reward unless she goes in the potty. I kept a capped 4oz baby bottle full of plain m&m's within sight, but out of her reach in the bathroom. If successful, I gave her two m&m's...one for each hand to keep her busy while I wiped her. If you do this, you will need to keep a stash with you when shopping, traveling, etc. You can begin teaching her to wipe and wash up once she is "trained" and no longer has accidents.
Girls are easier than boys and since your baby has been around for a few months I don't think regression will be a big issue. Just let her lead. Her interest and cues are a good sign that she is ready. Good luck!!
I don't think there's a set "standard" of when a child is ready or if they'll be late or early trainer. No two children are the same.
Overall, my experience (with my 3 kids and with much younger siblings and nieces and nephews) was that they were ready around 3 to 3 1/2 years old.
However if she's interested in sitting on the potty and you're not making a big deal out of her wetting her diaper ... let her sit on it as often as she wants. If she's ready then she'll start going in the potty and letting you know more frequently that she has to go.
If you'd like you can always start putting her in the ultra thick cotton training pantiess so she gets a better idea of when she's wet and when she has a bowel movement. But be aware that if she's not fully ready she's still going to have accidents and not to make a big deal out of it. And if she wants to go back to diapers and stay away from the potty for a little while be ok with that too. And of course praise her if she actually goes in the potty.
Either way though don't stress about it. She'll get there when she's ready and in the end SHE has the power over it. Go with the flow (No pun intended LOL although it is a good one LOL) and let her sit on the potty, take her off when she's ready, praise her if she goes in the potty but don't make a huge deal out of it if she doesn't. Just clean up and go on about the day.
And the same goes for your son. When he's ready he'll let you know. Like I said though the average of kids I've known has been around 3 to 3 1/2 (although one friend's son potty trained at 16 months ... I was so jealous LOL).
J.,
The fact that she will sit there for 10-15 minutes is a great sign! My daughter (2 1/2) will sit for maybe 5 minutes if I really push her to sit and distract her with games and books. I would keep on trying if I were in your position and be very praise-ful when she goes or is done sitting, and brush it off if she has an accident. My 5 year old son still has #2 issues, and I think it is in part from my pushing him too hard. I agree with the poster who said not to call it training, but practice. She may be really ready! I hope for your sake that she is, but don't feel bad if she isn't!
I totally agree with the previous poster. A child is ready to use a potty when she/he understands ahead of time the she/he has to go, can express this, and shows an interest in using the potty. That last item is often the problem. Your daughter is showing an interest. She is young, but there is no actual "average" child. Perhaps looking at this as practicing instead of potty training, you will feel less pressure. Our son used to sit on his potty with his diaper on and poop while we read him "Once upon a Potty." (I think that's the name.) For whatever reason, practicing made him happy. I've heard of kids regressing when a *new* sibling comes along (trying to be the baby again, etc.), but your son is already here. You know your child best, not your pediatrician. I don't see why she will train late. As long as you and other adults in her life stay positive and don't push her to go faster than she is comfortable (and it doesn't sound like anyone is pushing her except herself), you will not end up in a power struggle that could delay her training. Personally, I would fear that not allowing her this practice would send her the message that you do not feel she is competent and capable. She might begin to believe the same thing. I truly cannot see how letting your daughter sit on the potty could hurt. She sounds quite precocious.
My daughter was trained at 23 months and I had a 9 month old son plus I watched a boy that was 23 months and both boys were in diapers still. My daughter was showing interest so how I trained her was every 15 minutes for the first couple days I took her potty then every 30 minutes I took her and then by day 4 or 5 she was telling me she had to go potty and has been trained ever since.
hey J.! i just wanted to comment that you're doing great with potty training so far, because a most important first step is for her to be comfortable sitting on her little potty, and knowing what it is for! there are many different approaches to potty training: we did an intensive one-week training at 2 1/2 where i sat her on the potty like, every 20 minutes, praised her highly/gave her a sticker to put on a special poster board every time she made it in the potty, had her in big girl panties so when she had an accident it was upsetting to her (wet and cold)and i'd have her be part of getting her wet clothes into the laundry hamper, etc. other approaches can be very child-led (as in, when she is truly totally ready on her own, she'll just do it so easily!) - i'm sure you'll figure out what will work best for you guys, but i did just want to say to you that you're doing GREAT preliminary work with her by having her be comfortable sitting on the potty, in the bathroom, she can learn about washing her hands, etc. - though if she has a big cup of milk/water/juice at some point, you can put her on the potty ten-15 min later and she might have a success!!! those are exciting :) good luck!
smiles,
S.
I agree w/another mom who said you've got your hands full w/a newborn & helping your daughter adjust to her brother. But, if she's interested, I say go for it but do not make a big deal out of it. If she wants to sit on the potty great, if not, that's OK,too. Another mom recommended the 3 day potty training method which I used w/our second son w/a few changes. This method says you should essentially stay homebound w/your child w/in arms reach for pretty much the whole 3 days. That wasn't gonna work for me. The other big component of this method is you give the kids control. Don't have her sit on the potty & 'try' every 1/2 hour or you'll have her trained to go potty every half hour & she problaby won't know or feel the sensation of needing to pee. I speak from experience as I did this w/our 1st son & then had to re-train him. This method says to put your kids in undies & remind then constantly throughout the day to tell you when they need to go. If they pee in their pants then just non-chalantly clean it up & remind them to tell you next time they have to go. The only time I had our son go potty at my request was before leaving the house, at store/malls, restuarants or other places when restrooms were available & then before he went to bed. Yep,this method says do day & night at one time. Ditch diapers completely & no pull-ups. Not only arethey pricey but they're also not very absorbent.....one round of pee in them & they start to leak. Hope this helps & best of luck!
we started potty training my son as soon as we knew we were going to start trying for another child. we wanted a good stretch of time to work with him on it before baby #2 came, so there wouldn't be a "but they're in diapers!" sort of reaction. our son is now 27 months, and doing pretty well with potty training. i'm due in 19 weeks.
that being said, if i were in your shoes, i would wait. you've got a very young baby on your hands. it takes a good amount of energy and persistence for potty training, and right now, you are still transitioning your household to having 2 children. to get your daughter used to the idea, i'd let her have a little naked time in the morning or evening, keep the potty around, and be open to letting her watch you go to the bathroom. let her absorb the idea for a bit. she's still getting used to being a big sister, and you're still getting used to being a mommy of 2!
She may just enjoy being the big girl who doesn't have to wear diapers anymore.
Go for it. IF she's ready, she's ready.
We put our potty out early so our daughter could get used to the idea of it. She would sit on it and mimic going to the bathroom.
Try putting your daughter on the potty as soon as she gets up. (Who doesn't have to pee first thing in the morning?) That should give you both an easy first time success to start things off.
We also used the Once Upon a Potty DVD and Karen Katz's potty lift-the-flap book.
We used the "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" system with our three girls. It worked really well... not always in just one day, but it did work! :)
You could check it out from the library and use their readiness indicators to decide how you want to proceed.
I tried to train my girls when they turned 2 last year in April. It was a bit difficult for them. We tried again in Sept and they were both fully trained in 5 days
If you think she's ready, and it sounds like she is, go ahead and get started. Don't assume that she'll want to stay in diapers just because some other children have. She will progress at her own rate, don't hold her back because someone tells you she's not ready. You're the one who is with her - you know what she's doing and not doing. Go with your instincts. It sounds like she is ready and getting used to sitting on the potty is the first step. Also, telling you as she's going is another step - it takes children a minute to make the connection between feeling like they have to go and going - sounds like she's on the right path. You will be doing her a disservice if you hinder her progression just because people tell you that their children weren't doing something at a particular age and you try to keep her development on the same path as her sibling's. Let her be her.
J.,
When our third child was about to be born our middle one only 18mos wanted to use the potty. Figuring she would need help, I said to wait. A week after the baby came, she went in the bathroom took off her diaper, and used the big toilet, and never wore diapers again. She wanted nothing to do with it. Our oldest also female, took forever to potty train. I was told it was because she had no one little to model after. SO, it depends on the child. If she can tell you when it is coming, and wants to use the potty, I say go for it.
W. M.
Phooey! You have a "big girl" & a baby (my baby is 2 months older than yours, and my big girl is a month younger, so I'm in the same spot). If you make potty a "big girl" thing, she'll train easily. I'm waiting for the weather to warm up, so I can put my girl in training pants (NOT pull-ups) & dresses, to make it easy. But she sits on the potty, sometimes we get lucky, and I've been talking up the notion of her having panties instead of diapers when she can put her pee-pee and poo-poo in the potty. And I sew, so I have a training pants pattern on the way & will make her some cute ones that she'll want to wear. I have a few of the cheap-o one piece potties, and I intend to distribute them about the house, so she can't be more than about 10 feet from one, and then give her lots of water a la the potty training in one day-type method. We cloth diaper, too, though, so she has the incentive of not wanting to wear wet diapers.
When it came time to potty training my daughter, I had to get her a Dora potty chair. She's really into dora so she wanted to sit. I know it can be annoying for us because I had a different potty chair already. Plus if u make your daughter feel like a "big girl" she'll be able to separate herself more from your lil baby. Just positively encourage her big girl actions and she'll eventually catch on. Just remember all kids learn at their own time. My daughter waited til she was almost 3, but once she started, she just did it. good luck
I am having the same problem with my daughter - she just turned 2. I started by putting her on the potty right when we wake up in the morning because everyone has to go right when you wake up. However this seems to be the only time she goes on there- but it might change soon when she feels more comfortable. Its a start. Good Luck!
I would try her now. If you wait, you know she won't get it till later and do you really want to have two little ones in diapers. boys generally potty train late so you could easily be buying diapers for the next 3-4 years. She is the big sister and should be expected to have big girl responsibilities and privilages.
Friends of ours have two boys about 2 1/2 years apart. Once the second boy was born they told the other boy he would have to use the potty because there wasn't enough diapers for both boys. He potty trained really easily.
Hopefully, having a big sister as a role model will help your son potty train easily.
*just me personally* I'd much rather be changing poopy diapers than poopy underpants. Or cleaning up accidents. I'd wait.
And now that you've been told your first will be later and your 2nd will potty train early, your kids are gonna do their own thing! :-) Every kid is different!
I think you can start both of 'em at the same time. Have you heard of Infant Potty Training / Elimination Communication? I've been doing this w/my son since he was 3 mos. I'd say if your daughter is asking about it, she's ready. And your son will learn from watching her. Good luck!
