Potty Training a 26 Month Old

My experience with my daughter when she was potty training (she's now 13) was that she was SO busy...she was potty trained early, but had accidents because she had a hard time slowing down long enough to go on the potty.
She's going for the most part...she'll do well.

My daughter potty trained herself, so I am by far NOT an expert, but I was noticing if I put a diaper on her she would pee in it. I realized this one and and decided I was not going to allow her to wear anything but panties. From that day on (even at night) she has not needed anything. She has had an occasional accident but otherwise has never used diapers or training pants since. I think it is a mental thing, the pull up gives them a reason not to make it to the potty!
Good luck!

I 100% agree with Kelly S.

We used Elimination communication with our boys, and both were trained early. My oldest was in undies full time at 18 months, and my youngest was in undies full time at 15 months. Both were night and day trained at that time.

Its common misconception that babies are born without control over thier bladder. But if parents would just listen and pay attention to thier babies potty habits, they'd ssee that thier baby will only pee all at once 6-8 times per day. As children grow, they lose the control over thier bladder by being allowed to pee whenever wherever in an ultra absorbant disposable diaper. Wearing something like that, kids don't know when they have peed and eventually stop paying attention to thier bladder function, and then need to RELEARN how to control them.

ANYWAY, you are in a window right now, go with it. Skip pull ups, like others said they are just a very expensive diaper. Buy the Gerber training undies with the thick crotch in them, and go to town. Take her every 1/2 hour for a week and then gradually stretch the time out as you go. Set a timer to get her attetnion and get her excited about it.

She will have accidents, but it won't matter if you train her now or when she's 4, she'll still have accidents while getting used to not being in a diaper.

Watch her for signs she has to go.. a dazed look in her eye, pee shivers, squatting, staring off into space for a minute, grabbing her privates.... watch her for a while and you'll clearly see her potty signals. And don't ask her if she needs to go, TELL her time to go potty. This will mkae a big difference in your success potty training.... its not a choice ,its just something its time to do.

My daughter was potty trained (daytime) at 21 months old. I did nothing except give her the opportunity. When she started being interested and staying dry for a couple hours at a time, I put her in underwear. She had a couple accidents the first couple of days and then she was done. We watched the clock a lot the next couple of months and made sure we were asking or taking her to the potty on a regular schedule.

I think there are several factors, but there are a couple that stand out to us. (By the way I also had my son with Down syndrome potty trained before he was 4 and we had the same theories with him). One is that you must make it clear to your child that the expectation is to go on the potty. Don't make it stressful, but they need to understand where they should be going. Two, when they are showing signs of readiness, you need to go to underwear, after all, a pull up is really just a bigger, more expensive diaper and most are so absorbant that kids don't care if they wet them. With underwear, it is uncomfortable and they can "feel" it. With my son with DS, we didn't want to deal with messes at naps, so we put underwear on with a pull up over it so that he could feel it, but we weren't changing bedding constantly.

So, go to underwear with the resolve that there is no going back - ever. Even if you have messes. Even if they have a setback for a week. If you relent, they'll continue doing it and you'll miss the window of opportunity to get them potty trained.

Good luck!
K.

I agree that going to regular panties will make her more uncomfortable then the pullups. My nephew told his daughter that if she wet in her panties or poops them they had to throw them out. He is a single dad and not so good with cleaning out panties. After having to throw out her favorite pair, she didn't have many accidents at all. It took him 1 week to potty train her...lol. I told him we are going to let him train my granddaughter too. She is 21 months old and will tell us "poo poo" when she has already went in her pullup, or if she does tell us before, she won't go on the potty, just sit down and get up. She uses "poopoo" for even potty. I know she has to be ready, the other day she tried to change her own diaper, laying on the floor, undoing her diaper, wiping her bottom with the wet wipe and trying to put the other diaper on..lol, which she needed help with.

You are all ready on a great track! And she is right on target for readiness. Just ditch the pull-ups, they are glorified diapers. She will get it down much faster and with less confusion if you just go to undies. Let her help pick out some she likes and have many on hand (dresses work great for girls potty training) and extra pants for any accidents that will most likely occur the first couple of weeks. Take her in every half hour or so and tell her it's time to go potty, don't ask if she has to go, all kids will tell you no and then go in their pants anyway! You can use small rewars but this is not neccessary with all kids, some are encouraged with praise alone, you know what works for your daughter. If/ When she has an accident be casual about it (uh oh, you missed the potty, we'll try next time) and help her learn to change herself so it will become HER issue, not your issue.

If you must use pull-ups try to only use them when you have to like for outings until she gets it down well. And many children do not night train right away, so don't be discouraged or use that to determine signs of readiness.

Good Luck and remember, you can lead her to the potty, but only she can decide to pee! LOL

We had and still have the same thing with our daughter (who has now turned 3). She has been going potty for a year and a half now but she knows the differnce between pullups and panties.

When she would wear pullups she would still contantly go in them but also on the potty (both poop and pee). But when she would wear panties she would forget and have mutiple accidents a day and I didn't want to deal with it.

Now we've just started to put her in panties for everything except sleeping. And she no longer seems confused and has been doing really well.

You just have to decide if you want to potty train because I DO NOT recomend pullups. You need to go with underwear. I did daycare for 5 years and all they do is confuse kids. They are too much like diapers and the child does not feel the ickiness as they do with underwear.

Hi....I have 4 boys and have been doing daycare for 15 years. Your daughter is doing awesome! I have found that this is the time to get rid of the pull-ups. They are all to convienent now. It is easier to go in her pull-up when she is doing playing instead of having to stop and go. Some have a few accidents...so make sure you carry an extra change of clothes and don't for get the socks and shoes(LOL). My oldest had one accident and didn't like it when he peed down his leg and never again. You are fortunate she poops on the potty. That is very common to struggle with long after being trained. Good Luck and keep her going!

it might mean that, or shes just too busy playing to stop to go potty a lot LOL.

just keep calm about it, go with the flow... and it will happen naturally.

My son isn't fully potty trained yet, but I would suggest getting rid of the pull-ups. Although, this may be hard if she's going to daycare for part of the week. I would start off by taking her every 30 minutes. You really have to watch when she pees and try to remember that. Ask her if she has to go pee. My biggest problem is that my son doesn't usually want to stop what he's doing and go to the potty. It's quite the process. But yea, i would put her in underwear because the pull-ups are just like diapers and the absorb all the pee and therefore it's not uncomfortable for them. So if they aren't uncomfortable then why would she feel the need to use the potty? If my son starts peeing in his underwear he stops and finishes in the potty. Because he feels the wetness. Good luck! You are doing very well! Try to give lots of praise whenever she pees or poo poos in the potty!

My daughter did the same thing. It seemed like it was taking forever because she wouldn't have an accident all of the time, but enough for me to want to put her in pullups. That was actually the problem. I took away her pullups and put her in underwear. She only had a couple of accidents because she didn't like the wet feel on her skin and that was the end of that.

Congrats to both of you...I bet a lot of moms out there want to know your secret.

We had a similar situation with our yougest. At 21 months he announced he was gonna use the potty and by gosh that is exactly what he did. We simply supported him but didn't invest a lot of expectations. We kinda thought it was just a phase.

At that young, you are right, they may not be physically mature enough to turn into a fully independent potty-trainer overnight. Get her the big girl underwear if you are ready to be the person who reminds (and sometimes insists) that it is time to go and then just be prepared for accidents. Because if she is emotionally and socially ready, you have already cleared the biggest hurdle. When we put Dylan in the big boyt underwear, daytime potty training went really well and last month he told us he wasn't going to wear them at night anymore. But, from start to finish, the whole thing took about 6-7 months.

Give it time - she's almost there.

Although we started our daughter on Pull-Ups much earlier than your daughter, she would still go in her pull-up as much as in the potty. What finally got her to stop was actually putting her in underwear (she is 27 months now). We have been going at it for about three weeks now and she is about 95% there (not counting night time). If your daughter goes consistently in the potty, I would think that you could start trying underwear. Our daughter picked her own out and so they are "special" to her now. The key is routine, so if she stays at home, you should try and put her on a set "potty" schedule. It will make your life easier as well as hers!

Don't worry about it. I have a daugther that is almost four and she is wets her diaper at night and nap times. I asked a pro and she said that it could be a hormone that hasn't developed yet. If the child is still having problems by 7 then they can give him/her medicine to help develope that hormone.

I would stop putting her in Pull-ups. Just put on underwear. In my opinion Pull-ups feel too much like a diaper so kids feel like it's ok to go in them.

Sounds like she's ready - I'd get Dora underwear and pack up the pull ups! It will teach her that going in the potty is the way to stay dry.