Hi Everyone, I have b/g twins who are almost 2.5. They are very familiar with the potty and will usually go at least once a day, but I have not been consistent about training them yet. My son will go #2 in the potty if he is wearing training pants or underwear, but he usually just wets himself and then tells me when it comes to #1. My daughter will go #1 in the potty if I ask her (and occasionally if I don't), but she doesn't go #2. She also doesn't tell me if her training pants are wet. If we are at home, I usually have at least him in training pants or underwear. He always takes his diaper off at nap and bedtime and, in general, likes to be naked so sometimes I think he is more ready than she is. I have never gone more than one day of doing no diapers so I am probably confusing them. Should I try and do it for 3 or 4 days and see how things go? Also, is it easier to train with underwear than training pants? I prefer the training pants, but if they are too similar to diapers then I will go with underwear. Thanks! D.
Hi D.!
I also used the "naked" method for potty training my twin boys. For whatever reason, it just really bothered them to have an accident when they were naked. We had to stay home for a few days to really concentrate on it, but it worked great! Good luck! I also potty trained while expecting and I was so relieved to have that out of the way by the time the babies came!!
You just have to make up your mind to do it and stick with it and so will they eventually. There are lots of fun books about the potty and dvds too! It actually helps to let them see Mommy and Daddy going "potty"!!
As I told another person...Once Upon a Potty worked for my children and my grandchildren. There is one for a girl and one for a boy.
Good luck!
K.
Hi D.,
My 3.5 year old son has been potty trained for a month now! Praise God! I did the potty training in 3 days routine. Save your money though. Nothing in the book that wasn't common sense. The key,is just setting YOUR mind to it. Take your children to the potty every 30 minutes or so. Have them sit for at least 3 minutes. Never talk down to them. If they don't go,Smile and say,"maybe next time!" I used regular panties with plastic pants over those. Still use pull-ups at night. Will work on that later. On the first day,my son didn't even pee in the potty. The second day,I was getting a little frustrated,but at the end of the day something just clicked for him! He peed in the potty!! On the 3rd day,he pooped in the potty!. I would say,in less than a week he was completely trained with no accidents! Granted, he is a little older than yours. I did a big potty dance every time he went and rewarded him with a small trinkets for the first week. BUT,the most important thing to him was PRAISE!! He would say,"you will be so proud of me?" and look up at me with the most adoring face! So sweet! Anyway,just set your mind to it and don't go back to diapers/pull-ups once you start. Good luck! J.
Your best bet is to actually plan a week (or two) where you are not going anywhere. Make it your "potty training week." Purposely plan nothing and turn down invites. Then stay at home and set an alarm. Either keep your kids naked from the waist down or put them in their training pants. And take them to the potty every thirty minutes at first, then every hour. Make it a game...the alarm goes off and you yell "potty time!" and everyone runs for the potty. Buy some of those tiny m&ms and they get ONE every time they go get on potty at the alarm and they get four every time they actually do something on the potty.
Good luck!
V.
No more diapers! (If you must use pull ups at night only)Go and get the five ply underwear at Walmart and for going out you can get plastic pants that go over the underwear. Use the other underwear as a reward. Have the kids clean up the mess they make but never get mad a accidents ( putting the underwear in the washer or dirty clothes and wiping up the spot on the floor and getting new underwear) teach them it is their responsibility. It will not take much time if you keep going back and forth with diapers and pull ups and underwear they will do what is convenient at the time.
I potty trained my 26 month old by just throwing out all the diapers and putting her big girl underwear. Once you do this you cannot go back to diapers or pull ups. It will probably take 3 days to fully potty train. The book was called 3 day potty training and it worked. She was day and night time potty trained in 3 days. Now I didn't follow the rules on pooping so that took us another 2 months, but not to bad I guess. I have heard of it taking up to 6 months. I think if you follow it exactly you can have it done in 3 days.
Hey there, I certainly know what you are going through. I am a full time working mother with 3 year old triplet girls. They were all potty trained before they turned 3. I can tell you that with all of them I used regular potty training underwear with the plastic cover over them and only used the training pants at nap time and when we went places. It required alot of clean-up, patience and time. They did not all potty train at the same time though which kind of made it easier. By only having one child to work with at a time I was able to focus on that child completely. While working with one child I would encourage the others to sit in the potty too. I also used the reward system. I started out with just a sticker chart with the first two, but that was not good enough for the last one and so then we would give them 1 M&M for using the potty. Once I got them into a routine they were all pretty much potty trained in about 2-3 weeks after starting the process. Going #2 in the potty took a little longer for all of them and we still have accidents in that since but our Pediatrician said that is normal. I really hope this helps you out. It takes alot of time and patience but if you start it make sure you stick with so they don't get confused.
If you don't mind the laundry, I always go with underwear or if it's warm outside and we are in the backyard, I just put a long shirt on them! The underwear is good though because it doesn't feel good when you're really wet, I think it helps speed the process, as long as they're not sitting on the furniture. Maybe you should pick a week, stay close to home and just work on potty training, by the end of the week, they'll be mostly trained. At 2 and 1/2 though they are still on the young side, you're doing good!
I used to teach the "potty training class" at a preschool. I have many ideas and some that I used at home myself.
Supplies:
-Washable toys that can be used on a small table (puzzles, books, cars, dolls, etc.)
-Bin to store them in
-TV table to keep in bathroom
-Digital timer (one for each of them is great)
-Thick training underwear (save the character undies as rewards)
-Doll that "goes" or has a hole in the crotch (I used a bathtime Cabbage Patch Kid cause it looked like it peed when you lift it out of the water)
-Reward charts, stickers, small candies (M&M's, Skittles, Sweet-tarts, Smarties, something you approve of)
-Tootsie Rolls (this one is important)
Suggestions:
-Be patient; it sounds like you are 1/2 way there (never get upset at accidents just use it as a learning experience and have the child do as much of the "work" cleaning it up as can).
-Be consistant; if you start the process and then stop it, you will teach them that it is okay to go in their pants sometimes. (Your goal is 100% success.)
-Use the timer to gage the time of sitting and time between visits to the potty.
-Use the TV tray to place toys in front of the child to keep them busy and help them to relax.
-I agree that the training pants are too close to diapers and are really a "waste of money".
-Reward with one candy for what the child does better and 2 for what they need to work on.
-Teach your son the art of peeing on a tree (this is Dad's job).
-"Show" them how to go (take them into the bathroom with you and talk to them about what goes on). Also, use the doll to explain that after you drink, you pee. This is a great visual aid for the parent who does not want to "show" the child.
-Use the tootsie rolls to make it look as if the doll has "pooped". Have them ready and unwrapped ahead of time and distract the kids to put them under the doll. I used to say, "let's give our friend some time to sit and go poo-poo." (This also shows that sometimes you have to sit for a while.) All leave the bathroom. You go back when they are not looking and put the tootsie rolls under the doll, then call the kids back to see that the doll was successful. Be sure to get VERY excited and reward the doll in front of the kids.
-Be consistant.
-Be patient.
-Be consistant.
-Be patient.
-Be consistant.
-Be patient.
I hope it helps.
Blessings,
P. <><
For one of my two kids, naked time was more effective than training pants OR underwear. He was so upset when he'd pee with nothing on, so if I just left him naked he used the potty every time. Of course this doesn't work when you have to go somewhere, but it does give them practice feeling when they need to go, and practice using the potty. I saw a suggestion before that you find a day you can run around naked, then clear the floor and protect the furniture, or hang out in the yard with the potty outside, and let them drink all the juice they want. That way you have them needing to pee more so you get more practice. We also got a Potty Watch (you can find them on line) which has a timer that can play a song every 30 minutes, hour or 2 hours, or something like that. It helps remind them to go try however often you set it for.
My twins are also 2.5 amd we are starting to potty train and it is a pain! :) Personally, I have found pullups to just be expensive and not worth the cost (for us, anyway). So far... my kids don't seem to notice the difference between them and diapers.
What motivates one of mine is I let her have 1 "special" sticker that I give her to put on her potty ONLY when she goes pee in it. She is very proud of her decorated potty and it is a big motivation for her. I just figured I'd throw the potty away or give it away when we're done so who cares if gets stickers all over it. All kids are different so just an idea on an idea to motivate...
