We are 20 months and we have just started introducing DS to the potty, so I haven't been through the drill yet!
What are some of the things you wish you didn't do, or do it differently, during your potty training process?
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No one did anything wrong! Great
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We should have dealt with our son's constipation before starting potty training! I had no idea that it could interfere so completely with training...
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I wish I had everything ready before introducing the potty. Such as lots of training undies (I really like the Gerber ones), reward system, Elmo's potty video and books, cleaning supplies and wine for me
Good luck!
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I wish I didn't start pull-ups when we had a temporary setback. I wish I worked more to get my husband's complete buy-in before starting since he shared much of the parenting task. I am so glad we started super early despite some accidents along the way! I never did this but I think it is helpful to not force our LO to sit longer than she wanted. However, this means we would have to take her several times to time it. I did a combo of all kinds of methods. I think depending on the age, different things work. When she was an infant, I started elimination communication-specifically having her pee in the potty after naps and upon wakeup (no nighttime training was needed as she learned to stay dry while sleeping almost right away) , 12-15 months rewards, 16-20 months try boot camp, 2+years modeling and encouragement through books, videos and lots of patience. She finally got into the habit of telling us when she needs to go and accident free at just about 2 1/2.
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I'm happy with our potty training experience. We probably could have trained her earlier. That's about it.
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I'm happy with our experience. EVerything worked out perfectly I think. We didn't start until 2 weeks before her 2nd birthday.
We probably could have started earlier, but all good! -
At first we did "training" and then we switched to learning. It helped.
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We were very happy with our approach and results of potty training. If I were to change anything, I would have waited two more months to do it (we did it at 19 months) just to have a bit stronger verbal development from C because once we sent him back to daycare, the success relied heavily on them noticing his unspoken request in the beginning, which can be hard in a room full of toddlers.
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I don't really have anything I think we did wrong or wish we didn't do.
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@chopsuey: I would love to hear how you potty trained if you have the time to share
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@irene: There are a number of firsthand accounts of potty training here!
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@mrbee: haha OK, thanks!!
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I haven't started yet, but anecdotally, I think a lot of parents jump the gun when their child shows the smallest sign of interest, and then just end up frustrated when it takes soooooo long to click. I am totally fine waiting until close to 3 to really start in hopes that being able to better communicate will ease the process. He shows little flashes of interest here and there at 27 months, but not enough to make me want to jump in just yet.
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I am happy with our experience for Dd.. We waited until she was completely ready at 2.5. She took to it like a champ. My son is already 25 months but I'm in no rush. He can sit on the toilet when he wants to, but we don't pressure him. My mom keeps saying we should have been done by now but I feel that's a cultural difference between us.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: I agree.... a friend of mine is starting to train her DS too at 20 months because she is starting to tell my friend she needs to go. However, my friend is having a hard time because her daughter would stand up in the middle of the "business" and poop will come dropping on the floor. She had to pick up poo and clean the floor several nights in a row because of that. I had suggested maybe she could wait and try again a bit later, but she said she wants to continue because her daughter shows interest.... If it were me I'd wait a bit. I hope the situation has improved for her!
@T-Mom: I hear ya.. my mom is that way too!
Now my dilemma is, I started letting him sit on the potty every night before bath time. It is becoming a routine now. DS likes sitting on the potty not because he needs to go, but because he wants to read the potty book together! He usually pooped during dinner too (he still won't let me know he is pooping or peeing), so it is not like he would have more poop coming out during potty time.... I am a tad bit worried he is not associating the potty with peeing and pooping, but more with book reading.
He hasn't pooped or peed in the toilet yet. I started putting him there every night before bath time because he peed in his bath water several nights in a row... but of course, after I started this routine, he doesn't need to pee anymore for some reason.
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@sandy: DS just woke up from his nap, but will share our experience after the kids go to bed!
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We started training him at around 24 months and he just wasn't ready. We kept trying and trying and it was getting so frustrating for all of us! So we tried again when he was around 30 months. And it was so much easier! Once he understood the concept of having "messy" pants, he was a lot easier to train.
We trained him to pee standing up, which was great. It makes public peeing so much easier!
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@banana: What?! How do you train him pee standing up? Or does it come naturally at 30 months? Please share if that's a secret trick!
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@irene: I don't know if there's a "trick". We tried to train him to pee sitting down but he kept wanting to pee like his daddy. OH wait, I guess the "trick" was to watch his daddy pee! He used to watch him pee and wanted to pee just like him. It's really REALLY nice having him pee standing him though. Public restrooms are nasty. Don't most toddler boys eventually learn to pee standing up? I have no idea!
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@banana: I think daddy would never want to pee in front of his son.... but that's just my guess. I will check with him on that for the sake of the dirty public bathrooms!!!
In fact many tips say try to use the toilet in front of the tot so they get to observe and learn, but even I find it to be a bit weird and wrong...... so far I've only let him see me using the toilet once (and that was when I ran to the bathroom and he came looking for me)!
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@irene: Really? He won't pee in front of him? I hope we're not the weird family that does that!!! He doesn't pee with him anymore. It was a phase when he was just starting to potty train. Oh and I forgot to mention that around the 30 month range, he woke up from overnight sleep with a dry diaper, so that's how we knew he was ready.
ETA: Wanted to add that it was also easier for us to teach him pee vs poop. He knew that pee came from his peepee and poop came from the back because he knew the difference between standing up to pee and sitting down to poop. lol
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@banana: No no! You guys are normal - if anything we are not normal haha. DH is very adamant about this kind of things. Like he would not be OK to shower with LO. Even when LO was a baby and I'd strap him in his bouncy seat in our bathroom while I shower, DH was like OK we can't do that anymore soon.... and he was 3 months old. Argh! He is hype alert to "inappropriateness" (according to him) like that.
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@irene: Phew! Because I started to worry that we were being a creepy family! haha. My husband and I don't feel comfortable bathing in front of my son though because he's 3 1/2 and might start asking questions. That feels a little weird to me. My daughter's only 14 months so we feel ok about that. I bathe with hher from time to time.
Maybe your DH can just show him once or twice. It only took my son a few times to get the idea of peeing standing up. I think what helped was (sorry if this is TMI) watching the pee actually come out, if that makes sense. It was hard to teach him to pee because he didn't know why he was sitting on a potty. It helps having visuals. haha
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@chopsuey: thanks so much!!!! I really appreciate it! You're the best!!
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@sandy:
DD started showing signs of readiness around 19-20 months, I think. She would tell us when her diaper was wet, would grab at the front of her diaper, etc. At around 21-22 months she would say the word for poop in Korean, but when I checked her diaper it would be clean. A minute later it'd be dirty. So I knew she was ready.
We would have potty trained earlier, but DS was born when DD was almost 21 months old and I didn't have it in me to do it right after his birth. Plus, it was December and cold.2 weeks before her 2nd birthday DH had a week off so we decided it was time. The night before, I washed all of her underwear and stocked the fridge with drinks.
Day 1, we took her diaper off as soon as she woke up and put underwear on her. I think we put her on the potty like every 30 mins or so. Or asked if she had to go. Of course as soon as she got off the potty, she'd pee on the floor.
The first day she had 0 pees in the potty until the end of the day and didn't go poop at all (she used to poop 3-5x a day in her diaper). I think she must have pee'd at least 5x on the floor. I read that sometimes underwear feels like diapers to toddlers, so at around 5pm we took her underwear off. It looked like she had to pee, so we put her on the potty and.. she pee'd A LOT. DH and I were so happy we cheered like crazy and praised her over and over again.
We got her ready for bed, put a diaper on her and it was zzz time.
The next morning as soon as she woke we took her diaper off and kept her bottomless (no underwear). That day she had 0 accidents and walked over to her potty whenever she had to go #1 or #2, sat down, and went by herself. It was truly amazing. We just had to wipe her.
During nap time we put a diaper on her, and put one on her at night too until I noticed she was staying dry over night. Then we ditched the nap and night time diaper.
Once we put underwear/pants on her, it took a while for her to learn how to pull them down by herself, but within a month she was able to not only tell us when she had to go, but was able to pull down. Pulling up took a little bit longer. *jk. It was the other way around. Pulling down was hard, pulling up was easier, so we had to help her.
I think we used the Bjorn potty for about 2 months before we had her start using the big toilet.
She pretty much stayed dry overnight right away, so in the morning she would cry while peeing because her bladder was super full.
(that lasted about a week). Phew. Sorry for the long story!
Feel free to wall me if you have any questions in the future!
Oh, rewards didn't work on DD. She didn't have much interest in drinking all the juice I bought too. -
@chopsuey: thank you so much for the detailed post! I truly appreciate it so much! I'm definitely doing the bottomless method. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
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@chopsuey: wow.... thanks for this!!!!
I am scared of the bottomless method because his room is carpeted! yikes! But it sounds so perfect! -
@banana: This is really interesting about the stand up pee pee training... I have had different people tell me different things. A friend of mine did standing up, but I was asking her doesn't that get messy since they can't really aim, and how do they even get high enough be able to get the pee in the potty?? But when we have let DS pee sitting down, he literally just can NOT get the pee to go in anyway, it ends up everywhere.. We never had this problem with DD, obviously, so I feel like I am learning how to teach potty all over again!
Oh, and one last comment is my mom keeps saying, all we need to teach my DS to do is to pee into a tupperware container, a long one like they sell for people who are unable to pee standing up. Apparently that's how my brother learned. Really mom???
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@T-Mom: It's so not messy at all! He Just pees straight down into the toilet bowl. The only time it could get messy is if he thinks he's done peeing but more is coming out and he steps away from the toilet. But that had only happened once or twice. When he was shorter we kept an ikea step stool by the toilet and he would stand on it to pee, supervised. Now that he's taller he goes to the potty by himself. He lifts up the toilet seat, moves right up the rim of the toilet and pees. Then he grabs a pure of toilet paper and wipes. Then he pulls up his pants and flushes. If he's at home I taught him to put the toilet seat back down. heehee.
Some public toilets are higher up so if he can't reach I just hold him up and he pees. And about your mom's Tupperware comment,... this actually happened to us a few times! We were traveling and he had to pee really and so we pulled over the side of the road and had him pee into a water bottle! Thankfully he was comfortable peein standing up!
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@banana: ok I feel a little better now hearing your experience! My DS is a little guy and I'm not sure when he will get tell enough to pee without a stool but I like the idea if teaching him to go standing up from the beginning. Thanks!
(that lasted about a week). Reply
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