Wednesday, December 31, 2008

POTTY TRAINING?

I want to hear from you parents out there who know a little something about potty training. My son is interested but it is hard to tell if we are ready. Did any of you struggle with this? Are there any movies or books that you recommend? Any advice would be appreciated and I am sure it will benefit others besides myself too!

14 comments:

Lisa said...

The book "Toilet training in less than a day" is great, helps a lot! The best advice I could give is, once you put them in underwear, never go back to diapers (pull ups at night are a given)!!

Lisa said...

also, good luck, and have fun!!

Melanie said...

My daughter loved Elmo so we bought the Elmo's Potty Time video and an Elmo potty seat at Target. We had the best luck with using a sticker chart (where we posted pictures of the rewards she would earn) and M&Ms for #1s and mini candy bars for #2s. Really, she just did it when she decided she was ready! Best of luck to you!

Shell said...

They have potty watches at Kid to Kid. I heard they really help. You set them to go off every 30, 60 or 90 minutes.

Anonymous said...

Hi, my name is Amber, I read your tips from time to time and they have been helpful. I hope you don't find me to be freak in writing an anonymous comment, but we had huge success with potty training our two kids I can't help sharing how.

The book we used is "potty training 123" It's a quick read! It's potty training in a day and it teaches to praise your child for keeping their underwear dry and clean and rewarding them for that and making it a positive and motivating experience.

Tesha said...

although I'm sure many would disagree, but I was never in too big of a hurry to train. Mine were 3 and by that time they basically did it on their own. Once they decided they were ready, we never had an accident (not one) - I never even had to do pull ups at night. I hate having to find and use a dirty public restroom, it's even harder with little kids, so call me crazy / lazy but diapers are not so bad. Unless they get too old, my opinion is they will let you know when they are ready/interested. :) With my first I tried the books, treats, charts etc. for a few months, but when he decided it was time, that was it. I believe girls are easier than boys also. Kind of a long comment for my first one, thanks for your time, I love your blog!!

AOKI CIRCUS said...

I know how to potty train girls, but not boys. I hear they are a lot harder. I think that you (mom) have to be more committed than the child. It's more work for you than them. Good luck! When/if you have a girl, I know exactly what to do, but since I will need to potty train a boy next - I'll be looking to you for advice. Let us know how it goes...

Anonymous said...

With my little boy, it was seriously easy. I tried EVERYTHING, and I finally just gave up and hoped that one day it would click. It finally did when he was just over 3. One day he told me he needed to go, and we have not had one accident since. I have him wear pull-ups to bed, and also when we go out and are going to be gone for awhile (just in case). I also found a fold up potty seat at Babies R Us that I take with us so that he can sit easier on the public restrooms (he isn't quite tall enough to stand and go in the public restrooms). It comes in a ziplock type bag so that you don't get your bag gross. So my advice is to just let him tell you when he is ready cause it will be a nightmare if he isn't ready yet.

Ashley said...

My advice - just dive in! Books are great, but usually your own way is the best way. Stay positive - I used stickers and got way excited everytime she went potty and her panties were still dry. She's been in panties for 6 months and I still praise her a lot - trying to keep it a novelty. My friend used the Elmo video for her son and she swears by it.

.::still blinking::. said...

I read a book that bugged me. But the thing I did that really worked was I just tried once a month for a day to see how we did. It eventually just happened by itself without a lot of hassle.

I do remember begging/bribing my little boy to do number 2. He was so scared. I promised him all of his favorite things.

We also made a chart and everyday that he did not have an accident helped him move closer to getting a pet fish. A betta.

We are still working on staying dry at night. He has been daytime dry for over a year.

Diana and Fam said...

Just be very patience. We started with our 3 year old when he turned 3 only because he showed no signs of interest before that. Out of all the books I read the main thing I got was not to not get mad when they had an accident because that can really emotionally hurt your child and their view on potty training. He got the peeing part pretty well but if we forgot to remind him to go he would always have a accident. The pooping in the toilet always takes longer to master. Alot of kids are afraid to go and it really helps to have them watch you. (I know not fun) but you get the idea. It took our son almost 8 or 9 months to master pooping in the toilet. So hang in there and take it as it comes!

Jacy said...

Hey Kare, I have started asking people about potty training boys too. And it seems like everyone has said that they were unsuccessful until 3 years old (very discouraging, i know). But I will tell you what worked for potty training a girl... dum dum suckers were a good treat for going pee in the potty. Once she had that down, but we were still working on the poops, I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of cheap prizes and she got to pick one each time she went #2. The real trick with her though was once we put her in cute little character underwear. She was so upset when she went potty on her Dora underwear and we threw them away. We really only had one or two accidents once we put her in underwear.
I think it's hard for people to know what exactly what we did with the potty training thing because we just try a bunch of stuff and then it finally works. Good Luck! I'm dreading potty training my little dude!
Oh yeah, one more thing... don't scold them. From what I've heard that can scar kids for a long time if you make them feel like they are failing at it. Only use encouragement (which can be hard after enough accidents in the beginning).

Anonymous said...

We did something fun when we were potty training our son......We put Cheerios in the toilet and had him aim for them. He had so much fun, he was potty trained within a week!!!!!!!

Levi said...

I agree with Lisa about the book. It's a little old school, but it worked our THIRD time toilet training!!! gives good advice. I also bought Elmo's potty time. that helped get her more interested. if you have any little nieces or nephews that are trained already have them hang out for a few days so he can see what it's all about!