Another potty training question.

[nolasteph]

DD1 will be 3 August and needs to be fully (daytime and naptime) potty trained by late August when she starts preschool (5 full days a week). We've been working on it for months now with no luck.

She will go hours with no accidents. She wears underwear all day, but I still put a diaper on her for naps and obviously at bedtime. We try sitting on both the potty chair and the toilet and she outright refuses to pee. She drinks all day and obviously will have a full bladder. But she will not pee until I put a diaper on her and she relaxes and goes to sleep.

What am I doing wrong here? Any tips?

[ussimperius]

I would get plastic sheets, cover the mattress and stop putting her in a diaper. But I don't know if that's an option for you.

[statlerwaldorf]

I had the same problem. She never got potty trained until I stopped putting a diaper or pull up on her completely. It took almost a week with a lot of accidents, but once she figured out what she needed to do to pee in the potty she was completely potty trained within a day.

[humpty]

We had a lot of accidents at first, but we went diaper free and didn't look back. I think sometimes by continuing to use the diaper, it will hinder the child from learning to hold it in until they go to the potty. Use plastic sheets, and have her go to the potty right before bed.

Good luck!

[nolasteph]

We're still not having any luck.

I keep her in underwear all day. I have even gone shopping with her while she has on underwear/no diaper. I'm brave. Ha. She'll go hours on end and then beg for a diaper. She never just "has accidents." This last week even she has napped and slept thru the night a couple times and been completely dry.

DH and I end up giving in and allowing her a diaper or pull-up so she will just actually go. I just feel so bad for her. Am I just being too soft here? I give in because I worry about a possible UTI when she holds it for so long.

[humpty]

Maybe try having her sit on the potty wearing a diaper to pee?

[julygal]

What kind of potty are you using? DD1 (now 5) refused big potties at first and DS (turns 3 in a month) is following in the same footsteps, so we always start out with toddler potties. We have the fisher price frog one, which DS loves.

What is the reward? I have found that dangling the "carrot" makes for excellent motivation, and if they are resisting then I get the reward out to show them what they can have. With DD1 stickers were the best. DS likes a small pez candy (stickers did not work at all).

Where is the potty located? My DD1 had to have the potty out with us. She was afraid of missing anything and hated the bathroom. My niece would hide behind a curtain to use her diaper and was refusing the potty, so my sister put the potty behind the curtain and my niece began to use the potty.

Sorry if these are obvious suggestions, and you are already doing them. Potty training is one of the most frustrating tasks in parenting.

[macchiatto]

I would try taking a break for a month and then doing 3 Day PT.

[beahbia12]

We had the same issue. DD went 4 days at daycare in undies, but I think she might have gotten a UTI from holding it because then when she had to pee she would cry and beg for me to pick her up. I would try to get her on the potty to no avail.

She will sit on the potty no problem, but won't actually go.

I think I'm going to try just putting her in undies this weekend and see what happens.