Potty Training- New question pg 2

[icedcoffee]

Can we talk about potty training? I’ve searched and read all the past posts. Tell me about your potty training experience. What method did you use? What age? How did it go?

My experience so far is...

DS will be 3 in November. In July daycare asked to potty train so I sent in pull ups. He did ok. Probably peed in the potty 50-70% of the time. Pooped once in potty but generally in pull ups. DS2 was born in August and daycare stopped trying. They said he wasn’t interested and they didn’t want to push him with all the changes at home.

This Monday they wanted to start again. I told them I think the pull ups are confusing and they agreed and told me to send him in underwear. It’s not gone well at all. He’s gone through 7-10 pairs a day. He’s only been having about 25-50% success with pee and 1 poop in the potty after 4 days. At home he’s never gotten anything in the potty. Today he refused to sit on the potty and then peed his pants while in the bathroom.

I’m thinking he’s not ready at all and maybe we should go back to pull ups or possibly just diapers. On the other hand I am hesitant to just quit. We were going to to take this weekend to do the 3 day method, but now I’m wondering if it’s a waste of time and effort. My mom is coming to stay with us and help.

Thoughts? Experiences? Try this weekend? Quit now?

[icedcoffee]

I’ve always said I will wait until it just happens easily so my gut is saying “it shouldn’t be this hard. Quit now.” But maybe 3 solid days at home will help? My mom will be here to help too.

[icedcoffee]

Also—I should add I’m not bothered by washing a lot of laundry. I am nervous as hell of pee on my rugs and couches though. LOL

[Mrs.flang]

My thought as well was to wait until it was easy. DD turned 3 in August and got held back from her friends at daycare bc she’s not potty trained so I’m dealing with crazy guilt over it all and I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. I didn’t want to push too hard and make it a power struggle but now I feel like I’m failing her by not trying hard enough.

All that to say, I’m still not sure what I could do differently and if he’s not ready he’s just not and it could cause more issues if you push too hard. I’m obviously not the person to ask, but I think I’d still wait if I were you.

On the other hand, I’ll be following this thread for ideas of what we could possibly do!

[dcn]

My kids were both over 3 and it was really easy. Ds1 had one accident and then was good to go both for pee and poop. Ds2 took a few more days but once it clicked he was also good to go for pee. Poop took a couple of weeks and a bunch of underwear thrown away but once he figured it out he was also good to go. Ds1 was 3 y 4m and ds2 was 3y 6m.

I’m a big supporter of just waiting until they basically just do it so I don’t have to “train”.

[dcn]

Oh for both I just said “if you have to pee go to the potty!” If they had an accident we cleaned it up and put dry undies on and reminded to go in the potty. I also bribed with candy. They each got a toy they picked out when they kept their underwear dry for a week.

[Mrs.flang]

Sept 12, 2019 16:30:35 GMT -5 dcn said:

My kids were both over 3 and it was really easy. Ds1 had one accident and then was good to go both for pee and poop. Ds2 took a few more days but once it clicked he was also good to go for pee. Poop took a couple of weeks and a bunch of underwear thrown away but once he figured it out he was also good to go. Ds1 was 3 y 4m and ds2 was 3y 6m.

I’m a big supporter of just waiting until they basically just do it so I don’t have to “train”.

What did you actually do once you started the process?

We’ve had DD ask for underwear but after the first accident wanted a diaper back and I gave in and put in her one. Same with pull up, she wanted to wear one but after she peed in it she asked for a diaper back.

[dcn]

Sept 12, 2019 16:33:30 GMT -5 Mrs.flang said:

Sept 12, 2019 16:30:35 GMT -5 dcn said:

My kids were both over 3 and it was really easy. Ds1 had one accident and then was good to go both for pee and poop. Ds2 took a few more days but once it clicked he was also good to go for pee. Poop took a couple of weeks and a bunch of underwear thrown away but once he figured it out he was also good to go. Ds1 was 3 y 4m and ds2 was 3y 6m.

I’m a big supporter of just waiting until they basically just do it so I don’t have to “train”.

What did you actually do once you started the process?

We’ve had DD ask for underwear but after the first accident wanted a diaper back and I gave in and put in her one. Same with pull up, she wanted to wear one but after she peed in it she asked for a diaper back.

With Ds1 we put the little potty right in the living room and had him sit a lot. With ds2 I just changed his underwear. I think the first day he had maybe one success and then the next just 1-2 accidents, then he’d catch himself start to over and run to finish in the bathroom. He got skittles for peeing in the toilet.

I should add ds1 was stopping and saying “mama I peeing. I need a dry diaper”. Sooooo he was recognizing and was definitely ready.

[thebreakfastclub]

I did the Oh Crap method with my son just before he turned 2.5yo. He did not care if daycare friends were using the potty or not.

I 100% pushed him and ignored the crying during that first morning.

After a cup of Sprite at 7am, he did his first pee at 9am. By noon it had clicked. No bribes needed, just massive excitement and praise. My son was naked for 2 days then underwear, diaper for sleep.

Going back to daycare was tough for a couple of days, he got distracted in the room and held it too long. Soon enough he was back in track.

By the time my son turned 3, he had night trained himself. Oh crap helped me communicate the whole process in a way my son really responded to.

[lifetaketwo]

We tried the gradual thing and it just didn’t work. We did the oh crap method in 4 days and it worked really well. She was 34 months old. We did day 1 naked, day 2-4 shorts only, day 5 daycare with undies. Potty was in the room we were playing in. Her accidents have been mostly aim related. She still wears pull ups for naps and overnight, but she doesn’t really need them.

[clseale]

We also used the Oh Crap method when my daughter was just shy of 25 mo. The first day we caught maybe 1 pee. By day 5 we had a lunch outing. Day 6 she made it through a 2 hour road trip, and after the first week she had zero accidents. I think being naked really does make all the difference. Another big thing that worked for us was not prompting her. She dug her heels in deep when we tried. I finally just let her take the lead. I figured she learned more from her accidents than she would from just getting lucky peeing on the toilet because I set her there.

It’s now been 5 mo and she is in underwear for daytime and naps, but still pull-ups at night.

[icedcoffee]

Sounds like being naked has helped a lot of kids. I’m not sure DS will go for it though. He flips out if I change his diaper and don’t put pants back on if we’re just chilling in the house.

Maybe I can get my mom to set up some sort of game in the bathroom or kitchen for the morning or something and strip him down.....

Does everyone just pull up their rugs and stuff?

[icedcoffee]

Sept 12, 2019 19:00:16 GMT -5 clseale said:

We also used the Oh Crap method when my daughter was just shy of 25 mo. The first day we caught maybe 1 pee. By day 5 we had a lunch outing. Day 6 she made it through a 2 hour road trip, and after the first week she had zero accidents. I think being naked really does make all the difference. Another big thing that worked for us was not prompting her. She dug her heels in deep when we tried. I finally just let her take the lead. I figured she learned more from her accidents than she would from just getting lucky peeing on the toilet because I set her there.

It’s now been 5 mo and she is in underwear for daytime and naps, but still pull-ups at night.

Where in the house were you hanging out that accidents weren’t horrible to clean?

[lacey]

This is where I confess that I bought the disposable puppy pad things when we potty trained DD. I put a couple out of the couch and then put a blanket over them. She didnt peed on them, but it made me relax a bit. I don't think we pulled up the rug and she has peed on that. We cleaned it and moved on.

[clseale]

Sept 12, 2019 19:21:31 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Sept 12, 2019 19:00:16 GMT -5 clseale said:

We also used the Oh Crap method when my daughter was just shy of 25 mo. The first day we caught maybe 1 pee. By day 5 we had a lunch outing. Day 6 she made it through a 2 hour road trip, and after the first week she had zero accidents. I think being naked really does make all the difference. Another big thing that worked for us was not prompting her. She dug her heels in deep when we tried. I finally just let her take the lead. I figured she learned more from her accidents than she would from just getting lucky peeing on the toilet because I set her there.

It’s now been 5 mo and she is in underwear for daytime and naps, but still pull-ups at night.

Where in the house were you hanging out that accidents weren’t horrible to clean?

We have wood in all of the main areas, then I just closed off the bedroom doors. I have seen people who have carpet put puppy pads down everywhere. 😂

ETA: I also put a trash bag down on her area of the couch and covered it with a towel.

[macmars45]

H and I went for it when DS was 2y8m (I think) over New Years Eve long weekend. Four consecutive days when H and I were home together. After the first few hours we switched off and on each taking an hour at a time. We laid towels all over the carpet for those four days and even now 8.5 months later DS still only gets on the couch with a blanket underneath him and after he has just peed. And we got the carpet professionally cleaned in the dining room and his bedroom in July. He had his favorite spots where he'd pee for a while... 

We did naked from the waist down for 3 days I think and then just pants, no underwear for a month or so. Then underwear and pants. We loosely followed Oh Crap potty training. He got 1 m&m for pee and 2 for poop. After a few weeks it was just for poop and then only 1 for poop. Then only 1 if DS remembered to ask for an m&m. Then none. I think it took 6-8 weeks before he stopped asking for m&ms altogether.

We have never done pull ups during awake time except on long car rides.

[lifetaketwo]

Sept 12, 2019 19:19:39 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Sounds like being naked has helped a lot of kids. I’m not sure DS will go for it though. He flips out if I change his diaper and don’t put pants back on if we’re just chilling in the house.

Maybe I can get my mom to set up some sort of game in the bathroom or kitchen for the morning or something and strip him down.....

Does everyone just pull up their rugs and stuff?

She did NOT like being naked, but we bribed her with Frozen on repeat most of the day. It was a lot easier for her and us because we could be much faster. It was like training a puppy. We’d just pick her up and run her to the potty. By the end of the first day she was running to it herself.

[countthestars]

Neither of my kids were ready until they were ready. And they were ready late, but once they decided they were ready, they really were. DD has had maybe 3 accidents ever. DS has had a few more than that and we're still working on poop, but he's been really good and doesn't need a pull up for naps either. Both were ~4 though.

[vmars]

For pee we tried to make it fun. He prefers standing so at home we’d let him pee on a tree lol. Cheerios in the potty so they can learn to aim. Anything you can think of to take the pressure off.

Poop was harder, we tried to look for his signs and immediately bring him to the potty. Once we had a fair amount of successes on the potty he got over his fear.

As far as daycare, he was perfect once he moved out of the potty training room lol. Everyone in the next room was potty trained so peer pressure for the win.

[luv2rn4fun]

I just potty trained DS2, who turns 3 in two weeks (started about 3-4 weeks ago). At first I started with underwear and he was having lots of accidents (and no poop successes). Then I went commando and things went better. Within a couple days he was back in underwear and it’s been pretty smooth sailing since

For pee he got a sticker every time he peed on the potty. For poop, it was a gummy bear (who also had to watch him poop LOL). In the beginning (maybe first week) he wasn’t holding his pee very long so I set a time for 20 min and would make him go. Then gradually he would resist so I would give more time. After a week or so he was able to hold it for longer periods (over an hour).

[hamster]

Do you need to buy the Oh Crap book, or is an internet summary fine?

C is answering yes to sitting on the potty, but still answering no when I ask if he has to poop while making the poop face.

[dochas]

We used the 3 day method at 3 years and 4 months. He got it right away and it was pretty painless. He had never shown any real interest in using the potty, and we had to use diaper doublers or he would have soaked through his diaper every single night. No diapers, no pullups once we started the 3 days.

He started preschool at 3 and his teacher told me to put him in pullups because he wanted to use the bathroom. He absolutely did not. He would just hold it while he was there and then when he was playing outside right after he would pee in the pullup, which could not hold all that liquid. I stopped sending him in a pullup, and just waited until a school break to potty train. Good luck!

[thoseareradishes]

Sept 13, 2019 9:19:06 GMT -5 hamster said:

Do you need to buy the Oh Crap book, or is an internet summary fine?

C is answering yes to sitting on the potty, but still answering no when I ask if he has to poop while making the poop face.

I am borrowing it from the library. It's an easy read and I really like the method and hope E takes to it.

[brooke77]

Another “Oh Crap” method fan. We are currently PTing DS (25 months) and he is doing so well. He had a few accidents at daycare and when I put underwear on him, but otherwise is using the potty. It was a quicker process than I expected.

We have wood floors, so we just removed the rugs and foam playmats. The first day there were lots of pee accidents on the floor, but since then none.

[knx9211]

I let DS run around naked before bath. All that has accomplished so far is him learning to yell “BABY PEE!!!” As he’s peeing on my floor 🤦‍♀️

Apparently I did the same as a kid, so this is my karma.

[janegold]

My son is the same age (3 in Dec.) and we just PT'd a few weeks ago. He hadn't shown a ton of interest before, but I thought he was probably ready because although he would occasionally pee on the floor when naked after bath, he seemed to know it was coming, and also did NOT pee on the floor plenty of times.

The 3 day method worked really well for us, and he definitely had it down pretty clearly by the end of day 2. He is still afraid to poop on the potty, and waits until we put a diaper on him before bed. But he seems to be making baby steps to getting used to it, and has even asked to not wear diapers to bed a couple times, and woke up dry.

We spent most of the 3 days on the deck and on the beach, so cleanup was no problem. Our pedi had suggested doing it during warm weather for that reason, and it worked well. He's very treat motivated, and got a LOT of treats...we're trying to wean it down but he is still looking forward to the prospect of a BIG TREAT when he poops in the potty.

[Patsy Baloney]

DD was right at 3 when we started - she needed to be potty trained to go to preschool, and since she turned 3 in Feb and preschool started in Aug, we had 6 months to get it done.

We picked out really cool undies, got a giant bag of M&Ms, and were off to the races. Pull-ups (or as DD called them "diaper panties") were only for nights.

1 M&M for pee, 2 for poop, sometimes we also did a sticker. We would hang them on a sheet of paper in the bathroom.

We tried to have her sit on the potty every 2-3 hours during the day, and let her pick out a stack of books to keep by the potty. We also had an iPad with some drawing and rhyming games she liked to play that she could sometimes take in there. What helped for poop, and this is so silly but, my H and DD would go potty together (poopin' buddies) after dinner and before her bath time. He would sit on the big potty (not actually using it), she would sit on her little potty, and they would laugh and sing songs and stuff together. Because she would happily sit for longer while he was there, she got used to pooping on the potty in that routine and we never really had any drama surrounding it that can sometimes happen.

The part that was really hard for her was telling us when she needed to go and the part that was hard for us was soldiering through the screaming that the interruption of her day to go potty caused every 2-3 hours. We knew with her personality, we had to keep going and not back away from it. There were a lot of accidents while she figured out the right time to ask for help going potty or to get herself to the bathroom. That was REALLY REALLY REALLY frustrating for me. But we cleaned up, and I did my best to never make her feel bad, just keep encouraging with, "You're a big girl, and I know you can do it. Mom's here to help. Let's try to get to the potty faster next time," etc.

I think PTing is the hardest thing I've ever done with my kid. Ever. Give me tantrums any day over the patience required to weather PTing.

[clseale]

Sept 13, 2019 12:37:03 GMT -5 knx9211 said:

I let DS run around naked before bath. All that has accomplished so far is him learning to yell “BABY PEE!!!” As he’s peeing on my floor 🤦‍♀️

Apparently I did the same as a kid, so this is my karma.

Based on the Oh Crap Method, you’re already on step 2 of stage 1! (Awareness of peeing while it’s happening.) If he gets that, I bet he’d surprise you.

[icedcoffee]

My mom thinks we should keep our plan to potty train this weekend. Pray for me. I’ll be drinking a lot of wine as I clean piss and poop off my floors.

Keep your experiences and tips coming....

[expectantsteelerfan]

Not sure if the Oh Crap method is the new 3 day method, but that is what was popular when I trained my kids and that is what I did. Both were around 3 years old (ds just over, dd just under). They were naked for the first 1/2 day, then loose pants for the next 2 days. I put our dog's towels down on the furniture (and they didn't sit on the furniture the first day, we camped out on towels and blankets on the floor with the little potty right next to us watching whatever they wanted and eating popsicles and drinking whatever they wanted). Oh, and it was summer when we trained ds, so we went out with him naked in our back yard.
DS night trained himself immediately. DD kept diapers for nap and bedtime (she was still in a crib for a few more months) and didn't night train for a few months after we moved to a toddler bed. Both had issues with pooping and we had to use miralax for both to keep them regular during the process. DD often waited till nap or bedtime to poop in her diaper, but was 100% pee trained in the 3 days.