Potty Learning

[Erin Pavlina]

My Emily is about 21 months old. I wasn't really thinking about potty training but lately I'm seeing the signs that she might be ready. I've been popping around online reading info about it, but I really want advice from people doing it.

Should I get her a potty to "play" with? What kind of potty do I get? Do I put it in the bathroom (which she does NOT have access to) or do I put it in her room?

Should I put her on the potty occasionally? She knows what pee pee is because in the bathtub she'll standup and say, "Pee pee now?" And when I say "go ahead" she'll pee in the bathtub then sit down again.

Anyway, I need to know what to do first and do you guys have any good books I should read? I want to be ready when she's ready.

Thanks!

[Missgrl]

Erin,
21 months is younger than my ds was when he got interested in potty training. In fact, he was three before I stopped diapering him. I've heard (and from my 2 nieces experience) that girls potty train earlier. So I say go for it! Get her a potty....maybe both kinds. I did the toilet seat one just because I didn't want to have to do the transition thing....or clean it out everytime! But my niece would only do the potty in the living room! When your dd says pee pee now take her to the potty. Even if she doesn't go it'll show her where she should be heading. It might only take her a few days to catch on or you might have to stop for weeks or months and then try again. You just have to read her and see how she feels about it and see how she progresses..if at all. I remember with my ds he would pee on the toilet a few times and then we would go months without him interested in doing it. But when he turned three I got serious! Probably b/c I also had a newborn and didn't want two kids in diapers.
Anyway...good luck and I'm here if you have anymore questions!

[ltrank]

potty training

Dear Erin -

Our daughter is just a couple of weeks shy of two years old and we have been gently introducing the potty for about 3 months, at her interest. There are days when she wants to use it all the time to pee in, other days when it holds no interest and we go with that. We also picked up two wonderful books on potty training by Alana Frankel, one about a little boy named Joshua and another about a little girl named Prudence. She loves to sit and read those when she is on the potty. Another thing that seemed to spark more interest was a sweet video called Wilson's Potty Adventure - we got it at the library and I swear, she must have watched it ten times in a row, the last five while sitting on the potty.

They work with potty training at her day care center, but again, only if they express an interest.

Hope this helps.

Lisa

[Erin Pavlina]

definitely helpful and a good start.

Emily never seems to like watching tv so I'm not sure she'll sit still for a video. She also doesn't sit still for reading too much, but I think if I show her physically what to do she'll get it.

Also, she can't quite pull down her pants. I wish I could watch somone do this so I could get a technique.

Do the videos show how mommies help their daughters potty train? maybe *I* need the video more than she!

[ltrank]

potty training

Well, one thing we do is have dd in the bathroom with us while we are on the toilet. she is very interested in whether we are peeing or pooping, bending down to see it come out and watch it go down the toilet.

Also, when she is getting her diaper changed, I ask her if she wants to sit on the potty - sometimes she will tell me before so that we can get her pants down and diaper off.

One more thing - she refuses to wear either her cotton diapers or disposable diapers with tabs. We have relunctantly given in to her wearing pull ups, which are not that great and do leak, but the upside is that it gives her a more immediate sense of when she has peed.

She still doesn't want to poop in the potty - did one time and it really scared her, hasn't tried again since.

As for a potty - we use one that has a little separate pot that she can dump in the toilet. it is a pretty simple item and she seems to like it alot. i opted to not get the one that can transfer to an adults toilet because she isn't ready for it and i wanted to keep it simple.

A piece of advice that was really helpful - when our dd does pee in the potty, we congratulate her, but don't make it a huge huge deal, which i read can be overwhelming.

This is a long process - i wish i had more resources like books or videos to offer - if i come across any, i will pass them on!

best of luck,

Lisa

[stlcjb]

My almost 3 year old dd hasn't shown the slightest bit of interest in the potty. We bought one and it's in her bathroom. I always ask about peeing on the potty before baths, but she says no and proceeded to do it in the tub. I quess she will do it when she is ready. We shall see. I also have a 3 month old, could that have anything to do with it? Dd #1 is so busy doing everything else, she just doesn't want to stop and go potty. We shall see . . .

Cheers!

[gwinna]

has anybody introduced a younger tot to the toilet? my son is 13 months old, and seems to be somewhat interested. sometimes when he's in the bath, he stands up, makes the sign for toilet, looks down, and pees. so i know that he is conscious of when he is peeing. we bought a little potty that sits on the toilet seat, and he seems to enjoy sitting there (mostly likes to unroll the toilet paper!) although he hasn't produced anything on the toilet yet. i'm not trying to push him, just want to give him the chance if he wants it. he seems to have fun with it so far.

am i crazy or just naive to introduce him early?

[Corriander]

what I did with my daughter was let her run around with no bottoms on and put the potty seat in whatever room we were in. I would give her lots to drink that then ask her every 15-20 minutes if she had to go. After a few successes and lots of positive reinforcement, she figured it out. She was trained by 28 months. Of course she has decided that she still wants diapers at night... so things aren't completely perfect.

A good friend of mine raise 5 kids in Thailand and had them all potty trained by 15-16 months! Everyone thinks that she must have been a tyrant, but she is the gentlest person I know. She just did the same thing - no bottoms on, potty in every room, hardwood floors.

So I have decided that in the Spring when my son is 18 months, I'm going to start trying with him. I would have thought it would be too early then, but after talking with my friend I'm really excited to try it.

[cobluegirl]

We bought a potty chair that you can either sit on or take of the seat and put it on the toilet seat. My ds likes it on the real toilet so he can flush the toilet. He started telling me after he went potty in his diaper around 18 months or so then when dd was born (20 month) he quit for a while. He is now 2 years old and is starting to tell me and he sits on the toilet a little. I have a girl friends who ds is 4 months younger then mine and he is already potty trained. He quit wearing his diapers..they had to no choice..she also let him run around naked. We don't have that luxioury. Oh well I guess all in due time.

[youngyogamama]

I am excited to see all the different experieces here and I want to share mine. My son is now 26 months old and he was very into the potty this past summer. We let him run around naked and he rarely peed (sp?) on the carpet. Usually he would dribble and run to the potty and go. But whenever he had a diaper one he always went in that. Now that the cold season is here and I feel compelled to keep clothes on him there is no interest in the potty. Sometimes I wonder if he just doesn't want to go to the trouble of going on the potty because the diaper is so conveinent. Anyways I'm in no hurry so I guess I will just wait until he shows interest again. I think the potty books really help them understand (Aidan talks about Joshua and Michael from his potty books a lot) Christine

[ReBecky]

It's great to know others have the same questions I have. My ds, 33 months, shows some signs of readiness for potty training. What I can't figure out is if he knows ahead of time if he needs to go. He'll pee in the toilet (with training seat or with seat up) before bath time and other times as well, but not consistantly. Last week I gave it a honest effort. He's thrilled to wear big boy underwear and will ask to wear them, but has no concern about being wet or soiled. We are expecting child #2 in Dec., so I've decided to just let things go as they are. We did introduce the Once Upon a Potty video, which he loves, but will smetimes shout "No Potty" when he puts it on.

[leafylady]

We have a kiddie potty for 24 month ds. He likes to play potty on it and occasionally pee before bathtime. My daycare provider, who has been doing it for 30 years, says that she waits until they are dry through their 2 hour naptime before she recommends actively starting potty training. Then she says to bypass those pullups disposables and go straight to the very thick training pants. She feels that they need to feel the urine or poo in order to understand the concept. (She doesn't meant that as punishment. She'd clean them up right away and keep on as usual.) She is a very gentle but straightforward woman, so I'm going with her advice in this case.

[Erin Pavlina]

What kind of potty should I buy?

I want to buy Emily a potty, does anyone have a recommendation?

Also, are there books or videos that will help ME teach her to go to potty? I'm not so much interested (yet) in books that will help her, although I'll take those recommendations too. I want to see a video of someone training their kid so I know what to expect.

She can't pull her pants down yet but she talks about the potty all the time and sits down in her chair and said, "Go potty"

thanks!

[jtsmom]

Here is my experience with pottys. The most important thing for me was that it was easy to clean. (I have a boy) I went through three pottys and the good one came in the mail after I got pissed off and through the other two in the trash. So I never did use it. Anyway, I researched this area a lot and decided that the best one was a baby bjorn. The one I've seen is red with a white pot where the handle to remove it is also the pee pee shield for boys. There are only the two parts, so it is easy to clean. I ordered it through the internet but I can't remember where. It was kind of expensive, like $30, but I think well worth it, seeings with that the two wal mart ones I threw out were $15 each. The reason I know how good it was without actually using it is that they have two of them at the child and parent center that I volunteer at sometimes, and they are so simple to use and clean. My ds liked to take apart the first potty we had, all 7 pieces to it! The only hint I can give you for teaching her is to let her run around nekkid, preferably outside.

jtsmom

[massagemama]

IKEA Potty for $1.95!!

we found a little blue potty at IKEA for $1.95! I bought it to keep in the car, thinking that would be helpful , just in case. We had the Sesame Street potty from Kmart at home. When this one made it into the house it became the favorite and the $17 potty moved to the garage. it's only one piece and I bet it's not too comfy for long sits (maybe this is why my dd won't poop on it - but I don't think so). Anyway, I have a girl and a boy may pee into it and have it come out the otther side since the basin is a little small. Good luck! Lisa

[NaturalJoy]

jtsmom - I bought that Bjorn potty too, but have been having a little trouble with it. My son is 19 months so we just leave it out when he's having naked time and sometimes he'll sit on it to pee and poop. The thing is, when he goes to sit on it, he inevitably sits on the shield thing that pokes up and it must really hurt his penis because he screams! So, we had to turn it around so that thing is in the back. Maybe he just doesn't have the hang of sitting on the potty yet?

What do ya think?

[Lila]

What about the kind that goes on the actual toilet, so you don't have to clean up? Dd is not the age to potty train yet, but she will be soon. I just hate the idea of having to clean out a little potty. Does anyone have experience with the kind I mentioned?

[NaturalJoy]

Oh, I have one of those too. Sam likes to sit on it. I don't know, but it seems like it may be harder to train young ones on them because in addition to having to get undressed, they have to climb up on a stool or be put up there.

I have another related question, to boys learn to pee standing or sitting? We let ds sit, but I'm not sure. Again, he's only 19 months, so we aren't officially training, we just sit him on the potty to start getting used to it.

[sparklemom]

The Baby Bjorn worked best for my older daughter (younger daughter still too young). We used the blue (there are probably other colors) one piece one that simply sits on the floor. It was easy for her to use and easy for me to clean. We tried a couple others prior to that one, but didn't like them as much (too hard to clean and too high off the ground).
As for potty "training" I can't really say I did a thing. She just started using the potty herself. Children are all about imitating what they see and she, of course, has always seen us use the potty. Also, her favorite outfit is her birthday suit. When we're at home she is most comfy naked as a jay bird---always has been and still is. I have heard that being naked makes a child more aware of when h/she is needs to use the bathroom, so that may have had something to do with it. She was 18 months old when she started using the potty which I know is relatively early.

[sparklemom]

1)make sure your child can see you using the toilet .
2)let your child run around naked at home.