DD knows when she needs to go but won't!

[Lady Mayapple]

My DD will be 2 in June. We've been trying to help her use the potty for a few months now with pretty much zero success. I had no trouble with her older siblings, in fact they were already wearing underwear during the day by the time they turned 2. She pulls at her diaper, tells me "pee" or "poo", but by then she's already done it. She'll bring her little potty out and sit on it forever, but nothing happens. All of the stories I heard about girls being easier to potty train are nonsense! In some ways I feel a little guilty because her brothers were cloth diapered exclusively, and because of my work schedule I was only able to use cloth with her at home...and then we really fell off the wagon and now we're only using disposables.

I know that DD is aware of her bodily functions, she just can't or won't control them. How can I help her start using the potty? She HATES having her diaper changed, and you would think this would be an incentive to learn, but apparently not enough. Help!!!

[sapphire_chan]

Since she is willing to sit on the potty, how about tracking when she pees/poops and trying to time the times you ask her to sit on the potty to those times?

Do you have floors where you could go diaper-free and just wipe up messes and gently tell her "pee/poop goes in the potty"?

A yard?

My dd really likes having her dollies use the potty. And apparently that's something that lots of kids enjoy.

For a child who is used to disposable diapers, 2 years old is a pretty reasonable time to realize that they're eliminating.

A pull-on style diaper or padded underwear could make it easier for her to get herself to the potty if she's feeling independent.

Drinking a ton of water yourself and taking her to the bathroom whenever you go can reinforce the idea of "this is just what we do".

At least, those are the sort of things that seem to be the case for what other people have done regarding potty learning.

[Lady Mayapple]

We've done the naked thing. Our house is all hardwood floors, even the kitchen, so that's not a problem. She'll bring her little potty out and put her dolls and stuffed animals on the potty, just like you said. But after a while she gets tired of sitting on the potty, gets up and pees or poops on the floor!

I also take her in the bathroom with me when I have to go, and she'll say "poopie?" to me or go "sssshhhhh" and giggle if I'm peeing. Sigh. I KNOW she knows what to do, I just need to figure out how to motivate her. She's outgrown her diaper covers, and I think I'm going to buy some new ones and get her back in the cloth for summer. I've even considered getting some little underwear for her to try, but that's a little challenging because she is tiny for her age and the smallest size would be huge on her.

[sapphire_chan]

Check with your friends and thrift stores for the bloomers that come with baby dresses.

And go ahead and try the 2T undies, wash them and dry them on hot, since they're cotton they do shrink down a bit. My 23lb 20 month old fits in them just fine.

Because really, what it sounds like to me is that she thinks of her diaper as a place where you eliminate. It might be worth just dealing with wiping up spills for a week so you can say "pee/poop goes in the potty, let's wipe this up" over and over.

Or just use the cloth diapers without a cover. Sure, there'll be some drips, but at home or park that's not a huge deal and in the carseat you can put down a waterproof mat.

[Lady Mayapple]

That's a good idea. I have some Sammy's one-size fitted diapers that are great without a cover. I also have just regular old prefolds. DD is 23 months and just hit 20lbs a few months ago. I have lots of those little covers that come with dresses, maybe I'll give those a try too. *hoping something works!* She's our last one and I am SO ready to be done with diapers!

[zoebird]

for me, it's just about no fanfare.

every 1.5 hrs we go to the toilet. i don't say anything about it, i just take him. we sing our song, we wash our hands after (whether he's gone or not). and that's it. we get more catches than misses this way. if i do have a miss, he signals by patting his trainer and letting me know. i change his trainer and then offer the potty at the next interval.

he knows what to do, and sometimes he's more "into" it than others. it's no big deal. i would feel confident having him in underwear, but my husband feels that we (dh and i) are not ready for that yet. so, we still use the trainers.

this is what works for us, and it's no big deal either way. for me, when he is "potty learned" is really irrelevant. we have communication about potty. he is clear when he doesn't want to go (if you ask, he says no; if you take him after asking, he has a fit; if you don't ask, he's happy to go and goes "yay! potty!"--idk, he's funny).

so, that's where we are. he'll be two at the end of august.

[brennan]

This happened...for a month with us........but we are now seeing success!!! Well today we did! We just did naked as much as possible! Good luck!

[Lady Mayapple]

Well, we've been naked all morning and nothing yet. She keeps doing her "dance". Hoping something happens today....