potty training after sort-of ECing

[debfsb]

hey ladies -

okay, i confess, i started part time ECing when DS was 3 weeks old, but by the time he was 9 months old it had devolved into lazy half-ass ECing. we always had great success w/ poops, but basically he got used to peeing on the floor. it was just laziness on my part.

now we're ready to potty train, but DS doesn't mind peeing on the floor when he's naked. i *think* it will work if he wears shorts commando (w/o a dipe or undies) so that it's uncomfy when he pees in them. but do you all have any other suggestions for how to encourage putting the pee in the potty??

also, now that hes' 26 mo old, he doesn't like being picked up and carried to the potty midstream or after a pee. so he's developing a potty aversion that he never had before. ideas??

we make a huge positive deal about him sitting on the potty immediately after peeing. we rejoiced and danced the one time he stood by the potty and peed into it. so i think a lot of positive reinforcement will work. thanks for any tips/stories.

-d

[NewMoonMum]

I definitely agree with the positive reinforcement. You could even try like we did, and offer a special treat for going pee in the potty. Our son does not get sweets, so we "bribed" him with Teddy Grams, first for peeing on the potty at all, then only for staying dry and then peeing on the potty.
We pretty much stuck to the "Potty Training in One Day" regimen and it worked well(though, as stated right on the book, 1 day is the minimum and 2 weeks usually the max to be accident-free. We got there in a week.)
For us it broke down like this, in case any of these steps might help you:

-Using a wet-on-demand doll that our son helped "potty train"
-Using big-boy underpants so, as you said, he would be able to feel the wetness
-Frequent dryness checks, mandatory potty trips somewhere around every 10 minutes
-Positive enforcement, praise, treats for success(I have even heard of people blowing bubbles instead of using food, if one desires a non-food reward)
-"Practice runs" to the potty after accidents
-Some people don't like this, but we had him help clean up if he had an accident. He would just help me clean it up with a rag and water.
-last but not least, being nonchalant about any accidents that did happen

As for the potty aversion, does he go with you when you go to the bathroom? Maybe seeing this would help ease his fears a bit? Maybe having a favorite doll or stuffed animal "learn to use the potty"? There are also many board books about learning to use the potty. I don't know if any of that is helpful, but that's about all I can think of.

Your little one poops on the potty, so that's a great start!!

Good luck!

[Farmer'sWife]

I'm interested in any advice as well. We part-time EC'd (still used diapers) from 6 mos. on, but now DD (28mos) doesn't want to be bothered with going on the potty anymore. I know she can do it, she just doesn't want to! How can I motivate/overcome her power struggle?

[tri31]

My older two did not have the benefit of EC. My younger sons did/do. By 26months the ball is in their court. In our experience the most motivating factor to potty is to be like everyone else. You eat chocolate, they want chocolate. You exercise, they exercise.
EC or not, it's the same process. When they want to learn it, they make time for it. We are just the support team.

[mokey4]

This is very interesting to me, because I've also been doing half-assed EC with my daughter since birth. For a while we caught almost every poop in the potty, but ever since she could walk it's been another story. She's 18 months and now I'm not quite sure where to go. I put her on the potty every morning and she poops about 1/2 the time, but she'll poop 1-2 more times throughout the day in her diaper (or on the floor if diaper free). She knows sign language but never signs for potty (I've been doing that one forever). So I guess I've given up and I'm waiting until she seems more interested in using the potty. She does hate diapers and I"ve started using pull-ups for when we're around the house (cloth) which she likes, but she doesn't get that she can pull them down to go potty. I talk about it, maybe someday she'll get it..

[sapphire_chan]

Soap in the potty so he gets bubbles?

drat the stupid internet...

We have more luck bringing the potty to the toddler than the toddler to the potty. About 50% of the time she uses the potty it's because I offered it to her while she was doing something else "hey kiddo I think you need to pee, sit on the potty while you eat lunch/do painting/read that book/play with puzzles"

The rest of the time, she's either asked for the potty (mostly), gone and gotten it herself, uses the toilet, or I'm holding her over the toilet.

Since she likes to look through books while sitting on the toilet the vast majority of the time she's doing something else.

We do still have puddles, mind you, she hasn't clicked in 100% on when she needs to pee. : But when she does know she has to go, or I can tell she needs to, we don't get refusals.

[nolonger]

Originally Posted by tri31

My older two did not have the benefit of EC. My younger sons did/do. By 26months the ball is in their court. In our experience the most motivating factor to potty is to be like everyone else. You eat chocolate, they want chocolate. You exercise, they exercise.
EC or not, it's the same process. When they want to learn it, they make time for it. We are just the support team.

Wet pants are uncomfortable and puddles on the floor are slippery. Instead of feeling bad about the past, just start being more attentive and supportive in the here and now. Encouraging him to let you know when and where he peed so you can clean it up promptly before he slips in it and consistently following through with your end of the deal might be a nice place to begin rebuilding trust.

My "lazy EC'd" little boy prefers to pee standing up. They make special toddler urinals, but a large dog's water bowl works just fine. It's easier for the kiddo to get there on time and handle things independently if they don't have to deal with pants.