potty training questions re weather & new sib

[MamaPhD]

We are starting to think about potty training with 21 mo DD. I hear a lot of stories about going naked, or at least bottom off, during the process. But the weather is cooling down (definitely long pants & long tshirt) plus a lot of our floor is tile/hardwood which can be cool. Also another thing is we are expecting #2 at the beginning of March so we want to be sensitive about timing.

I think she is showing some signs she is ready. WHen I say I have to pee, she tells me "bathroom" and then runs there before me. WHen I wipe, she asks for tissue and pretend wipes her bottome, too. I got DD a couple pairs of undies and she really likes them. Sometimes she tells me she wants the undie without the diaper (currently wearing the undie on top of diaper!).

We have not gotten out the potty yet (we have 2 hand me downs). Couple of times she was naked then peed on the floor and just stared down at her legs like what the heck?! I just told her, it's oK, that's pee coming out. Let's wipe it with mommy.

Sorry kinda rambling, but here are my questions.
(1) how long can potty training take? I know some do it in a few days, but possibly weeks right? I would hate to see DD run around cold bottomed if it takes us too long (she wouldn't mind tho!).

(2) should we try it before new baby comes? Or wait until way after to not coincide it with the new arrival? Worried about regression here.

(3) DD really started to hate getting her diapers changed recently. Before, she used to announce poop, then poop in the diaper. Now she does not announce, and when I ask her did you poop (I can smell it, lol), she says no no. When I grab a new diaper (not even tell her it's time to change or anything), she starts to yell mommy bye bye and pushes me away. Now is this any sign related to whether she is ready for potty training? Or the opposite?

[c'est moi]

i just want to tell you what our experience has been like. i could be going about this all wrong, but i did do a lot of "online research" around here and my local api board before getting started.

we started on monday afternoon. normally we're very out and about, but this week we rarely have gone out of the house so that we could focus on PL.

1. i went the bare bottom route. i turned up the heat. threw a shirt on her and some baby legs. she feels comfortable and if i try and put more on her (i.e. sweater or socks), she takes them off.
1.5. i bought an ikea potty (only something like 5 bucks each) for every single room in the apartment. once she really gets the hang of it, i'll reduce it to just one potty in the bathroom.
2. monday afternoon - lots of wiping up puddles on the floor, but this day was mostly for me to learn what her signs were. by the end of the day i caught her midstream for a pee and was super excited to get her jazzed up. i decided i had no issues with bribery and rewards for this specific project and gave her a sticker. i gave a small cookie for poop.
3. tuesday - no puddles on the floor. caught both pee and poop all day in the potty.
3. wednesday - went to a music class with her in the morning. she had a diaper on and when she peed or poop in it, she asked for a potty!
4. thursday and today - she tells me when she has to go and dances around or runs to find a potty to use. i stopped giving out stickers today. additionally, she stayed dry in her diaper during a walk yesterday and she'll tell me "diaper off" if she has one on. definitely progress!

so i tell you this to say it can be relatively quick if your child really is mentally, physically, and emotionally ready. i mean, my daughter is not at all potty trained, i don't expect that to really happen soon, but she is definitely learning.

in fact, i came across your thread to figure out the various merits of possible next steps. training pants vs. regular undies vs pull ups out of the home. i'm debating between undies and gerber trainers.

oh, my daughter is 20.5 months old and has been showing potty learning interest since she was 16 months old. our summer just wasn't a good time to add something like this to her repertoire.

[c'est moi]

also, we have a new baby on the way in late january as well. my logic is that regardless of what age you start, regressions are to be expected. i figured i might as well start now and let her have a headstart on training before the baby comes. we also have a significant international moving coming in 8-9 months during which i also expect regression, but these two things didn't seem to justify training her at 30 months old versus 20 months old.

[lifeguard]

Ds took about a month to be pretty reliable & at that it clicked pretty suddenly at about 3 weeks - just before that I was about ready to give up 'cause he just didn't seem to understand that he could tell me - so it was all about me timing trips to the bathroom appropriately.

I did not do the bare bottom thing. I also did not do a little potty, just a seat reducer upstairs. I feel it is easier to start things the way we wish to continue when possible. I didn't want to have to continually make changes until we got to a point where he was truly potty learned. He was used to having to go up for all diaper changes anyway (I never set up a change station downstairs) so that just made more sense for us.

I started pling at about 20 months.

As for the sibling thing - unfortunately I have no experience there.

[blizzard_babe]

We started around that age, and I won't lie... we had a LONG bare-butt stage. He was 100% good (with maybe an I-waited-too-long dribble once a day or so) long before he was 100% good wearing even pants with no underwear underneath. We did all this in Alaska in the winter. It can be done. Sacrifice a little on your heating bill, get some babylegs (if your kid will wear them... DS wouldn't). We purposedly started a long time before the baby arrives because, even if he regresses (which hopefully he won't... it's been a long time in toddler time at this point; he's 2.5 y/o and was reliably in underwear at his 2nd birthday party) so it would be well-ingrained in his daily habit.

Good luck, and may I recommend a spray bottle of vinegar and water and a giant sense of humor .

[redvlagrl]

We did the 3 day thing with only underpants, no bare bottom at 23 months. It took 3 days for pees and about 8 for poops. We are dry day and night. PM me and I can send you the e book.

We also have a new baby. March is a long time away and if you do it now I doubt the regression will be that bad.

It's really really tough to do the 3 day thing but i am so thankfulwe sucked it up and did it because the other way seems to take months of accidents. We never have accidents thoguh during the 3 days it was constant!!

[ellemenope]

Originally Posted by MamaPhD

(1) how long can potty training take? I know some do it in a few days, but possibly weeks right? I would hate to see DD run around cold bottomed if it takes us too long (she wouldn't mind tho!).

I think it depends what you are considering to do as potty training.

~From about 15 months we let her go bare bottom for about an hour or two before or after her bath never once mentioning the potty, and then put her diaper on, and presumably she knew to hold it untill then. We did this to air out her bum to fight diaper rash. Looking back on it she never had accidents. We just thought that was normal.

~We exposed DD to the potty by talking about it and showing her the potty around 18 months. Never ever put her on it.

~At about 20 months she snuck a pee in the potty without me even knowing during one of her naked times. The very next day, I let her go naked all day and she went on the potty without prompting and had no accidents.

~A week later we introduced underwear. She had maybe 2 accidents during transition.

~A couple of weeks after that we took her out in undies instead of a diaper (which she was keeping dry and taking off to use a public restroom). She has never had an accident out of the house. <knock on wood>

~She was fully potty-trained including nights before 23 months.


Now, if you'd ask me, I'd say she potty trained over night at 21 months, because, there never was never a struggle, and once she peed in the potty she never had any accidents. However, we put in some effort from about 15 months on with the naked time, and then promoted her slowly and steadily through the steps. So I guess, you could argue it took 8 months. I would laugh, though.

Originally Posted by MamaPhD

(2) should we try it before new baby comes? Or wait until way after to not coincide it with the new arrival? Worried about regression here.

Again, it depends what you are planning to do. With my DD, I don't think it would have mattered. We took her on a 2 week vacation soon after she potty learned and was expecting a regression. There was none. I think it was a testiment to how she learned.

Originally Posted by MamaPhD

(3) DD really started to hate getting her diapers changed recently. Before, she used to announce poop, then poop in the diaper. Now she does not announce, and when I ask her did you poop (I can smell it, lol), she says no no. When I grab a new diaper (not even tell her it's time to change or anything), she starts to yell mommy bye bye and pushes me away. Now is this any sign related to whether she is ready for potty training? Or the opposite?

DD pee trained before she poop trained. When she was in underwear she would ask for a diaper go to her poop spot and demanded absolute privacy. She would say, "mommy, get away. I am pooping."

But, DD also hated having her diaper changed. She would walk around in the same diaper all day if I'd let her. It might be counterintuitive, but I do think this is a sign she is ready. Your DD is sick of diaper changes. Offer an alternative.

[MamaPhD]

Great ideas mamas. We have some friends visitng this weekend but we are gonna start putting out the potties next week and see. Also probably easier to deal with possible clean-ups before my tummy gets too big, lol!

Another question is DD sleeps in the crib now. How do we do night time potty learning if she can't get out? Do we wait until she's done with the crib? She totally soaks up night time diaper now & sleeps through the night. We don't have plans to move to a bed right now.

[Fly Girl]

We also did the 3 day potty training starting just before DD1 was 22 months. She wore panties and a shirt. I thought it was important for her to know that panties were not the same as a diaper. The first day and half the second day were filled with constant accidents. It took about 4-5 days before she started telling me she needed to go. It took about a month for her to be perfect but she is now dry day and night with no prompting from me. And she is so proud of herself for being a big girl. Oh, and we used M&M's and stickers as a reward for going in the potty.

Also, DD2 was 6 weeks when we started training. I made a big emphasis of DD1 being a big girl and how proud I was of her for being a big girl. We started this before DD2 was born by putting her in a big girl bed and she has been so excited about being a big girl ever since. DD1 has not had a problem with DD2 wearing diapers and I don't think it affected her potty learning at all. If you start and finish training at least a couple of months before your baby is born then I don't think you'll have too much of an issue with regression.

Just be patient with her and she'll do fine.

[carmel23]

You've gotten some great advice here, and I say, go for it!

Make it fun. Does your library have potty books, movies? We got tons of potty books, movies from the library, and have a pretty good collection of our own now. The gender in the book/movie didn't matter here. Boys watched girl potty movies, and vice versa.

I call it Potty Propaganda. :

And then just be prepared for some spills. We would do bare bottom, no diaper from walking onward at time, with sits on the potty. Potty sit before bath, etc. (just times when yer nekked).

And a pair of these are handy when you go out. But I'd start with one pair because you may not need them.