Question for mamas with potty-learned toddlers...

[MamaTangerine]

So today was the first day of our 3-day run-around-naked potty learning experiment.  My DD is 25 months and definitely knows what the potty is for.  By this evening she seemed to have no trouble making it to her potty to pee (we did have to wipe up quite a lot of pee towards the beginning of the day.)  Poop was not so easy, though.  She pooped three times, and each time she would hold her butt and resist going.  When she couldn't hold it in anymore, she would make a mad dash for her potty.  She never quite made it in time!  She'd have a little left for her potty by the time she reached it, but most of it was in a trail on the floor behind her.  She would get really upset that her poop was on the floor (or especially if it was on her hands or feet which it was... A LOT).  She seemed to feel really bad about not making it.     

 

I'm wondering if this is normal potty-learning behavior, or do you think perhaps she's not ready if she can't hold it 'til she makes it to her potty?  Does her trying to hold it in and resist pooping on the potty sound about right for the first day of potty learning?  I have no experience with toddlers except my own, so I don't know what is considered typical.

 

I'm about 27 weeks pregnant and would reallllly like to get DD out of diapers before baby arrives.     

 

Any advice is welcome!  

[Erin77]

Did she seem to have any warning before she went? Like, did you notice her needing to go, but she didn't notice herself? Maybe she just isn't used to obeying those cues, if she wore diapers before, then she didn't have to know in advance, you know? If that's the case, I would think just more practice, like asking her "Do you need to sit on the potty? I notice you're sitting really still and feeling your belly," or something might cue her in to thinking it's time to go a few seconds earlier. To me it sounds like a good sign she made it for the tail end of the poop! She knows what she's trying to do, anyway.

[crunchy_mommy]

To me, that sounds awesome for 1st day... Sounds like she is cognitively & emotionally ready and just needs to learn how to recognize her signals consistently & hold it... and sounds like she's even doing great with that. I'm really impressed, actually!!!

DS is the opposite, he's cognitively & physically ready, but not 100% emotionally ready (getting there, though!) which to me seems tougher -- we've been casually working on pottying for a long time now & still have a ways to go. I bet your DD will quickly catch up to herself physically & be nearly accident-free in just a week or so!! But that's just my non-expert opinion. Give her a few more days and see what happens.

[MamaTangerine]

Thanks for your responses!  I'm happy that our first day sounds on track to you guys.  Today we only had one pee accident first thing this morning, so I think she's got that part just about down.  She hasn't pooped yet today, so I'll have to wait and see how that goes.  It seemed like she needed to poop a little earlier.  I kept asking her and suggesting she sit on her potty, but she wasn't going for it.  I can only ask her so many times before she gets grumpy with me :)

[kayleesmom]

congrats on journey of potty training.

[Ma Cactus]

It does sound like she's doing great!  We went through a stage when DS resisted sitting on the potty to poop, but being very upset if he pooped in his underwear or on the floor.  We got through it by not forcing the issue - but it helped that we coudl tell he needed to go.  He would tell me for one thing, but he would also stand on tip toes and be obviously clenching his butt trying not to go.  So when he had been doing that for a bit, I would hover as discreetly as possible with a very wide-mouthed plastic dish (the cheapo tupperware type) in easy snatching range and catch it in that when he finally couldn't hold it.  It took a while, almost 3 mos I think, but he does now sit on the potty to do it, and does not hold it for days on end. 

This is goofy, but it also seemed to help if I sang a silly (and gross) poop song we made up.  It goes like this generally, but is very open ended:  'once there was a frog, he had to poop, so he did it on a log.  once there was a fly, he had to poop, so he did it on a pie.  once there was a mouse, she had to poop, so she did it in the house.  once there was a toad, he had to poop, so he did it in the road', and so on, ad nauseum. 

Good luck!