[ameliabedelia]

Another potty learning question...both my dd and I have a similiar trait in that we like to do things "all or none" I am not good at doing things part-time or some of the time and neither is she. When we make rules with her, we have to be very consistent with them. She doesn't understand doing things sometimes, but not others.

Anyway, we started potty training last week. She has had a few accidents, but has been learning and going on the potty. Sometimes I have to encourage her to go. The problem is though, I like to get out of the house a lot . For me being a SAHM, does not mean staying home. I feel like I am going crazy if we don't get out of house at least once a day. So, I have been putting her in underwear whenever we are home (except for a diaper at night) and putting a diaper on her when we go out. Of course she always pees and poops in her diaper when we go out. And so far, will only poop in a diaper. As it is, she only really pees about 3-4 times a day. She seems to be very good at holding her pee and poop in. Before we started really encouraging the potty she could easily go 4 + hours without an accident and then pee as soon as we put a diaper on her. Soo in any day, she really doesn't have many opportunities to practice and at least one pee time is when we are out and she has a diaper on. I feel as though the getting out and wearing diaper is hindering our progress, but the thought of staying home all week for a week for her to really "get it" before we go out in just underwear gives me the heebie jeebies. Pull-ups won't work, since she thinks it is a diaper and will go in it. If she has any sensation of wearing a diaper she will go in it. But if it is underwear or just bare bottom, she won't have an accident (with a few exceptions) So, it really has to be all or none for her. So, how do you potty train when you are out??? The thought of her having accidents in public also gives me the heebie jeebies. She also doesn't know how to make herself pee yet. Either she has to go, or she doesn't. The closest I can get to "making" her pee is to put the potty in the bathtub and let her sit naked on the potty while running warm water over her legs or letting her play in the water. Obviously we can't do that in public.

 

[Jules411]

Since she is "all or nothing"...I would suggest shelving the toilet learning for now until she is more interested. It sounds like she is holding it until she has a diaper on which indicates that she has control. Now to get to the motivation point. Unfortunately, with learning to use the potty, the ball is always in the child's court. When she is more interested, she'll let you know by using the potty when asked or on her own. The issue you want to avoid, as it is hard to undo, is using only the diaper for pooping.

I hear you on the getting out of the house. If she has a diaper on all the time, she can go when you are home so you don't have to be changing poopy diapers while out (no fun) until she is ready to try underwear. Maybe have her sit on the potty at each diaper change as a matter of fact routine, no biggie if she doesn't go, great if she does, then a put diaper back on. The routine gets established for using the toilet, but the pressure is not there for keeping underwear dry.
Hope this helps...it is such a complicated process....never sure what is the right thing to do and each child is so different. Good luck!!

 

[hipumpkins]

If you and your dc want to continue forward in the potty learning this is some of the stuff we did/ are doing.

Once DD had the concept at home of peeing in the potty (she was poop trained very early so that was wasn't ever an issue for us) we ventured out with her in her underwear. Pull ups did not work for us either. I carried a portable little potty in my car (a little pink pig) and also a little adaptable seat in a backpack that we carry everywhere. She is small and would fall inot a regualar toilet without the adpater. She also wears gerber training pants some days (b/c we only have 3 pair) and those will keep her clothes dry so we don't have change the entire outfit for a small leak.
Once we went to underwear we never went back b/c she really was on the right track. Just had some accidents here and there..mostly just some pee slips out but not a full wetting.
Check out the elimination communication board for more ideas.

 

[traceface]

I'm kind of at this point too. He's like 80% at home, But when we go out, I never know whether to put him in a diaper or not. if it's just for an hour or hour and a half, he'll stay dry.

Also I even tried the thing of staying home for a week (even though, like you, I really like going out somewhere every day w/ him, even a couple times a day.) Though that week dramatically increased his consistency at home, it really had no effect on the transitioning to being out.

I think accidents in public are just kind of par for the course. Just like at the beginning, when they first go pants-less, they have accidents at home - this is what helps them be able to go without the diaper on. maybe once she has a few, you'll see it's not that bad, just carry extra pants.

I really don't think abandoning all the good progress you've made by putting off toilet learning makes sense! keep re-inforcing what she is doing and go from there.

 

[chiedza]

My DS is 2.5 and potty learning. We let him choose if he wants to wear undies or a diaper and lately he almost always chooses undies. So now we go out with him in undies. We ask him to use the potty before we go out, and then take him to the bathroom about every hour or so while we're out. He now pees every time he's on a toilet. But we carry extra pants and undies with us in case of accidents -- and have only needed them a few times.

 

[monkeysmommy]

What we did when we were at this stage was to ask dd if she needed to use the potty when we were out, even though she was wearing a diaper. She was really intrigued by checking out the different bathrooms everywhere we went, so she would usually agree to try. We did this for a couple of weeks, just so she would get the idea that the option to use the potty existed, even though she wasn't at home. After a couple of weeks, I just went for it, and took her out in underwear. I only went places where I knew there were bathrooms. My dd is big, so falling in is not a problem, but you could also carry a little seat like a pp suggested. I was really dreading the inevitable accidents, but it really is not that big a deal. I just made sure I carried plenty of extra panties and pants and we just cleaned up and moved on. If your dd already has bladder control, she will catch on quick, and you probably won't have that many accidents to deal with. She probably is only peeing and pooping in her diaper because she knows that's an okay place to do it.

Good luck! It sounds like you are almost there!