Topic : Potty Training

Thanks for the tips.  I'm sure they will come in handy.  I am not forcing the issue of potty training but I do mention it to her from time to time.  I bought her a sticker book and stickers so when she does go she gets to put some stickers in her book.  I read her books about going potty to.  She loves to read.  Our schedule is rarely full and I'm a SAHM so when she is ready, I'll be here.

Hi.    

   

Our 2 year old (girl) fought like cats and dogs about the potty.  For her it was a total control issue.  We stopped trying to convince her and just rewarded or punished her for going or not going.  

   

Now before you jump all over me about the word "punished", we are talking cold (very) wet wipes, here.  No beatings, yelling or anything.  We just made going in her diaper a very disagreeable experience.    

When she did go on the potty, we raised our arms up in the air and cheered like it was the tie breaker touchdown at the Superbowl.  The rewards were a choice of stickers or hershey kisses.  (She got 1 for peeing in the potty, and 2 for pooping in the potty- that took longer like the other kids on this board..)    

   

Now, our little girl is 100% potty trained... only for as long as she is 100% naked from the waist down.  

   

As soon as we put a pair of panties or anything on her behind, she thinks it is a diaper and ok to pee/poop in.  

   

Well....  we're working on it.  It's hard because we put her in a pull-up to go shopping or for naps, and it's confusing for her when we put panties on.  So she's picked out her own "pretty panties" that she doesn't want to get wet.  

   

That's as far as we are now.  A work in progress.  

   

On the plus side, she now changes her own diaper when wet or poopy (Heaven help us..!)  *laughs*  

   

-Lyanna96   

My two year old is going on the potty more but we're a long way from being there.  She thinks that pull ups are panties and doesn't like the feel of them wet as much.  She went potty 4 times in the past 2 days.  Much more than before and she asked to go.  I ask her periodically but don't force her.  When she goes in her pants then we talk about it and the potty while she's being changed.  I think she's doing OK since she just turned 2 in June.  She gets a reward of stickers and she gets to call Grandma, who usually brings her something.  But I think one of her favorite things is when everyone says that they/we are proud of her.  She asks if everyone's proud.  She also likes to sit on there alone usually with a book!!   

  

Cathy 

My 4 year old neice will not go to the potty!  She screams and throws fits when we take her pull ups away and put underwear on her.  She will sit on the toilet for 30 to 45 minutes at a time and will not do anything.  As soon as she gets off of the toilet she uses the restroom on herself.     

   

I have a 5 year old and we have let my neice go in the bathroom with my daughter while she uses the toilet and it doesn't work.  We try to explain that "big girls" wear underwear and "baby's" wear pull-ups.  My neice isn't even interested in going to the potty but has the nerve to tell someone when she is wet or has pooped.  She also will go get a pull up so she can be changed.  My neice might lose her placement in pre-school over this.  Anyone that has any advice on this please help!  

The first thing you need to do is to figure out why she's not going (as stated above.. ours was a "who's in charge here" issue.).  It could be any number of reasons. 

  

1. Attention 

2. Control- this is usually a big one just because small kids aren't really in charge of anything. 

3. Outside issues (abuse, divorce, etc.) 

4. Fear 

5. Etc. (meaning "I know there are more, but I can't think of any")  *smile* 

  

Then (as Dr. Phil says..) you need to find the child's "currency".  What do they like/not like? 

  

After that, introduce consistency.  Don't start to go without diapers for the day and then turn around and re-introduce them the next day.  It's very hard.  Some days you just don't feel like dealing with cleaning all of the wet/poopy spots around the house, but be tough.  Remember that you can get a steam cleaner for the carpets, the couch cusions are, in fact, washable... etc. 

  

Finally, patience.  Don't yell, or belittle the kid (it kind of bothered me a little that you told her that only babies use diapers..? But everyone has low points.  Try not to do that anymore.) 

  

And try, try try!  It might take a week, it might take six months, you may have to keep her home out of daycare for a week or two until she has it. 

  

Good luck! (and don't take anything I say as absolute gospel- just ideas.  I am not a doctor, psychologist, or a professional in any way!) 

I agree with the last persons suggestions. Consistency is defiently a must and also have her to help clean up her messy panties and to help clean herself up, Having her to take responsibility may help her to get a grip on it but belittleing a child is not a good thing, only will casue them to look down upon themselves. And if she is no longer aloud to go to preschool then maybe that too will help her to figure it out.

Don't stress over it, my oldest did the same thing, just be positive and encourage her, use a sticker chart, something as an incentive, I told my oldest that on her third bday, she was going to start wearing panties and if she poopied in them, she would get Dora all ukky, We set a goal and went for it and the first day she wore them she peed in them and got relly sad cause she peed on Dora and she has been going ever since. Going potty is one of those areas where kids are gonna get it when they are ready, My youngest is no where near where my oldest was at age two, she has no desire whatsoever, even the incentives don't work with her, But eventually she will decide that it is time. :)

I know every little boy and girl is different when it comes to potty training.  All i can offer is the advice my dr. gave me, but it worked great.  

   

He said that little boys are generally harder to potty train than girls and that a good rule of thumb is to not even try it until they are almost three years old at least.  

   

He also said, if it starts becoming a battle to back off quickly and try again in a month.  

   

My little guy turned three this last march and that's when we started with the potty training.  He had his share of accidents but after a month he was potty trained and another month later, he was going poop in his potty.  

   

I would say, to stop trying for a while...your little guy may not be ready to do it and pushing might turn what could have been a few weeks of mastery into months of fighting.  

   

If it were me, i'd go back to diapers and not even bring it up for a while.  Concentrate on praising him in other areas and work his self-esteem back up so he starts to really believe he is capable of doing it.    

   

Also, when you do try again, go with regular underpants and not pull-ups...they feel just like a diaper to most kids (even the ones that let them 'feel when it's wet') and they don't understand why they could go in their diaper before, but not anymore)  

   

good luck!