3-day PT method

I am still trying to decide if we are going to try PTing the kiddos over Christmas break. I have a login created for the 3day PTing site, but I have not paid for the downloads. I am afraid that the moment I start reading, I will get obsessed with the idea and will not be able to focus on anything else!

I have a general idea of how to approach it (mostly from what I gather from posts), so I am wondering if I really need to spend the $25 for the manual? OTH, I am all about immersing-myself-in-too-much-info-so-that-it-stresses-me-out (just ask DH...he HATES the "Healthy Sleep Habits" book because I became obsessed with sleep and the challenges we had!).

Thoughts?

 

I did the 3 day method with my son and for what it's worth...here is my view on the whole shabang.
You basically have to be with your kids during the whole 3 days, the author recommends no computer or anything that would distract you from them. Load them up with liquid, remind them about the potty/keeping underwear dry and watch for signs that they either are about to go or when they start to have an accident and then you rush them to the potty. She says no diapers/pull ups for going out (you shouldn't be going out those three days), naptimes or bedtime. For bedtime, she suggests limiting liquids an hour or two before bed, getting the child approximately an hour after going to bed and putting them on the potty to see if they have to go and getting them an hour before waking. This is supposed to get them to see that it's okay to have to go potty in the middle of the night and eventually night train.
Now, I did this method with my son because he was a notorious holder. I'm talking about he would only pee and poo in his diaper during nap time and bedtime& hold it the rest of the day. I figured he can purposely hold it that long, then he could be potty trained and I will say that I do recommend the 3 day method because within 4 days, he was going in the potty and I felt confident with him wearing underwear. It took about a week for him to be dry during naptime and night time is still hit or miss almost 3 months later. About half the week he wakes dry and the other half he doesn't...so while I would not say he was PT-ed in 3 days...that method helped him come a long way.
For his bed, I have a mattress protector, chux pad and a towel so if he does have an accident over night, usually I just have to change out the towel and the chux pad.
Good luck on your decision and if you do decide to PT over the holiday break, I wish you the best of luck!

 

We did the method as described by the poster above and it worked well for us.. both boys were fully trained within about 2 weeks (we had some regression about a month later with one boy but it only lasted a few days), and were fully day-trained within about 5 days. I loved the ideaof it because I figured it would only take three days to know if they were ready to be trained or not. I followed the method used by this woman:
http://www.cafemom.com/journals/read/1182517/3_Day_Potty_Training
I've heard the book can make it sounds more daunting than it is, and I was happy to just follow the main concepts without reading the full description of the method.
I agree that you can't make ANY plans for at least the three days, and no long outings for a few days after that! And one thing we did do differently was do pullups over underpants at night: I didn't want to deal with the mess. Overall, I thought the method was fanatastic... for us, the timing was right and the technique was totally effective. Good luck!

 

I bought the ebook and did like all the info she gave as to why and how... that's just me.

what the pps didn't mention was her method of "are you clean and dry?" "good, then let me know when you need to go"... you're supposed to focus on them figuring out when they need to go. not to set a timer every 30 min. and just wait for them to pee on command. We'd done several months before hand of training haphazardly... and I found that these 3 days really helped to focus the kids and get them into the mindset of knowing when they had to go. for us, yes it was a lot of work, but it is totally worth it in the end to me. there are days for us that aren't so accident free for whatever reason, but for us its still better than diapers. we're diaper free at night and naps, and its still hit or miss... but mainly it has to do with us limiting liquids. we have to limit 2 to 3 hrs before bedtime to be successful. I just try to limit it right at the beginning of dinner...

good luck!

 

Great. I started reading other sites for PTing advice ("Ask Moxie," etc.) and I started to panic! I better buy the ebook or I will feel like I am fumbling around, pulling bits of advice from here and there. I do NOT want to mess this up. DD is strong-willed, so we need to approach this carefully or we could have a major battle on our hands down the road.

DH is sort of on board...I do not think he has a clue about what this entails. I am already trying to think of ways to block-off the beautiful area rug in the living room. Keeping them entertained in the rooms with hardwoods or tile might be challenging. Crafts and baking with mommy? Each of those will buy us 20 minutes...then what??? Maybe we can pull the train table upstairs for a few days?

Or maybe I should just wait until they tell me they want to wear underwear?? See...this is me panicking!

 

I am not sure what your situation is but is there any reason for them to be PTed over the holidays? My two were very different in how they PT'ed, I kind of had to force my DS's hand and my DD wanted to do and I followed her cues. I would say you can always try and if by the end of the weekend, it's not going how you would like, you can always try again at a later date.
If you do the 3 day PT method, I had my DH read the e-book before hand, so we could be on the same page.

 

I dunno...I'll be the voice of dissent. I bought the ebook and followed it to a T when DD was 24 months old. Massive fail. I persisted for 8 long days and we got nowhere. I tried again when DD was about 29 months old using the same principles and it worked in about 4 days. She was not 100% trained, but she at least used the potty to pee much more than she had accidents. She continued to have accidents on and off for about 6 months after she initially trained and she didn't start pooping on the potty until last month though at 40 months old. So yeah. That part sucked. I think honestly that I pushed her train too early and that if I would have waited until closer to 3, it would have been easier on all of us.

For DS, I decided to do a more low-key approach. This past summer I gave him a few hours a day of naked or undies-only time. Within a few weeks, he was getting the hang of it. One day in August, he stayed dry and we've been in undies ever since. So he PT himself basically at age 3. He is strong willed and lately we've been struggling with purposeful "accidents" just to spite us, but I've found that they happen most often when he is feeling like we're controlling him too much. Switching our discipline tactics has helped with this a lot.

In hindsight, I think the general approach of the book is really good. But I think the actual book is very rigid and stress inducing. It made me neurotic about the process with my DD, and it also made me feel like a failure when it didn't work with DD at 24 months. The personal mentoring/coaching in theory is awesome, but when I used it, I never really got anything more than what was said in the book plus some extra encouragement to stick with it.

 

The attempt over Christmas break is because DH and I will both be home from work. All of the activities will have died down by the 28th, so we have a good chunk of time to focus on it before returning to work on the 3rd.

Plus, our current nanny is pregnant (that is our SECOND pregnant nanny!) and we will have to transition to a new nanny sometime in March. I wanted to get PTing before that point, but maybe I should consider the possibility of regression?

And mostly, I am starting to feel pressure from co-workers and my mother. Grandma has kindly purchased a PTing book that features both a boy and a girl, PLUS underwear for both of them. Despite telling her that "kids these days often train later than I did (18 months)," she still keeps passively pushing. She is just trying to be helpful...but it still feels like pressure!

 

This is my fear...this is totally the direction I could go. Plus, since I work full-time (ahem, clearly I am being productive at work today!), I already have enough mommy-guilt and feelings of failure :mellow:

 

Gosh, you sound very stressed...and I was this way with that book Healthy Sleep Habits..until I threw it away. I realized that our parents didn't have books and that they just figured it out and went with the flow.

I'm not sure what's best for you and your family, but let me tell you what we are doing -- our twins are about the same age as yours. First our pediatrician told us not to force it -- that we shouldn't stress and it will happen when they are ready.

My DD has shown signs of wanting to go on the potty several times, and she has gone, but we have never been consistent with her. I think it's our fault because diapers are SOOO convenient. So with DD we are going to do potty training after the holidays. We decided to start the new year off with it for her. We are going to stay home for 2 to 3 days and see how she does. DH is going to help so if either of us need a break we can get out of the house while one of us works on her.

My friend who has twin boys had a kitchen timer. She set it every 20 min, and well the bell rang the boys knew they had to sit on the potty and try to pee or poo. It worked for her little ones...so I'm going to try the same thing.

With DS he is showing no signs...we are going to wait to see how he reacts when DD is potty training because he typically follows her lead. He copies EVERYTHING she does -- so we are hoping he will just follow...but again, if he doens't we will work on him when he starts showing signs on interest.

GL - and try not to stress!

 

I did the 3 day PT'ing with my boys on August 6th. They were 34 months old. I bought a potty maybe a year ago or so, but never forced them on it, it was just there. One showed NO interest in it at all. The other, would go on HIS terms. And only his terms! I wanted them trained by their third birthday-that was my deadline. I honestly can't see training them any earlier.

I personally don't think you need to potty train them now. That's me. Grandma and great grandma-tell them they can train the kids if they want to. You and dh will go on a nice long vacation, and they can pt them while you are gone. My MIL actually bought a Costco box of pullups. They never wore them. The 3 day method says no pullups. So-she lost money. She bought them, walked in my door, and immediately opened them up. I had no desire to use them... I digress. You are the parent. You do most of the diaper changes. Not them(I don't think at least).

In any case-the kid who REFUSED to go potty on the toilet prior to training? He was trained in one day. Not for bed/nap, but around the house-yes. Both of my boys are day trained, nap trained, and bed trained. It's awesome. They can even hold it in longer when we are out and about. But those three days you are a slave to the house. Oh-and I had a 14 month old as well as the boys! LOL!

But really, I don't see the rush in training them. Personally, I would wait til the spring/summer. Can you imagine getting them all dressed to go in the snow, and then they have to pee?!! LOL! Oh I can envision it in my own home! CRAP! LOL! But-if it works for you-go for it. I loved it. I wasn't a slave to it. The first day, each boy had 10 accidents. The second day, Nicholas had none. And by the third day, Anthony had none. I recommend it to everyone, really.

Oh-and empty out your inbox on here!

 

I did the 3 Day method with my girls over Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend. It was more like the 6 day method but it did work. They were 26 months old at the time. I followed her method very closely, we just used a pull up for nap and bedtime and still do. I was stressed out at times and frustrated with the whole process and once or twice I wanted to go back to diapers but we stuck with it and by day 4 they were really getting it, it took 6 days before I was comfortable taking them out in public.

I feel like her method does work but you really have to be ready for sitting at home doing nothing but watching them like hawks for those 3 full days. I chose the long weekend since I would have lots of extra hands as well and it was definitely needed. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!!

 

We did the 3 day method, but not intentionally!
I knew the kids were ready to PT because they could use all the words: pee, poop, potty. They could walk, pull their own clothes up/down. They knew where the bathroom was.
I talked to them ALOT about being BIG kids and wearing BIG KID underwear and I repeated the phrase " pee goes in the potty" a billion times. We went on vacation and I told them when we got home from vacation there would be NO MORE DIAPERS. We went to bed, woke up and I went in their room bright eyed and bushy tailed and helped them into their underwear. We've never looked back. We never used diapers for naps/bed etc. The first few nights I worried they would pee so I did use pull-ups but I called them " Special night time underwear" and told them they couldnt pee in them, and in the morning they could put their regular underwear on again. We cheered, clapped, danced, stickers teh whole sha-bang. They were afraid of public potties for a little bit so I took a potty in my car with me, but my life improved greatly when we trained.

I also had a 6 month old at home You can totally do it!