Our whole family has had a nasty cold for the past week. The girls had fevers and missed day care for the whole week. When they are sick, I don't get them dressed and they just wear their pajamas all day long. So they've been wearing their diapers and the zip-up, footed sleepers all week. Out of the blue this week, they started saying "I need potty" and pointing in the bathroom. This is a real hassle because of the pajamas and diapers, but I've stripped them down and let them sit on the potty chairs. This has probably happened 6-7 times this week. And, about half the time, Annelise has actually peed in the potty. Once it was just a few drops, but the other times it was a significant amount. The problem is that I'm not ready to PT them. I have two concerts in the next month that I'm preparing for and I really don't want any extra stress. They are only 25 months old (and were 30 weekers). I was planning to PT them this summer when I'm home with them and we aren't dealing with daycare. Besides the fact that I am not mentally ready for this, they still wear a lot of onesies and clothing that does not make PTing easy. What should I do? Should I just deal with it and start letting them PT? Is there a window of opportunity I'm missing if we don't do this now?
Alice did that for a while, but the novelty of using the potty wore off within a few weeks. We didn't push it.
Here's what I'd do: while you are at home, let them be in clothes that are condusive to going potty if they initiate. Otherwise, don't worry about it. All of mine went through a phase between 18 and 26 mos of being interested and then fizzling out. None of them trained much before three. This is a great time to sort of introduce the potty and use their interest as a teaching tool but I wouldn't worry about actual potty training yet.
So do you think I should get them panties or just keep taking off the diaper if they say they want to go?
Depends on how much laundry you want to do! We just pull off the diapers quickly when they decide that they want to use the potty. Now it's usually when they're pooping that they want to use the potty, I guess they don't like squishy up against their butts anymore. But once again, we're not pushing anything. Well, maybe pushing some poo into the potty! :lol:
Definitely stay in diapers until you are ready to for real potty train. They could potentially keep the diapers dry if they go potty often enough. My mom said that's what happened to me! My grandma took care of me while my mom finished school and said no way was she potty training another kid but she let me go if I asked. When my mom was ready, I was always using the potty and the diaper was always dry. Easiest potty training ever! lol
Thanks, Ladies. I feel better about not actively PT then. I'll let them go if they ask, but I won't worry about it otherwise.
We are dealing with the same thing with Anna. She is getting increasingly insistent about sitting on the potty, asks us and her daycare teachers, and has gone quite a few times. She is even developing a routine of going after nap every day at daycare. And I can't keep her in pants. She just strips the off, takes off her diaper and sits on the potty. I would also be content to wait a few months, but since she's so into it, I'm going to give it a go. We're going to do cotton training pants this coming weekend and see how it goes.
Target. I even found cute little patterned and pink ones. They were next to the underwear in the baby section (same aisle as the socks and stuff - with the Gerber cloth diapers and such - Gerber brand).
Just want to add that if they're showing interest I would definitely go with it. I would set a few times during the day that you sit them on the potty. There is nothing wrong with guiding your children like we do with many other things. While I appreciate many people find it easier to just let their children guide them as to when they are ready to potty train (personal preference), it is my opinion that if your children are showing an interest, jump on that opportunity. If it gets too frustrating for you and your children, by all means, try again another month.
