normal part of PT'ing or are they not ready?

I put my girls in panties for the day starting Monday. Monday Lily went from 7 am - 6 pm with only 1 accident, at nap time. Amelia had 2 accidents between 7 am - 6 pm. Then from 6 pm til bed time they each had 2 more. Chalked it up to them being tired.

Tuesday Amelia had accidents all.day.long. I think the first time she actually used the potty was 3 pm. I think she was doing it on purpose, so I started having her take the wet panties off herself and bring them to the washing machine. That seemed to work. Lily went the entire day with no accidents, right til bed time.

Yesterday they both went all morning with no accidents, but Amelia has yet to actually poop in the potty. Every day she goes in her panties. Then in the afternoon they both had 2 accidents. Yesterday was the first day DH was home so he was doing most of the potty trips so I don't know if that threw them off or what.

This morning Lily has already had 1 accident and made it to the potty once. Amelia has not had any accidents yet.

My question is, does the fact they are having at least 1 accident each day and usually more mean that they are not ready yet and I should switch them back to pull ups? Or is having accidents just a normal part of potty training? DH thinks the fact they are only having 2 accidents or so each day means they are ready, but I'm the one cleaning up the mess and I'm tired. I just don't want to waste my time if they aren't ready.

 

I haven't pt'd the twins yet but have you tried the naked route? I know a lot of moms that swear by it...
Once my oldest was really ready to be PT'd (I tried numersous times, every method before he was really ready) he only had a handful of accidents. And they were totally my fault or he was too caught up in something and just didn't make it.

Good luck!

 

I agree with Brigette, with the Naked training. :good: Also, have you tried setting a timer for every 30 minutes? My girls were doing the exact same thing you are describing, but setting the time has helped tremendously. My girls get so caught up in whatever it is they are doing, that they don't want to leave. Are you still doing any kind of reward system? I am pretty sure I am going to be handing out M&M's until my girls go off to college! My girls still have accidents from time to time, but the frequency is getting less and less. It is super frustrating though! Good Luck!! :hug:

 

I have not tried the naked route. Being naked is supposed to help them make it to the potty in time? I will try it. I have been setting a timer for every 60 - 90 minutes depending on how much they go on the potty. (Like if they had a full bladder or just a trickle). They get 2 M&Ms for pee and 4 for poop.

I'll try naked and see how that goes. I'm just really tired of the mess.

 

When my kids were really ready, Aimee, we had very few accidents. Try the naked training for a day or two, but if it stays the same, I might wait & try again in another couple of months if I were you.

 

What's the idea behind naked training?

 

I didn't naked train with mine - Abby had one pee accident and 2 poop accidents once she decided she was ready to wear princess panties...Ian was tougher to train but he was pee accident free within 3 days...

 

I'm curious too! Wouldn't it be more uncomfortable to be with dirty underwear than having pee just drop on the floor?

Kudos to you all though... I can't imagine cleaning pee and poop from everywhere in the house.

 

I know about as much about pt'ing as you do-but here's what has happened around here...

First day(Friday)-10 accidents/each(no poop accidents-Nicholas managed to go in the toilet-barely)
Second day(Sat)-5 accidents for Anthony, none for Nicholas
Third day(Sun)-NO accidents
Mon-Anthony woke up with poop in underwear-hadn't gone since Thur prior.
Tue-NO accidents(and we were out and about)
Wed-one accident-we went on a walk and getting into the bathroom didn't happen immediately, so our fault vs. his
Thur(Today)-they went to playgroup, where Anthony FINALLY pooped. Oops!They did say he was last in line. And just a few minutes ago, he told me he had to go to the bathroom, me thinking pee. But it was poop. I'm very impressed with the fact that he came and told me. I'm mad at myself for not double checking, because it was poop and he couldn't get his pants down fast enough.

As for naptime/bedtime. Nicholas has been waking up dry. He will wake in the am, or middle of the night saying he has to pee. So dh or I bolt up the stairs. Anthony has been dry as well at times, but he's wet more than Nicholas-either at wake up or nap. He has had two to three days of being dry in the am and at nap. But we put them on the toilet before we go to bed, and try to get up there in the am before they wake. We do no diapers/pull ups. It was "throw" the diapers in the trash and straight to underwear. Tomorrow will be one week.

 

Aimee...when we started big girl underwear with Sophia, she had very few accidents (like 1 every couple of days). She's still not night trained yet though.
I agree with Tina, I would try naked training for a couple of days and if you are not seeing improvement, then give it a rest and try again later. I also did use a timer, I will be using it again for Luke when he's a little more ready. Good luck!

 

I thought of something else. Are you using potty chairs or the big potty? We had big improvement when we went to the big potty over the chairs.

 

i think naked training helps them better understand the connection b/t what a full bladder feels like and when they urinate.

Aimee - I would also be prepared for some regression with the new baby...

 

They use the big potty. They've been using the big toilet for at least 3 months, I thought surely it was time to move out of the pull ups. They've not had another accident yet today. I just didn't know if some people live with accidents for a more than a week, or if they were ready there would be little to no accidents. Or if it's just a personal preference about what I'm willing to clean up.

I have heard that too. That's why I really wanted to have them done with PT'ing before the baby gets here. I know I won't have the time to devote to this for a couple of months after the baby is born.

I'm going to start the naked training tomorrow when I'm not babysitting and DH is here.

 

I think this is totally it!!! I have absolutely no interest in going through the mess so I haven't even come close to attempting PT with my two. I did it with my oldest for months and I know it can be done in days when they are totally ready.

YAY for no accidents today!!!

 

I think this is totally the case. I did my DD at age 2.5 and she had like 10 accidents a day for the first few days. After about a week, we were having just 1-2 accidents a day. And now, over 6 months later, we still don't have poop in the potty. :headbang:

 

I thought that might be the case. Well, I'll give them through the weekend and see how it goes. Amelia has woken up wet from nap time every single day, and she has not pooped on the potty yet. If there is no improvement by Monday she's going back to pull ups.

 

I have heard mixed things about pull ups, we only used them at night when we were training. They work so well, that they confuse kids. At least that is one theory.

 

we started close to 24 mo. but didn't go full force until recently. at first we just let them potty every little bit then stuck a cloth diaper back on. they actually both did fairly well, and we have lots of stickers on their calendar chart. Then we went to naked training during the day and the good run continued. THEN probably 4 to 6 wks later we went to wearing underwear. and all this time we were doing the potties. anyway, when we went to underwear my ds regressed big time. accidents all the time. it took a while and finally he started getting the hang of it, now he's a pro.

my dd really blossomed with going potty herself when I gave her free access to the potty, she loves being in control. she even started pooping on the potty all by herself. we still have yet to really get much poop out of my son... hopefully soon...

I keep debating on trying underwear at night and naps... but realistically my ds will pee every 15 or 20 minutes during the day... so I'm not sure he's ready to hold it all night.

good luck to you!

p.s. I would say in answer to your question, YES if you're up to the challenge I think they sound like they are ready... hopefully a week from now they'll be pros!

 

I think you hit the nail on the head about the mess factor. For me, I wasn't willing to clean up accidents all day. Thats not to say the girls didn't have accidents because they did, but for both they were pretty much trained after a couple of days (although we had to set an alarm every 30 minutes for Ana for the first 2 weeks). For us, a switch really did go off when they turned 3 and training was very easy. I joke that I was training for 18 months because I got them potties when they were 18 months old, and really it was hit or miss until 3 and then it just clicked.

As for night and nap time, I think that is a different animal. I know some of against pull ups, and I totally get that, but when they are sleeping they really don't have control over their bladders. I think if they are doing well while awake then they are probably ready. And then you can consider using pull ups or training pants with a plastic cover for sleep time.

GL Aimee!!!!

 

The pull ups versus diaper is for my benefit. Since it's getting more and more difficult for me to lift them and the pull ups slide on like underwear, they can put them on themselves. They think of the pull ups as diapers, unfortunately.

Thanks, and thanks so much for the advice. The problem for me with putting a pull up on Amelia for nap time is that when she wakes up she doesn't want to take it off. I really think a lot of Amelia's problem is that she's stubborn. I'm going to the store today anyway so I'm going to pick up some more training pants and some plastic covers.

Today they are both naked, and are thrilled. :lol: