Post your Potty Training Stories here!

Hi everyone!

With so many threads about potty training, we thought it would be a good idea to post potty training stories. We want to hear about successes and false-starts--the works! We know that potty training isn't always easy or fun--still going through it here. But it is good to hear that others have been there and done that already!

Also, Here is the link from the Quick Links above to help those beginning the journey help to know if their kids are truely ready to start!

Thanks in advance for helping us!

The 1-5 Mods!
Amy (jxnsmom), Carol (3girlsand1boyforme), and Sharon (sharongl)

 

I will start:

After many starts and stops because of no success, we really buckled down to train in August, because the boys were starting school. By the end of August they were pretty much pee trained. I called the school and the director told me that they didn't really need to be fully trained, just have the self-help skills to use the bathroom, and they would take care of accidents. So off to school we went. The first day, Jon had an accident--my fault he drank at McDonalds and I forgot to take him to the bathroom before school, and since school was only an hour long that day, they didn't think to take the kids. Jon has only had one accident at school since--he was waiting at the door for the teacher, and she just didn't get there in time. He still doesn't poop in the potty, but for the most part will go in his pull up in the morning, so at least we are getting there.

Marc was totally pee trained when school started, and started holding his poop, after having one poop accident at school. One week he held it for 5 days. I knew he was in pain, so I made an appointment with the ped for right after school, and sent him to school to keep his mind off the pain--the ped couldn't take us earlier. I did let the teacher know. I had my cell phone, ran some errends and came home. There was a message from school telling me to come pick him up, and that she would try to reach me on my cell. Well, that call was 10 min before, and my cell hadn't rang. So I called school. It turned out right after she called, he went to the bathroom and all was well! From that day on he has been trained!

Both boys do wear pull ups at night, Marc because he wants to, and Jon in case he poops--they are both dry through the night, so they really don't need them. I will fight that battle when Jon is fully trained.

 

For the longest time I blocked potty training out of my head. If anyone ever talked to me about it I would basically ignore them and if there was a thread here on TS I avoided it like it was the plague. I just didn't see the logistics of how it would work out with my taking them to work. We had a dog there that was very mean and I had to take every precaution to keep him away from K&K which meant I had to walk them to the bathroom each time. I just couldn't see my boss going for this and I was scared. I didn't want to think about it and just hoped it would go away.

Obviously that did not happen. One day when they were about to turn 3 Nana decided that Kayla should be in underpants (I guess she asked for them), interestingly enough it was a day that we were going to Six Flags. I was very nervous but she did great. I even tried to get her to put a diaper on for the long drive home since I knew she would fall asleep, nope no chance. I finally convinced her to let me put a diaper on top of her seat, under her bum but she was fine even though she did fall asleep. From then on we pretty much did underwear except for overnight. I was nervous about the next weekend since we were driving to Pennsylvania and was nervous about the drive. I did have her wear a pull up down there which she kept dry. She had one accident while we were there and I actually left her in underpants for the drive home. She did great. In the beginning she was a poop holder and would wait until her bedtime pull up. One day she couldn't hold it and went in the potty, the rest is history. After about 5 months of being day and nap trained I purchased covers for their beds and took the overnight plunge. She was ready. All in total in the training process Kayla has had two overnight accidents and 5 daytime pee accidents. She day trained the week that she turned 3.


Kyle took a little bit longer, 4 months. Kyle started using the potty alot but in between he was still going in his diaper. It got to be really difficult for me with the diaper tabs so I talked to him about how on the following Monday we were going to try pull ups. He is not good with change so I always try to prep him about important changes. The Monday came and it was a little bit of a battle to get him into the pull up but we did it. To him wearing a pullup meant that he had to use the potty only, I had no idea they were going to have this effect on him. After 2 days of dry pullups (except overnight) I talked to him about underpants. Again, it was a little bit of a battle but we did it. From that day we have never looked back. He never had any poop aversion and has always gone in the potty with no problems. Kyle has had one poop accident (he had diarrhea and I don't think he knew what was happening) and one pee accident (the first nice day outside playing was much more exciting). He night trained the same time as Kayla (after I bought the protective covers) and has never had an overnight accident.

So, Kayla was 3 and Kyle was 3 and 4 months when nap and day trained. Both were night trained by 3 1/2. When Kayla trained she had no problem holding her urine and voiding in large quantities. Kyle had to go about every 20 minutes in the beginning and only voided small quantities, after the first week or so that started spacing out to a couple/few hours between voids.

Potty training was very painless for us. I didn't purchase any potty chairs or toilet covers, they went in the regular potty. I didn't use any rewards or charts except for dancing and singing like a crazy person when they did a great job. I cleaned up a nominal amount of accidents and I think that is because they controlled the training process completely. I would have been happy with them in diapers forever basically, the ball was completely in their court and when they were ready they scored quickly.

 

Malena and Sofia are 2 1/2yrs old as of Dec 2,06. They were potty trained(day time) a month before that.

When they turned 2yrs(June 27) old I bought two potty chairs. I put them in the bathroom. That way they would associate the bathroom with those potty chairs. I would also put them on the potty chair to go potty only to have them get upset. Then when they did get off the toilet they would pee. All they really wanted the potty chairs for was to use them as stools. So we gave up. I decided not to even try till they started showing interest. So in October they started sitting on the potty chairs for fun. But still wouldnt "do anything" on the toilet. In November one day in the evening Malena told me she had poop in her diaper. I was gonna change her but there wasnt any poop in her diaper SO I saw an opportunity to get her to actually poop in the toilet. So I had her sit on the toilet. She went poop after a few minutes. But it was just a little bit. I jumped up and down and sang and danced. We made such a big deal about her going potty. She was able to dump her poop in the big toilet and then FLUSH the big toilet. What Was was funny is that she walked back over to the potty chair and went poop but just a little bit. She did that about 6 times in a row. I couldnt beleive how much poop was coming out of her. I realized what she was doing was Controling her tummy and going just a little bit and then doing more when she came back. That told me that SHE was more than ready to use the potty. Her Sister(Sofia)also went poop that day but not as much as Miss Malena. The next morning I did not put diapers on them in the morning and let them run around naked. I told them they needed to use the potty just like they did last night. I told them they couldnt go potty on mommys carpet or kitchen floor. I had the potty chairs in the kitchen(well....towards the back door). We are in the kitchen alot so I figured we needed to keep those potty chairs close by where ever we were. That day they probably had 2 accidents a peice but the majority of the time they used the potty. If I saw that look on their face like they had to go I would walk them over to the potty chair. EVERY TIME they used the potty for either poop or pee we would make a big deal about it. I went out and bought party hats, party blowers. Whoever went in the potty got a party hat on their head and everyone else was blowing the party blowers. They loved it!!! I would say within the week i was having them wear panties out and about.

I think what helped potty train them was that I didnt force it. I waited to see they were ready. My singleton son was also potty trained at 2 1/2yrs old. I did the same thing with him that I did with the girls. Actually with my singleton son I did try longer to potty train. But I only got frustrated he got frustrated and irritated and would refuse to sit cause I was making a big deal about it. When I calmed down and let him tell me that he was ready then it became easier. When he was ready to be potty trained he was potty trained in a day. The day he decdied to use the potty chair he never wore diapers again. That means for the evening too. I hoped the girls would have been like that.

Just last night the girls wore panties to bed and woke up dry. I am completly out of diapers and I refuse to buy more. So I told them We are out of diapers and they have to wear panties to bed. I told them that their panties needs to stay dry. I told them to wake mommy up if they have to go potty(they wont get up by themselves to go at night). They were completly Dry this morning. I think them wearing a diaper to bed made it okay for them to go pee through the night. Which their diapers were usually wet by morning. I hope that their dry panties will be a habit and not a one time thing. We will see. I liked being able to potty train the girls are the same time. It seemed like they encouraged eachother to go. They would clap for eachother and pat eachother on the back.

Happy Potty Training!!

Cherie
Ramzie 6/8/00
Malena & Sofia 6/27/03

 

Let's see if I can remember. The details are fuzzy...I've tried to block that time out of my mind... so I'll do a list.

*I didn't even attempt it until three months before their 3rd birthday. We started in February 2005.

*We read "Once Upon a Potty" and "Everybody Poops" and watched the Bear in the Big Blue House potty training DVD in preparation.

*I chose a week to start when we could be home as much as possible.

*I started each morning putting them each on a potty chair in front of TV after breakfast, which started the day with success.

*I let them run around the house with no bottoms on at all, and we carried a potty chair to each room with us. I encouraged them to try periodically, but they quickly got the hang of sitting down on their own when they felt they had to. I didn't do a lot of reminding.

*When we had to go out somewhere, I put them in underwear with Pull-ups over the top.

*I rewarded them with a couple M&Ms for each successful tinkle. That, for some reason, was a very big deal for them.

*Hayden pee trained first, but Brady rejected it. When it got to be a battle of wills, I backed off, put the diapers back on him, and started again a few days later. The stopping and starting happened several times with both of them. That is one thing I learned having potty trained three boys: It's NOT worth a battle!

*I kept them in Pull-ups at naptime and bedtime until they woke up dry consistently for several days. My oldest son stayed in Pull-ups at night until age 4. Hayden and Brady were out of them as soon as they day-trained.

*I believe Brady was completely trained, day and night, poop and pee, no reminders, within two months. Hayden continued to poop in his underwear for four months. No amount of praise, scolding, rewards, incentives, or scheduled potty time did a thing. He would get off the toilet, pull up his underwear, and promptly poop in it! Training was entirely his decision on his timetable. He wanted to train for my MIL, and she got him done in two days!

*It is very difficult to remain patient and positive when there are setbacks. Several times, I had to step back and tell myself there was no deadline for this, and to just relax and take it at the boys' pace. Taking the pressure off myself and them was always the best choice.

 

Potty training E&E is still ongoing here, but they are both now fully day and nap trained (that is when they take a nap!) but still wear pull-ups at night, and I'm holding off for a bit to start working on that apsect.

I had been spoiled after training Caitie, my oldest DD, who trained quickly and fully trained (night and day) in about two weeks! She was about 28 months old when she did.

So, I started E&E right after their 2nd birthday, thinking it would go the same as Caitie, but it didn't! The only aspect of training they like was getting to take off their diapers, and boy did they catch on to that quickly! So, I decided to hold off and try again when they were 2 1/2. When that time rolled around, they still weren't ready. Erin pee-pee'd a couple of times on the potty, but they showed no interest or signs of readiness, so I held off again.

Finally, this past November, Emma asked to go on the potty, so I took their little potty chairs out again. As soon as I got them up in the morning, we'd put on "big girl underwear" and that's how they'd stay until nap time. They both caught on to pee-pee'ing on the potty right away. Emma was pooping on the potty within a week. Erin was happy to poop in her underwear, and refused to go on the potty. Each time she pooped in her undewear, we'd use it as an opportunity to talk about going on the potty. It took about 2 months, but she finally did poopie on the potty, and has had only 1 accident since.

We did many of the same things Amy did to prepare the girls. We watched "Once upon a Potty" and the Bear in the Big Blue House Potty video. We also did a sticker chart for the girls, and each time they'd go, we reward them with 1 M&M for pee-pee and 2 M&M's for poopie. (Erin quickly caught on to if you go a little at a time, more often, you get more M&M's! )

I guess looking back, I wouldn't stress out so much over when they train and pay more attention to when they show more signs of readiness.

It is really is true, that when they are ready, they just do it!

 

Boy do I agree with the statement that they will train when they are ready. I really worked with Ashley over the summer to no avail. A week after her 3rd birthday she trained in one day. Amy still isn't ready but hopefully soon. I am sooooooooo ready to never buy another pull up. Regular diapers don't fit so I am stuck buying the pull ups.
Trish

 

When my boys were 2.5, my husband and I brought home our adopted 3.5 month old baby girl. To save my own sanity, I started potty training the boys immediately. We joined a friend of theirs in the backyard and spent a week running around naked in the warm sun. Each boy had their own potty and got to choose where they wanted the potty to be placed. And, when the potty was successfully used, they got to run around for a certain amount of time with a noisemaker. Within a week, they were fully potty trained during the day. It was so much easier than I had ever anticipated. Before I started the training, I looked over the readiness guidelines, and my boys didn't register as ready. They didn't care if their diaper was dirty. They didn't know how to pull down their pants. Their diaper always seemed wet. But, I was ready and so we gave it a try. And, it was a breeze.

Interestingly enough, I began potty training our baby girl at 7 months. I didn't expect her to be able to do her own toileting. I just wanted to see if I could get her used to going to the toilet--and catch a few bowel movements in the toilet versus a diaper. By 10 months, she was pooping in the potty regularly and would go pee in the potty when I put her there. It wasn't until 20 months that she could actually tell me when she needed to go potty. She's been in underwear since 18 months. I know for certain that I wouldn't have tried training the boys to this full extent at 7 months. However, I do wish I would have saved myself a few poop changes by at least getting them to poop on the potty.

In the end, I attribute their success to my not being too emotional about the whole process. During the week we trained the boys, I never got mad at them if they missed the potty. I just calmly asked if next time they could try to go in the potty. Even with my little girl, I tried to stay calm about the whole thing. When I found myself getting upset, we would just take a break for a few weeks and start again. I think it's important to assess your children's readiness, but you need to balance that with your own readiness.

 

I decided that after our vacation in October (childless!!) this past year that I would come home and be a "super mom" and potty train the twins. Well, needless to say, they really didn't cooperate. Colt tried more than Jacey, but had numerous accidents, and Jacey would go a little bit and then 10 minutes later, go in her brand new panties. After about 6 hours of trying, I just gave up and went back to the diapers. No way was I going to stress myself out on potty training. It's hard enough coping with everyday life with twins. Why make it worse?

In December of '05 I decided I would try again over the New Year Holiday. The kids had to go to daycare in the morning and I got off work at 11 and told them I would pick them up and we'd got to McDonalds for lunch. Then, after lunch we were going to work on a big project. After lunch, we went home and threw the diapers away and started in the potty training. I tried to take them every 20 minutes or so, and they would get one sticker each time they went. This time, I could tell Jacey was doing better. She seemed like she was going more. The did have a few accidents, but it really was a LOT better than in October. After a couple weeks, they really had it down.

My advice to anyone trying to potty train, is if they don't seem to be getting the hang of it, just wait a month or two and try again. Why put yourself through he** if you don't need to!

 

So fasr I only have one success story. I did potty train Mikayla about 4 months ago and it only took about 1-2 days of taking her potty all the time for her to get it down. I just brought the little potty out by the TV and toys with us and had her sit on it every half hour or so and she finally got it. She does great now (of course she isn't night trained, but that will come with age). My son on the other hand is a different story. He just isn't ready. He loves to do the act of sitting and toilet paper and flushing, but doesn't do anything. I am going to try again after his second birthday because we have another baby on the way and I don't want 2 in diapers again! Good luck to all of you trying!

 

We are still in process, but I will share our success so far.

A little background: I PTed in a week before my second birthday. My brother and my sister PTed within a week at 2.5. My DH PTed at 18mo. and his brothers by 2 (what did MIL do????). So, to me taking longer than that seemed unneccessary and lazy on the parent's part.LOL! My girls were going to be PTed at age 2 if I could help it!

I attempted PTing at 2. They showed absolutely no interest in sitting on the potty and continued to pee and poop on the floor. I only let it go for about a day. We use cloth diapers and they were content to sit in wet and soiled diapers. It was extremely exhausting to me cleaning up messes all day on top of the regular care of twins.

Then I was pregnant and too big and tired to even think about PTing and messes. We tried again at 30mo. when the baby was 3mo. old and DH was home for a few days. Perfectly ready in every area (according to "the list"), but simply showed no interest and would go on the floor. Then I made a decision, I wasn't cleaning up any more messes (within reason)--I was going to wait until they PTed themselves.

At 32mo. E came to me and said she didn't want diapers anymore. THe next morning I left her diaper off. She had one accident at the breakfast table, but after that she had 0 accidents all day. I did not watch a clock, did not take her to the potty, and only verbally reminded her a couple of times (which were completely unneccesary). She went when she had to go--pee and poop. It's been a week and she's been getting better and better. At first she had to go barebottomed because if she had any cloth on her bottom she would pee. Now she comes to me if she can't get her undies down. She's only had maybe 5 accidents all week. They love stickers, so I started with stickers. But many times she forgets about the stickers, usually I have to go give her one, which is nice because she is internally motivated.

M still adamently wants diapers ( though she stays dry more at naps and nights). It seems she is asserting her individuality, so we will stay in diapers for now. She is very active in the process however. She likes to dump E's pot in the toilet and gives her lots of verbal praise!

Now, I'm all about waiting until the child is ready. My mom had been getting on me for not PTing them yet. I told her a few weeks before E trained that I was waiting until they trained themselves or I had more time to work with them when the baby is older. When I called and told her E was trained in a day, she was speechless. She told me I was so patient with them--she saw that the patience (though very hard) had paid off!

 

I just wanted to quickly thank you for the stories and this sticky thread. My two will be 2 next month and I picked up the pottys today. Naturally I run straight to TS when I have some questions, so again thank you and my eyes will be glued here until we get it down.

Hopefully, I will be able to add something.

 

I don't have any success stories nor can I say my two are anywhere NEAR potty training. But this is how we are teaching them "potty". They bathe together and Zack never likes to sit in the tub. So he stands or squats when playing. He pees in the tub (gross, I know) and I would say "potty, you are going potty and here is where we go potty" and point to the potty chair. After a few times of doing this, he started looking down and then peeing so I thought why not try it. I felt that he was starting to realize when he had to go. So the last 2 times we did baths (yesterday and two days before that), I decided to put him on the potty before putting him in the tub. He kept saying "potty". I realized, he'd done it! I was so happy! Then a few minutes later, he said potty again. I took him out and set him on the potty. He did it again! He went 3 times the 1st night and 3 times last night. Now, please realize there were several times I took him out of the tub and put him on the potty where he felt it was just a game, but he went 3 times! Now I'm trying to decide how many times is ok to take him out of the tub for it and when to say when because he thinks it's fun.

 

I have been asked to copy my message here from the original post so here is is!


Twinstuff Forum Member

Posted February 02, 2006 09:55 PM
since I am the first to reply I feel special! My potty training twins story is kinda funny (lokking back... it wasn't at the time!) I was on bedrest with my youngest (BR 7 weeks Left side 11 weeks through delivery at 41 weeks) I was laying there on the couch on my left side and Arianna said "potty mommy" she was almost 2. I though UH OH! NOW is NOT the time to show interest! I tried to distract her since I couldn't get up and take her and next thing I know she has taken off her diaper and pooped in her hand and is trying to hand it to me! I hollered for James (who was 6 at the time) and asked him to please get me some wipes and a plastic bag and then take her in to wash her hands. Well she decided that THEN was the time. Brianna wasn't really interested yet but would go with Arianna to hold her hand while she sat on the potty. Then Ari would refuse to let Bri out of the bathroom til she tried and would stand there and hold her hand while she sat on the potty. I ended up getting them each their own potty seat and they would sit there on their seats and hold hands. I used to have the cutest picture of them like that! The other part of their potty training story that was kinda funny (again in hindsight) was my friend Carroll offered to take care of them while my husband was at work and Brianna was following her around saying "pop! tea! POP TEA!" and Carroll couldn't figure out what on earth was making her so thirsty! She also knew that I didn't let my kids have junk so couldn't figure out why Bri was asking for pop and tea to drink. One day I was over at her house (on her couch for a change of scene) and Bri came up to me and said "pop tea Mommy" and I asked one of Carroll's daughters if she would take Bri to the bathroom. Carrol started laughing so hard she was crying and said "oh! is that what she wants? all this tyime I thought she was wanting a drink!" We still laugh about that all these years later!

Best potty training advice... take it at the child's pace, let them show you when they are ready and me relaxed about it. and DO NOT use pull ups! James used pullups and wasn't trained til he was 4 1/2. My girls all trained by about their 2nd birthday and were night trained with in a week or 2. No pressure just smooth and easy.

Amy wife to Stuart (92) Mom to James (5/93) Natasha (9/95) Arianna and Brianna (9/97) and Chiarra (2/00)


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Amy
wife to Stuart 7/92
Mom to James 5/93 Natasha 9/95 Arianna and Brianna 9/97 and Chiarra
Posts: 7 | Location: Oregon | Registered: February 01, 2006

 

Caitlyn was not trained until she was 3 yrs 4 months. We used pull ups during the day. I think that was our big mistake. I think we tried training off and on for almost a year. She finally trained the weekend before preschool started. They would not take her if she was not trained and she knew it.

I think we brought out the potty chairs when the girls were about 20 months old. I wanted them to get used to them being in there. The would sit on them, but mostly used them for stools. In June or July Hayley gradually started peeing on the potty. One day my babysitter said that if we sent her in training pants she would work with Hayley. Great. I found training pants that have the plastic attached. The babysitter worked with her and she did pretty well. We cheered and clapped everytime she went. She had accidents of course but it was summer and she didn't want to quit playing. I finally decided to get stickers for rewards. The first time that Hayley got a sticker, Brianne screamed and screamed. She wanted one too! It was very hard not to give in and just give Brianne a sticker but I kept firm. Finally Brianne went potty. We did the big song and cheered for her. She did reall well for a while. She was in training pants too. In November, when I finally put Hayley in her "big girls" Brianne just decided to quit going potty. She would scream when you even just asked her if she had to go. I thought "oh well at least I have one day trained." We held off on Brianne.

About two weeks ago, Brianne decided she didn't want diapers on anymore. At home I let her wear "big girls". She still wore a diaper to daycare. Then she refused to wear a diaper. I sent her in training pants. This was on a Thursday. She had no accidents. On Friday she again wore her training pants. She had on accident. When she got home I asked if anyone had to go potty. No one did. Less than a minute later Brianne comes to me crying. She had wet her pants. The was the last accident she has had. On Monday for daycare she refused to wear the training pants so she went in "big girls". She has gone all week without any accidents.

It really is true. Let them do it when they are ready. Hayley was easy to train but Brianne has been a piece of cake.

Good luck to everyone training. Remember it will end some day. LOL Also age doesn't matter. My ped always tells me that one of his sons was 4 when he trained. I'm glad mine weren't that old, but I would have been able to deal with it. Sometimes it happens almost overnight but most times I think it doesn't.

 

My boys were "poop" trained shortly after their 2nd birthday and, as of last week (2 years 3 months old), they are now completely day trained. It was not my intention to start toilet training so soon, but when they started announcing to me that they were about to poop (saying "bye-bye" & running into a different room for privacy); I thought I'd give it a try. Much to my amazement and excitement, they pooped and peed the first time they sat on the toilet.

I used the Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer (the ring that sits on the toilet). I definitely recommend it for boys because it has a really high splashguard to prevent pee from spilling over the front. Because they always watched me (oh I long for the day when I can go to the bathroom without an audience!), they had no issues with sitting on a toilet from day one. A step stool that their feet can touch also helped them feel secure. The boys also enjoyed their toilet training themed books like "Flush the Potty" and "The Toddler's Potty Book".

Here's some tips that worked for us:

- if they are fairly "regular", try to get them to sit on the toilet around the time they usually poop.

- because they thought they had to poop and see something every time they want to the bathroom in the beginning, I didn't push the pee training part until they understood the difference. I let the boys run around without pants, and when they started to pee, they would run to the toilet. Only then did they start to connect the sensation of a full bladder with peeing in the toilet.

- while I praised them for using the toilet, I didn't overdo it because I wanted them to know that it was a normal activity. Also I didn't offer any rewards like candy or stickers.

- as others have mentioned, avoid pull-ups, even the "feel and learn" kind, they just prolonged the training. Within a few days of switching to underwear, they were dry.

- accidents will happen and it's no big deal

- patience, patience, patience!

- be consistent!

HTH! Good luck!

 

Major breakthrough today!

As I said at the beginning of this thread, Jon isn't completely trained, BUT, I think we may have made it over the hump!

To begin with, I have been picking his teacher's brain for ideas, and she suggested, since he could verbalize his reward--a smartridge for the v-smile--to go ahead and get it, and put it in the bathroom where he could see it. So it had been there since Saturday.

Today, was the first day that he consistantly told me he had to use the bathroom. He kept trying to poop, without success, and spent most of the afternoon naked from the waist down. All of a sudden, DH was yelling for Jon to go to the potty--he left some "presents" on the step--but Jon was already there , but he still couldn't "perform".

"drum roll"
So right after dinner, he starts holding his tush, saying, "I have to go poopy". Sure enough, DH put him on the potty, and he did it! He is so proud of himself!

Now he has been in underpants since August (except for nighttime--altough he is usually dry when he wakes up, but has been pooping in the pull up in the mornings), but it never seemed to bother him if he had an accident--so it was very frustrating. It seems like a light switched on today. Now we will see what tomorrow brings!

 

I'm a old visitor, but feel new to the site. I dont get to log on like I would like to.


Okay moms!

Tell me again why we are potty training our twins? I mean whats the point? Why cant they just stay in diapers till they are 80. They will be back in them then anyways. I'm just so frustrated. Keeping Izabelle in BG panties does not seem to mean anything to her. Our timing is off she goes potty after we have been sitting on the toilet. Why? Why? Why? Why cant she do it before she gets off the pot? I'm just a little frustrated. Did I say that already? Maybe she's not ready yet. She will be 3 in April am I pushing it?

 

I would say that she isn't ready yet. Most children don't until they are around 3, and if you look at my post above, we are getting closer to 4. Reading the stories in this thread should give you some encouragement. I would take a break from it for a few weeks/month and try again. We had many false starts before we got anywhere.

Good luck!

 

Sometimes kids are afraid to go in the potty because they feel like they are putting part of themselves in there..... Almost like you were asking them to take off their foot and put in the toilet and flush it away forever.

As I have said before there is a big difference between cloth panties/underwear and a oullup which is too much like a diaper....

 

This has been a great post for us. I have been wondering what my next step is with AnJ. They have just recently started taking off their pants. We still are not dry long periods but they do indicate that they are dirty and needing changing. Actually my little girl is more concerned with the dirty diaper. They just turned 2 last month so now I will just wait and see. I like the one post that says to wait 3 months after seeing some readines signs. We have purchased the potty chairs but they are not interested in them yet.

Thanks again for having this thread!!!!

Take care,
Sam
~Abigail and Joseph 02/04

 

In response to the potty training issue. My twins Andrew and Nathan were potty trained at 23 months Because i was pregnant with my youngest and could not afford 3 kids in diapers. I tried pull-ups, letting them run around naked. Small prizes , big prizes, and even sweets to eat and believe it or not what worked for me is I let them pick out their own underwear and bought those kids flushable wipes.
(Those wipes are wonderful but we went through them like candy but they worked) They were jst go and try(not very well)to clean themselves with the wipes and loved the I am not a baby anymore. Now my youngest is going to be 2 on 4-10-06 and he is 1/2 potty trained.
Christy and Jim

Andrew and Nathan
June 28, 2002
Michael
April 10, 2004

 

I found out Friday that now both of my "babies" are using the potty at daycare. Thank goodnes for older kids! I have the one potty for them and they sometimes seem intrested in it but don't care at other times. They just turned 2 and I never thgouth they would be ready yet, but I guess I am wrong and just in denial about them growing up too soon.

Great tips on here. Looks like I will be starting to really train them the next few months. Wish me luck!

 

I am so glad I found this thread. I was feeling really bad that my girls aren't fully trained yet when they have singleton friends that were potty trained a year ago. They will be 3 1/2 this summer, and so far only Saige will pee on potty. She still won't poop on potty, and her sister won't have anything to do with the potty whatsoever. No amount of encouragement, bribes or discussion seems to make a difference with these two. We are on our last box of diapers in the house, and I am not sure if the cold turkey approach will work. I am at a loss on how to move forward. Perhaps I should stop hassling them altogether? I'm afraid if I do that they'll still be in diapers at 5 But maybe they don't like the pressure.

 

I am potty training right now and the twins will be three in two months. They were doing very well on praise alone, and sometimes a cookie, but just last night, my son could not go during "potty time", and after that one time he no longer wants to try. I was feeling bad because I did praise him for trying and I just couldn't see how it would be possible to train only one without the other feeling bad about not going. I do still wonder that, and I'm afraid that giving Meg so much praise will hurt Chris' feelings, or the other way around. I'm glad I read through your posts, though, now I feel a little better about trying with Chris later, and possibly getting Megan trained so she can help him along.

 

Well Nicholas is fully trained. One trip with daddy to the bathroom when dad had to pooh. He has now been trained 3 weeks with no accidents. He also juet got done with a stomach flu and still no accidents. No more diaper or pull up buying in my house. I am not sure if I am happy or sad about that though. No more babies.

 

My twins, a boy (Rami) and a girl (Jenin) both trained right around their third birthday. Jenin took to it much quicker but had more accidents. Rami resisted at first, but once he started wearing the cotton training pants, he got into it quickly because he hated being wet much more than Jenin did. (I had gone the Pull-Ups route with all three of my kids even though I swore I wouldn't when the twins were born.) My oldest daughter, Hannah, had the most trouble with accidents, and I think the Pull-Ups had a lot to do with it. Since the kids really don't feel wet with them on, it seems to delay their knowing when they need to go.

As far as the twins' potty training went, I did decide on one semester break to potty train them. I had a book that described how to do so in JUST ONE DAY! HA! I gave up after four hours and put them back in Pull-Ups. Several months later, and after they had started back at daycare, we started again. The daycare really helped because they would go potty with their friends, and there was positive peer pressure to go. In fact, for several weeks, they would do better at going potty at daycare than they did at home (especially Jenin). Rami had trouble staying dry during naps longer than Jenin did but he stays dry now all the time except overnight.

I agree with everyone that you do kind of have to wait until the kids are ready, but you do also sometimes have to gently push them to try. If that push is resisted, wait and start again in a few weeks.

My big question now is about having the twins stay dry overnight. I work full-time during the year, then am off in the summer. I decided once Hannah was out of school for the summer, I would start putting the twins in regular underwear at night. (This way if I had to get up in the middle of the night to change bedclothes, etc., it wouldn't matter if I was exhausted in the morning since I would not have to function and drive to take Hannah to school or go to work.) Jenin stayed dry the first night and has stayed mostly dry since. She has an accident every third or fourth night, usually when we have worn the kids out with some activity that day. Rami, however, has an accident every night, and sometimes more than one. I always check on them before I go to bed, and about half the time, he has already wet the bed. He always has wet the bed by the time he wakes up.

So, what I want to know is, does anyone have any advice on encouraging him to stay dry all night? I have a suspicion that one "benefit" to him wetting his bed is taking off all his clothes in the morning. (He likes to be naked.)

We are traveling overseas in July and I am trying very hard not to give in and put him back in Pull-Ups at night. (Neither twin has accidents during the day or at least very rarely.)

Any ideas are welcome!

Thanks,

New Member Heidi

 

we had a kind of funny reason why Brianna was wetting at at night... she didn't know it was ok to get out of bed tpo use the bathroom! Once I told her it was ok (I felt so bad for her!) she never wet at night again!

a couple other suggestions are no drinks with in an hour of bed time and put a potty seat in their room at night so they don't have too far to go in the dark when they are sleepy.

Amy
wife to Stuart and Mom to James 13 Natasha 10, Arianna and Brianna 8 and chiarra 6

 

I had forgotten about the potty near the bed idea. (I read that somewhere on the 'net way back when we were first thinking of potty training.) Ironically, last night he did not wet the bed. I tried a new idea. Right now, since I am home for the summer, the kids are getting up and watching cartoons for a couple of shows while we all "wake up." I told him last night that if he stayed dry, he could watch TV in the morning. If he wet the bed, we would not watch the morning cartoons. Guess what? At 7 am, I heard someone go to the bathroom and it was my son. He had started to pee and got up to finish on the potty!

We'll see how the rest of the week goes.

Heidi

 

We just recently put Abbie and Joe into their junior beds. I will have to remember that if they don't get up at night it might be due to their idea that they should not get out of bed. Right now they stay in their beds or at least bedroom until I get them up from naps or morning.

Thanks for the insight. We should be starting to potty train in the next few months.

Take care,
Sam
Abigail and Joseph ~ 02/04

 

So my babies are Just two (guess i should update pic) .

And they seem to be ready though i'm not sure i am...
Whenever they make in their diaper they take it off and eigther hand it to me yuck or toss it out ,saying dirty dapper.

I have told them numerous times mummy or daddy takes off your diapers not you.... to no avail..
I'm at my wits end what do i do

 

Tape it on them, I had to do that

 

We also had a few false starts. Stickers did not work for us; a chart did not work for us. Letting them pick out their own underwear, giving positive phrase, watching Daddy and watching their older cousins use the potty did nothing to motivate them. Potty books and videos were read and shown. The feel-n-learn pull-ups did not work. I knew they were ready and they were able to tell me they had to go, but they just did not want to go through the process. I did not stress out, as I was really in no hurry to push them. I was casual but very tired of having to change Evan's diaper the second after it became wet and/or messy.

Finally I made a commitment to stay home for one entire weekstarting on April 4th 2006, no outings which were torturous for me. We kind of made a party out of it. We started on Monday; Monday was Mylar balloon day. The boys got to pick out their own balloon. Tuesday cupcake day, I let them have mini cupcakes for snacks and after dinner. Wednesday was game day, we played games most of the day. Thursday was finger-painting day. Friday was surprise treat; we took them out for an ice-cream cone for the very first time. I do not like them to have too many sweet treats day to day, so it was really fun for them. I told them ahead what was going to happen and told them they were big boys now.
~I set them on the potty first thing every morning, and every hour on-the-hour pretty much for the rest of the day. They did great; it worked to get them to sit on the potty without it being a big whine-fest.
~Then after the week was over, I am not proud to say M&M's was our life saver. 3 M&M's for pee-pee and 5 for bowel movements. They loved counting out their M&M's after washing their hands. I stopped giving them any bribes after 2 weeks. Now the only problem I have is getting them to use a public toilet when they have to poop while we are out and about. Very tricky as they are afraid to not have their little seat to sit on.

 

Well, we made the commitment to start potty training yesterday. My twins are 2 1/2 so we thought it was time to really do it this time. I would say we had more accidents than successes yesterday but we are still going to try today. We have started having more success from my son. He will pee a little almost everytime you sit him down. My daughter likes to hold it for extended periods and then it is the luck of the draw if I catch her. The stickers and charts are fun for them but I can tell they are not influencing their potty training. M&Ms, though, seem to be making more an impression.

We will see how today goes. I hope we can make it through another day and that it will get easier.

Have a great week.

Sam

Mom to Abigail and Joseph - 02/04