Potty Training Advice - Havertown, PA

Hi J.! Ahh the days of potty training...uck. I didn't even start to potty train mine until they showed an intrest in it. After than I did put them in pull-ups at night until they asked if they could wear panties to bed. (I never really thought about it for nap-time.) They always woke up dry so it didn't really cost a lot since if the pull-ups were dry they could wear them again. I never used plastic pants because of rashes. My girls had problems with rashes even with some disposable diapers so I didn't even try to use plastic pants...plus I always heard that they leaked anyway. Good luck!

I started trying to potty train my son at 2. I tried diapers at rest times and pull-ups or briefs(when we had full days home) during the day. It took a lot of scheduling to make sure he was on the potty every hour and a half. I tried not to stress it. He was only on the potty for about 5 minutes and he normally stayed dry for 2-3 hours. He really liked using the adult potty, so that was the reward for him. When he was 2 and 8 months he woke one morning and said "I want to wear briefs to school" From that day on, he wore briefs and has only had a few accidents due to buttons and zippers.

Takes lots of patience, but most kids have a "I am ready trigger" and nothing we can do can get them there faster.

I would not where pantys on her at night and for naps til long after she is competly potty trained. It takes alot longer to control that when they are sleeping. It will just upset her and cause you alot more landry. My daughter was potty trained at 2 and i used pull ups antil she was 3 maybe alittle befor that.( you only need one or two A day so a pack lasted me a mounth) Then I swithed to the cloth training pants whan I know we would have no more accadents. She could were reg. underwhere now but the cloth training pants make her fill better. I hope this helps you. Good luck.

With my daughter I didn't use the plastic undies. When she got up in the morning I would put her on her potty chair in front of the tv with her favorite show....every 10 to 20 minutes all day I would ask if she had to go potty. I would put her on the potty after naptime, and continue to ask her if she had to go potty....if she said yes, I would have her sit on the chair. When she would go on the potty I would reward her with a treat. Grandma had her hooked on the miniture kit kats....so that's what we would give her. This is my way.....hope it helps, maybe you can turn it to make it work for you!

Definitely do the panties and stay away from pull-ups. They are just a crutch. Good luck

Hi J.,
Potty training is a can be a stressful process for both the child and parent. Before even beginning, figure out if your child is as ready as you are. You want her to feel good about herself and happy about going potty not rushed and feel like she is failing when she has lots accidents. Ways to know if she is ready:
*She is dry for 2 or 3 hours at a time.
*She can pull her pants down and up.
*She is bothered by her wet diaper.
*She is interested in the bathroom. Wants to go with you.
*She is not resisting going on the potty.
*She can follow simple instructions such as "get your cup please"
*She understands the physical signs of going potty. She knows before she has to go.

Your daughter will need diapers, not panties, at sleep time in the beginning. Until she can wake up dry on a consistent basis panties at night are not a good idea. Her body can not be made to be ready before its time. Potty training is a step by step process that needs to be build on successes.

All in all this is her adventure and you are three to guide her. Make sure she is ready to take it.

Joyful Parenting,
B. Davis, Child and Family Coach

www.childandfamilycoaching.com

Switch to panties all day during the day and just diapers/pull-ups for sleeping. We also used a reward system. Every time our son went pee on the potty, he got a jelly bean. It worked really well. Now he will pee and poop on the potty and we are trying to reinforce his telling us when he has to go. So now he gets a bean when he tells us he has to pee. It is awesome. I have always heard that boys are harder to train than girls, but he was pretty easy with this technique. He is now 34 months old and has been in underwear full-time for 6 months.

Yes--concentrate on daytime potty training and nighttime will follow. I would switch to undies during the day. If you are at home, consider letting her go naked from the waist down and having a potty chair handy (carry it from room to room) at first. At the very least make sure her shorts/pants/etc are easy for her to pull down & back up.
Sfter he was "daytime trained", I was still using pullups on my son at night. O. night after his bath, he said I don't want a pullup tonight, I want underwear." So I braced myself for some wet sheets/bed changing at night, etc. and he NEVER wet the bed. He knew when he was ready! If your daughter has dry pullups in the morning for awhile - days in a row--ask her if she'd like to try undies at night and see what she has to say!

I focused on daytime first. We did go straight to underwear and skipped pull-ups for daytime (except on rare occasions when getting to a bathroom fast might be a problem like on a long drive). We used either pull- ups or diapers for nap and bedtime untill we noticed mostly dry wake-ups. Then we put stickers on the calendar to count the dry wake ups (usually nap first). After some number of stickers we moved to underpants at nap. When mornings were dry too, we did the same thing as naptime - marked calendar and after maybe 10 consecutive dry wake-ups, we gave them up. Sleeping is tough - you can havem go before bed and minimize liquids after a certain time, but until those muscles are strong enough to wait or wake up, you can't really teach it or give them a hard time about it. It can take many extra months for bedtime dryness to happen.