I have had the
torment pleasure of potty training two children within a year.
Brooklyn potty trained at 3 years and 4 months (while I was 8 months preggo with Nathan-not fun)
Natalie just potty trained at 2 years and 10 months (with a newly crawling and pulling up ten month old Nathan-again-not so fun but with a box of toys outside the bathroom door he was fine)
My method
I am probably a mixture of a whole bunch of methods...but this is what worked for both of my girls.
They both came to me at the age above...and said "mommy I want panties!"
YAY!
(For the record...I never pushed it on either of them. I figured I would know when they were ready...and it worked! Plus...I had so much going on in my life with pregnancy and a newborn...I decided potty training would come...and it did!)
So i said "Ok you're a big girl now! Yay! No more diapers!"
So I took the diaper off and started encouraging them to drink as much water as possible.
(I put panties on both of them, but they both peed in them pretty quick, so we went bare bottom for the first day-nice-I know but I put towels on the furniture. They stayed in the kitchen coloring for the most part)
They both held it for a couple of hours, but eventually I could tell they needed to go.
They both fought sitting on the toilet (I used our toilet, not a potty chair but we do have a seat the fits on the toilet for their little bums).
I would take them back and forth ALL DAY!
The first time...they both peed a little on the kitchen floor, and I picked them up, they would pee on me, then I would put them on the toilet and let them finish.
I put them in the tub, let them wash off their legs and we moved on.
that sounds horrible I know.
Who wants to clean up pee on the floor and on themselves?
Honestly-they both "got it" after that.
They didnt like peeing out of control or on themselves.
So they would run back and forth to the potty every ten minutes, trying to pee.
Sometimes I had to hold them on the toilet and hug them while they got used to it.
But after 4-5 times of doing that...it was fun to them!
We would have lots of parties....many times a day!
The same thing with poop.
brooklyn had no problem pooping in the potty.
Right now...Natalie will poop in the potty but she runs back and forth all day because she cant
tell when she is quite ready. And she wants me with her when she poops still, which is OK!
They both required ALL of my attention for a few days and I sat with them every single time for about a week.
But its worth it!
And no more diapers!
And no accidents except the first day!
I hope this makes sense and can encourage anyone who is thinking about potty training.
It worked for both of my girls...even though they were both around three years old,
I am so glad I waited.
They know when they are ready.
Oh...lots and lots of positive reinforcement and encouragement.
They were so excited to show me and loved when I would jump up and down and dance around to celebrate! (its so fun to see them gain confidence :))
We had an ice cream party after the first poop...
but besides that we never really rewarded with candy or food.
They were happy to have stickers and markers, and even play outside in the muddy garden!
I will spare you the pictures on this post :)
