I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but...

[Shikimama]

Dear all

I'm a mom of a 20 1/2 mo old dd and started thinking about toilet training her.

I've read a book called "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" and want to give it a try. The method is to use a doll as a training tool (by letting your baby to teach the doll to use potty. You are supposed to wet the doll with water when your baby isn't looking, and make him/her realize the doll needs to learn to use potty, etc).

So I went to a local TRU and found thousands of dolls!! I never had a "doll" to nurture (change diapers, put in a stroller etc) myself as a child so I had never thought of buying a doll for my dd until now... I had no idea which one of so many choices would work for the purpose I stated above.

Is there anyone who knows what I'm talking about and could help me out?

TIA
Shiki

[brubeck]

I know exactly what you're talking about because I read this book too! I tried it with my daughter. I had a nightmare of a time looking for a doll that wets. I guess when they wrote this book 30 years ago they were very popular, but now they are not. Many of the dolls today that do 'wet' (eg: the Baby Born doll) seep gradually over time and so are not good for what you want.

There are a few dolls online that wet and are made for potty training but I found them to be ridiculously expensive. So I bought a cheap doll made of plastic and made sure I had 2 pairs of underpants for it. It happened to come with a bottle but you could use any empty squirt bottle (not spray bottle). This bottle was pretty small and fit into my hand. When I put the doll on the potty I directed my daughter's attention to the 'peeing area' and then took the bottle (filled with water) and squirted it on the doll's back. Of course the water ran down into the toilet and it looked like she was having a super pee.

This part of the training went really well. She immediately understood the doll and the purpose of all the steps. I put wiping and washing hands into the routine (I didn't like that the book ignored this) so I would just wipe the doll thoroughly to make sure her underwear stayed dry (until the appropriate moment of course).

Good luck! Please post here how it goes!

[Shikimama]

Dear Helen

Thank you so much for your great response! I borrowed the book at a local library and skimmed through it quickly, thought it was very interesting so I just bought one copy at Amazon and am waiting for it to arrive. I have to go back to the details on the method but your description already helped me a lot! I've saved your message so I can refer to it later. Adding "wiping and washing hands" part into the routine makes a lot of sense.

Now could you share with me the detail of the doll you bought for your daughter (name of the product, maker, etc) if possible?

We are moving to Japan a couple of weeks from now and we are in the middle of packing right now. I intend to give toilet training a try using this method once my dd gets used to the new surrounding there. I'll be back to tell you all about it!!

Thanks again,
Shiki

[brubeck]

Shiki it was the Baby Tubby by Gigo. But I don't think you need to get the same one. Any plastic doll (with underpants) will do. The point is that it doesn't have to wet as long as you can do the squirt bottle trick.

Good luck with your training! And remember, if for some reason this doesn't work for you, keep trying. Despite what the book claims it does not work for lots of kids, but you can take the portions of it that did work and go from there. It certainly is a good way to get started and introduce her to the idea!

[Shikimama]

Helen

Gotcha. I learned about this book through a site in Japanese (obviously it's translated into Japanese). If I remember correctly the book claims its success rate during their research was close to 100%, and like you said, the key must be that you have courage and wisdom to modify the method according to the needs.

Right now my dd is showing the sign that she's very interested in her potty/toilet seat for adults (sitting on it, flushing, etc) besides she does tell me after she urinates (or during the act). I feel more confident that she can get trained fairly quickly, but right now I'm having trouble teaching her how to pull her pants up and down (she doesn't seem to be very interested in learning this part) which I think the book says is something you have to teach your baby BEFORE you actually start training with this method (which makes a lot of sense).

How old was your daughter when you used this method? Mine is 20 1/2 months.

Shiki

[AngelaS]

I read it too and tried a few of the techniques with dd. The ones that worked were consistently taking her to the potty, filling her with beverages the first few days of training and having her clean up the accidents. Pooping your panties is no big deal if you don't have to clean it up. But, when SHE had to wipe off the potty and the floor and rinse her panties, THEN it became a big deal and she didn't like that! LOL (Hands are fully washable, imho, so she DID help!)

[brubeck]

My daughter was 27 months when I tried it. The first part worked great but she started having meltdowns when I had to run her back and forth 10 times after an accident. I ended up dragging her around the house and she had had so much to drink that she would end up having another accident before we finished! I actually think that if she had been younger (ie: less tempermental/toddlerish) it might have worked better. The thing is that I wanted to start earlier but I was due with #2 a couple of weeks after her 2nd birthday and I didn't want to upset her routine too much.

However I did get some valuable things out of it. First I instituted the routine/concepts that pottying requires, and I taught her how to pull her pants up and down! The technique the book shows for that is terrific and I have shown it to a bunch of other parents. I also learned some things about my daughter's temperment that helped me in later training (including that using small food rewards doesn't work with her).

It sounds like your daughter is ready to train. BTW when I did this I was using a seat on the actual toilet (as you are). I don't see any reason why you can't use that too (instead of a seat the child has to empty themselves). After all, do you REALLY want your 2 year old walking through the house with a bowl full of urine? :)

And as the other poster said, having them clean up the mess themselves is a great lesson, and not just for pottying!

[Shikimama]

>having her clean up the accidents. Pooping your panties is no
>big deal if you don't have to clean it up.

Good point!!

But, when SHE had
>to wipe off the potty and the floor and rinse her panties,

How old was your daughter when she did all that? I wonder if mine could do any of that... She doesn't even want to learn how to pull up and down her pants.

Shiki

[AngelaS]

Adrienne started potty training at 27 months. She did it on her own initiative, so I just guided. At that age, she'd been 'helping' me clean with a damp rag for months so 'helping' wipe up a puddle off the floor was no big deal. :D

As for rinsing her poopied panties out in the toilet...Dip and swish... :D

[Shikimama]

She was much older than mine when she started toilet training then. I don't think it's too early for my dd to start it because she started telling me that she went (both #1 and #2, after the fact) almost always. Probably though I should be a bit more patient with her anyway, your post made me think that longer you wait, your baby will have more abililty to express herself, comprehend and follow your instructions.

Thanks!
Shiki

[emmaandgeorge]

27 months is the recommended time to train a girl. Your daughter may be a little young to be trained, though it is worth the try. When are you moving? that will be a big change for her and you may find that she will regress after the move. You may want to wait.

I used the method with the doll with my daughter at 28 months. She had a doll and a special potty for the doll. She was doing really well with the peeing but not at all with the pooping. She is now 30 months, and we are back in diapers because I was tired of cleaning the poop out of her underwear. I decided to back off and try again in a few weeks. It is not as easy as it sounds, and I spent years as a pediatric nurse pracitioner givng parents advice on how to potty train. Who knew.

Good luck