Potty Training

[KrisM]

We're trying to work on PT DS now. I know he has muscle control as demonstrated by my first question. If he's naked or in underwear, he likes to pee around the house. If I ask him if he has to go, he says "DS pee on firetruck" or whatever and he will go pee a bit on the firetruck and then stop and go to whereever else he wants to pee. Telling him he can only pee in a diaper or the potty doesn't seem to work. Any ideas?

Another question - if you do the naked method, do you stay home for days on end, or do you do diapers while out of the house or what?

Today, he asked to pee for the very first time. Usually, it's me asking him. So, this is good, right? We were in Toys R Us, of all places. He was in a snappied prefold, too. But, he was dry and he did pee in the potty. Getting him dressed again was fun :).

Thanks all!

[mudder17]

Okay, around 18 months, Kaya was showing interest in the potty. So as an experiment, we decided to try the naked approach. She wasn't quite ready because she definitely had a few accidents. But yes, we stuck around the house a lot. Then the next week, we went on vacation, so that threw it all out of whack. She went a few times while we were on vacation, but when we returned, she sort of lost interest. About 2 months ago, she started wanting to wear underwear and not necessarily go naked (I think she liked how the underwear--Bright Bots--looked and felt). So we told her if she wanted to wear underwear she had to pee in the potty. She basically agreed. So if she wet her underwear, the diaper went back on until the next change. She still wouldn't poop in the potty, but oddly enough, as long as she didn't sit down, it was easy to clean the poop off the diaper. What she would usually do is yell, "poop, poop" but she would have already gone. But she did much better with the pee and didn't have many accidents, since she liked having her underwear on. And what I liked about the Bright Bots is that they made less of a mess if she did pee in them. For a short while, we did do diapers while out (and still occasionally do so if DH doesn't feel like dealing with it), but I started letting her wear underwear when we went to people's houses for playdates and such. And I would also let her do it if we were just going to the park. We have a travel potty in the car, so I figured that's what we would use if she needed to go. She still will wet her underwear a little when she's not paying attention or too immersed in what she's doing, but for the most part, she does pretty well with pee. We find that if she's playing a lot, we just need to ask her every hour or so if she needs to pee or to ask her to try it, especially if she's been drinking lots of liquids. Today, after an hour and a half, I tried to get her to pee in the potty and she refused, so I just said, "Okay, but don't pee in your underwear!" About 20 minutes later, while I was downstairs getting the laundry, I heard some running and when I came up, she had gone to the potty and was just finishing up. And her underwear was dry. :) So she is learning. As for the poop, on July 1, she pooped in the potty for the first time in about a month and a half. Since then, she's gone several more times, which gives me hope. She has also pooped in her diaper, but most of that was nap or night time diapers, so I guess that's to be expected. She hasn't pooped in her underwear for over a month.

I would say that what Andrew did at the store is what Kaya started doing about 3-4 months ago, where she would ask to pee (even while in a diaper) and she would actually go while keeping the diaper dry. It wasn't every time, but the times increased. Then one day she just asked for her underwear. So I guess she's slowly progressed and for the most part, it hasn't been painful. Maybe because we haven't been pushing her? Or maybe we're just lucky. :)

Overall, underwear turned out to be more successful than naked time, partly because underwear is so much easier to clean up than the carpet or whatever, especially if there is a poop. But also because underwear was a big draw for Kaya (she likes the bright colors and she likes being able to pull them up and down herself). Maybe if you got Andrew some underwear with a cool print or neat colors he might prefer that? Oh, and I HAVE put a snappi'd prefold back on Kaya before while in a public bathroom, but it's not easy--I'm impressed! Underwear or even a fitted is MUCH easier, lol.

Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[KrisM]

Thanks for the info. We did naked at home this afternoon. He went 4 times - 2 were prompted and 2 were not. One time I was on the phone with our insurance company and had to interrupt the CS person with "Hold on, my son just fell into the toilet." Not a phrase I want to say often :). But, he had run into the bathroom, pushed the stool to the toilet, climbed up and peed (while standing). He was holding onto the lid of the toilet though and it started closing, making him lose his balance and fall. His arm pretty much was soaked :).

But, I was so impressed with him going on his own 2 times! He refused a diaper all day, so this is why we went for it. Gosh, I'd like to get back to diaper laundry every 3rd day instead of every other. I don't mind it really, but *having* to do it that often because the pail is stuffed is a pain.

I had an AIO in the car at TRU, but we were only going in for a few minutes, so I didn't bring the diaper bag in. My mistake!

[mudder17]

Yay Andrew! So he fell a little, but you gotta cheer that he went on his own! I definitely found it much easier to get Kaya to go in the potty when SHE decided she didn't want to wear the diapers. It just makes more sense that way. And it is really nice having to not do laundry ALL THE TIME! I was doing it every day and a half, so some days, I was doing it two days in a row. It's sooo nice to go longer in between diaper laundry. And I have two Snap-EZ fleece pockets in our diaper bag for those emergencies. :) (Well, plus a couple of Bright Bots.)


Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[holliam]

I am no expert, and I'm just starting this myself, but we honestly rarely ask Mari if she wants to use the potty. If she is naked or in training pants or even sometimes in her diaper, she just comes and tells us she wants to use the potty (she refuses to use the little potties; only wants the one on the toilet now that requires our help).

She has peed and pooped several times now completely on her own initiative.

Maybe you could just lay back a little and let him take the initiative more?

Also, Mari is obsessed with books about the potty. I got a ton of them out of the library, and her current favorite that just cracks her up is "Does a Pig Flush".

Basically, we are letting her lead this whole process, but we're not in a hurry for her to be potty trained so it's really low key here.

She's 22 months.

Holli

[hez]

We spent a good while asking Payton. And eventually he started asking us to go potty. And then as he got better at it, he started taking his pants off and doing it on his own. We've taught Payton to sit (go Andrew, standing with the men!), and originally just pulled everything on the bottom half off so he could straddle the toilet without the confinement of clothing.

Payton never wanted to pee anywhere but his diaper or the potty. I have no good reason why-- except maybe peer pressure? The bigger kids at our sitter's are PT'd, and the littler kids are in diapers-- no one potties on the floor ;) Seriously though, peer pressure did wonders for us. We were at the park one day with a friend whose DD is only a few weeks younger and was also PT'ing. We got the two of them excited that they were *both* going to pee pee on the potty before we went home, and they nearly ran to the restroom!

We didn't do the naked method-- so when we left the house early on he wore an Easy Up, which was invariably dry when we got home, so we risked it a lot after we were 95% there. And the first place he asked to go potty was Barnes & Noble, second Babies R Us :) Isn't that a great feeling? I remember dropping everything to go find the restroom!

Are you doing any reward system? Payton got a star every time he went, and for every 5 stars (practicing our counting!) he got a cool sticker-- trains, Spiderman, dinosaurs, whatever was working that week. And a full page of stars meant we'd go get a new train for his Thomas set. He would get so proud of the number of stars he got each day...

You'll get there! As slow and leisurely as we took it, it felt like forever. But really, the only tense moments were when I thought he'd never learn to do #2's in the potty. But that came, too, and it's time to put the Diaper Champ in the basement (if I can get off my lazy rear to do that!).

[KrisM]

Today was another good day. We actually are using Pull Ups of all things. I've convinced him that they are underwear to wear in the car and store :). He hasn't peed in one yet! He went potty at the doctor's office today (asked to go) and a bunch at home. He made it through gymnastics and a car ride to the doc's in a Pull Up and was dry. I'm pretty encouraged that we can get this to go somewhere.

[KrisM]

I think you might have it. Today, I more mentioned it to him than asked and when he had to go, he took off to go. I think that as long as I keep the thought of "potty" in his head, he'll do it on his own more.

I'll have to check out that book!

[KrisM]

We were doing treats for a reward, but he lost interest in them. I'll keep the stickers and Thomas in mind in case we need to do that for pooping. Right now though, he does those first thing in the morning, and I'm just not awake enough to get him out of his diaper to encourage it.

[mudder17]

Woo hoo, sounds like he is READY! :)

Interesting thing--even though we haven't used pull-ups, we have used Bright Bots (mostly), Gerber's, Large Snap-EZ with no inserts (she calls them baby covers) that were actually put in the toy pile because they were the wicking prints, 3-9 month covers that come with baby dresses, swim diaper, swim suit, shorts w/nothing underneath, and a few other diaper covers that used to be too small for her (medium litewraps for example). Basically, if it's not her regular diaper, the same mantra applies--don't pee in the "blank", pee in the potty. Seems to work, although she has the strangest things on sometimes, LOL!


Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[mudder17]

I thought about the stickers, but unfortunately, Kaya loves playing with stickers, so they are just regular "toys" for her. I also thought about Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses (since she loves those), but I didn't want her to eat more than one a day. ;) So I think we'll see if we can get by without the reward system. Her playmate does do well with the stickers, though, and he LOVES Thomas, so yes, they wait until he has a certain number and then he gets a train. It definitely works for him!

Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[hez]

Yup-- stickers worked 'cause they've always been a treat. At the grocery store every time we go, at Stride Rite, at the sitter's on occasion. He didn't generally get to play with them unless it was a special occasion. Still doesn't. No particular reason why, just not on my list of things to buy that often :)

Do you guys use stamps? if you ended up deciding you want a reward system, you could stamp up a star (or whatever symbol you like!) on a chart and when she gets x number of stamps get a Kiss...

[hez]

Yup-- when we got to the point where the only thing left was pooping in the Easy Ups (in the corner, 'Don't look at me!') we took to offering a Thomas train for the first time he would go... and then after that breakthrough we moved to getting one after a few days of all #2's in the potty... and then after a week of no accidents... He doesn't need rewards anymore, so we thankfully didn't create a monster :) It was interesting though-- the stickers were enough to pee pee on the potty, but not enough to poop (consistently). Weird.

[mudder17]

The problem with stickers is that not only did Kaya get a bunch of them for her birthday, but I also collected all the stickers I used for teaching (and there are a bunch of them) and picked up a few more and suddenly realized I had a ton of them! So when Kaya is feeling lonely or blue or whatever, she'll say something about wanting stickers and we'll go over to the pile and I'll say, "would you like a ... sticker?" Then I'll tear off a small piece containing a few of the stickers and she'll happily carry the stickers around and eventually use them. So they're sort of a treat, but in a different way.

I have not tried stamps, but maybe I'll try that if we decide on a reward system. I do have a few stamps (but no inkpad), so maybe I can try that.


Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev317pp___.png
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[holliam]

Eileen, I'm not using a reward system either. I honestly don't think it necessary for some kids. I'm more a fan on instrinsic motivation which really works for Mari.

I scrapbook and Mari inherits my old supplies for her art supplies. So, we use stickers, stamps, etc. on a regular basis. :)

Holli

[kboyle]

that's awesome that andrew is getting a hang of it!

it was about 1 mo of me asking charlie if he had to go once we went to undies, when we started we did what eileen did, undies till an accident then straight to a diaper...every morning i would ask charlie which one he would want to wear, if it was a diaper, i didn't force the issue, if he was in undies then he knew that 1 or 2 accidents and we'd be back in dipes. once he had *some* control around the house we did undies full-time, but i was the one asking for about 1 mo. then we went out to dinner and i TOTALLY forgot to put him in a dipe and didn't realize it till we were getting or check and i ran him to the bathroom and he went fine, no accidents, from then on i took him out in undies but still asked a lot. i did ONE DAY of naked time about 2 mo ago and he hasnt looked back, i think that totally did the trick and pushed him over the potty training edge. since then we've pretty much been full-time in undies other than at night. when i asked the doc when i should start working on night training, he just said to stick him in a pull -up till he wakes up dry which may not be for a while and to cut his evening drinks (ha ha, the little lush that he is)

i don't want to push night training and somehow regress his day training, so we are good with pull-ups at night for now, it's only been 2-3 months anyway.

[squimp]

I can't address the peeing everywhere issue, but I'd probably just make it very clear that he "we put our pee in the potty".

As for reminders, it probably differs for every kid, but with Sophia I reminded her about every 20-30 minutes for the first week or so of potty training. The reminders became less frequent (every hour or two), but I found I had to remind her for at least a month. Her teachers at school thought it was pretty common for kids to take a while to get to that stage, when they always tell you when they need to go. After a month or so, she was much better at consistently telling me herself when she needed to go.

We generally stayed home most of the time during the first week of naked bottom training. We tried it on a whim during Christmas break, and she surprised me by being ready. I didn't put dipes on her after we started in earnest, it's sort of going backwards to do that, I thought. Once we started venturing out of the house I instituted the "you cannot leave the house until you sit on the potty" rule. You might also consider putting a plastic bag or towel on the carseat for those first few trips mostly for piece of mind.

Can I just say Yay Andrew!

[JBaxter]

I live in a quiet neighborhood w/ a nice yard so this may not work for you.
When Nathan started my middle son though it would be cute to show him how to pee out side. We went thought a weeks time where Nathan would jump up and say "Pee Pee flowers" and off he'd go and sprinkle the flowers. Now of course if he is playing outside he doesnt bother to come in he just goes on the nearest bush or flower.

Peter Potty really did wonders with putting us over the edge on being diaper free. I found with Nathan it was ALL about convienence.