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kam
10-15-2010, 10:25 AM
Ok, so I'll acknowledge from the beginning that I'm a little crazy.

DD is 22 months old, and we're considering potty training. She sits on it, and is very excited when something "accidentally" happens. We clap, and laugh and she is SO proud of herself. I'm a believer in early training for a lot of reasons -- I think it's possible (I was trained at 20 months, and my brothers were both trained before 28 months). I know of several <2 girls who are daytime trained now, with <1-2 accidents/week. I also think that DD wants to be independent, so this is something else she'll do to be proud of. (clothes on and off, "helping" clean her bottom during diaper changes, clearing the table and scraping dishes, etc.)

She knows when she poops, and tells us.

She has no clue about wet, but her diapers are so good that she's dry when I take them off, so I don't know how she could know. She does stay dry for a few hours at a time.

My thought is that we try for a week, and if it's not working/she's resisting, we just go back to diapers for a few months and try again in the spring. (we have a new baby due in January, so it's now or March, according to the ped). We know she might regress, but think it's worth trying, regardless.

So -- advice? Our plan is some sort of training unders (cotton) and a weekend effort the weekend of Nov 6-7. She's in FT day care, and we're hoping to get them on board during the parent teacher conference the week before. Day care firmly believes in training early, when possible, so that's not a problem.

Any thoughts, experiences from those of you who made a run at early training? Any small training pants? (Hannas XS small enough for a scrawny kid?) About the only advice I don't want to hear is "you're crazy" or "it's impossible" since I (respectfully) disagree!

AnnieW625
10-15-2010, 10:36 AM
We started at that age with DD1 and it just didn't work, but since you don't want details I'll leave it at that. We used both Hanna Andersson, and Gerber brand of training pants. The Gerbers were a tad smaller than the Hannas, but you can always try both and see which work better. We first tried the training pants, but DD1 was still having accidents though and they didn't help contain the pee that well so don't get frusterated if your daughter pees right through them.

FWIW I was trained at 2 yrs., and a few months and my brother was born the following March (I was 2 yrs. 9 mos.) and my mom said I regressed a bit so keep that in mind too. I agree that unless she really gets it now and is fully trained with no accidents by the beginning of December I'd wait until at least March, maybe even May or June when all of your attention is not being devoted to the baby. My DCP was great about working with DD1.

kam
10-15-2010, 10:40 AM
That makes sense -- we're going to try, but are definitely willing to abandon if necessary. That's more why I'm not looking for "it won't work" stories. If it doesn't, we'll stop!

When you got DD1 started on the successful round, did you go every 30 minutes? Every hour? How did you work that? Pooping, we'll see the effort (and pretty much know when she goes), but wetting is going to be harder.

lowrioh
10-15-2010, 10:44 AM
We gave potty training a go a couple of months ago with our DD and it was a disaster. She ended up refusing to sit on the potty at all so we gave up the power struggle and decided to try again in a couple of months. Right now she will tell us that she wants to go potty but she really wants to run around naked.

Anyway, I would say give it a shot. If she "gets" it then great...if not come back to it in a couple of weeks/months. I have several friends in the neighborhood who successfully trained their DDs before their first birthdays.

We got the Gerber training pants and they were fine.

AnnieW625
10-15-2010, 10:45 AM
When you got DD1 started on the successful round, did you go every 30 minutes? Every hour? How did you work that? Pooping, we'll see the effort (and pretty much know when she goes), but wetting is going to be harder.

She was almost three when she finally got serious about going (and fully trained at 37 months) so most of the time she'd just tell us when she had to go, but early on I don't think we went more than an hour with her going. For car trips more than an hour the first couple of months she was trained she was always in a pull up.

HIU8
10-15-2010, 10:53 AM
We did not start actively training DD until she was 24 months old. She had been using the potty 2x a day since about 16 months (but she has an older brother). She would rip off her diaper and sit on the potty at first and either something or nothing would happen. We started taking her at bedtime and when she woke up. Preschool started taking her to the bathroom every hour on the hour at 27 months. She was honestly PT outside of the house first. She was in underwear in the car and at preschool (with a pullup for naps). She didn't become fully PT until age 2.5 (PT at home and out). She is still in pullups at night. I guess what I am saying is that we didn't actively PT her. It was led completely by DD and it worked great that way for her. I kind of just let it be b/c we had done a week of naked PT with DS at age 3.5 and that was a HARD week for me and for him (but he did ask me to help him PT b/c his friends were PTing at preschool).

kam
10-15-2010, 11:13 AM
Stupid question --

How did you handle cleaning accidents on the sofa/carpet? Are there training pants that are cotton on the inside (so they feel wet/dirty) but rubber/plastic on the outside so that it doesn't leak? LOL.

crispychicky
10-15-2010, 11:14 AM
First off, I don't think you're crazy. If your DD is ready, she can do it.

Here's what worked for us: (All kids are different, YMMV)

We did naked-butt. I put DD in a dress, with no diapers/pullups or undies. The benefit of this is that both you and her know immediately that she peed. As soon as she goes, label it for her: "DD went pee-pee. Let's go pee-pee in the potty!" And then run her over to the potty and have her sit, even if you're sure her bladder is empty. It gets her used to sitting on the potty when she has 'that' feeling. The other benefit for me was that I soon realized that it took 45-50min for a big drink of water to work its way through her system. So, I then knew if she had a big drink, I would set the timer in the kitchen to go off at 40min, and then we'd go sit and read books on the potty until she peed. Of course, when she does go in the potty, make a HUGE deal out of it. :cheerleader1: It took a few days before my DD didn't have daytime accidents. I did put her in a diaper for naps and overnights.

Other things that I think helped us:
-Watch the Elmo DVD about potty training. My DD *loves* Elmo. We watched this over and over and over before we started training, so DD had a good idea about the whole process before we even started.
-Use a potty seat that fits on top of your normal toilet. I tried a little stand-alone potty, but DD could get off by herself, which meant after about 1 min, she would get up and run away. NOT good when you first start out. I ditched that potty after the first morning of training.
-DD did better when *I* was calm. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the whole process and was worried that I'd have a pee/poo soaked furniture and house. I was suprised how little her 'puddles' were.

Good luck!

Also....if you're not making any progress after a couple of days, or your DD gets upset when you make her sit on the potty, I'd suggest giving up for now and try again in x number of weeks/months. You may get other opinions about this, but that's my 2 cents.


ETA: About the carpets/furniture....Most of our house has hardwood floors, but in the carpeted areas, I put down a bunch of those cheap plastic/vinyl tablecloths to catch any accidents. It was only for a few days, so not too bad. DD never had an accident on any furniture. I guess she doesn't sit still long enough!

HIU8
10-15-2010, 11:16 AM
Honestly, I got the spray you use when you have a pet that goes on your carpet/couch. It worked fine. Most of DD's accidents were on tile floor b/c she realized she had to go but couldn't make it.

kam
10-15-2010, 11:34 AM
Good call on the spray. I'll make sure we have some around. We're trying to figure out the details of how to handle naked/trainers. The only thing I know we're NOT going to do is pull-ups. She's got to feel wet to understand it.

wendibird22
10-15-2010, 01:07 PM
I 2nd the pet spray!

DD1 showed interest at 19mos. She'd gladly sit on the potty and if put on a schedule (like potty every 30mins) we could avoid accidents. But she didn't get to the point of telling us she had to go, being able to hold it, and then release until just shy of her 3rd birthday. So, after a few months of only pottying on a schedule we abandoned it until she was closer to age 3.

We did Gerber trainers. They worked fine. They are just thick cotton so accidents are definitely a mess.

What eventually worked for us was 2 days of naked. Once we knew that she knew how to use the potty and that we knew she knew when she had to go (could feel it) then we went sans clothes. For DD2 I plan to skip all of the timed/scheduled potty breaks and just go for naked time instead.

niccig
10-15-2010, 01:45 PM
DS was doing naked time when he was about 2 years old. If he was naked, he would run to the potty. But if he was wearing anything, even if just socks, he would have an accident. It made no sense to me at all.

He also refused to wear underpants - you would try to put them on him and he would scream and carry on like they were burning his legs. I tried several different brands, and it made no difference. Again, it made no sense. So, he was naked trained at home, and in pull ups out of the house. Oh, he also would not use a toilet if we weren't at home. He actually told his preschool teacher he couldn't use a toilet at school, so he would wait until he got home.

One day at 2 years 9 months, he announced he wanted underpants, and that was it, he was trained. About 6 months later, he announced he wouldn't wear pull up/diaper to bed and would only wear underpants. But he wasn't physically ready to go that long without peeing - it was about 6 long months of wet sheets before he got it, but he refused to wear a pull-up.

We used nature's miracle spray for any accidents. We tried sticker charts, going every hour etc, but what really worked was going with what DS wanted to do and not making him do something he didn't want. DS could have worn underpants much earlier but he just outright refused, so he was only trained at home for several months.

wendmatt
10-15-2010, 02:10 PM
DD potty trained for day at 22 mths. We did the naked thing. I actually wasn't ready for her to start potty training but she wanted to, we had the potty in the living room and all tile floor, she did a pee on the floor and I quickly carried her to the potty and said go on the potty and that was about it really! We lived in Hawaii and she always tookoff her clothes and ran around naked so it just kind of happened. Don't use pull ups, DD just went pee in them. She didn't train at night till she was almost 4 but once she used the potty I never went back to pull ups in the day, a friend told me to go with it, I did and it worked well. Always take spare clothes in case though and always know where the bathrooms are, coz they have to go immediately.
Good luck

kam
10-15-2010, 02:36 PM
Thanks for all of this! It's a huge help, if only to get me into the mindset (and thinking about how/when we'd abandon!)

I'm hoping to keep her in the kitchen for a big chunk of the first morning, which will allow the expected accidents to land on the tile floor.

We'll get the gerbers for this initial stage, I think. I've seen and love the hannas, and will use them as "underwear" once she's got the hang of it (or close). And I've got lots of cheapy sweatpants things for those first few weeks. (And dresses for around the house).

The fabulous thing about our day care is that once they commit, they're completely on board, so I can send her in trainers with lots of extras, and they'll keep doing the same thing we are, unless we all decide for some reason that it just isn't working. That's why we're waiting until November -- we have parent teacher conferences in two weeks, and we'll discuss it then. (They've brought it up as something to discuss at that time).

maydaymommy
10-15-2010, 04:08 PM
You may want to look up 3 day potty training. It is a website and an ebook. It was $20 something dollars and totally worth it. We did a bit more gentle version of it, with only positive renforcement. The author states that 22 months is the ideal time to PT, so it may be right up your alley.

We did not night train at the same time, as she recommends, but we really did do it in 3 days, when ds was 2.5, and there was even a new baby in the house. You have to be fully committed to doing it. It is much more intense for the parent than the kid.

One thing I really liked was that there was NO putting the kid on the potty at certain intervals, or trying to make them sit there until they go. It is very empowering for the child.

GL

bubbaray
10-15-2010, 04:21 PM
I definitely don't think you're crazy. DD#1 started PTg herself around age 1 -- we got her the Bjorn potty chair and she would pee in it. By age 2, 24m, she was totally daytime PTd. She still (age 6.5) wears Pullups at night, though the dr says that is because she is such a deep sleeper.

DD#2 we had to have fully daytime PTd by 30m (2.5 yrs) due to the new daycare she moved to. So, we started around age 2 (24m). She was NOT interested whatsoever -- but we had a deadline, so we resorted to using Smarties (not the US kind, they are like M&Ms, but peanut free). She caught on really quickly and was completely daytime trained in a few weeks, nightime trained about 2m after that.

brittone2
10-15-2010, 04:27 PM
DS1 took to the little potty right away (I think he was just under 2 as well). We had a few weeks of him going up to 8x a day. I kept it low key, etc.

About a month into it he went into total boycott mode. I know a few other friends who had this happen w/ their kids. The initial novelty wore off and it was no longer something they cared about. And the more I pressed the less interested he was, so I let it go.

about 2-3 months later he went back to using the potty and that was that. Poop was a whole 'nother issue though as he had constipation issues that complicated things for a long time.

I think it is totally great if they are enthused, but when they train that young, some kids do have more accidents and need a lot more reminders than older kids. Not always, but just something to be aware of. The whole identifying the need to go, telling someone and or getting to the actual potty, getting clothes down, and actually making it into the potty is a little more complex for a younger child to handle IMO/IME.

Night time was easy with both DD and DS1. They were dry at night before they were fully daytime trained. They were just wired that way, we didn't do anything about it.

I thought DD would train around the same time as DS1 with being a girl and wanting to be a big kid, but she wasn't interested until more like 2.5.

AnnieW625
10-15-2010, 04:39 PM
I think it is totally great if they are enthused, but when they train that young, some kids do have more accidents and need a lot more reminders than older kids. Not always, but just something to be aware of. The whole identifying the need to go, telling someone and or getting to the actual potty, getting clothes down, and actually making it into the potty is a little more complex for a younger child to handle IMO/IME.


:yeahthat:x1000

I think Brittone (or another wise mama) may have given me the same advice almost 2 yrs. ago when I first started to train DD again (at 2/1/2) after she lost interest the first time at about 2 yrs. (after having interest at around 20 months). I learned that as cool as it sounds to say "yes my kid is potty trained and less than 2 yrs. old" it is almost easier if you can wait until they can fully get their clothes off in time and communicate whether or not they have to pee or poop and can do most of it on their own. It's much less stress too. We worked on it bits and pieces wise (including daycare) until DD was fully trained at 37 months. I am not saying it can't happen, but just speaking from experience.

peanut520
10-15-2010, 04:52 PM
About a month into it he went into total boycott mode. .

dd was using the potty and staying dry by 18 mo and that last a whole 2 week and she has boycotted since. she is almost 20 mo so i'm not going to push it. i am sure she will let me know when she is ready.

we used bjorn potties and HA trainers but the trainers were too big so she was naked. and one day she decided that the potty was not for her and asked for her diaper :(