Hip Hip Hooray!!!

[SueC]

Yay! I'll be pleased as punch when my soon to be 3 year old will take an interested in the potty! I'm sick of changing poopy diapers, though I guess with a new baby in the house I've got another 2-3 years of it in my future!
Congrats to your little guy--did you use any incentive or was he just ready on his own?

That's a huge step! Congratulations.

Yeah! That is cause for celebration!

[houseelf]

Only because I have been through the agony of this milestone do I understand what an enormous achievement this is.

WAY TO GO!

For whatever it is worth, I recommend an all-out potty training blitz over the next few days. Take every suggestion that you've ever heard on how to potty train and do it. We did it all: let him pick out undies, put the potty in his play room, reminded him every hour, gave him a skittle for every drop of pee, sang potty songs when he was successful, borrowed a video on the topic for him to watch, and let him call his grandparents to tell them about his new big boy achievements. After three days of potty training boot camp, he was a potty whiz!

Now, if we can wean him from his pull up overnight. He still has accidents more nights than not....any suggestions out there? He is not even close to having dry nights. Or should I forgo this until well after the baby arrives. He is an early 4 who will have a baby sister come this summer and begin school in the fall. Too much all together? Any BTDT parents have advice?

Kelly

[Phoebe]

Send potty vibes this way! Our 2.5 yr old is not really interested although I can get her to sit on the potty. I have offered bribes, let her pick out underwear, got the princess pull ups and she still pees on the floor.

Congratulations! Hope your son keeps it up!

Jennifer

[houseelf]

Jennifer,

Don't worry about no interest in potty training at 2.5 years old. We tried at 2 and a quarter, 2 and a half, and it was just all work and frustration so we quit the process pretty quickly. I read that often times older kids GENERALLY train much quicker even though they may show signs of potty training earlier. Before he turned three, we said "no more diapers when you turn three" so he knew it was coming down the pike. Waiting just a little longer for him made all the difference in the world. I won't even try with my next one until she is three unless she is begging to use the big girl potty.

BTW, as Thu Van once opined, no kid ever went to college in diapers. I know a pediatrician whose kid didn't potty train during the day until he was 4.5, but he got there too and never looked back.

Good luck.

Kelly

[SueC]

Kelly, we have the same overnight problem, and we've decided to forgo the whole thing. I'm not sure you can really train them to hold their bladders overnight like you can during the day. I think it just depends on the kid--our 2 year old almost always wakes up dry, her 4 year old sister (who is smaller than her) does not. I have to say, the last few days I've noticed her pull up has been dry when she wakes up, so I'm thinking we might be getting close. I think I'll try your potty training advice and do a boot camp with Syd. Her mother's day out program lets out for 2 weeks and I'd love to get her trained. I was waiting until after the baby came, and now that things around the house have settled down I'd like to give it a go.

Bryn was potty trained at 2.75 yo and it was a breeze. Prior attempts were unsuccessful but when she was ready it was really easy. I'm sure you are sick of changing poopy toddler diapers, though. I was!

We're in the same boat on the night time pull-up thing. Right now, I'm ok with the status quo and $10 or so we spend every month on the pull-ups. I think the thing that will work is having her go to bed in undies w/o the pull-up. And getting up at night to change the sheets. It will probably only take a few times but still....getting up 2x/night to feed the baby is enough for me.

[peggyfromwastate]

When Kate got to be about 3.5 or 4, can't remember which, I just took away the pull-ups at night. They were always soaking wet, clearly she didn't mind peeing in them, and so to "train" her to sleep through the night without an "accident", I just had her go to bed in her underwear. It took I think 2 or 3 nights of changing the sheets like 1 time, then she got the hang of it. She didn't like being all cold with pee running down her legs, having to go to the bathroom and get "washed off" with a washrag, etc. It didn't take long for her to get the hang of it.

Another friend of mine has twins and they trained totally differently for the through the night time. The one twin didn't have any trouble at all, and the other persistently wet the bed through age 5 or 6 (both girls). The parents stopped giving her any attention for wetting the bed at night and layered the bed with sheets/ waterproof pad/ sheets/ waterproof pad... etc. When she wet herself, she had to strip off the sheet and the pad, change her underwear, clean herself up, etc. All this routine didn't even work. The only thing that worked was when her younger brother (about 2.5 years younger!) made fun of her for wanting to wear diapers at night! Oh well... All kids are different! Good luck!

And BTW, Lunatic, congrats on your big boys big achievements!!! That's great news! I'm envious, believe me!!! Potty training the twins is my big goal for this summer...

Well, I definitely have no experience in this area since I don't have any children yet, so take my advice for what it's worth....I worked at a preschool for 5 years. Whenever we had a parent who was having trouble potty training, we would urge them to have their children wear underwear rather than pull-ups. Pull-ups can hinder potty-training because children who wear them do not experience discomfort when they are wet so they don't mind having accidents. Whereas with underwear, they feel cold, wet, uncomfortable.

On the flip side, if you don't think your child is ready to go without pull-ups at night, I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping them in pull-ups until they stop having accidents. Eventually they will grow out of the problem.