Potty Training Woes...

[twinsmom]

Help!! I don't know what to do about the twins - they are so NOT into the potty thing... and they turned THREE in June . Sarah will go off and on - especially when she knows she will get something from the 'potty prize' bucket (a bucket of dollar store funs things that they get to choose from when they go on the potty). Seth will just look at me and constantly says, "no!" when I ask if he wants to go potty on the toilet. I put them in 'big boy underwear' and 'big girl panties', which they love... until they get them all wet and we have to stop everything to clean up/change/etc. I am so sick of changing diapers (we have THREE in diapers ) - not to mention the cost of the diaper supply. Are there any great tricks of the trade out there that have helped your little ones make the "potty transition??"

Jen B.

[Rapunzel]

Jen, oddly enough my twins were tough to potty train as well. One of them just became "completely" potty trained at the ripe old age of FIVE! We started potty training them at the age of three. One of them seemed to catch on quickly but then regressed (that would be the one who was finally done at five) her twin was really slow to learn but was definitely completely pottytrained at the age of three. It was really, really hard. I thought I was going to go crazy with the child that took forever to learn this! I can't really help you with advice - I just wanted to let you know that other kids take a long time to potty train and it all turns out OK.

Jennifer

[DCJenn]

Wow- you guys are scaring me!

Maybe it's just a twins thing?

Jenn

PS- We had to 'hang out' for a while in our wet undies and I recall that my brother couldn't care less. (and when he finally did figure out the potty thing, he started using the milk box on the back porch. My mom thought it was a cat until she caught him)

Jenn - I LOVE your family stories!

As for advice, I'm about to have a non-potty-trained guy turn 3, so why should you listen to me?

That said, what FINALLY worked with ds#1 (at almost 3.5 yrs old) was to get the old-fashioned training pants with plastic on the outside. I think it made such an uncomfortable, humid environment that he was
1. more aware of the area
2. more uncomfortable when he did have an accident

Godspeed to us all!

[houseelf]

I hope that you don't mind a repeat, but here is what worked for us. We staged a three day potty training blitzkrieg. Seriously, we did m & m treats for every attempt, put cherios in the toilet, put the potty in the living room so he could watch t.v. (my husband was jealous), had his super hero friend call him to say that he was proud of him, played a potty video multiple times, let him pick out big boy underwear, made him sit on it every hour on the hour, and let him walk around naked so he could get used to sensations.

We did have to catch him mid B.M. once and place him on the potty, but this really worked. Our house was "all potty, all the time" and our mantra was "you are three years old and there are no more diapers" as if Moses himself had delivered this decree from the mountain.

Now, if I can get him to stay dry through the night.....

Best of luck. Some kids seem to not care that their messy, wet, cold, etc.

Kelly

We did some of what Kelly did over a weekend -- naked in the house (not like that was a problem!), picking out undies, an M&M for success. Prior to that, I would always dump her poopy diapers in the toilet and tell her "that is where poop goes" so she would get the idea that diapers aren't forever. I also would let her flush because she liked to do that.

I can't imagine trying to do that with 2 kids at the same time, but all those diapers would be a huge motivator! Good luck!

We've done the naked strategy, and it works GREAT...while DD is naked. With no diaper, she's %100 poop and potty, but once she has underware on, its over. Its like she doesn't realize its not a diaper, and doesn't care if she goes with clothes on. I can't figure out how to make the leap. I suppose she is just barely two, but it would be so nice to give up diapers, and she's so close!