Best Potty-Training Information

[scrub-jay]

It's time and I need a plan. I'm looking for the best resources/books/videos/techniques as well as your infinite BTDT advice. I'm such a newbie here. Anything would help me out here.

[diggitydot]

Bribing worked well for us. I don't like bribing with food, so we told DS that he could only blow bubbles while actually sitting on the pot.

He sat there for hours and once he accidentally peed, we praised the hell out of him. Something clicked and he was potty-trained from that point on. No accidents, ever. Not even at night.

Little dude was a late bloomer, though. He was almost 3 1/2 by the time potty training happened. That might have something to do with it, too.

[TigerLily]

We talked the potty up ALL the time and nothing worked, UNTIL we found The Elmo Potty Movie. One morning I put her little Elmo potty in the living room in front of the TV took off her diaper and turned the movie on. That day, we watched the Elmo potty movie at least 5 times, (bad mommy) and she peed in the potty at least 20 times. And like D said, she was potty trained from that day on. Something just clicked.
If you have an Elmo fan, I highly recommend The Elmo Potty Movie. Best 9 dollars I have ever spent.

[spotty_dog]

The one resource I can offer was that I stumbled on the video "Potty Power" at the library. We watched it about 8 times in a row when DD was almost 2, and within a few weeks she was out of diapers and yelling about how she had POTTY POWER!

I took a very long, slow approach to potty training with no rewards or punishments (until DD had been dry for a few months and started refusing to use the potty...threatened her with diapers for a few weeks until she shaped up). If you want to Do Potty Training as a one-off thing without backtracking to diapers or accidents, then from what I've observed in other families I think you want to wait until age 3, especially with a boy.

[Michele]

Kai is 3 and pretty much completely trained at school. At home, not so much. Only if *he* wants to. He will not go on the potty if I suggest it. And if I don't suggest it, he just goes in his pants. So frustrating! I've been trying to leave him naked but like I mentioned in another thread, he just spends the entire time playing with his penis.

I only care because they do at school. He moved up to the next class but has to be diaper free in that class. It's weird to me to put him in undies one day and diapers the next.

[SuzySunshine]

I used 3daypottytraining.com with Adele. I haven't tried it with Robert but it worked great for her.

[Auspicious]

We made almost no potty training gestures until doing it all at once using this method

http://www.3daypottytraining.com/

At a month past her third b-day.

My advice is praise praise praise and avoid a power struggle at all costs.

Good luck--Cora was easy but Hazel's a very different kid and I'm scared!

ETA: cross-posted w/ Cheri, and she's where I heard of the 3day!

[MrsK]

Ug, I'm doing this with BabyK (2y1mo) right now. It's frustrating. I'd just assume keep him in diapers until he is 3 but he keeps asking about the potty, fighting during diaper changes, etc. He gets on the potty, then wants to climb on the toilet, goes back and forth and then he cheers when he eventually pees on the floor. We've had two successes though (peed in the potty, pooed in the toilet) so I'm hopeful. He'll figure it out before middle school, right?

[migirl]

Both of my boys were 3+ before they potty-trained. My only words of wisdom are to skip the pull-ups (they're too much like diapers) and go straight to underwear. We didn't use any books or videos or anything, my kids were never interested in that kind of stuff.

[Phoebe]

My kids were never interested until 3 years old. Pull ups didn't help. But were convenient!

[SuzySunshine]

I agree with the no pull-ups during the day. We've still had to use them at night because A must not be there yet, we've tried everything and can't get her to have dry nights so that is the only time we use them.

[ides]

I think its highly variable on the type of kid. We started around 2.5 because he had to be trained by 3 for preschool. I read a number of books (can't think of them off the top of my head but they are listed in an older potty training thread) and used what worked from them for us. I kept it low pressure & kept him nude from the waist down at home. We used diapers at night. He was trained around 2.75. We never did pull ups in the day but had to start with them for nights. He refused to wear a diaper at night but kept wetting most nights. We are still using pull ups at night (he is 3.25yrs) because we have a bunch & I'm not 100% sure he's dry every night and I don't want to deal with waking up in the middle of the night with him in a pool of pee.

[Urowife]

My DD is 2 yr 10 mo, and she's 100% pee-trained during the day (not during nap and nighttime yet) and has been for about 3 weeks, but I cannot seem to get her to poop on the potty. She's basically been holding it unless I give her a diaper to poop in. Although, now, she's decided she doesn't want to poop in a diaper either and is just holding it. It's agonizing to see her conflict!! Right now, I have DH's tablet set up in front of the potty with Curious George videos on to help keep her on the potty. But, when she feels the urge to go, she'll hop off - even Curious George won't keep her on the potty It's been quite a challenge, and so far, no rewards/bribes have worked for pooping. Stickers worked great for pee, but not even M&M's work for pooping. Anyone else had this problem??

[Momo]

I'm right there w/migirl...best advice ever was to make them wait until 3, even if they wanted to try sooner! All 4 of mine trained either immediately or w/in a few days. My older 2 had to use good nights @ bed time. I eventually purchased some organic cotton, water proof crib mattress pads & cut the elastic off so it was just the pad/part; I used them as H@O proof pads on their regular beds when we transitioned away from good nights. I eventually found reusable waterproof overlays. This saved us from soaking the entire bed.

[ides]

Oh, forgot to mention - we didn't use any bribes. I didn't start with any & didn't find the need to introduce them.