Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Calling all Mommies!


I need some MAJOR help!! I need to potty-train Saige and I am TOTALLY at a loss! She is probably ready but I don't want to force it, ya know? Like going down the slide - she just doesn't like to do it and I don't make her. How do I encourage her to do it? Please give me advice!! I would love to hear how other Mommies have done it before me.

** UPDATE** I want to add that I would really love to know the nitty gritty. Like panties or pull-ups? What did you do when you had to be somewhere every morning? Did you put her in diapers again? Did you use pull-ups? Because I need to know these things a head of time!!! I am not concerned about all the clean up because that is normal, but I want to be as prepared as possible! How did you handle pooping? - this one I think will be the hardest for her. Thanks for all the HELP! I love my cyber friends and my real ones too! Ha!

*Yet Another UPDATE* Thank you to everyone who posted a comment (and to those who emailed me directly)!! I appreciate all of your help so much. I wanted to prepare myself, because I have no delusions that there is 'one right way' and wanted to hear some wisdom from mommies that have gone before me. So thank you!

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:38 PM

    We are just about finished with potty training!! I am sure Saige will do great, it is a very exciting time and you will be bursting with pride for her when she is trained. It took 2 days to pee-pee train, and it took 2 LONG months for the bms to consistantly make it into the potty. I read 2 books, I like the first one better, but the second one was also good at getting alex to take the first step and pee on the potty.
    1. Potty Training 1 2 3:
    http://books.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=potty+training+123

    2. Toilet training in less than a day:
    http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Toilet-Training-in-Less-Than-a-Day/Nathan-H-Azrin/e/9780671693800/?itm=1

    We used #2 book for the first 2 days, and then followed the advice in book #1 after that.

    Good luck!!! It was great seeing you guys last week.

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  2. Anonymous9:11 PM

    It took us a long time with Ben. Pee was fine... but I really had to wait until he was ready to poo himself. It is just his personality to wait until he is ready... and magically it happened. It came with consistency and routine and watching other kids succeed for him to want to succeed himself. We're still working on it! Didn't read any books... though I know they help. Consistency is key.

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  3. I have found that it helps to find an incentive or reward to give them when they go - something small like a sticker or one M&M since they'll expect it every time.

    Also, for Hattie it was the hardest getting her to go the first time. Then things kind of clicked, and what helped getting her to go was I had her watch a friend's daughter (same age as Hattie) go tee-tee first. Plus, we just stayed home for like 2 or 3 days, played in the kitchen mostly (because of the tile!). She ate salty snacks and drank tons of juice, and I would just put her on the potty every 5 minutes or so.

    And then of course when they go you have to make a HUGE deal out of it. Do a tee-tee dance or something to get them all excited and proud :).

    We also checked potty books out from the library that I read to her about other little girls who wanted to be big girls and go potty. If Saige likes books, that might really help. Then you can read them to her while she sits on the potty.

    And finally (as if this isn't long enough!) it's a process that takes time and patience. She's a smart cookie, though, and a girl, so I'm sure she'll catch on quick.

    Good Luck!

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  4. Callaway did amazingly well and potty-trained pretty fast. I think having older siblings had a lot to do with it. We talked about big girl panties for a couple of week and she picked some out. Then I put them on her and she had an accident and could not stand how it felt being wet. After that I put a new pair on and I took her to the potty often and made a big deal out of it when she went. We have a little video also...once upon a potty", and it has a song that we all would sing when she went...making it a huge deal and giving her a dum-dum. She's 2 1/2 now and has been trained for several months now and is so responsible...even wakes up in the middle of the night to go by herself and go back to bed.

    With Hutton, I started and knew he wasn't ready, so I waited a few more weeks and did it again and it was a piece of cake. So, if you can tell she isn't ready, then just give her a couple more days. Be positive and encouraging...I'm sure you are anyways. Good luck!

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  5. In regards to your update.......

    For the first couple of months I put Hattie in pull ups anytime we left the house just in case, even though she never really went in them. At home, she's in panties the whole time. She's still in pull ups for naps and bedtime, too.

    The first few days she walked around the house without panties or pull ups. It's just easier to have them bare-bottomed. They have a hard time pulling them up and down and when they have to go, they HAVE TO GO!

    As far as poop goes, she would always go in her diaper after lunch while I cleaned the kitchen, so I would put her diaper on right after lunch. She would poop, and then I would put a fresh one on before naptime.

    Hope this helps!

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  6. Hey Cheryl. Good on you for getting all prepared ahead of time! Ellie was pretty easy to train, so I don't claim to know much, because she did most of it herself. Here's a few things that really worked well for us:
    1. we started with a 'panty hour' each day where she wore a pair of pretty panties and we set a timer and took her every ten minutes. Every time she peed she got a 'tinkle treat' (my mom's name for them)...a smartie. She did well with that, so we started putting her in panties more often. We would always put a diaper on her if we were going out. (We didn't buy pull-ups, because my own personal opinion is that they're a scam...kids love 'em because they look more fun, so they don't care as much about the cool panties they can get when they're potty trained. Plus you can't roll them up when they're soiled. Maybe I just hate them because they're expensive and I'm on a tight budget. :)
    2. Once Ellie was peeing we told her that she would get FIVE tinkle treats if she went poop in the potty. That didn't really work, because she only wanted one! So we made her a sticker chart with 'poo poo points'. The first time there were only three spaces for stickers (one for each time she pooped), and then I drew a picture of McDonald's french fries...she got McD's if she pooped in the potty three times. (a big treat. We never go there.) We'd sometimes bring our laptop into the bathroom and show her a video during her 'usual' poop time in the day, so she'd relax. That worked well. Or books! Once we had gone to McD's once, we made the chart bigger (6 spaces). Eventually we stopped the tinkle treats and just gave them for a poop. And now we don't give anything. It was definitely about the rewards for her!
    But Ellie initiated a lot of the potty training, so I don't know if all of the treats were even necessary. Oh, and when she had an accident, we'd ask her to take her clothes of herself (with a bit of help from us) and she had to help us wipe it up. We'd talk about how yucky it felt to be wet and how much better it felt to stay dry. Once in a while she'd revert a little (i hear this is normal) but for the most part it was easy.
    Oh! And on hard days we would pray that Jesus would help Ellie to remember to poop in the potty. I don't think He minds getting involved in the poopy things in life!
    So there's my two cents. I have no doubt, however, that you'll have amazing ideas of your own that you'll hand down once you're done! I think Saige'll do great!

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  7. I think Jacki's techniques were most like mine. We do "nekie days" at our house and that helps them realize that they have had an accident sooner than the sprinkle in the underpants. I am also very anti pull-ups. Waste of money, in my opinion. Buy some cheap underwear and have extras on hand, and extra pants, too. I put some sealable sandwich bags with clean undies in my purse and if there is a pee accident, I put them in the bag, if it's poop, I just trash it. Waste of money (but so not worth the effort in my opinion).
    She will do great.

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  8. Anonymous7:18 AM

    Well, it worked for boys and, Jeff's sister also used it....we let them pick out their first "grown up undies" and let them know they couldn't wear them until they were potty trained. Then, once they had visual goal to go with grown up, we went for it. I must say, one was easy, one was hard, and Grace was so ready to be like her big sisters, she was very quick (and liked flushing)!

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  9. hey cheryl
    we used roxanne's book #2 for james and it worked in 'less than a day'. my sister in law had used it so i thought i'd try. i didn't read the entire book (first 2 or 3 chapters i think) b/c after talking to her about it i had a good idea of what was written. james peed on the floor about 4/5 times that day and since he's peed in his undies once and pooed twice. we went through a lot of treats. he still sleeps in a diaper or pullup. before going out in the morning i get him to sit on the potty and go. oh - the other thing is we bought a little potty and put it in the kitchen. he loved it. we just recently put it away b/c we were tired of cleaning it every time. good luck! and way to be resourceful!

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  10. Anonymous9:17 AM

    I am so glad you posted this question and received so many great responses. I have a feeling Saige will be one who is trained in one day once she likes the potty. She's definitely a smart cookie! Keep us posted!

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