Wish me luck with teaching little Miss Mia how to go on the potty. : )
She wants to throw all the diapers away… as you can see above ( I think she is ready! )
We have the Minnie Mouse potty
And the big girl underwear : )
And the big girl to put on the potty
Now we have to get her to go on the potty and not just play with it
Mia may only be a few days shy of 22 months but for the past week she keeps removing her diaper. When she wakes up in the morning the first thing she does is take off her pants and diaper before I even get in there to say Good Morning. : )
And throughout the day if she pees or poops she wants it off right away. A lot of fellow Momees are telling me that I should give it a try that Mia is giving us the signs she is ready. What do you think?
Momee Friend Stacey replied:
Do a potty chart! But if she doesn’t want to do it, don’t push it. She will definitely let you know when she is ready
Momee Friend Jacki:
Sky loved a DVD called Elmo goes potty
Momee Friend Kim:
Sammie used a new leap pad everytime she sat on the potty. It kept her interested and on long enough to go. I def recommend staying home for a few days naked and put her on the potty every 20mins. Like boot camp. Lol It worked for us And potty books to read endlessly
posted on my Momee Friends of Long Island facebook page
Momee friend Gina:
theres also potty apps for your phone theres one i think with the sign language lady and my neice calls her when she successfully goes potty and the lady answers and says good job lol its an app but it helps my sister with the potty training, they have cute ones!
Momee Friend Pam:
We did the bare tushy method!!
Momee Friend Angela:
Don’t use a baby potty (only in the car) just use a regular potty. I put Sean facing backwards and he fits fine- no attachmenta or anything. When u go out u won’t have a baby potty so it’s good to get them used to a regular potty. Plus who wants to dump poop and pee? U already will be doing extra laundry. Lol. Also, no toys on the potty. It’s not a game- they need to learn to do their business and that’s what they are there for- not to play. Sounds harsh but it worked for me. Good luck!!!!! There’s a billion ways u can do it I’m sure
Momee Friend Stacey:
Working on it with Frankie too. The key is consistency. Keep asking her if she has to go and make a big deal about it when she does go!
Momee friend Nicole:
I always kept toys in the bathroom coloring books and we had Lollipops hanging out side the bathroom door so she got to pick one after she went and washed don’t push it let her decided when she’s ready Brooke used the little potty at 15 months only before bath time and them at about 21 months started with the potty seat when she asked for it and at 23 months she told me ” no more diapers” and a week later was completely potty trained. I went at her speed just helped her along the way good luck
My momee group on facebook is fantastic and the ladies are so helpful… I had to post all their responses. They were all great!
This is how Sean was potty trained. We started him at 14 months and while I wouldn’t say he was all the way trained in 5 days, I’d say a good 2 weeks he was where I wasn’t scared to go out anymore fearing an accident. We still have occasional accidents but I’m still happy for no more diapers.
I paid for “potty boot camp” which, for I believe around $160, it was guaranteed that your kid would be potty trained in 5 days or your money back. This woman was available over the phone 24 hours a day (She was based in Hawaii) and I think the money spent was more counseling and her talking me through all the emotions I was having and feelings of mom failure. There were a few things I did not like in what we were doing and I would have liked to do it different but then the guarantee would be lost since you have to follow the instructions exactly-like how can you say it doesn’t work if you don’t follow it right? This woman was a professional potty trainer for over 20 years and her specialty is training 8-14month olds with a focus in handicapped children up to 3 years old. She told me she also trained the older kids too but just preferred the younger ones since they learn best younger. All in all, I would recommend this method. It worked for my son and hope it works for you!
Things to get started:
-Your regular toilet. (NO potty seat insert or little potty). You train them from day 1 that they go in the big potty. Why have to retrain to use another potty and also why dump out poop and pee-yuck! Also, with the potty seat, if they learn on that and you are out at the store, then what will you do? *This was one thing that I didn’t want to follow but I did anyways-I kept the baby potty I had gotten and put it in my car for use on the go.
-Stickers-Lots (Like a couple hundred-I spent like $20 in stickers. lol) . My son could really care less about the stickers but I still used these.
-juice boxes/Pouches (4 boxes). Leave them in bathroom next to toilet. *Note, try and buy the low sugar kind or your kid could end up with diarrhea with all the sugar-unless you regularly give your kid sugar and they are used to it. I barely give my son sugar and he had diarrhea on the first potty train day.
-Snacks (We were told M&Ms work the best since one potty success= 1 M&M) My husband is against artificial colors so we did Hershey chocolate bars and each square/rectangle piece we broke into 3. The woman said it was ok to substitute but had to be something the same every time and something that your kid loves. My son never had any candy before so he loved the chocolate.
-Plastic cup to keep next to toilet in bathroom (Must be unbreakable and fairly large)
-Note pad and pen/pencil to write down every time a potty success or accident or “purpose” happens so you can time bathroom times better (Evry 30/45/60 minutes)
-Big kid undies. (Absolutely NO pullups or diapers anymore from day #1. Even at night. If you do, you will confuse the child and this program wont work for you)
-Pads for the bed or layer the bed with garbage bag under sheet and then layer the bed with a couple sheets for quick change over night if accident happens.
Potty taining:
-Once you start you can not stop or this will confuse the child and it will be even harder to train in the future.
-When you start, you must start first thing in the morning after your kid wakes up. You can not start mid day. Kids always have some pee in the morning-even if they have a diaper. If they don’t go after 30 minutes, keep giving juiceboxs every 15 minutes until they pee.
-You can also pour warm water in to the cup next to the toilet and pour over their belly from right below their ribcage and down. You want to do this slowly so you can tell if they are peeing or not.
-After the first time on the potty, do NOT carry them again to the potty. They MUST walk themselves. They are big kids now and they need to learn how to walk in the bathroom themselves.
-Otherwise, a juicebox every 1.5hours is good (Or more if you want. If you breastfeed you can also do this instead or in conjunction) Its usually just that the kids drink up the juiceboxes so quick and that’s what you want.
-After the “potty success” say/do whatever you want but make a big deal and be sure to say “Bye Bye pee pee or poopoo” and let your kid flush the toilet. Then give a candy reward.
-If your kid cries, it’s not because they are sad. It is because they don’t know what the heck you are asking them to do. So be consistent and firm and sooner than later they will learn and be so happy. (My son cried the first day on the potty and it broke my heart but by the second day he was so happy!)
-ABSOLUTELY no toys in the bathroom. They can only have juiceboxes or snacks. I put some stickers on the back of my toilet seat for my son to look at. They need to learn that they are there to pee and poop and not play. You already will be in there HOURS the first few days.
-Once you put them on the potty, do NOT take them off until they go. This could be an hour or more where they will be on the toilet. This is one of the most important things! (If you find that the child still wont go and its been over an hour, try stepping out and watching from a crack in the door. Only come back in to put your child back on the toilet if they get off and leave again) My son was holding it and the lady told me some kids don’t want to be watched if they have to poop-I walked out of the bathroom and my son pooped in the potty on the first day of training! He is human after all and who the heck wants to be watched while they poop! Lol. (You will be in the bathroom for HOURS the first 5 days-its tiring for moms/dads too!)
-Don’t praise your kid until they are done. If you praise too soon, they stop the flow of urine with excitement. I was bad at this and after he would pee, he would pee his pants like 15 minutes later.
-After the first potty success put the big kid undies on and tell your kid that these are big kid undies and it is their responsibility to keep them “clean and dry”. Then every 5 minutes (Yes, 5 minutes!) check their undies and say “Wow! Great job! You kept your undies clean and dry” then give a sticker. (You will lose your voice by the 5th day like my husband and I but you will have a potty trained kid. Lol)
-Every 30 minutes bring your child to the potty to pee. Remember not to take off the potty until they have a potty success. After the 1st day you will learn how fast or slow the liquids go through your kid and you can adjust accordingly. My son was 30-45 minutes
-If your kid happens to have an accident when you check or if you see it happen say “You didn’t keep your undies clean and dry and its your responsibility to keep them clean and dry. Now you don’t get a sticker. You go to the potty now to do peepee or poopoo” Then walk them in to the bathroom and put them on. **This part sucks because you put them on the potty right after they just had an accident so sometimes they have nothing left in them so since you can’t take them off once you put them on, you can be there an hour at this point. Encourage juice boxes
-***Note, by the second day it’s not considered an “accident” since they now know what is expected of them. It is a “purpose” . You have to really stress to them how unacceptable it is and say “now you don’t get a sticker and I am very sad you chose to make your undies dirty and wet”. Whatever form of discipline you choose is up to you. The lady said whatever form of discipline you choose is the best for your family. I think my son seeing me upset that his undies were wet upset him enough. There was one occasion on day 3 that he was doing so good and all of a sudden he ran away and hid in a corner and pooped-I swatted his butt lightly and walked him right to the toilet and told him it was unacceptable. He was very upset but he didn’t go and hide anymore after that.
-After day 2, you don’t give treats anymore. The kids need to do this on their own without expecting a reward. (I was awful with this and STILL months later give poopoo cookie rewards. I stopped at day 2 giving rewards for pee but if my son will poop in the potty for a Vienna Finger, gosh darnit I will give him a cookie. Lol. 14 month old poops are freaking gross! If my son has an accident now at 18 months with poop in his undies I almost barf its so gross-and his poops are firm! He does “play me and my husband” for cookies though-he has learned how to poop then eat his cookie, then poop like 20 minutes later and get another cookie. Like I said-I will continue to give him his “poopoo cookie” as long as he want one for going poop on the potty.
-After day one my son would run in to the bathroom and lift up the toilet seat to let us know he had to go or he would just run in there so you have to be very attentive. One minute away from your child in the first 3 days could mean an accident unfortunately. My suggestion after having done this is take out food and “quick foods” Or have your husband there with you helping.
-You and your husband or everyone involved in caring for your kid MUST be on the same page. There cant be any variations (For example, my husband was against the “poopoo cookie” but I explained to him how important it was for me to not have to change poop undies and so he gave in. My husband also felt like he wanted toys in the bathroom so I gave in somewhat and put stickers on the back of our toilet seat so my son could point to them as he was on the toilet or we could point to them and tell my son stories about how the sticker characters use the potty.)
-We teach our son baby sign language. It works for us and it has been a blessing to using the potty. If my son has to go he says “potty” and that’s how we know he has to go. When we started at 14 months he really didn’t say too much but the signing he was doing a-lot of. He prefers to sign over talking now so I know he can say potty but he prefers to just sign it. Again, since all of the people in his life that take care of him are on the same page, they all know the “potty” sign. You can look up ow to sign this on youtube or make a special sign up or if your kid is old enough to say potty or peepee or poopoo then whatever works for you. I like the sign thing as a means of communicating the need to go to the bathroom because I don’t really want to be in a restaurant with my son screaming”poop!” but I guess if you don’t have to change a diaper it just depends on the parents preference. Lol. No right or wrong way.
-*****I have made “fake pullups” and use them at night for my son or for when we go out. Its PUL fabric sewn on the outside of regular undies with a couple layers of stuffing in between. I cloth diapered my son so I sewed cloth inserts in between the outside of the undies and PUL fabric.
-When my son was sick for a week, we used cloth diapers for about a week and a day and my son started to have accidents during the day. When kids are sick, they DO NOT remember any potty training. IT SUCKS!!! It took a few days to get him back to the grind of not peeing in his pants.
-We restrict fluids 2 hours before bed and have had little accidents. We average 1 per night.
Angela you are amazing… Mia seems to be getting the idea but I may do this next week. Its like cold turkey for diapers and I am willing to give it a shot. Especially that you had such success with Sean
cutie