[sarahp]

We're starting potty training today Zoe almost always tells us when she has to poop, and often informs us when she needs to pee, and is pretty good at holding on now too.

Since she barfed all over our carpet in the living room on Christmas Day it still has a lingering smell, so we figure we might as well do cold turkey potty training now while DH has a few days off, and then we'll just get the carpets cleaned after

My friend calls it the "3 day $300 method" - 3 days of no pants, then spend $300 getting the carpets cleaned Anyways, does anyone know, do you put a diaper on them if you have to go out, or do you just take lots of changes of clothes? I'm mostly going to have to go to the doctor and pharmacy today (UTI ), and Zoe will need to come too. Diaper or not?

[sarahp]

Woohoo! First pee she told DH she needed to go, and went on the potty

[lunarmagic]

sounds great!!! I really wish Kate would tell me when she has to go... or even afterward would be helpful. Until she's to that point I feel like I can't really do anything!

No idea about the diapers.

[-erin-]

that's great!

I was so determined to do it this week, but gave up the first day I had Juliet naked and when I saw her pee I would get excited and grab her to put her on a potty and she'd freak out. After doing that twice, I gave up and decided I'd rather have fun with my week off. She tells us when she goes, sometimes right before, sometimes during, so we'll just continue being casual about it and putting her on the potty when she asks until I can get a chunk of time off work again.

But I still have some tabs open from all the things I was reading. John Rosemond has the "naked and $75" method, if you scroll down here it talks about it:
Potty-training Guide?Best Methods for Toilet-training

This is another naked method: Potty training in three days or less | BabyCenter

Something I read talked about how toddlers love to be naked, which helps. Juliet doesn't like being naked and kept asking me where her pants are. Also our house was warm enough (I wasn't freezing her), but still not super warm for being half naked.

[sarahp]

Thanks for the links Erin! I'll take a look once Z goes down for her nap.

I've just been putting loose pants on Zoe due to the weather (actually they're all loose going from cloth to nothing), and she can pull them down herself, but she's mostly just been telling me when she's ready. We've now had 3 pees and 1 poop on the potty, and 1 pee in her pants. When she did pee in her pants it was followed by a big UH OH UH OH UH OH! and she wasn't happy, so I think she realised she didn't like that too much.

She also much prefers the big toilet rather than her potty that sits on the floor, which I guess means true independence will be a while away.

[misscari]

that is so awesome! Good job Zoe! I always took a couple pull ups/diapers when we went out at first because most kids get very upset if they pee their pants around other people.


Keeg tells me when he poops and is starting to grab his front or tug at his diaper when wet but I won't even start with a boy until at least age 2 or even 2 1/2.....boys just prefer to be dirty longer I guess.


Maybe try one of the step stools for the big potty if you have a relatively safe bathroom she can practice going in to? It might take a bit but eventually she'll be able to climb up and do it all on her own

[-erin-]

we have this for our toilet
http://www.amazon.com/Mommys-Helper-.../dp/B000AV5LZ8
and Juliet can get up herself now (although I like to supervise!) but she doesnt sit far enough back herself, I have to scoot her back after she gets on. She does prefer it to the little potties though.

[lunarmagic]

The cold is more or less the reason I'm not trying potty training right now.... our house is too cold to let Kate run around naked. I might see how it goes when it warms up in the spring.

[sarahp]

Well we had a pretty good day. She had just the one accident in her pants, and she half went in her diaper after her nap - she had a monster 3.5 hour nap, then woke and started making noises and calling out POO POO! but by the time she'd already started. She did finish off in the potty though, so that was good.

Erin - I like that climbing thing! I don't think it would fit in our downstairs toilet though, there's not much space in there, and that's the main one she would take herself to during the day. How much does it stick out the front? Can it folded and put away?

[-erin-]

there is almost no space between our toilet and tub and it fits, it can also be folded up. I'll take a couple quick pics. DH is going to think I'm weird

If there is enough room for adult legs in front of the toilet, it should fit.

[sarahp]

Our space may be a little tighter than that, but I think it would just fit with enough room for Zoe to climb up. Oh and we have the same stool for the bathroom

[survey77777]

I know "they" say that it is too confusing to a child to have diapers on some of the time while learning so they say you have to go 100% diaperless during waking hours. The one thing I remember being an issue with this theory is the car seat. It is a serious pain to have to take apart and clean the car seat after an accident. If it were me...I'd stick a prefold or other cloth diaper type thing under her bum when you're in the car for a short trip just in case.
That's amazing that she's doing so great with it all. We're no where near that point. I just read another book on watching for readiness just in case.
I hope you feel better soon.

[sarahp]

The doc ended up just prescribing me some antibiotics over the phone, and DH picked them up from the pharmacy on the way home, so we didn't need to go anywhere which worked out well!

I've cleaned out that stupid car seat enough times with Zoe spewing in there, so I really don't want to do that again!

[momoftwins]

Originally Posted by survey77777

I know "they" say that it is too confusing to a child to have diapers on some of the time while learning so they say you have to go 100% diaperless during waking hours. The one thing I remember being an issue with this theory is the car seat. It is a serious pain to have to take apart and clean the car seat after an accident. If it were me...I'd stick a prefold or other cloth diaper type thing under her bum when you're in the car for a short trip just in case.
That's amazing that she's doing so great with it all. We're no where near that point. I just read another book on watching for readiness just in case.
I hope you feel better soon.

I agree. To fully train, you really do need to commit 100%, with the exception of nights. With Avery, I was able to throw some Pull Ups on her for errands and things and at night, but during the day she was either without bottoms or big girl undies. Really, Pull Ups are just diapers that "look" like undies and that is why they are great, but they do function like a diaper. I didn't want to confuse her, so I liked the Pull Ups because she still felt like she was wearing big girl undies instead of "going back" to a diaper. I think that can be really confusing for kids and where the Pull Ups get a bad rap.

As far as car seats, I'd say either Pull Ups or they even used to make a liner thing that went in the seat of the car seat and fit around the crotch strap. That worked great for us, but I haven't seen them in several years, so I have no idea if they still exist.

With Jackson though, he was WAAAAAAAY harder to train, which was mostly due to his autism, but also just to being a boy, IMO. I couldn't do the naked thing with him. He absolutely freaked out with pee running down his leg, and was absolutely terrified, but not in a way that led to going on the potty! It backfired on me and led to only wearing Pull Ups or diapers and not going anywhere near the potty for a good 6 months! We eventually got to the point where he would use his little potty at home, but was absolutely TERRIFIED of a toilet. At that point he would wear big boy undies around the house but for errands and such, it was stressful. With his potty training issues, I knew he would refuse to use a public toilet (since he wouldn't even use ours at home!), so I would put his big boy undies on and then put those rubber training pants on top of them. And extra undies and pants...lots!!! And I never left home without several towels! The rubber pants worked better for him because the Pull Ups didn't let him feel the moisture so much (like I said, it's like a diaper). Even the ones that have the "cool sensation" were worthless for us. He didn't notice or care. But he did with the real undies and then the rubber pants kind of kept it all in and let him FEEL that sensation without it running down his legs. Ugh...I'm feeling the stress of that whole experience just remembering back to these times! Ahhhh! I'm so hoping Mason will be easier than Jackson!

I really do think each kid's potty training experience is different and what works for one kid, may not work for others. But Sarah, I think you got crazy lucky with Zoe with her speech skills! She'll be a piece of cake to potty train! Good luck with the carpet though!

[edgeofelise]

UGH. Eliza is showing absolutely zero signs of being ready, and I'm still pretty relieved about that. Not looking forward to it! And why did I order a new rug yesterday? I really should've waited until she was trained, lol!

[momoftwins]

Originally Posted by survey77777

I know "they" say that it is too confusing to a child to have diapers on some of the time while learning so they say you have to go 100% diaperless during waking hours. The one thing I remember being an issue with this theory is the car seat. It is a serious pain to have to take apart and clean the car seat after an accident. If it were me...I'd stick a prefold or other cloth diaper type thing under her bum when you're in the car for a short trip just in case.
That's amazing that she's doing so great with it all. We're no where near that point. I just read another book on watching for readiness just in case.
I hope you feel better soon.

Originally Posted by edgeofelise

UGH. Eliza is showing absolutely zero signs of being ready, and I'm still pretty relieved about that. Not looking forward to it! And why did I order a new rug yesterday? I really should've waited until she was trained, lol!

Lol. She'll probably break that sucker right in!

[lunarmagic]

My kid has no interest on peeing on the potty, but now every time I go into the bathroom she's climbing up (by herself, no steps) onto my toilet and almost falling in. Gah. I shouldn't have sat her on it (we have a kid seat that folds down)... should have just stuck with the little potty. Even if she puts it on her head like a hat sometimes.