I'm trying to potty train my VERY stuborn 3 year old!!
Any advice or words of encouragement???
Me too...I have twin girls that are three one is autistic and other dev. delayed (adopted from a drug using egg donor!) anyway I have potty trained many many children UNTIL THESE TWO!
"Women are representive of the Earth itself, we nature, and nuture to ensure that life goes on." Denise '08
I can't get my 2 1/2 year old to even sit on the potty so I would like some tips too!
My daughter is 3 and she just now got to where we only have occasional accidents, but they've gotten worse cuz we're all stressed out and she knows something is up. My best advice is to keep encouraging, but let them take the lead. When they are ready they let you know. It's frustrating yes, but if you push them it just makes them want to resist. I still go to the bathroom with my daughter every time and help her do it so we don't have messes.
And yes, I used bribery, she got a small dixie cup of marshmallows and chocolate chips when she used to potty correctly.
2 things that worked for me.
1. Put them on the potty as SOON as they get up in the morning. If they go - make a HUGE deal out of it!!
2. Put the potty chair right next to the tub (if you can). Buy some small plastic toys at a dollar store (my DD used little dinosaurs). Put them on the potty, give them these to play with on the rim of the tub (nothing small enough to swallow of course) and leave them be to play. These toys can ONLY be used if they are sitting on the potty - no other place, no other time. Worked like a charm - especailly getting her to poop. They get so wrapped up in playing - their body does what comes naturally. This can take a while - let it. Once they do go - again -make a HUGE deal of it!!
I must be a VERY lucky momma. LOL Both of my boys went from being fully in diapers with no interest in the potty to fully day/nap/night trained in 10 days. Zachary(DS #1) was just a month shy of 3 when he got it; and Xander was just a month over 2 when he trained.
What I did was I just put them in underwear. Yeah; the first couple days were MESSY; but by the third day they had the general idea, and within a week accidents were few and far between. No bribery or anything, just lots of spare clothes. I would also make them clean up the messes. After one time having to clean out the poop from their undies they both were poop trained. LOL
I agree - FIRST THING IN THE MORNING.....this is how we got it going. Jump out of bed and before they can really wake up and have that first big morning pee, get them on the potty. It is the easiest one for them to do and they start to realize what it feels like and how easy it is. Give lots of encouragement.
With my dd we had about 6 weeks of just in the morning before she started going other times too, and just concentrate on pee first. I was worried about both but my doctor said to relax and it would all work itself out - and it did.
And you have to be CONSISTANT....if you are going to train.....train. No going back and forth. Forget pull-ups. Underwear or nothing at all. Pull-ups are the same as diapers.
My nephew is 4 and still wears a pull-up at night and if my sister does not change it first thing in the morning he will poo in it, yet he has not had a singe poo accident since training. My dd wears pull-ups at night too but she takes it off herself as soon as she wakes up because she is disgusted by it - lol.
A child does need to be mentally ready to train though or else it is pointless. My dd has not had a single poo accident but she was pee trained for a few months before going poo in the potty. She decided on her 3rd birthday that diapers were for babies and she would go poo in the potty - I was at my wits end.... But, obviously she needed to make that decision.
Quoting PetNurse05:
2 things that worked for me.
1. Put them on the potty as SOON as they get up in the morning. If they go - make a HUGE deal out of it!!
2. Put the potty chair right next to the tub (if you can). Buy some small plastic toys at a dollar store (my DD used little dinosaurs). Put them on the potty, give them these to play with on the rim of the tub (nothing small enough to swallow of course) and leave them be to play. These toys can ONLY be used if they are sitting on the potty - no other place, no other time. Worked like a charm - especailly getting her to poop. They get so wrapped up in playing - their body does what comes naturally. This can take a while - let it. Once they do go - again -make a HUGE deal of it!!
I agree put them on first thing in the morning. My son rarely goes in his pull up at night now. We had been trying with him on and off for 3-6 months and he just would have some interest and then no interest. So we kinda just figured when he was ready he would. One morning he peed in his pull up and didn't want it on. I said go get another pull up or undies. He has been in undies since then. I couldn't believe it. LOL. I would put them in undies during the day (unless you go somewhere of course). They sell the plastic undies that I got and put on over his underwear. I got them from Wal-Mart in the baby section with the Gerber stuff. I put him in pull ups when we would go out or any other time so that way it was easier if he had to go. He also got to go outside if he wanted. hehe. I do have to say we tried everything from the stickers, to making a HUGE deal out of it, to peeing on cheerios. He would be interested in it a little and then wouldn't care. When he was ready was when he did it no problem. Good Luck!
it took me a year to get my dd2 potty trained... she still uses pull ups at nite. she just finally got it shortly after she turned four, it's like a lightbulb went off or something.... sometimes they just aren't ready til they say so... my dd1 was potty trained at 18 months.... just hang in there and don't force it... that can make them less than enthusiastic about it **hug**
Koko- navy wife-mommy of two- currently baking baby #3
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- newmom28
on Nov. 23, 2009 at 7:31 PM