My daughter Inara is 19 months old. I would like to start her on the path for potty training, but I have no idea where to start.
She comes up to me and asks to be changed, or attempts to change her diaper herself if it's too wet or if it's poopey.
I have been reading her books, and talking to her about the potty. I've shown her a few times on the big one too. But after that I am not sure what to do.
Do I get her tons of undies now, and ditch the diapers, should I leave her bottom bare, would keeping her diapers be bad?
Is it sort of like house training a puppy? Just run her to the bathroom as soon as you think she may need to go?
For moms who have been there before - I would love to benefit from your experiences so please share or bump!
I am a vaccinating, baby wearing, non-circumsizing, semi CIO & attachment parenting, pro-gun, slightly green, messy tattooed stay at home mom artist; who loves her daughter more than anything.
A loving wife since 08/3/06, a Mom to Inara since 9/21/08, and trying for baby number two!
I have 4 kiddos. 2 are potty trained and my 20 month old will start next week.
Just remember this:
Start the day with success. Wake her about 30-45 minutes before her normal wake up time. Give her a sippy and sit straight on the potty. This way, her first pee will be in the potty and set the tone for the day.
If you control when they drink, you can have a better guess on when it will "come out". A child can usually only keep a sugary drink intheir system for 20 minutes, so while potty training wait until she is thirsty and give her Kool Aid or Orange Juice and then 15 minutes afterwards go sit on the potty.
Accidents happen. NEVER punish a child for accidents. (Even after a few months and you are just sure they have it down.) It will completely ruin the process.
Good Luck!!
Oh, and yeah. It is similar to house training a puppy. You watch her, learn her cues, watch for any patterns and what sets her off to need to potty.
Except if she goes on the floor don't rub her nose in it, lol.
Anyways, I was also going to say, put her in panties and completly skip the pull-ups. They really set you back. If you insist on her wearing something that will not leak, you can buy potty training pants (they are a lot like a cloth diaper with a plastic outside).
Great thanks! So it's pretty much a program that you dedicate yourself to in order to get them to use the bathroom. Then you show them where to go every time. That seems simple enough.
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on Mar. 20, 2010 at 11:56 AM