It worked....for A DAY

So the potty-train in a day method worked for one day. The day she was introduced to the doll on the potty is the only day my daughter went when she felt she needed to. I feel that if I continue introducing her to the doll that she may one day do it on her own and I will continue to do so because I see this as an effective method along with the sticker chart and rewards.

I am excited that I found a method that worked however not overwhelmed over the time it has taken for me to get to this method after all of the trial and error. I will still have loads of laundry, but I will have less diapers and pull-ups which I learned are like 1/8 of what I throw away every single day. Disgusting.

POTTY TRIAN YOUR CHILD IN LESS THAN A DAY

What You Need

A doll that wets

A potty chair

Big boy/girl underwear (instead of diapers)

Lots of liquids for your child and the doll to drink
**Note that the following instructions using liquids also apply to potty training for bowel movements.
Consider Before You Begin

Development: The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests waiting until 2 years of age to potty train.

Modeling: You can demonstrate or have the doll demonstrate the process of "going potty."

Motivation: Find out who your child's superhero is. The hero will provide the motivation in this process.

Step 1: Teach a Doll That Wets
Your child will learn by teaching the doll how to go potty. Have your child name the doll and give it something to drink. Then walk the doll to the potty chair with your child. Pull the doll's "big kid" underwear down and watch the doll go potty together.

Step 2: Throw the Doll a Potty Party!
When the doll successfully goes potty, throw a potty party! Make it a big blowout with party hats, horns and celebrate. Give lots of attention to the doll so that your child understands that going potty is a good thing.

Let your child know that when he goes potty, he will have a potty party too. Not only that, your child gets to call his favorite superhero to report the good news!

Step 3: Get Rid of the Diapers
At the beginning of the process you placed underwear on your child's doll. Now it's time to take away the diapers and put underwear on your child.

Step 4: Drink Lots of Fluids
Give your child plenty of fluids to drink. The sooner he has to go potty, the sooner you can begin potty training.

Step 5: Ten Trips to Potty When Accident
Ask your child if he needs to go potty. Your child might say no and that's OK. Because you've given your child plenty of fluids, he will soon need to go.

If your child has an accident in his underwear, don't scold him. You want this to be a positive experience. Instead, take your child to the potty, pull his underwear down, and have your child sit down. Do this 10 times. This builds muscle memory and your child will eventually go.

Step 6: Let the Celebration Begin!
When your child successfully goes potty, throw him a potty party. Most importantly, your child can now call his favorite superhero and tell the hero about what he just did! Enlist the help of a friend or relative to play the hero and take the phone call.

When your child has an accident, simply take him/her to the bathroom ten times in a row as you did before. This will continue to build muscle memory. And don't forget to keep up the positive reinforcement.

ARTICLE FROM: http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/264/

goodnights

So I have decided to get rid of my daytime pull-up routine and went out this morning to buy some pretty girly underwear. I bought Goodnights training pants for overnight accidents but otherwise we will be trying potty-training without the fake diapers and will be doing a lot more laundry.

Along with using underwear, we will be trying one of the last methods I've found and that is the one day method. It is done by using a doll that pees as an example for your daughter by putting the doll on the potty and the child copies.

I do not have a doll that pees but have plenty of baby dolls that I can easily make look like they pee and will have my daughter copy. We will do this tomorrow as today has been a long day of fighting with the potty and all of the laundry that is piling up.

Pull-Ups: Waste of Money or Must-Have Potty Training Tools?

Don't Fall for the Hype About Pull-ups!

You've heard the "facts" time and time again. Once your child is ready to potty train, you should make the switch to pull-ups. They are easy to pull up and down and the child will feel like they are using real

 

underpants. In addition, they save parents from the inevitable mess you'll encounter when potty training. Once they have mastered using pull-ups, parents can help their child transition to potty training. The fact of the matter is, it isn't that cut and dry. While pull-ups may seem like the answer to your potty training woes, the truth is that they may actually hinder your child's ability to learn to use toilet.

Problem #1: Pull-Ups absorb like a diaper.

No matter which brand or style of pull-up you choose to use they are designed to contain wetness so parents do not have to clean up a mess and children don't end up wearing wet clothes. As a result, they will always contain absorbent material. But by absorbing wetness, children aren't able to feel when they are wet as easily as they would if they were wearing regular underpants. This can actually delay potty training, instead of encouraging it.

Problem #2: Pull-Ups confuse children.

If you are using pull-ups sometimes, diapers sometimes, and underpants other times, your child will simply end up confused. When will they get wet and when will they stay dry? When should they head for the toilet, and when can they just go? By using pull-ups, parents confuse their children and don't give them the opportunity to learn that if they go wee or poo outside of the potty, they get wet or messy. This is part of the learning process for children, and parents who use pull-ups don't allow their children to experience this.

Problem #3: Pull-ups are costly.

If you have waited to see cues that your child is ready to potty train, it should happen in a timely manner. In fact, you will save money by switching to cheap underpants instead of pull-ups. Underpants can be rinsed and washed when accidents occur, but pull-ups cannot. As a result, they can be a major waste of money for parents.

ARTICLE FROM: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/382629/pullups_waste_of_money_or_musthave.html?cat=25

Fail??? I think

So three days have gone by and the "three-day naked method" did not turn out the way it should have or how I'd hoped but maybe I made some progress.

During these three days my daughter made it to the potty to do #2 and knew it was wrong to pee on the carpet but still did it anyways at least half way until she was ran to the potty. So none the less I used all of my extra towels and she is back in her pull-ups and clothes. We will continue to take her to the potty every so often and continue searching methods. I have heard that pull-ups might make potty-training harder as toddlers still see them as diapers that they can go in. I'm thinking of only using the training pants at night and we will see how that affects my trials.

Today is the DAY!!

Today is the day I begin the "naked method."
Deserae is asleep right now and I have everything ready including extra towels, carpet cleaning spray, and her potty in the living room. When she wakes up I will give her a bath and let her run free. She thinks it's a game when I let her run around naked and has peed on the floor ONE time before and did not know what was happening. I'm hoping she will quickly get to the potty when she feels the need to go. To feel that need is to know how it feels when she is actually going. I think this will be the hardest part and I am actually hoping inside that she will not wake up soon. I know right? I should be excited!

The NAKED CHILD APPROACH to toilet training

Another commonly cited approach involves keeping a child naked as much as possible for several days in a row. The philosophy behind this approach assumes children do not like to be wet and loose control of their urine. Variants of this approach allow the child to be in underwear but require the child to wear the wet clothes for a while if they have an accident. In order to try this approach, parents must view this as not being a form of punishment for being wet.  Parents must allow accidents to occur without getting upset. If a child is allowed to have accidents and not get punished, then a child who is otherwise unaware of their bodily functions can learn valuable lessons. The message for using the toilet to avoid being wet or having an accident is made more evident. Children are allowed to learn by observing and feeling, they begin to understand that urine and stool comes out and they either need to go into the toilet or they will go into the clothes/diaper. This technique can be rewarding for both child and parent since it employs a very simple concept of learning the normal bodily functions and how to avoid feeling wet or sticky.

If a child is not ready to train or is unwilling to change his behavior when an accident occurs, then this approach fails. Continuing to force a child to be wet or have accidents over a long period of time can result in humiliation and resentment. It can be difficult for parents to maintain a loving and encouraging environment if the child continues to have accidents. This approach can be very successful, but without also encouraging a child to sit on the potty, it will probably fail. Children do not always equate being wet with not using the potty. Parent instruction is necessary in order to explain that accidents do occur when you do not use the potty. This approach is very similar to potty training in a day, but it spreads the emphasis over several days and allows the child to learn from their mistakes.

ARTICLE FROM: http://www.greatdad.com/tertiary/363/1984/.html

Sticker Chart PLUS another method...

So it has been a few days since we started the sticker chart. She is doing pretty well with going number one on the potty and placing her stickers on the chart. The difficult part has been that she would go potty in her pull-up still if I will not have her go to the potty in time.

Another method of potty-training I have done some research on is the running around the house naked for a few days until the child is potty-trained. The theory behind this method is that the child will get to feel going to the bathroom on theirselves and learn that it doesn't feel good and find an alternative. The alternative being the potty is where I would hope she would go potty and am hoping tomorrow that she will get this quick or I will have a lot of carpet cleaning to do.

Day 2 of sticker chart method

After reading articles and printing out my out potty training chart, I have begun to test this method out. The first day began with me sitting her down on her potty, waiting about five minutes and then seeing if she went. She did!! Okay so then I showed her the chart, handed her a sticker and she placed it right there on the paper(not perfect) and was happy with what she did.

I do not know if being only 21 months that she gets what the sticker chart means, but I plan on using the chart until she is accident FREE!! As of today she has about 6 stickers on her chart and is still going along okay. She still will not tell me when she is wet and only when she is having a bowel movement so we will keep trying!!!

The Potty Training Sticker Chart

and Other Ways of Motivating for Potty Training

In order to make potty training as stress-free as possible for both you and your child take a positive approach. Motivate and incentivize your toddler to encourage them through the potty training journey. Using rewards and praise will achieve better results than punishment and anger.
Start using motivational tools such as sticker charts to get co-operation in other areas. By introducing this practice early, your child will become familiar with how your family reinforces and celebrates success and co-operation.
What to reward for
Decide in advance what and how you will reward. Ensure that all the family is on board so that you have a consistent approach. You may want to use praise for some and double rewards for other more difficult to master skills. Some suggestions are:
1. Sitting on the potty
2. Successfully urinating or doing a bowel movement in potty or toilet
3. Staying dry
4. Don’t forget hand washing
5. Putting the seat down afterwards – for little boys
Ways of motivating for potty training
If you are not sure what tools to use to motivate your potty trainee, consider what has already worked to incentivize them in other areas such as discipline. If they are familiar with star or sticker charts and they have worked before, use them again. Consider asking your tot what she would like for a reward. Here are some ideas:
1. Verbal praise – always give lots of verbal praise to your training toddler. Verbal praise allows you to reward her for smaller victories which might not warrant stars or full rewards. Your child values your praise.
2. Potty prizes – this is a bowl of either small, cheap, wrapped prizes or some people use M&Ms or Smarties in bathroom. Use a clear bowl which means your tot can see and covet the prizes.
3. Sticker chart – star or sticker charts can be used in many ways. They allow you o space out actual rewards as your toddler is motivated by getting the stars on the way to the ‘big’ reward. An effective way of using a star chart for you and your child is to put a cross in the box when a request is made (please sit on the potty), and then covered by sticker if they comply. This way you will have a way of keeping track of how many requests you have made. ‘Big’ rewards can be almost anything – extra bubbles in the bath, an extra bedtime book – or check with your toddler, ask her what she would like!
4. Stickers for potty – a cheap, fun option is to reward with fun stickers of the child’s choice. This way they can personalize their potty as they receive their rewards. It is a highly visual way for your tot to see how they are progressing.
5. Real knickers – let your child pick their own ‘real’ knickers. Most young children have a favorite character or color. Knowing that when they have mastered potty training that they will move from trainer pants to these special ‘real’ knickers is a strong motivator for toddlers and preschoolers.
6. Toilet targets – for little boys who have mastered sitting and are now moving on to standing, put a target in the toilet bowl to encourage them to try the new technique…with the bonus that it should reduce mess and splashes. Small ball of paper and Cherrios make great toilet targets. Another option is to add some blue or red food color to the bowl so that your wee man can watch the water change color (green from blue and orange from red).
Don’t forget to pre-sell rewards to your toddler to get her excited about what is coming up. It is essential that your trainee buys in to the process so that she is looking forward to potty training.
No matter how exciting the reward, some children get bored with the process over time and might need extra incentive to persist. Consider having special activities for potty time – songs, games, book reading or a favorite toy.

article from: http://totalpottytraining.com/potty-training-motivation/

Getting a hang of it???

I'd have to say that between school, housework and now moving it has been difficult to stay on track. Not everything happens as planned but I think we are making some progress. This past week we, and I say we because this is a journey for both mother and daughter(or son), have accomplished doing number "1" in the potty!!! She has been so good about letting me know when she is havin a bowel movement by her face and stance. She will grunt and her face gets red when it is time then I just run her to the potty.

So far I have tried praising her after each try that she leaves something in the potty and began using pull-ups. I think she gets how to pull them up and down but pretty much sees them like another diaper that she can just pee in. No luck there, so I will check those two ideas off of the "not worth the effort" list.

This week I am thinking of trying a sticker chart. Every day I will take her to the potty or if she might happen to let me know she needs to go potty I will reward her with a sticker! We will be moving Sunday (6 days!!) and it isn't very realistic to try the most effective method as of yet. I am so excited to try letting her run around naked (ya right) for three days....that will come later.

The beginning of our journey...

Our journey just began Monday. After trying the happy dance method where we will celebrate an accomplished potty use, my daughter did her number "2" in the potty every time. I think that is awesome because most mothers will tell me that their children have a hard time going number "2" and will pee in their potty first. So, accomplished? not quite, I think she needs to be able to tell me when she needs to "go" and as of right now she will just make that very noticable face where she looks like she's pushing a lot. I pick her up and I run her to her little froggy and she just goes.


Withholding Bowel Movements When Potty-Training

More than likely you will find potty training your child for pee is relatively easy. The challenge frequently arises when potty training for BMs. There are many reasons why, but frequently children withhold their BM during the potty training process. The following explanations are some of the more common ones regarding withholding bowel movements during potty training.

Not Ready for Training
It could be possible that your child is withholding his BMs during potty training because he just is not ready to use the potty. Of course, your child may be happy using the potty to pee and do so on a regular basis but when it comes to BMs your child wants a diaper or pull up. If this is the case dont pressure your child. Simply allow him to use his diaper for his BM while talking to him about how the potty is there and waiting for him when he wants to use it. Also, keep in mind that if your child is withholding bowel movements and does not pee in the toilet either that maybe toilet training should be postponed for a while until your child is ready.

Constipated
Believe it or not but many children are constipated. The result is that they hold their stool in instead of having a bowel movement. Food may be causing the problem of hard dry stools that hurt when they are passed. Sometimes children have one really bad bowel movement that is excruciatingly painful that scares them from having another. The result is that your child will try and hold all stool in rather than passing it which will only compound the problem. Have your pediatrician evaluate your child to see if he/she is constipated because some changes in diet may be in order as well as medication. Putting a hold on potty training until your child can have a regular, soft bowel movement might be a good idea.

Scared of the Toilet
Many parents believe this sounds funny, but some toddlers are scared of the toilet. They dont want to have a BM in the toilet because they are scared they will get sucked down, fall in, or any other number of creative fears. You may tell your child that this wont happen, but you need to be empathetic. Your child is afraid and withholding his bowel movements as a result. So, buy him a potty chair that he can use for bowel movements and over time he will learn that the potty wont eat him and things will get back to normal.

Talk to Your Doctor
Any time your child is withholding bowel movements you need to make an appointment with your doctor to see what is going on. It could be something simple or it could be more serious. Regardless, you dont want to delay. Go ahead and make an appointment with your pediatrician to find out what is going on.

article from: http://www.thelaboroflove.com/articles/withholding-bowel-movements-when-potty-training/

Is My Child Ready for Potty Training?-Article

Signs your child may be ready:

• Your child is staying dry for longer periods of time (often two hours or more). This indicates that her bladder capacity is increasing.
• Your child recognizes when she is in the process of urinating or voiding. If you try to potty train before this time, you'll likely run into trouble, since your child isn't really aware of what she's doing and so is unable to control something she can't understand.
• Your child is able to easily pull her pants up and down. She may not have had any reason to do so in the past, but luckily, of all the readiness factors, this skill is easily learned.
• Your child can follow simple instructions. There are many steps to using the toilet that we take for granted as adults. For example-- go to the bathroom, turn on the light, pull down your pants and underwear, sit on the potty, wipe your bottom, flush the toilet, wash your hands-- the list goes on, so this is a very important skill.
• Your child is able to sit and engage in an activity for several minutes without becoming distracted or irritable.
• Your child is walking and running well. Because the urge to potty is often sudden in toddlers, and because a potty isn't always steps away, it's important for your child to be able to make it to the toilet before an accident occurs.
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your child shows interest and desire. Interest in keeping dry or clean. Interest in wearing "big kid" underwear. Interest in what you're doing when you go potty and a desire to do what you're doing.

Remember, age is not the most important factor. Potty training will be best accomplished when your child's physical and emotional development are taken into account as well.

Article From: http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/pottytraining/f/readiness.htm

Every Mother's Journey

Sitting up, crawling, walking, talking and potty-training are things all babies learn but at different paces.  As a stay at home mom, I have been the first one to see my daughter achieve each one of these fundamental acts, well, all but one. Potty-training is something that a baby or toddler can pick up anywhere from when they are one years old and up. There is no real “trick” to potty-training as I’ve learned there is however techniques that people have claimed worked and others have not. I have decided to try these techniques for thirty days as part of a quest. A quest to achieve or try something new and write about it during thirty-days and I hope to achieve what I have set out to do.  

            Everyone from friends, family, doctors and the internet will tell you that there are signs your child will give you to know when to start potty-training. These signs range from disliking their wet or dirty diaper, giving verbal or physical sign that they are having a bowel movement, pulling pants up and down, and being able to follow simple instructions. There are also cognitive signs such as having no words or not being able to hold their pee that might mean the child is not ready. My daughter shows all signs from making faces to not liking to be wet etc. I have come to the conclusion that she is ready to potty-train.

Just as it is important for my daughter to be ready to potty-train, it is also important that the parent (me) be ready to start this journey. If the parent is not ready to take on such a difficult task, the potty-training journey might not take place how you would want or will take a toll emotionally on the parent. I feel I am ready to take on this journey which is the reason I chose this as my quest. Along with being ready emotionally and physically one must be ready with the supplies it will take to start potty-training.

When my daughter turned one I was so anxious to see what she would do on a potty that I bought one. It is a simple potty green in color that looks like a frog. The bowl comes out with ease for cleaning and such. Since then she has played with the potty and gotten used to it being around. Another tool I will be using is a toilet seat adapter; it is a small toilet seat that has Dora the Explorer on it that my daughter loves. One tool some mothers would not use that I am using are Pull-Ups training pants. There are some that disagree with using a diaper like tool to potty-train because it can set the child back in their potty-training. I find them to be the same price as regular diapers and an easier way to clean up after an accident rather than underwear or nothing at all. Although I will be buying underwear as explained later in this essay, I will be using it as a technique suggests I should. All of these tools may or may not be necessary for potty-training but I feel I can never be too ready for anything that may happen.

I have been given tip after tip after tip on how I should or could potty-train my daughter. The most said tip would be, “wait until your child is ready.” Some may feel a child is not ready until a certain age but unless they are with that child most of the time they will not see the signs that the child is ready. Some develop cognitive skills that are needed between eighteen and twenty-four months, meaning that some children can potty-train earlier than others. Another tip a mother gave me was, “make a plan.” Make a plan on how you will be going about your journey. How are you going to begin? Which technique will you be using? What would be a punishment if the child had an accident? Do you agree with a punishment at all? All mothers are different when they think of their plan but the key is to stick with it. The third and final tip I get the most would be to not push the child or starting too soon will make it harder for the child later. I agree, I believe that if I were to start my daughter at age one, if she did not learn right away she would be frustrated with the potty and have accidents more when she trained again. I held off until this time when I knew it was right and had a great opportunity to begin.

While choosing a topic that I would do a quest on, I considered what topic would most benefit me. I searched many techniques on potty-training and discovered that with these techniques I could easily (or not so easily) try to use them all within thirty days. Some techniques I came across were the “cold-turkey underwear approach,” a “naked and $75 method,” a “sticker chart” method, and a method where you sit the child down every fifteen minutes on the potty. All of these methods intrigued me into really wanting to begin the potty-training process. To explain in more detail, the “naked and $75 method” is where you let your child run around naked and the $75 is for the carpet cleaning you will need afterward. I thought this was pretty clever.

With explaining my quest and why I wanted to take on this journey, I am very eager to begin and hopefully achieve what I will set out to do. I am hoping to take this quest and share it with everyone and anyone who might need insight and ideas on how to begin their own journey of potty-training. Wish me luck!