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Blogging Baby Size Six: potty training
Filed under: Development/Milestones: Babies
It would be nice if I could write a Size Six post with
all the magic to make your child use the potty on a regular basis. In fact I wish I could do that for you, I really do.
But since every child and every parent is different, I can't. Instead I thought I'd share, like Asha asked at Parent Hacks, what worked in my experience potty training two toddlers. The first effort was fairly smooth, the second was a soggy mess of urine and tears but I learned things from both.
- Start by doing some major self talk. Urine isn't really that disgusting if you try
not to think about what it is. Remember you're going to have accidents and you're going to do a lot of laundry and
you're going to be cleaning upholstery and occasionally rugs. It's okay, it's part of the process. Embrace it, even
when it makes you sob.
- Collect the name of a kind carpet and upholstery cleaner. In my group of friends we found a guy who gave us the Potty Training discount. With seven of us going through the routine at the same time, he made a lot of cash off us and we saved a little too.
- Get a box of Pull Ups but only for insurance. Pull Ups really weren't the route I wanted to go. I thought their diaper-like quality wouldn't get the point across, the point being 'Urine in your pants is really cold and wet and gross.' One morning I told my daughter the store stopped selling her size diapers. Oh well! We had 'nighttime underpants' which were pull ups and in the early days I did put a pull up on her if we were at the mall or the grocery store, but that stopped after the first week.
- Collect the potty paraphernalia of your choice. I was addicted to anything which claimed to make potty training easier. We had the potty chair (which had originally, with the help of floral oasis, served as the vase for a beautiful centerpiece at my baby shower), the padded seat for the real toilet, a fold up seat for public restrooms and my favorite, the potty briefcase. I can say with complete honesty I have no regrets about all the things I purchased.
- Stock up on M&M minis. I used them as a 'reward' for getting something in the potty. Another friend, who's child was reluctant, used them as a reward for even sitting on the potty. With my daughter I used them for about three days when she stopped bringing up the 'treat'.
- Each time I decided to try potty training with my kids I made a mental commitment to give the process one full week before quitting and going back to diapers for another month before trying again. At the end of day one when I'd done 32 loads of laundry, 6 more days seemed totally unbearable. But by day two with my daughter and day three or four with my son (I've blocked it out), there was more urine in the potty than on my sofa. By the end of the first week we were totally accident free with my daughter and mostly accident free with my son, and I am not sure I've ever been as giddy about one of my children's milestones.
Coming soon! What did not work when potty training my kids.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
2-13-2006 @ 8:54AM
Kate said...Thanks for the tips. We are potty trainging our 2 year old (I actually just blogged about our progress this weekend) and it is going fairly well so far. (Keeping fingers crossed.) The potty briefcase looks awesome! We are totally going to get one for a road trip we have planned for May. I'll be almost 8 mos pregnant at the time - wonder if they sell a mommy-sized one! :-) We used sugar-free jelly bellies as rewards - worked great! And we haven't used pull-ups yet. I think I'll only get those when we start trying to get her to use the potty at her daycare.
Here is my one huge mistake (this far): We initially started potty training in December while I was experiencing morning sickness. BAD MOVE. I usually have a pretty strong stomach, but I was feeling soooo queasy. So when Morgan had a really messy nasty poo accident, it made me throw up. And that traumatized her terribly and she won't even attempt to poo in the potty now. "Poo-poo scaaaarry" she insists.Oh, well. One step at a time.
Reply
2-13-2006 @ 9:30AM
Anna V. said...We were training our daughter when I got put on bedrest in the hospital. She was rotated among friends and family, and not everybody got the message she was training. So now that everything is settled down (we've moved, my husband came home for good, etc), 8 months later, we're trying again. I feel bad that she just turned 3 and isn't potty trained yet, but I have hope. With infant twins, I do lots of laundry, and I have to convince myself that it won't be too much more to do when we start again.
Reply
2-13-2006 @ 11:19AM
chelle said...Thanks for posting an honest experience of potty training. We have had a couple false starts introducing potty training, our pumpkin is young so we are just starting. It is just nice to read it isn't easy!
chelle
Reply
2-14-2006 @ 1:46PM
eden said...I started and stopped with my 2 1/2 year old since I was pregnant and had difficulty getting on the floor, cleaning her up, etc. Our bathrooms are too small to put a potty chair in and too small to sit w/ her if she uses a potty-covering seat.
We have two brands of potty chair, since Brand #1 seemed small and she only likes it to put Boohbah dolls in. The second brand is the Baby Bjorn chair referenced in this entry.
I was wondering if anyone had experienced her child prefering one kind of potty (big potty, potty chair, etc.) over another and if you thought the chair itself helped or hindered the process.
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