Potty Training - Richmond,VA

You'll see a million techniques and opinions on this. I think most of it has to do with luck and the kid's personality/development. I had the little potty out around age 2, and i got a couple of those board books about using the potty. We just read them along with other books, to introduce the idea. Then I waited for my son to be interested, which he was intermittently, but he didn't have the body control until he was on the older end. Lots of things helped a little, like watching other kids do it, watching his father pee in the toilet, using targets in the toilet, but nothing really clicked until his body and brain connected and he had the "I gotta go" feeling. For us, being naked or being wet didn't work at all. And it's not like we kept changing techniques every few weeks. We went from age 2 to nearly age 4 with this. If I were doing it over again, I wouldn't get so frustrated and I would just repeat to myself "He won't go to kindergarten in diapers, he won't go to kindergarten in diapers." I'd be more content with all the things he WAS doing.

Really depends on the kid. With my oldest he was dry overnight. With my older daughter it was asking her at 18 months do you want diapers or underwear, she picked underwear and never had an accident. Younger two were the same as the oldest.

For us, it was when I was prepared to give it a go.

I am not the sort of mom who is going to sit there and put my toddler on the potty every so many minutes (I don't have the patience). So I waited until they showed signs they had a clue what was going on, and when they were doing other things more or less independently. Mine were trained before they turned 3.

The thing is, they potty trained very quickly. I did it in a weekend, and then over the course of the week I worked with the daycare (or if we were home on vacation, I just kept an eye on it). But very few accidents (I think one pee accident per kid basically) which they didn't like - and that was it. Mine were able to go dry at night at the same time, so it was all in one go.

It just worked easier for us that way.

With my oldest, I did pull out the cute potty I bought him and did the Let's try sitting on it ... and he just didn't get it. I could have done that for a month or so, but I didn't see the point. I wasn't going to follow him around (too busy with the other kids).

That works for some moms really well. I think it's a combo of what you're willing to do and where your child is developmentally. Some are trained much sooner than ours were. Basically when I was sick and tired of the diapers and I knew they could do it - we tried.

Not sure if that helps - I think it's different for every child so give it a whirl, and if you're not getting anywhere, put the potty away until you see some more signs :)

Good luck :)

For our son I let daycare take the lead on this.
The whole class went at the same time.
They had these tiny little non threatening toilets.
The teachers had done this FOREVER and knew what to do.
Our son came home one day and wanted to show me what he could do - and he went to the potty and showed me he knew exactly what to do!
Some kids 'got it' faster than others.
He was 3 1/2 when he was day trained.
For me - it was effortless!
No power struggles.
No wandering around naked.
No messes to clean up everywhere.
It was great!

http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-readiness-chec...

https://www.pull-ups.com/potty-training/how-to-tell-if-yo...

Additional:
I don't know what being dry in the morning has to do with anything.
Day toilet training and not wetting the bed have NOTHING to do with each other.
Our son was day trained at 3 1/2 but he was 7 1/2 before he woke up dry in the morning.
We kept him in pullups at night time until he woke up dry for 2 weeks in a row.
MANY kids wet the bed till they are 11 or 12 - and of COURSE they use the toilet fine during the day.

"It depends" is a really annoying answer but it really does. My oldest was so excited to start using the toilet at 3 and we went a week where he was able to wear underwear and use the toilet. Then one day he went in his pants while we were out and he hasn't been able to use the toilet since. We've tried everything to find out why he won't go, but now he just goes and hides somewhere when he poops himself cause he's embarrassed. He told us once he was scared of the toilet but that's all we've gotten.

Point is kids will start going when they're ready. When they seem self-aware enough to recognize when they're going or about to go that's probably a good time to start thinking about potty training.

I brought out potty seats around 12 months. When my oldest woke from naps dry at 15 months, I put her on it. By 18 months she was wearing trainers. By 21 months she woke dry in the morning graduated to real undies.

With my second, he woke dry from naps around 17, so we started putting him on the potty. At 18 months, he started taking himself. And like his sister, finished, including night, at 21 months. He had some accidents for a few months, mostly a teaspoon worth of pee from time to time.

With my last, she woke dry from naps around 15 months. I was lazy. The seat was out, but i didn't put her on it. Then when she started waking dry in the morning around 20 months, I realized I really should train her. She wasnt interested at this point, and resisted me putting her on the potty. I put her back in diapers. A few months later she decided she wanted to wear undies. She had 1 or 2 accidents. That was that. Out of all my kids, she was the easiest. I rarely even reminder her to use the potty too, but this is because she has a bladder of steal and only pees 3-4 times a day.

when your daughter is self-aware, not just curious. When she grabs herself... either before the stream starts or just after.

I am in the process of finishing up the training for 2 2yos.
The girl (2 in March) was not dry with her overnight diaper nor at naptime. She could tell me wet/dry when asked...with a 50% accuracy. (eye roll)

The boy just turned 2 a few weeks ago. Since Christmas, he'd been dry in the morning & most naps. Mom began the process by starting upon wakening. From there it was a very easy transition, bcuz he was ready & aware!

Thru the power of positive peer pressure (lol), both children were initiating potty breaks....95% accident-free by the end of the 1st week. It's been a month since I started, & I consider both of them potty trained at this point. Both of these kiddies proved to be my easiest trainees....& the just 2yo boy deserves a Huge WooHoo! All before that 2nd birthday! That's a 1st for me!

Both my kids were potty trained by 3 years old. I put the potty chair where ever they were playing and they had no pants on and they went on there own. At daycares they start potty training in the twos classrooms

as soon as they can sit up solidly and not fall over
just like introducing the cup or spoon, you let them explore it, you introduce the reason for that tool and you show them how to do it properly
I suggest that once they can sit up confidently you start sitting them on the potty at every diaper change, just for a minute or so.
A child that young will usually start indicating they have to go by crawling to the bathroom, pulling on their diaper, trying to take off their pants, etc. The key is to make it part of the daily routine, just as diaper changes are.
It adds about a minute to your normal diaper change routine, and it pays off, they see the association between clean diaper and sitting on the potty.

************edited to add - after reading people saying that nap or nighttime dryness was their key, for both of my daughters that would have been after they were about 6 yrs old... sleeping dryness is chemically/hormonely controlled, not learned or controllable so please do not base your decision on that, there are MANY 6 yr olds still wearing diapers to bed, it's ok and totally normal

Potty training is one of those things that everyone has a different opinion on.

In child care we didn't really start working the kids all the time until they were in the 3 year old room. Some were potty trained when they went in there and some were still making messes in their pants every day.

We required pull ups. I was not going to hire someone to do nothing but go around cleaning up pee and pooh off my floors and the teachers in that classroom had educations and were supposed to be teaching the kids, not cleaning constantly.

Some kids see you go or accidentally go while they're sitting on the toilet waiting on their bath to fill, they see pee and figure it all out in one setting. Some are that easy and some are much much harder.

If your child is showing an interest then it's time to introduce the concept. Don't expect them to sit on the potty for an extended amount of time though. They might sit for 30 seconds and be done for the day. They might sit and sit and sit then stand up and go everywhere too.

For my oldest, we decided to make an attempt at it on a long weekend, when we knew we would be able to devote a large chunk of time towards it without having to worry about breaks/distractions.

We didn't worry at all about nighttime training, as he was (still is) having accidents at night and at almost 5 yrs old and isn't quite ready for that. But with daytime we felt like it was worth giving a try at about 2.5, and it went fairly smoothly with us laying out a period of time where we really tried to focus on getting him using the potty.

Not sure about the daughter, but in general - can she sit up and down easily? You can work on it, but until she can pull her pants/pullups down & up, she won't be able to go by herself. You can start helping her pay attention to the signals. Don't rush it or make it a "thing". Have a little potty in the bathroom, and let her come in when you go. Modeling the behavior is helpful.

For me it was when they could wake up from a nap/bed dry, usually right around 2 for all of it, night and day pee & poop! Some people as you will read, have serious problems with this and there kids take way longer for whatever reasons? Might be genetics who knows, I have 3, 2 boys and 1 girl & they were all the same!

Make it easy, make it light, make it fun!
Big girls where pretty panties, let her pick her own!
Prepare her by talking about it a bit then pick a weekend and wake up and do it!
Big girls go potty and get a (insert fave small treat here, I used dum-dum suckers, they are the perfect size) when they try and go!
Big cheers when she succeeds and your golden!
Just watch her like a hawk for 2-3 days and remind her to go, often!

~It's really not that hard, just prepare for accidents and don't loose your cool, stay the course it'll be done & over in a snap!