Potty Training

I'm potty training my three year old girl. I don't know if girls are easier than boys as I only have girls. My eldest decided (at three years old) one day to just do it. And she did it. Few accidents (except for poop... she wouldn't go in the potty for about 6 months).

My youngest is less enthused about the potty. I have to reward her every time. I personally think 2 might be too young, but I only have my kids to base that on. From my understanding, 2 year olds have very minimal understanding of the sensations of their bodies. Unless they tell you before they go in their diaper, are intensely uncomfortable with their diapers having "stuff" in it, and are interested in the potty. Those are all good signs that they might be ready. I waited for both of my girls to be ready and make that call for themselves. Pushing them before their ready usually results in rebellion. And TRUST. ME. potty rebellion can be nasty.

I found with my daughter, putting her in underwear during the day made a huge difference. The pull ups did nothing. She knew it was there and what it did so she just went anyways. With underwear it was different.

I asked her OFTEN if she had to go. Made sure she went before bed and also limited liquid intake after 6pm. rustled her out of bed in the middle of the night to make her try and she usually went. It can get to be a long process that can be very tiring but it will happen.

Waking in the morning with a dry diaper/pull up should be a celebration. reward with stickers or a special treat when she goes on the potty. it will all happen.

When my son was three, he decided he didn't want to wear diapers, even at night. He stayed dry during the day, but not at night. After only a week of this bliss, we had a family disappointment and his enthusiasm for staying dry vanished.

It was another year before he was willing to give up diapers again. By that time I was ready to stand on our balcony and shout to the neighbors "He peed in the toilet!!"

I forgot to check "I successfully trained my kids" Well, one kid... working on the second.

@Tuesday, I felt the same way when my eldest pooped, willingly, in the potty for the first time (after her last time that she purposely pooped in her panties)!

all I've ever witnessed is people putting cheerios in the toilet for their boys to aim for haha

I just had to brag! My potty training child has now stopped needing to be reminded to pee in the potty and we had our very first poop success!

I wish I had advice to all of you out there who are potty training, but I really don't. All I really did was wait until she was ready and rewarded her with candy (she's a little on the small side, so it's not a bad reward for her, she can use the calories!)

It's been exactly two weeks since my daughter had officially started potty training and she is doing AWESOME! I have a little potty for her and it sings when she pees in it. I got this as a hand me down, the little boy part is missing. This ok though, I just cant use it for my son when he grows up. She loves this potty, it's just her size!

I also purchased a potty time coloring book at wal-mart. This came with a 2 week potty chart and stickers! Even a poster with steps on how using the potty should go. Every time she pees on the potty she gets to pick a sticker on the potty chart for that day. SHE LOVES IT! I also have dora stickers so she has choices. I taped both chart & poster to the door in the bathroom so she can look at it and she how well she is doing.

I've mainly been using big girl panties during the day, diapers at night, and pull-up during nap time. I am so proud. Even when she is wearing a diaper or pull-up these past few days, if we are home, she'll take them off and go to the potty! YYEEEAHHH! Big girl potty is a bit harder to get her to use, and she wont poop on either potty. But for 2 years & 8 months old she is doing awesome! When we go out it is pull-up time since she wont pee in the big potty. I must also add that she tells me when she needs to go and sometimes she'll go all by herself.

Two girls PT'd. The oldest was a battle cause we really pushed it before she was ready. The second I didn't do a blasted thing, and she did it all her self over about a week's time..key was, we didn't push and let her let us know when she was ready. For the most part I really had NO help.

We only had girls. I think they were all pretty much potty trained by 21/2 or so. It's much easier and more natural to wait until your child shows an interest-they notice when they are wet, etc.
I worked with autistic kids on this, and one of the best motivators ever is a reinforcement system; We used to make "Potty Party" bags. We had special books (about going on the toilet) that were only read on the potty; and lots of tangible re-enforcers (little toys, balls, balloons, etc.)they don't have to be expensive either. Couple the tangible re-enforcer with tons and tons of positive praise. It should be a fun, natural, positive experience!

All my kids have learned to use the potty. My Man and I taught them somewhere between 2.5 years (too young, IMO, but she was our first) and 3 years 4 months.

From what I have learned from Child Development, the baby needs to know the difference begotten "wet" and "Dry" needs to be able to remove and put back on their own pants (or use dresses if it's a girl) wants to learn to use the potty and has the muscle control.

Newer research has shown that most children don't have full bladder AND bowel control until after the 3rd birthday! A few do, but most don't. From what I've learned, if you are bringing the kid to the potty more than every 2-3 hours, YOU are trained, the baby is not. They should be telling YOU they have to go, with reminders from Mom or Dad, of course.

I also believe Pull Ups and disposable diapers lengthen the potty learning time. Kids NEED realize, "OMG, I pissed my pants, it's running down my leg. Now, it's cold and sticky and I smell. I just sat down and it made a puddle. There's piss all over me and everything else. I don't LIKE this!" IMO, that is only achievable with cloth training pants. Yeah, it's more work, but it pay off in the end. They have to realize when they wet themselves. And if they can't go 2-3 hours without peeing, they aren't ready to learn to use the potty. Their bladder muscles aren't strong or large enough yet.

We tried stickers with the first one. (she was only about 2 and a few months when we first tried.) She ended up putting them all over her newborn baby sister. She also didn't realize the difference between simply sitting on the potty and using the potty. She was just too young, so we gave up for a few months, and tried again, sans rewards, and eventually she learned. She had some accidents but it wasn't too bad.

My second one REFUSED to use the potty at 2.5, she refused at 2.75, she refused at 3 years old. I'd put panties on her, she's sit on the potty and angelically smile at me, and do nothing, then run into the dining room and piss all over the dining room carpet. Still angelically smiling at me. (Cutest kid ever, I swear those curls and that cherubic face kept her alive!) One day, when she was about 3 and about 3 months, she woke up and said, "I wanna go potty." She ran to the potty and went. She then insisted on wearing panties, I readied myself for a day of cleaning up baby pee, but she kept dry and used the potty a few more times. She balked at the diaper at naptime, but I insisted. She woke up dry and used the potty. In a few days, she had never wet herself and refused to wear a diaper to bed or nap. She NEVER wet the bed, ever! That was it. This kid did it herself.

My next one was a premie and did a lot of things late (except talk, damn that bald headed kid, who looked like she was 5 months old was talking in sentences at 12 months) She did NOT want to use the potty, either. I refused to battle with her. I just pinned her little cloth diapers on each morning and waited. There was a potty upstairs and one downstairs, and somewhere around 3 years and 4 months or so she SLOWLY SLOWLY learned to use the potty. She was a kind of sickly kid and had accidents when she had a fever (which was often) so it took a while for her to be totally potty trained. She actually learned to read before she was fully potty trained.

She also had a health issue which caused serious constipation (and breastfed kids aren't supposed to get constipated, she breastfed until she was 4) which made learning to poop on the potty difficult. She understood WHY people used the potty, but it took her a while to learn how to use the muscles properly.

She, too, eventually learned. I say don't stress about it. They all learn. WHEN they learn is variable. It really doesn't matter, though. They will all do it eventually.

I took a while as a little kid to get pottytrained. I was like seriously 3-4.

when the little girl i used to babysit was being potty trained, her mom would tell me that she got a sticker every time she went potty. at night she had to wear pull ups. i would also ask her every few hrs if she had to go potty. & she only got a sticker if she actually used the potty. for my little brother, it was a toy car every time he went. pull ups or diapers at night are a good idea for a while after you get them mostly potty trained.

I have a 3yo boy. We had him ALMOST fully potty trained at age 2. He would only go at night, and have no accidents during the day. Then my 2nd baby was born, and he went back to full time diapers. On his 3rd birthday he started going in the potty again, all on his own. I used the reward system at first, and lots of praise. It took us almost a full month until he was completely potty trained. For that full month we did not do ANYTHING. We stayed home everyday, because I wanted him to be sure that he knew to use the potty and I didn't want to mess with the routine we had going. As soon as he woke up I sat him on the potty. A little after he was done with breakfast we sat on the potty again for a few minutes, and randomly throughout the day. Even if I knew he didn't have to go, I'd make him try, and eventually when he woke up in the morning, without being asked he headed straight into the bathroom, and so on. It was a nightmare getting there though! My second baby is a girl, and from what I hear, girls are easier than boys, I hope that is true!! lol

No kids, sorry.. I can help you if you need to housebreak a puppy though!

I have helped my girlfriend potty train her baby cousin and it wasn't too hard.. I guess we got an easy baby so I can't really help with crazy hard cases

I potty trained my oldest when he was 2.5yrs old, by 3yrs he was fully potty trained. It worked best to remove diapers and pull ups, he would wear underwear during the day, he did wear pull ups at night until he was fully potty trained. I found potty training to be fairly easy, even though I hear boys are harder than girls. I hope my second is as easy to train.

We say potty learning instead of training.. because our children are not dogs.

My daughter took an interest in it all on her own when she was about 2. My son just turned 2 and he doesn't seem to care but I think he is getting closer to being ready because he takes his diaper off when he pees or even before he does. I'm just not going to push him and let it evolve naturally. We don't punish or do bribes/rewards. We practice gentle discipline but I don't think discipline in general should be mixed with learning the skill of using the toilet. I think you gotta just trust that kids will want to learn if you provide an environment where they are free to do so.

Trying to potty train my toddler, he will be three in Nov, he does good! Just not all the way yet! Easy ups are great, I love them! Every kid is different I do not think any sex is easier than the other. I know they say girls are easier than boys, my son is younger than my niece by 6months and does better than she does. Plus it is a matter of who and how you are working with them. It is hard and takes a lot of time a effort!

I'm potty training my last child. She's been the hardest of all of them. She just doesn't want to do it. She's too busy with everything else in life. I'm so frustrated with her. She's 4 1/2 already.

I potty trained my Son whom is now three. He had a hard time he had the idea down just wouldn't go to the potty until he had gone in his pull up. I think it was harder because we brought another baby into the home so he regressed I tried everything rewards this that and the other thing and none of it worked when he turned three I told him I was done buying pulls ups and he either learned to use the potty or else he was going to be very uncomfterable when he peed himself it took him all of one day and that was it he was potty trained and standing up to pee. It helped I think to have him watch his daddy. With a girl.. couldn't tell you my daughter is only a year and is no where near ready to potty train. You have to make sure that your daughter is really ready to start. That she has the concept down. It takes time, pacients, understanding, and lots of love. Good luck!

My daughter learned long before my son

I helped train my Goddaughter I kept telling her when you have to do pee pee or poo you go tot the bathroom. And I would say bathroom with excitement and when she would got in the potty I would be all happy for her.

I don't have any kids, but I wish luck to anyone going through this!

I potty trained three boys. I used Smarties candy when they went in the potty.

I don't have any kids, but best of luck!

My daughter potty trained before she was even 2 years old. She used to follow us into the bathroom so we got her a potty. She put books next to it so when she pottied, she would have reading material. She used to "read" it upside down. I think she was fully potty trained before she was a 1 1/2. It was mainly her doing. When our second daughter came along, we got her trained at 2 years old. It wasn't as easy but it was helpful to have a younger daughter to explain it to her in understandable terms.