Potty training....

MyLuvBugs wrote: Ok. Now that Lexi's here, we're trying to get back on the Potty training roller coaster And an acquaintance of mine said it might help to just put her in real underwear and just let her go?!?!? Has anyone else heard of this or tried it?

We use the disposable Sam's club brand training pants (Highly recommend them! ) and also bought some TLCare Cloth Training pants (they have a plastic cover so they're supposed to be "leak proof"). The combination of the two seems to be working?? Not sure. She doesn't like it when her pants are wet, but refuses to pee in the potty. We'll set her on the potty for 30 minutes sometimes and she won't pee, but the second we put her potty pants on....she pees and freaks out and wants them off then. Do you think just buying her regular undies will help?? It'll just be messy is my only real concern I guess.....

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: That is what we did for both of the kids. Matt we just trained about two weeks ago and it took about 5 days. KAty took about 2 days.
With real undies you notice when they have an accident right away so you can get them into the bathroom. With the cloth or the disposable pull up types you won't know when they had an accident so won't get them into the bathroom. I don't remember if either went in the toilet at all the first day but both figured it out pretty quickly.

jacobsmama replied: I agree with Lisa and Jacob potty trained Very easily at about 20 months.

He started saying pee and knowing when he was peeing I could tell too. So I put the little potty chair out and I let him run around naked at the house as much as possible or in Just underwear. He hated peeing in them and wouldn't pee on the floor or his feet so he would run to the potty. I do think it is easier for them to recognize that they are going and try to stop it and you can get them to the potty to finish. And once they feel that they will hopefully want it that way instead. Good luck and let us know.

My3LilMonkeys replied: Depends on the kid, I guess - Brooke will pee in a pair of underwear, take them off, throw them in the hamper and go right on playing. It doesn't bother her a bit. We've been potty training for about 2 months with a very low pressure approach - it's working quite slowly, but it's working.

coasterqueen replied: A few months after Kylie turned 2, Thanksgiving weekend as a matter of fact, we just decided to put her in underwear. My mother had bought her underwear for her 1st Christmas and was nagging me since she turned 2 to try her in them so I did. At night I put her in pull-ups. She did good for a couple of days, no accidents, then she started to have them. So we went back to pull-ups for a few days, then back to underwear and never looked back. She did, however, stay in pull-ups at nighttime for a longer time.

Boo&BugsMom replied:
YES! I have trained countless children this way! And in my opinion (no offense to anyone), it's the only sure fire way to get them trained, especially if you have a stubborn one. Tanner was one of those, and so have other countless children I have had in classrooms. I had to take him about every hour, even 30 minutes if he didn't go the time prior. His first day he only had one accident. He COULD do it, he just didn't want to, so I sooner or later just didn't give him a choice. Sometimes you just have to put your foot down about it.

I also am not afraid to punish for accidents that are out of laziness. Call me mean, I don't care, but it's not ok in this house. I'm not talking spankings and that either so please don't go get images in your head . Legitimate accidents are one thing, accidents that could have been prevented because the child just didn't want to go, are another to me.

Don't give it less than 5 days in underwear and if the first couple days go well, do NOT go back! Just a general rule of thumb. Kids are smart, they know what they do. It also shouldn't take a child months to train. When they are physically ready it should only take a week or less. However, if you don't put your foot down it will drag out longer. Diapers and pull ups are also the same thing in my opinion. It's just the manufacturers way of making more money! Some kids do fine in pull ups, but many just need to be put in underwear.

Just my two cents. Having 7 years experience with it has to account for something. Sorry for rambling. I have just dealt with so many families on this issue that it's something I can't help but jump in on.

ETA: about the messes, well, that's how it's suppose to be. It's not suppose to be gumballs and cotton candy. This is where parents get themselves in a rut for fear of cleaning up messes. Next thing you know, you'll have a 4 or 5 year old still in pull ups...not so glamerous to train an older child when they have gotten in to the habit of wearing diapers for so long. Old habits ARE hard to break.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I have to agree with you Jennie... I potty trained bth my kids before they were 2 years old, and both in few days. This daycare child, however, is driving me nuts... he won't "learn"... I've been "training" him since August, but his mom isn't "ready" for him to be in underwear. It sucks... if she'd let me, he could be trained by next week.

MyLuvBugs replied: GOSH! Why didn't anyone tell me about this sooner? LOL Seriously! I could totally write a book on all the crap that no one told me before I had kids.

Ok! Well.....months of pull-up pants hasn't worked (granted we haven't really tried that hard over the last 3 months or so), but I'm willing to give the real undies a shot! My only concern is that she really isn't ready and that I'm going to be forcing her to be ready. KWIM? BUt then again, she doesn't like her pants wet or dirty...... I sure hope that means "Mom, I'm ready for the toilet!"

I'll go get some big girl undies today, and keep you all posted. Hopefully, by next week we'll be trained (except for night). Night time might take awhile, like Karen said. But thank you all for the advice and support.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Erika, how old is she again? I was looking at your sigi and I am thinking we are talking about your not quite 2 year old right? If she doesn't do well in them don't get too worried or discouraged. She isn't even 2 yet. If it doesn't work well after 5 days, try again in a couple months. Tanner was trained when he was about 2 1/2, right before that mark if my memory serves me correctly. Usually when I go off on a tangant like that above I have the 2-2 1/2 year olds in my head. You will know after you give it the ole heeve ho if she is truly ready. Usually that is the 2-2 1/2 year old mark. It's when they start to train you that you need to be cautious of. I hope I didn't scare you into pushing her. This whole time I was thinking she was older than that. This is what happens when you work with too many 2 year olds...

luvbug00 replied: Mya triained that way too. straight to undies.

MyLuvBugs replied:
Oh no...haven't scared me yet. And yeah...I was talking about Lorelei. She'll be 2 in a little over 1 month. I can't hardly believe it, but my little girl isn't a little girl anymore. She's my big girl.

As far as her being ready....I guess I'll find out, huh? Hopefully my gut telling me she's ready is right.

A&A'smommy replied: were still potty training but we are ONLY having problems with poo poo.. what worked for us was letting her run around the house WITHOUT panties on she absolutly nothing on unless someone was over or we were going somewhere and that seemed to work for us it helped her figure out when she needed to go and finally one day she just started going to sit on the potty (all by herself) and then coming and telling me mommy I just went potty so then we went to panites and she never wet them unless she got really busy

Boo&BugsMom replied:
Oh good! Wheew! I have seen kids train that early, just to give you some more confidance! Not a lot, but it is possible she could be ready.

I guess the only thing you don't want to do is "miss the window". For example: I had a little guy who was 2 at the time in my childcare. I had the family for years until they moved away a couple months back. The older brother was a cinch to train when he was around 2, however, the younger one was a little more stubborn. BUT, at my house ALL day he would keep his diaper dry. He would hold it, I would take him to the potty, everything. I even told mom to just bring in underwear for him one day, but she didn't. Well, they moved away. The kids now go to a different daycare near their home. I recently talked to mom and dad about his potty training and they told me he doesn't even go on the potty anymore. UGH! WHAT?! I feel as though they missed this perfect window of opportunity and now they have to start all over again with him. All my hard work wasted! I even think if they would just stick him in undies now, he would do it if he didn't have the option of going in his diaper. The kid will even say "I just don't want to". AHHH! He will be 3 this Friday. Now that they have missed this window, they have start from square one again, and that sucks when that happens because now the kid will be even more stubborn about it.