The Imperfect Community

Jessica · Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:55 pm Post subject: How do you pottytrain?

I have totally forgotten how we pottytrained Holden and now I have to pottytrain Graham and I'm at a loss.

The toilet is too high for him even on a stool, I think, or at least it doesn't seem like he has the coordination to go potty standing up, but I'm not sure he can push down his pee pee to go wee wee in the right place.

I dunno. Has anyone had success pottytraining with a portable toilet?? I saw this one and thought it looked kinda cool, but would that make the transition to full-on potty more difficult? Help!

Petulant Pixie · Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 9:23 pm Post subject:

I don't. Seriously, of all the issues of babyhood/toddlerhood/pre-schoolhood, this is the one I dread the most. After the YEARS of potty training Alex and then Katie and then Katie with her UTIs and urine-holding posturing and behavioral constipation, I give up. Liz can be in pull ups until she's 16 and gets a job to pay for them herself for all I care.

I think the portable potties are gross, I would never do that. But, maybe that's the key to it.

julymom · Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 6:54 am Post subject:

We started with a little potty, but Cooper would have nothing to do with that. He sat on that damn potty for hours and nothing. We finally started just putting him on the toilet every morning for a few minutes (from about 1 year, he never wet his diaper while he slept, so he had a huge early morning pee, and we tried to capitalize on that) and before he took a bath at night. If he didn't go before the bath, we put him back on after the bath for a few. It took forever, but eventually he did go and we celebrated like we won the lottery. As for his "pee pee" aiming down, don't worry about that yet. Just get him to go. When Cooper did, we just leaned him forward and gravity took over. After he got used to going, we showed him he had to point it down and have not had a problem since.

Anthromomma · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:58 am Post subject:

We have a little potty, and the potty seat that fits on the regular toilet, so they have a choice. (The potty seat is a requirement since our condo only has one bathroom Shocked

) I really hate cleaning the potty chair, but I don't see a way around having it.

Honestly, we don't really do much for potty training. My two like to run around naked whenever they can, and I think that really helped Seamus (and is helping Ainsley) figure out when to go. Plus, my children are really bullheaded, so letting them go at their own pace has been the only way I've had any success.

I'm probably going to pay for this with #3, but with Seamus, he just decided that he didn't want to wear pullups anymore about a month before his third birthday, and started using the toilet all at once-- he only had one (poop) accident two days later, and that was because we were out for a walk and couldn't get to a bathroom in time.

Erika

MainstreamMom · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 6:20 am Post subject:

I have no freakin clue!!!!! Jack was totally potty trained by now (manda's age) but she wants no part of it!

She is a stubborn thing just like her mommy!

ShadesofBlue · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 7:33 am Post subject:

Those little potties never worked for my kids. They just used them like step stools.

What we have are the little potty seats that fit over the regular toilet seat. We started by sitting them on the toilet before bath/bed just to give them the idea. We showed them the potty video, read them potty books. The only thing that has really worked for us is letting them go naked on the bottom - otherwise they seem to rely on that diaper and don't even seem to know if they've peed or not!

There have been many, many accidents, but they since they have to deal with it right away they seem to learn to anticipate the event. All of my kids have been late trainers which I credit to my own laziness and the convenience of a diaper on a 2 mile walk to the store. My oldest son didn't learn until he was over 3. My twins didn't even really start trying until 3 1/2. One of my twins is done - though he may have an accident here or there. My other twin is trying very hard, but the process just takes time, and he's just recently gotten into it. The desire for a skateboard (!) seems to be helping since we've said that to do and have big boy things he needs to do big boy stuff. He's usually dry at night so that part is good.

All of my boys started sitting to pee. And I did help them learn how to aim for a bit. But they all stand to pee now which helps out a lot. I also helped them get on the toilet for awhile just so I could see they could do it without falling off.

I know what you mean about not knowing how to start. I've never really been able to describe to them what to look or feel for. They've had to learn by trial and error. Good luck!

DietCokeHead · Queen of Imperfection Joined: 29 Apr 2002 Posts: 3805

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0009OLSZ8/qid=1150311232/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-8093602-9616952?v=glance&s=baby

This is the potty chair we have. We have one upstairs and one downstairs. My kids are/were way too short to get on the big potty without help and that defeats the purpose for me, to have to follow them in there every time!

Jack was 3 and Molly was 2 yrs 10 mos when she trained. I just said that diapers were all gone for daytime use and never went back since I knew they were ready. It's kind of like training a puppy... I made sure they went to the bathroom every 20 minutes so they wouldnt have a chance to have an accident! We stayed near home for the first several days. With Jack I used a sticker chart and rewards and for Molly, I used candy immediately after she would try.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!