Potty Training… your toddlers step into being a big kid. Some say you can start training your child as soon as they come out. that is lots of work and so not my thing. When my son was 2 and a half we lived over seas and were on our way back to the states in about 4 months. I was so ready for him to be out of diapers and be done with rashes and ointments. I would change a diaper and just minutes later He would poop, and unknown to me it would sit in there till I smelled it, which some how was longer then it should have been. (I am not a bad mom I swear) I got in my head that he just had to be potty trained ASAP because I was going out of my head with all the diapers. I tried and tried, but he refused. My son would cry and and cry when I tried to put him on the potty or if I even asked him to try. I let him go around the house naked, nothing, he would rather pee were he stood then go to that potty. I had friends tell me that I should just wait tell after we moved and got settled in a bit, because even if by some miracle his gets trained some kids regress and then your back at square one again. So I just became more diligent on changing his diapers and we waited till our new home was set up. We used clothes diapers on our second child and so I tired those on my older one in hopes that that would help, but he complained about how they felt and didn't like wearing them. I even tried pull ups, the kind that turns cold when they pee, it freaked him out and he didn't want to wear them, no luck there. I decided to be patient and wait. I watched him closely for any signs of being ready and ask him on occasion if he wanted to try. We had bought a little boys urinal and thought that would be a fun way to learn. But since his Dad was at work all day he didn't have someone to mimic. When he was just about 3 and a half I found the Huggies potty training video online and requested a free copy. When it came I turned it on. He just sat there and watched it all, even all the parent parts. After watching it all, he went up to his dad and asked for big boy underwear. He refused to wear diapers anymore and hated me putting them on him even at night, till I got a sheet for his bed it was a must though. I have to say I was really nervous there for a while and wondered often if he would ever be out of diapers, it felt so horrifying and frustrating, and I was afraid he wouldn't get to go to school cause he wouldn't go on the potty.
When my daughter started watching my son go on the potty she wanted to go to, she was 1.5 at the time. I was so thrilled, I thought this could be the coolest thing ever, having two kids out of diapers at the same time, AWEOME!!! I let her go when ever she wanted, but after about two months she didn't want to anymore, she would scream and yell and kick. It was too good to be true. I had my daughter in cloth diapers since she was 10 LBS. She had three things going for her (and me) to get her to train early, Cloth diapers, being a girl and seeing an older sibling do it. I still waited and almost a year went by before I saw the light. My husband was deployed so I didn't want to start something that wasn't going to turn out to be the real thing and frustrate myself over it. But I saw more and more that she was ready. Not wanting to wear dirty diapers, taking off her own diapers, and she loved to watch me go. It may sound weird, and some parents value there time in the bathroom alone, but I really think it helped my two know what to do by watching me. I started letting her go around the house naked, I figured out that if I put a diaper back on her she felt it gave her an excuse to go in it, that is what its for right? So we stayed home a lot during this time. Every time she went pee she got two M&Ms, poop was 3. For a time she didn't like going poop in the potty, that is why she got more. I heard that is normal, some how children feel like they are putting something of themselves in there and it is scary to flush it away. We watched the Elmo potty time movie a LOT, and over a couple of weeks it got much easier. I still had things I had to do out and about, so I would put a cloth diaper back on her, then take it off when we returned, I would usually find poop, but no pee, she would go as soon as we got home.
People will give you all sorts of tips tricks and advice, including me, But what I think the biggest thing to consider is your two personalities. My son felt like he had no need to change, his Mommy changed his diaper, he went every where felling safe and protected. There was no motivation to change, what was his reason??? My daughter wants to do everything her older brother does, so that was her motivation, she wasn't easy peasy, but she wasn't nearly as tricky as my son. I am a very laid back person and that some times hindered things at home, because I wasn't a scheduled person,I didn't set timers to ask or remember to direct them to the bathroom. I kinda go with the flow which was only good because I could easily stay home and give them apple juice all day long and know we were only a few feet from the bathroom.
I am blessed that both my kids never really had accidents, it was usually my fault if we did because we didn't make it to the restroom at the store. I also never had to make my kids wear pull up or diapers at night either, as long as they went before going to bed we were good. Don't misunderstand me we still had them once in awhile because of lots to drink during the day, or if my little girl slept slept late. My biggest advice for any parent wanting to potty train is be patient, be willing to bribe, and don't lose your cool. Your child is watching and making them feel bad won't make them want to be on the potty any faster.
