Hey guys! Man, I was doing well for a few posts there and then here we are, two months since my last post!
I wanted to just jot down some of my thoughts on how our potty training went. When I was posting about it in my stories, I got a LOT of action. haha Many comments mentioning how ‘she’s soooo young’, or ‘how are you going to do it when she’s not even walking’. Well my friends, we did it! I can’t even believe how well she is doing and I’m sooooo proud of her. And I do still have a hard time believing how well it worked.
Yes, Raeleigh is young. She’s 19 months old but quick as a whip, let me tell ya. She was telling me most times she went ‘peepee’ and she told me every dang time she went ‘poopoo’ always before she did it. And she definitely didn’t want to be sittin in a dirty diaper. So I figured, it was time to at least try!! I am headed back out on the road for work at least some of my work days now, so the last two weeks seemed like optimal time for us since it was my last couple weeks working from home full time.
SO, what did we do? Well, I have my sister in law as a resource, since she just trained my niece (who is also on the young side… she trained her at about 21 months). And she likes to research the SHIT out of everything before she does it (which I LOVE because she shares it all with me after… thanks, Manda!) I also have one of my besties that has 3 littles aged 3 and under (good lord bless your sweet soul) and she sent me over a PDF that she followed. So I kind of did a hybrid of things.
The PDF method was the 3 day method. Diaper off, and throw all the diapers out. I did not do that … 1) super wasteful and if you’ve been around a bit you know that’s not my style. 2) I was not ready for training her for naps and nighttime sleeping yet. This particular three day method (there are a ton of diff ones) talks about doing it all at once. Toss out the diapers, you are done with them. For naps and night time sleeps as well. Me… not quite. Raeleigh is young, for one.. but I am okay with her wearing diaps still for naps and bedtime. She’s young, and I am lazy. I don’t want to get up with her 40 times a night to pee right now.
The PDF method also talks about how the kiddo will be in panties and a shirt… straight up Donald Duckin. For this method, naked, or panty-less is not acceptable. So I tried for the first little bit with panties … but we just couldn’t get them off in time at the beginning. And my sister in law warned me of that. She told me to go bare butt for the first couple days. So, we switched to that after the first 5 or so accidents.
This method also talks about how you want to be positive all the time (makes sense). Don’t tell the kiddo ‘NO, pee doesn’t go on the floor it goes in the potty’. Instead, try ‘Remember to tell mama when you have to use the potty, okay’? It also talks about how you’re just going to use reminders to prompt them to tell you to pee, VS asking if they need to pee. Reason being the little ones like to feel trusted and in control, so saying ‘Let me know if you have to potty, ok’, vs ‘ Do you have to potty’?, is the way to go! This was tough to remember, but we got the hang of it after a couple hours and it worked.
Pretty much, those were the basics.
– Keep saying (like every 5 mins) ‘Remember to tell me if you have to potty’
– Be positive and always say ‘you’re supposed to tell me before you pee’ or something of that nature vs NO, peepee doesn’t go on the floor!
– Don’t put them on the potty every 10-15 mins or in any timed intervals. They need to learn what it feels like to have to ‘go’.
(there is muchhh more info in this method and it can be found at www.3daypottytraining.com)
These things listed, I followed to a T. We were super diligent and I didn’t go anywhere for those first 3 days. There were a couple things I did differently. I left her bare bum for the first 2 days… it worked for us, but I get it may not work for everyone. I didn’t do nap and nighttime training. Just wasn’t ready. I also didn’t do as suggested and leave the training potty in the bathroom. Again, maybe I’m lazy… but I brought it into the living room, or outside if we went outside… Eventually I will phase that out. But I don’t mind having it there. so why make things harder on us both!
Our first day was rough. She had probably 15-20 accidents and maybe 3 or 4 successes. The next day was better.. still tons of accidents, but more successes for sure! By day 3, she was down to only a couple accidents and many successes! I would say after 6-7 days she really had it down! She hasn’t had an accident in several days now (it’s been about 10 days since we started) and if she does have one, it’s usually because we can’t get her to the potty in time (because we are driving… her panties are sweaty and sticky… haha you know!) But the potty absolutely comes everywhere with us. Car.. yep! Walking.. you bet (in the stroller). And we have one upstairs and one downstairs.
How did it go over all? … Well, was she fully potty trained in 3 days? No… definitely not. Did she have an understanding of what ‘potty training was all about? 100%~! She just couldn’t hold it long enough sometimes for me to get her to the potty. Am I glad we did it? Absolutely! She picked it up so quickly and while it’s annoying to haul a potty around everywhere, it’s not forever, and we’re really not going many places still anyway. Mostly to someones house – mimi, nana, or one of the Aunties for the most part. So it’s easy to just bring the potty along.
Would love to hear about your experiences potty training! How did it go for you and how old were your littles when you did it!?
xxx
Andrea