Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Potty?

Ok Moms...give up the goods...Mac is showing signs of wanting to potty train. I am in research mode...let's get some advice and tips going!

Thanks!

1 comment:

Margaret said...

(You know I can't resist commenting on this.)

My low down is...
1) Buy the potty seat that goes on the potty. I never wanted to clean out the other kind. You do have to wash between the seat and the pad on occassion.

2) I love pull-ups brand because the sides have a velcro-like open/close, which is nice for accidents.

3) The bottom line from my experience is that in the beginning, you spend awhile training them about what happens when you sit on the potty (which means you have to take them very frequently to have some successes to praise/reward) - which is more like "mommy training" than "potty training". Then you spend awhile working on getting them to communicate that they need to go (which all depends on how verbal your child is). And in then end, you have to buckle down and move on to panties - expecting some accidents, but it's a jolt of reality that finally seals the deal.

I started at 23 months with Caroline and she wasn't totally panty trained during the day until we did panties hard core at 2 1/2.

Charlotte started right before her second birthday too. She's a much better communicator and I think if I'd buckle down and hit the panties again, we just might be done in a couple weeks.

Other random tips...
Keep a basket of books to read to her while she sits.
Try different reward tactics (candy, stickers, praise, etc.) to find what motivates her.
They do make folding seats to put in the diaper bag for potties during outings.
I used kandoo wipes for Caroline, but I've just been using TP for Charlotte. Wipes on the occassion that she does a #2 b/c she will clench the TP as I'm trying to wipe and it get's stuck. Who wants that ; )

I guess that's it. Just don't put a lot of pressure on yourself and keep in mind that it can be a very long process.

And don't worry about naptime or nighttime training until the day stuff is done. Just use diapers or nighttime pullups.