[name]Rowan[/name] is 16 months old now and we are discussing buying her a potty soon, but I have absolutely no experience potty training so I feel kind of lost. Where should I start?
Let accidents happen it’s the only was they will learn. Most people start thinking about potty training between 18 to 24 months so you could wait a little while. Girls normally catch on quicker than boys and learn faster. This website may be helpful.http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/potty-training-tips.aspx#close I started my boys when they were about two and they were completely dry during the day at the age of three and a half and now are dry during the night at the age of five.
Personally, I would wait until she shows an interest.
[name]One[/name] of the tricky things about trying to train younger toddlers is that they don’t have the fine motor skills required to remove/replace their own pants and undies to use the toilet.
[name]Emilia[/name]
I would, personally, make it into a routine. Keep her in diapers, get the potty, talk about the potty, let her see you going to the potty (in fact, I like just getting a step stool and a insert for the big toilet, because after all, kids want ti do what we do!). make it seem so fun and exciting and cool. Show her a video about it, read a book about it, make it fun.
During your day, find times where you can consistently taker her to the bathroom. After she wakes up, after eating morning snack, before sleeping, before you leave the house, etc. Make it just a part of daily life. [name]Praise[/name] any time she actually pees or poos in the potty at all. Also, try and notice if she has any poop signals, like hiding, a certain stance, a facial expression, etc. And take her to the potty then. Never make it seem like a mistake if she gos in the diaper. You can think of anything that goes in the toilet as a happy bonus. [name]Yu[/name] are just trying to build the association first. remember, you need to take her, your need to pull her pants down, you need to sit her on the potty, you need to wash her hands, etc. No stress for her either (which is why it should just become part of the routing, not on mommy’s whim, or when you think about it. [name]Do[/name] it every day at certain times)
After a few months of this, when you feel she understands how to actually use the potty and what’s it’s for, and you think she is
beginning to feel her own need to go, you can step it up, take away diapers, do the three day boot camp, etc. For now, just take it easy, and let her begin to associate her pee and poo with the potty instead of the diaper.
A lot of people around me start their kids from birth, but I waited until 6 months so I didn’t have to worry about him tipping over on his little potty. Obviously that isn’t the norm outside of my area, and I can understand waiting until your child is older so that they can pull down and up their own pants (less work). But I will still tell you what I did. Going potty became a routine. Wake up, go potty, eat, go potty, play, go potty etc… [name]Don[/name]'t stress over the accidents. This is a process and you need to be supportive and confident that your child will learn. Also keep pushing forward. If you miss a time to take your kid to the potty and they have an accident, shrug it off and take them the next time. Lastly celebrate the small victories. When they do go on the potty make sure they know that they did a good job, perhaps give them a hug or a sticker (my son prefers stickers). Yes, at [name]Eldon[/name]'s age he still needs lots of help, but if I get him there on time he is very consistent about using the potty. Hopefully this helps.
Niece 1: Her mom’s friend mother taught her. We are unsure what she did, but she was trained in about 2-3 days. Basically, over the weekend she was completely trained. I believe she was about 18 months.
Niece 2: She was trained by Niece 1, I believe she was about 12 months. Whenever Niece 1 went to the bathroom, she would take her.
Niece 3: She watched Niece 1 and Niece 2, or basically when she was really ready. She was 12 months.
Niece 4: I don’t remember her correct age. When I graduated H.S. I came to help my mom take care of her. I believe she was already in the process of being trained, she just kept having accidents. So we would put her in pull-ups and reminded her when to take potty breaks. It was a bit difficult at times.
Niece 5: Not sure, she had a lot of medical problems when she was born. She was born very premature. She was born in [name]September[/name] and was supposed to be born in February (if memories serves me right), so my sister took her time with her. Her age and development were not really balanced. If you see her now, you wouldn’t believe me.
Niece 6: She was/is almost like mines. She was the easiest for me. She was 10 months when she was officially trained. At the time I wasn’t in a hurry to train her because was so small. I was afraid she would fall in the toilet. (The training potties was useless for us.) I was still having trouble with her older sister, Niece 4, so she would notice what I did with her. [name]One[/name] day she just didn’t want to wear pampers, so she asked if should could wear a pull up, sure why not. I actually thought it was her older sister coming in to use the bathroom without me reminding her. Only when she turned the corner, I realized it was her and she had the brightest and biggest smile on her face. We watched her for a few days/nights and noticed she didn’t have any accidents and would go whenever she felt the “need” to. After, about a week, it was pointless to waste money on buying pull ups for her too, so she just wore her “Big Girl Panty” to bed. I remember one morning she woke up and was so upset with herself because she didn’t get up in time and ‘tinkled’ on her self a bit. My mom and I thought it was funny because we wouldn’t have known she had the accident if she didn’t start crying. So we just told her it was alright accidents happen and that it’s not a big deal. When we smiled, she did too, so I suppose it was reassuring to her. She is 9 y.o. now and I can honestly say she only had three accidents top when she was younger (not including sickness, but still less than the average of her sisters and cousins).