A Sense of Accomplishment: Potty Training - What worked for us!

Silver was born in December and by January I was ready to only have one kid in diapers. I knew that River was capable of going, so here are my thoughts on potty training and what worked for us! There are so many different opinions about potty training. I realized there is no one right way or wrong way to do it - consistency is what it's all about! I read an article that said that the earlier to do it the better – her opinion around 2 years old was a great age for it, after 2 ½ they tend to get stuck in their ways and it’s harder to train them after that. I’ve also heard to do it when they’re ready – she was 2 1/2 and definitely ready!

River was waking up dry and was good about going potty if she didn’t have anything else on. I had friends that said to let them just wear a dress with nothing on underneath – this worked really good until we had to go somewhere, as soon as anything was on her, panties or diaper, she would not be dry for long.

Potty training was about learning how River told me she needed to use the bathroom. I stayed home for a couple of days so we wouldn’t have the distractions of stores, friends, etc. About a week or two before we started we told her “yucky” for poop in the diaper. I also fed her LOTS of fruit and drinks for those days – while we were in that mode learning, have lots of opportunities for going. Watermelon, peaches, real juices, etc. With straws, ice, popsicles, little cups, etc.

Once we started wearing only big-girl panties I avoided the padded training underwear – it felt too much like a diaper, and I wanted her to wake up wet to learn that we need to wake up in the middle of the night to go instead of waking up in the morning wet.

We stayed positive during those first couple of days, instead of punishment or time-outs for accidents, we stayed positive and had fun. We had her potty chair set up in her bathroom. We had talked for about 2 weeks about being a big girl and wearing only big girl panties. We went on a trip to Salt Lake and prepped her saying that we were going to be big once we got home from our vacation. We came home and that night I told her it was the last diaper. She was actually really excited about the idea. In the morning she got up and told me she was ready to be in big girl panties. We had a little party when we threw away the last diaper. It really helped to have Baby Silver and Big Girl River, it helped her distinguish that she was a lot bigger than Silver and could do so many big girl things.

We did a lot of praise for those days, telling her how big she was and how proud we were of her. She only asked for her diaper a couple of times, and with a distraction of a game or a “big-girl” activity like the computer she got her mind off the diaper.

We dressed her only in a T-shirt and her panties. This was SO important so that I could see the instant that an accident occurred, I could RUN her to the potty. The whole point is to catch them during the accident – every accident. I would simply remind her that she needed to keep her underwear dry and when she needed to go to let me know. I learned that Accidents are part of the training. If she started in her underwear and I ran her to the potty, then she could finish in the potty and felt good about herself.

We also didn’t ‘try’ to go. We didn’t sit on the toilet for a long time trying. I would let her see if she needed to go, and if nothing, then take her down. Also, instead of asking her if she needed to go, I would just say “Tell mommy when you need to go, okay?” My whole goal was to get her recognizing when she needed to go. She won’t learn her body’s signs of needing to go if she’s just sitting on the potty. Also, I think it helped her feel in control. We also did a pop quiz every so often for her to check if it was dry – I knew it was dry, but it was about giving her praise for staying dry and having her feel good about her accomplishment. We did a lot of praising and reinforcement. It was not only attention for the accidents, but TONS of attention for the dry times. Children thrive on Praise! I would call my parents on the phone and brag on the phone in front of her so she would know how proud I was of her.

I tried everything to distinguish between big girl and baby – I only put her underwear on standing up instead of laying down to change her underwear. Laying down = baby, standing up = big girl.

I learned so many things potty training River:
*Praise a Child – they thrive on that!
*Be positive – make it a positive experience for them, and by extension for you!
*Consistency – Kids thrive on something that is the same every time and that they know what will happen next. It’s been about 5 months now that she’s been potty trained and it is Fabulous to only have one kid in diapers.

**It gave her such a Sense of accomplishment, I can do this! I’m a big girl. She started doing so many more things after that, because she made the switch in her mind, that She’s a big girl and can do great things!