I’ve posted this before in a similarly related thread.
Let me know if this video is of any help.
That’s awesome. Nothing like a dookie with a face, I always say!
Because I was a long term bedwetter (until I was twelve) I’m always really hesitant to tie night dry with potty trained. In my view, they are two seperate events - potty trained is recognizing the signs that your body needs to go to the bathroom, getting there, using the potty, cleaning up after yourself. Night dry means getting to a point where your body will wake up when you feel the urge - that’s a whole different kettle of fish for a lot of kids (I had to set an alarm for the middle of the night until I was a teenager). Some kids will do both simultanously, others will wet the bed for quite a few years before outgrowing it (or now I think they do medical intervention earlier than when I was a kid). Most kids seem to have a couple month to a year lapse between the two. So don’t even worry about night dry until you get the day thing down pat.
There’s Once Upon a Potty.
Didn’t make a lick of difference over here, but the pictures were pretty.
I’m firmly in the “wait until the child is ready, don’t push it” school. Child #1 trained just after her third birthday, and it was a piece of cake. One Saturday she wore underwear, she had a couple of accidents on Sunday, and by Monday it was mostly a done deal.
We had a potty around for her to practice on since she was 18months, mostly because she was curious and interested in mimicking like your daughter. She practiced sitting on the potty now and then, but as late as 2.5yrs still didn’t connect the full bladder feeling with needing to go and the sensation of going. When she was ready, it all clicked. We didn’t have to cajole and plead, but just reminded her every hour or two to go. After a couple of weeks we didn’t even have to remind her. She just went, or told us she had to go.
My mother in law had been making subtle comments that make me believe she thinks we waited too long. I let them roll off my back. She kept giving us coupons for Pull-Ups. I don’t believe in them. I don’t think they’re evil, but I think they’re unncessary. Why transition from diapers to Pull-Ups and from Pull-Ups to undies?
They don’t give out parenting awards for “Earliest Potty Trainer.” It’s not a contest, it’s not an indication of intelligence. Waiting made it easier on everyone involved.
I agree with this. They didn’t have pull-ups when Kid Kalhoun was little. He went from diapers to the heavy terry underwear (I think they’re smaller or something) and then to Underoos shortly thereafter.
For my son, pullups were a lifesaver. He could change his own pullups and did for about a year - long before he was able to use the potty dependably at all. Training pants with both my kids were useless, since they just wet through them and therefore I had wet carpet, wet couch. And they both fought plastic over the training pants.
For my daughter they had the effect of being enough like underwear that she felt she was done - we had to go back to diapers for her to understand. For her, it was all about not being in diapers - and pullups weren’t diapers – “good enough, I’m done.” But once again, training pants were a nightmare for me - actually worse with her than with him.
Pull ups are great for when the kid wants to try things out but is not reliably able to know when he needs to go yet. When you are out on an errand and your kid wants to go potty, that is great, but if he misses his chance, it is much easier to change a pull up then have a wet kid in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. For my kid, once he gave up diapers he didn’t want to wear them anymore, but he just wasn’t ready to leave the house in regular underwear yet. The cold when wet kind and the feel when wet liner kind never fazed him though. Didn’t make a difference to him if it was cold. So I have to chime in with “whatever works for your kid.” There is no one size fits all here, if your kid is excited about potty training for whatever reason, go for it. If not, don’t push it. Keep trying different things until something works.
In our case, my son just turned 3 and I now am thinking we kept him in pull ups a little too long. Not a big deal - we just switched to underwear a few days ago and he knew how to put them on, take them off and such already, so the transition from pull ups to underwear wasn’t so much a transition as just “here, wear these instead.” We knew he was already capable of staying dry.
Our issue now is poop. He is great at peeing, can stand up, sit down, hold it through naps and all, but does not want to poop on the potty at all. He is not constipated, he just waits until he is in bed (still wears a pull up overnight) and goes then, sometimes changing himself in the early morning so there is a lovely suprise awaiting us when we go into his room. I am not sure if he doesn’t want to go on the potty, or if he just relaxes enough at night to realize he needs to go. I hate the thought of putting him in underwear overnight to force him to poop himself. He obviously already does not like being in a dirty pull up as he will either immediately tell us or change it himself. I am more afraid he will just hold it in. He talks about doing it on the potty, is excited about it, and did it…once. He seemed quite proud and happy about it, then never did it again. Don’t know where to go from here other than ride it out.
Happy times!
The poop thing is getting to be a problem for us, too…if my daughter is wearing just underpants, she will do it in the potty, but if she has a pull up or diaper on, she goes in that. Then she takes it off and says “I have to go potty.” Uh…no, too late! Lots of fun cleaning up for mommy!
I hate potty training.
I agree…I found wearing cotton training pants went a long way. The kids can feel when they’re wet. Once Ivygirl caught on, she trained herself in about a day. She had a couple of accidents, but it’s a matter of learning the"bladder is about to bust" feeling and what happens when you let it bust.
I do have one more peice of advice. Whatever you do, do not anger the Parenting Gods - particularly the minor demigods of the Potty - by claiming that YOU were responsible for your child potty training early or implying that potty training early means either you are a superior parent or have a superior child. The Gods are fickle, and the Potty Gods in particular have a sense of humor. Potty karma is bad - your next child could be a four year old shit smearer.
(Biting karma is similar - if you make a huge deal to another parent or daycare teacher about your child getting bit and HOW COULD THEY LET THAT HAPPEN you are almost guarenteed to have your child turn into a “cause black and blue marks and break the skin” biter.)
I am praying that this works in reverse…if you have a 3 year old who is stubborn as a mule & doesn’t care in the least if she sits in poop all day long, that the next one will come along and practically potty train themselves at 24 months, just to let you know that you aren’t the most incompetent mother in the world. 
I think pullups are counterproductive. Either have a diaper or let the child feel the wetness in his underwear.
Wait until the child is ready. That will save everybody a ton of frustration. And the age varies with child. I had one 3 year old that wore diapers one day, and was dry (even at night) the next and thereafter.
NOOOOOOOOOOO!