Really OT…potty learning advice

[Mabouya]

On my ride yesterday, I saw a cyclist leaning on his bike on the other side of the road.

A few years ago while riding home, but still way too far away to "hold it," I stopped in a non-ideal, but still wooded, spot to take a leak. I leaned the bike against some small trees by the side of the road and walked about 10 paces in and took care of business. As I was walking out, but still about 5 feet from the bike and obviously not at the bike working on it, a convertible with the top down, a road bike on a rack in back, and and a 30ish blonde at the wheel pulled over and she said "Do you need any help?" About 20 different scenarios flashed through my head, but I was too embarrassed to say anything intelligent or clever, so all I could do is stammer "No, I just had to take a pit stop." So she said something like "OK" and drove off. She was probably my soul-mate, the perfect woman I'd been waiting my entire life to meet, but I was just too tongue-tied and I missed my chance...

[progetto]

Was it because you were still wooded.

A few years ago while riding home, but still way too far away to "hold it," I stopped in a non-ideal, but still wooded, spot to take a leak. I leaned the bike against some small trees by the side of the road and walked about 10 paces in and took care of business. As I was walking out, but still about 5 feet from the bike and obviously not at the bike working on it, a convertible with the top down, a road bike on a rack in back, and and a 30ish blonde at the wheel pulled over and she said "Do you need any help?" About 20 different scenarios flashed through my head, but I was too embarrassed to say anything intelligent or clever, so all I could do is stammer "No, I just had to take a pit stop." So she said something like "OK" and drove off. She was probably my soul-mate, the perfect woman I'd been waiting my entire life to meet, but I was just too tongue-tied and I missed my chance...

[kurto]

Right after my son turned 2, we tried the naked weekend, but he just wasn't ready for it yet, and it led to a lot of negative vibes around the house. We were trying to force him to use the potty, and he resisted so hard that by Monday, he held it until he got a diaper on for nap or bed. We scrapped it and went back to diapers. A couple months later, he said he wanted to use the potty, so we started letting him say when he wanted to go, and that was about half the times he went (the other half were in diapers). After a couple weeks of that, we went to big-boy underwear and created a series of incentives for when he went. Each successful trip to the potty got an M&M, a penny for his piggy bank, and a sticker on his potty chart. He loved his encouragement, and accidents were few and far between. He's almost 3 now, and he's got the potty stuff down. He still wears a pull-up for nap, which is almost always dry when he wakes up, and for bed. It sounds like your daughter is ready, but I would just add that some positive reinforcement and reward did wonders for us. My son loves dinosaurs, so he got dino stickers on his chart (my wife just got poster board and drew what looks kind of like a game board with empty spaces for stickers, and when it was full, we had a potty party where we went to Target and picked out a toy). He went crazy for this, and I can't recommend it enough. Good luck.

[Dave Wofford]

the long view. the long view. keep it light. don't make a big deal of it. pull ups for naps and nighttime.

we did start out with a small treat/reward for every initial potty action, but it didn't take long before he enjoyed going to the potty, was proud of himself and didn't care about the reward.

[Der_kruscher]

Our daughter was pretty easy and I think that it had a lot to do with the fact that she was in daycare a few days a week. She saw the older kids using the bathroom and tried to emulate them. Very few accidents and we didn't put any pressure on her if she felt like wearing her diapers again for a little while. She's four now and even though it was pretty easy for us, we were happy to have it over with. We have a second one on the way in about a month so back to diapers for a few years. It'll be interesting to see how the second one deals with potty training when the time comes.

[EricKeller]

my kids are no doubt relived that I have no recollection of how we did this. I have to say never freak out about anything your kids do and that's always a good start

[sbornia]

Update from the OP here…

We started first thing Saturday morning, and our little one seemed excited to run around the house in undies instead of a diaper. She said she understood to tell mommy or daddy if she needed to pee, and that we were trying to keep her undies dry. We kept at it with positive reminders all day, but by bedtime I think we were 0 for 7. Sunday morning, we gave it another shot…but by 11am we were 0 for 3, and everyone was cranky being cooped up inside on another beautiful day. So we made a command decision to postpone this transition, get back into diapers, and head out on the Big Dummy to lunch. Much happiness ensued.

In retrospect, I don't know if we missed an opportunity last month when she was using the potty after waking up dry each morning, or if she's just not ready to make the full switch. My speculation from observing her body language is that she doesn't yet know when she needs to pee until it's already happening, so giving us a little heads up wasn't really possible. We're going to be patient and try again sometime in the coming months.

Thanks again for all the tips!

[Jonathan]

I just saw this. My youngest is now 10 so I don't remember a bunch other than they do it when they are ready. It's a good time to really see how stubborn your kid will be as a teenager. Each one of mine was easier. Seeing their older brother or brothers take care of stuff was more help than anything we did. I'm so glad we don't have two in diapers but sad they grew up so quick.

[j44ke]

My buddy hit on pants-with-a-zipper as the trick for his son. Woohoo! A zipper! Every 10-20 minutes, heading to the bathroom to unzip, whip it out, put it back, zip up. Downside is that the kid was really pretty proud of the new technology, so until the novelty wore off, he took every opportunity to show people what he'd figured out. In the grocery, the shopping mall, preschool, church, etc.

He's 19 years old now, so his Dad gets to tell that story whenever the situation presents itself.

[joosttx]

No big deal if she is not ready, she is not ready.

Update from the OP here…

We started first thing Saturday morning, and our little one seemed excited to run around the house in undies instead of a diaper. She said she understood to tell mommy or daddy if she needed to pee, and that we were trying to keep her undies dry. We kept at it with positive reminders all day, but by bedtime I think we were 0 for 7. Sunday morning, we gave it another shot…but by 11am we were 0 for 3, and everyone was cranky being cooped up inside on another beautiful day. So we made a command decision to postpone this transition, get back into diapers, and head out on the Big Dummy to lunch. Much happiness ensued.

In retrospect, I don't know if we missed an opportunity last month when she was using the potty after waking up dry each morning, or if she's just not ready to make the full switch. My speculation from observing her body language is that she doesn't yet know when she needs to pee until it's already happening, so giving us a little heads up wasn't really possible. We're going to be patient and try again sometime in the coming months.

Thanks again for all the tips!

[Jonathan_Strada]

Once over the initial dry in the day part, I found lifting my daughter out of bed for a pee on the potty right by her bed just before you went to bed (ie 10.30pm) helped keep her dry overnight. I did this for about 4-6 weeks and we had no bed wetting incidents at all. She never rose from her slumber during the process if I kept her propped upright whilst she was on the potty. Hope that helps when the time is right.