Post your Potty Training Stories here!

Well, it's the end of day 3 and Addie is not potty trained. She did great telling telling me twice when she needed to go today, but she also peed on the floor and laughed while doing it and looking right at me 3 times. Her other pees came when I noticed she had a damp spot on her panties and had her sit on the potty. I am trying not to get frustrated as in the grand scheme of things she is doing well. I wonder how long it will take for her to get it.

 

I can't believe I'm actually getting to post our SUCCESS story! Wow, what a hurdle I'm glad to have behind us! We started (this time) in April, the week before Easter. Both boys were pee trained w/in a few weeks. Poop training was another story for us! It seemed to have taken FOREVER! Ian just poop trained the beginning of June, while Grayson is was the beginning of July.

I will say, Grayson is dry even at sleeptimes and Ian is ALWAYS wet after sleep. Not sure how long this will last, but I'm not concerned about it at this point. We have made GREAT strides w/in the last couple of months.

What worked for us this time? Well, I honestly think the boys were just ready. They made up their minds and it was pretty much history. They even went straight the big potties...I was thrilled to be able to skip the potty chair...even though we have two because I was just sure that's the route we'd take. (I still have one in my car for emergencies)

Thanks for listening!

Alicia

 

After 8 days, we have abandoned the potty train. I gave it a good week, and DD did make a lot of progress, but she also regressed a lot too. After talking it over with my DH, we decided that she just doesn't seem motivated to pee in the potty. She'd do it sometimes, when she wanted to, when she wasn't busy, etc. But other times, she'd pee sitting right next to me on the floor. I don't want to jump through hoops and bribe her with big rewards just so she'll use the potty, so we're putting the PT on the back burner for awhile. I'd rather her desire to use the potty be self-motivated and a self-esteem booster rather than a daily struggle with me. Maybe that's just a dream, but I have plenty of time to wait and see.

Today is her first day in diapers, and she's told me after she's peed almost every time. But not once before. She also hasn't asked to use the potty at all. I think that pretty much tells me that she isn't into the potty right now.

 

We just made the switch from diapers to underwear on Saturday morning, so today is day 4. It's 4:41 pm, and today we have had NO accidents! I am thrilled, because yesterday was awful. I'm sure there will be good and bad days along the way. We decided to make the commitment to just use diapers while they are sleeping, and always use underwear (right now cotton training pants) during the day. Everyone has advised me not to put on diapers or pull-ups, so I just bring a lot of extra clothes, wipes, plastic bags, etc. when we go out. So far, things are going well, but my daughter has sort of wet on purpose twice. I was really upset inside, but I was careful to remain calm. I think now that she realizes she won't get a rise out of me, she's shooting for positive attention instead. We're singing a song, giving sticker and high fives, and just a lot of encouragement. I hope things continue to go well. Sometimes taking both of them to the bathroom seems to eat up the whole day!

 

I've been hesitant to post in here, worrying I'd jinx it if I posted about it! But, I do believe, my boys are day trained! I'm not worried about night time...that will come with time & maturity. They wake wet every morning, but it's a LOT less than before we started training.

Aiden had been showing signs of wanting to train for months. We were lazy about it. I felt he was too young & I liked the convenience of diapers . I never really discouraged him, but I never really put forth any effort to train him either. After he started showing some signs of regression, I began to worry that I was losing my window...so we went for it! I had a week off of work, so one morning, I put him in undies. He had 2 accidents that morning & that was that. He had another accident when he told us he had to pee & we didn't get him to it in time (we were outside). Otherwise, he's been dry ALL day...even with naps! After a few days, he started going less frequently & now he can hold it up to 2 hrs or so at a time!

I wasn't planning on training Conner. He was showing signs of interest, but not readiness. I was really skeptical with him & when he kept asking to go potty, I finally just put him in Pull Ups so I could continue to focus on Aiden's training (Conner was able to independently use the potty with his Pull Ups). I couldn't believe it when he remained dry all day one day! I sent him off to daycare after my week off & again...dry. So, we went to undies & voila, he's day trained...nap & all!

Poop was NEVER an issue. In fact, Conner was poop trained before pee trained ! We have NEVER had a poop accident. I was really worried about it, but I guess I had no reason to be!

My boys essentially trained themselves. We used an M&M for poop, but otherwise just verbal praise for peeing & staying dry. The M&M reward was done when the bag was done. We give them a little treat after dinner if they've remained dry all day, but even that is getting phased out. Conner had a few days of regression that really had me worried, but I think it was my fault. Aiden has done so great, that I never have to remind him to go potty...he just goes on his own. Conner apparently still needs a little reminding. Once we started reminding him after a while, he has been dry ever since!

The boys still use the little potty chairs & I'm nervous to make the transition to the big potty (mainly because then *I* need to help them vs them doing it independently). We have had lots of incidents where they pee ON their pants/undies because they don't tuck or pull their pants down enough. I'd love for that to stop! But, I'd rather them pee ON their pants than IN them !

I cannot believe how easy PTing was for us. I never in a million years expected my boys to be trained by 27 mos. Crazy! I still miss the convenience of diapers when we're out & about, but overall, I'm enjoying saving money on diapers & wipes! I'm also getting to see every public bathroom (ewww) & am glad I purchased a potty for in the van!

So, like I had heard a gazillion times, they'll train when THEY'RE ready to train !

 

I was happy when my oldest son came home from daycare one day and just started asking to go to the bathroom. He was only 28months old at the time and in a matter of weeks he had trained himself!! I was relieved that it was so easy and I never had to fight with him because I wanted him potty trained before the twins were born. Then my twins came early at 31wks and when I was in the hospital and my son was shuffled back and forth from family members things all fell apart. He regressed back to using a diaper full time and it took almost a whole year for me to get him to go on the potty again Finally two weeks ago I had enough and decided that he was going to wear underwear no matter what and for the first week I had to do a lot of laundry but finally last week he decided to go to the potty on his own because he was tired of being wet I think. Thanks to those of you who gave me this suggestion here on TS, things have been going really good, he does occationally have an accident but for the most part he goes to the potty all day and even during the night. I thought this day would never come!

 

Hello,

I have twin 26 month old identical girls. They are fiesty im sure like most here!! My girls were survivors of TTTS. ALthough one of my twins, Sidney (donor) is deaf. She has a cochlear implant, which is great but its hard to get her to wear it..Potty training...We started potty training because my hearing baby started realizing pee and poop. Great, but Noa, (hearing baby) Loves to talk about peeing and pooping as well as removing her pull up about every 5-10 minutes, but refuses to pee or poop on the potty or toilet. She congratulates herself for sitting and saying finished after 3 seoncds on the potty. Where as Sidney whom I thought we would have more trouble with is a real champ! Difficult part is she doesn't tell us when she has to go, so we simply put her on the potty often. But she does all her buisness in the potty! I think a few more weeks and we might say bye bye to pull ups at least for one of the girls, hopefuly the other will follow shortly!

Cara

 

Good Luck Cara! Hope you have speedy potty training success!!

 

okay I see that there are no new stories since 4 months so here is ours:

I put out 2 different potties on our downstairs, right outside the toilet and also a ring next to the toilet with the stool right before the kids 2nd birthday.
I picked very simple potties with no music, games or whatsoever, we also never had potty DVD's and such but both, Kaden and Liana started to want their diapers off right after pee or #2 a month before that. at that point, when we were at home, I always asked them if they would like to be naked for a while, or wear a underpants or a diaper.

it took Kaden about 3 days to be dry at home, I only wear a diaper for night and nap. on day 4 I started to do outings with him in underwear and he did great from the start, 1 little pee accident, other than that, 80% of the time he would say when he had to go and whenever there was a bathroom closeby, I went in anyways, and most of the times he did go, pee and #2.

so he was so easy and really just took about a week to be potty learned, that's how I call it, let's face it, training is if they are not quite ready, to me, it's more learning.

Liana still picked more often diapers at home but liked to be naked, about 2 weeks after Kaden was dry, she started to pick as well only underwear and staid dry on the go as well from the start. I do ask her more often and make her go sit even if she doesn't ask, and most of the times, she goes pee, she did only have a couple #2 in home potty or on the go but no accidents.

I just bought the potette 2-in-1 portable potty, it's great! it folds up small for any bag and comes with liners so even if no bathroom around, it folds up like a little potty on legs and they can go inside and you just disgard the bag. you can also use it on public restrooms so they don't have to touch the real toilet.
it comes with 3 liners and a separate bag of 10 liners costs 6$ but I tried it with regular shopping plastic bags and they work as well !

I am really proud of my twins for being so cooperative and happy about the whole process, they get soooo excited when to go in the potty or the big toilet and always help cleaning it out too. I do realize it's quite early and let's just hope it stays that way

I never attempted to do rewards and such, but in general as well, I am not planning reward system really.

happy to give tips if needed,
alexa

 

:spy: I am feeling brave enough not to jinx myself by posting a 'success story.' I hope I don't regret this :spy:

IME potty training was SUPER easy and only took 18 months Um, yeah here is our story. Ana started to express interest in peeing on the potty at 18 months old. I got the Bjorn potty chairs (two plain white ones so they wouldn't fight over them- ha! they still fought about them), and Ana started peeing on the potty immediately, but really only once a day before bath time.

This went on for about 6 months so when they were a little over 2 I decided I was going to try to train Ana. It was warm out so I figured I'd put the potties outside and we'd see what happens. Amazingly, Meara was the one who caught on immediately and Ana had no interest in peeing on the potty anymore. She would actually say to me "No mommy. You change my diaper!" Nice : <_< So Meara was day trained for most of last summer (summer of 2009), but only for pee. She refused to poop on the potty.

Then came fall with heavier clothes and Meara lost interest and DH and I got lazy. It started innocently enough with the occassional pull-up here and there, and then we just went back to diapers all together. Then the holidays and cross-country trip came around and I wasn't about to try to train them right before then, excuses excuses.

All of a sudden DH and I realized it was almost their 3rd birthday and OMG they were still in diapers! So about a month before their birthday we started making a big deal about the potty. I printed up some special elmo pictures from the computer and they got to color them. Then we told them every time they sat on the potty they'd get a special sticker to put on elmo. They didn't need to pee, they just needed to sit. After 2 weeks of that, they had both filled their elmos and were going pee most of the times they sat.
Incidentally Ana had a slower start, but when she saw Meara's elmo getting full, she kicked it up a notch (ah peer pressure :bubble.

So once the Elmo pictures were full, we started a more formal pee/poop chart with each day of the week as its own column. We put them in pull ups (for my sanity mostly!), and every time they produced on the potty they got a sticker. We did this for a week and then Meara got a stomach virus. This could have derailed us completely, but instead she got over her fear of pooping on the potty! Yeah!

And then the girls had a fate-full trip to the playground when a 5 year old girl asked them, gasp, if they were wearing DIAPERS?! After this, Meara insisted on underwear and even though the next day we went on vacation, we put her in undies and she has been trained pee and poop ever since (except for nap and night).

While on that vacation Ana got the stomach virus and just like her sister, got over her issues with pooping on the potty. She was about a week behind Meara in fully training, but she is also now in undies all the time (except for nap and night).

Last week another 3 year old at the play ground asked them if they were wearing big girl undies and they proudly pulled down their shorts to show them off. Then the little girl did the same and the three happily played together all afternoon. Silly girls! :friends:

So in the end, once they were totally ready AND once DH and I were totally ready, the whole PT'ing thing was pretty painless for everyone. anties: anties:

 

yeah Leighann ! way to go, congrats! how are they doing right now? it is such a relieve, isn't it?

 

so here is the BEST, ABSOLUTE necessary piece of equipment needed for potty training: the pantishield! My DD is STILL having poop accidents (it's all a control thing) so I now put a pantiliner in her undies. This way, when she makes skid marks several times a day, I just rip out the pantiliner and don't have to hand-scrub the underwear. YAY! Hope this helps....................

 

Order the book "Potty training in 3 days". It works!!!

 

I have definitely heard good things about that one!

 

It's been over a week now without any accidents so I guess I can post a success story! :spy: Hopefully I don't jinx myself...

I heard about the 3 day potty training method from a couple girlfriends who had used it and decided this was going to work for us. We had a long weekend and lots of help so we decided to go for it when the girls were 26 months old. J had been showing interest in the potty for months and had been telling us for about a month when she would pee and poo in her diaper and request a change. K had shown no interest at all. Originally I was going to train J and not K but at the last minute decided to do them both together.

After 6 days we were having no accidents and I was in shock, especially with K since I really didn't think she would get it. We still use a pull up for bedtime and nap but they are mostly dry after nap so I could probably drop that pull up. They have no problems going in public washrooms and they hardly ever use the 'little' potty anymore at home, they just use a stool and hold themselves on our full size toilet and go. I highly HIGHLY recommend the 3 day potty training method!!! It will work!!!

 

My 4 1/2 year old DS is still wearing pull ups at night time. The only way he doesn't wet the bed is if I wake him during the night to oet him use the bathroom. Any suggestions? Is this abnormal?? My DD doesn't wet the ned or her undies during the night

 

I am so excited! I will start at the beginning.. We had tried potty training back this spring, twins were about 28 months.. They would pee on the potty here and there, but nothing consistent. So I let it go for a while, not really pushing it.. I was on vacation over 4th of July week, and my daughter(Alyvia) stayed dry all day long, going on the potty all by herself or telling me she had to go. She has benn potty trained (day) ever since, very seldom would have an accident. I just started putting her in undies and she was fine. Well then DS (Ayren)decided that if sissy could do it, he could. So he all of a sudden started peeing in the potty.. They have both been day trained since this summer.

I hadn't dared to let them go all night with no diaper on. Well 2 mornings ago Alyvia woke up dry. We made a big deal about it. I told my hubby that I think if we just let her wear undies to bed, she will "know" she has them on and stay dry.. So we jumped in with both feet. we put garbage bags on their beds, and talked about them sleeping with big boy and big girl undies on all day. They have woke up 2 mornings in a row, DRY!!!!! I don't want to get too excited, but I told hubby that I was not buying anymore diapers.. unless they really start regressing... YAY

They will be 3 on December 31. I was so worried that they would be so hard to train.. but they were a ton easier than our older son..

 

Has anyone used Pottywise? We tried at 22 months but my gut told me they just were not ready. They had all the signs but not the interest. Tomorrow they turn 26 months...take 2. I am using Pottywise. Day 1 tough as expected. So far Jude 4 accidents and 2 successes. Zoe 5 accidents and 1 success. I am going to train for 5 days and re-evaluate. The reason I started is because they have used the potty several times nonchalantly on their terms and also, they hate wearing the diaper...they pee in it a little and they strip it off and throw it on the floor, then put up a fit when I put another one on them - I know they are not comfortable on their legs...they leave marks..even the bigger size. Anyway, I have not been in the mood to try but I decided this weekend that we would go for it again. So far today even with the accidents their spirits are high, they are not fighting me, and seem to rush at the potty when they realize they are having an accident. I am assuming part of the training is getting used to the oncoming feel of peeing especially, and that I shouldn't get discouraged on the first day...lol. I was going to do one at a time but they are both interested today so I decided what the heck.

UPDATE: Well, I have one potty trained! She is that story I always heard about. After 3 days she just got it and has been potty trained for over a week now. We still wear a diaper at night but not at nap and not out in public. It is like she was just ready - and she is not the one I set out to train. The other one I know is physically ready but is just not ready in her mind yet. She would tell me she was going to pee on the floor and then go do it. After 6 days of that I was like, nope, I am not going to have this battle. I don't think it will be long before we train her though because she is getting annoyed with her sisters constant success...hopefully it will be motivation.

 

I"m still in the middle of potty training. It's been very successful so far! But, there was one very cute incident I thought I'd bring up. On this past Thursday, Kiefer decided he wanted to give the toilet a go. He didn't want me to watch him so he insisted I leave him to do it on his own. Sure, why not. So me and DH stayed outside the bathroom door (which he closed behind us) and listened for him to tell us he's done. I don't hear anything, but then he announced he peed. I go back in to the room and there's Kiefer standing at the toilet leaning on the lid as he was taught, but he had his pants up. Poor guy! He was a bit confused. He was so sure he did all the steps correctly but somehow he still managed to wet himself. He still got a sticker for his attempt. He's gotten much better at remembering the steps now, at least. :wub:

 

Thank god for this thread.. My ID girls will be 2.5 in april and show no interest in the potty. They do tell me when they poop in their diapers though. I went and got them 2 potty chairs and once or twice they may have peed in them. My problem is this.. I am the only one in both of our families to have twins.. No one else gets the "twin thing" if you will. Lately i was told by a family member that i am just too lazy to potty train them, and If i just listen to what advice everyone is telling me, it would work. That if I would just do what she did, or what they did for their 1 child, i would not have 2 kids still in diapers at 27 months.. Arnt I embarssed that my 2 kids are not potty trained?!?! Reading your stories here, i feel so much better now, and im going to back off on the pottytraining till the beginning of the summer.

 

I'm frustrated with our potty training success here. Evan will be 4 at the end of April. The twins were potty trained at 3y1m. He has been showing some signs.
Picture this (cuz I am NOT posting a picture!)

I was downstairs and he was upstairs one morning. He was playing and I was doing laundry. I came out of the laundry room hearing him talking (still upstairs) and I hear a key word: "Potty." I head upstairs and see a stark naked boy going into the pantry, reaching for the M&M's!!! He stripped out of his jammies and went potty and then was going for his reward! arty: He did that one time the next day as well, except he left his shirt on that time. It's slow, but it is progress.

 

Awesome news, Jackie!

 

See, I would totally tell my family members that if they wanted to potty train the twins, they were more than welcome to do it. If you don't mind it, then don't worry about it until they're ready. Both of mine were fairly painless once I waited for them to be ready.

 

In November, when the boys were 2y10m, we started "Potty Training Boys the Easy Way," which is a VERY low-pressure, child-led approach. You ask your child (at a time when you're going to be home for a couple hours and have the energy/attention to devote to it) if they want to wear a diaper or underwear. So you have basically "practice sessions" in underwear and work up from there as they express interest. I was a little sporadic with it. Alex rarely wanted to wear underwear but Will was often game to try. I didn't feel like we were making much progress, but then in mid to late Feb (a month after they turned 3) Will started asking very frequently to wear underwear. I decided to go cold-turkey and give the 3 Day PT method a try. I decided to bring Alex along for the ride and see how it went. Will had only 1 accident the whole 3 days! Alex had 5 the first day, 6 the second, and none the third!

Since then it's been going fairly well. Neither of them poops on the potty yet but since we still use diapers for naps and nighttime, they usually just wait and poop in those. Otherwise they're doing pretty well. Not a lot of accidents and when they do have them it's usually when they don't want to stop what they're doing to go potty or they're tired/distracted. They get an M&M for peeing in the potty and also a sticker for their sticker chart, and each time they fill up a row (10 stickers) they get to choose a small prize from our prize bag. They get a packet of fruit snacks or a lollipop if they poop in the potty but since that's not really happening yet, they mostly go untouched.

 

I have to potty train my twins before school starts next year in January. I decided to start the first weekend after school broke up. They have been using the potty when they wake up in the morning before getting dressed and before bathing in the evening for a couple of months now. The week leading up to the weekend we talked about wearing panties and underpants, no more diapers, just for sleeping at night. The big girl/boy thing. I dreaded starting this next challenge, but they totally surprised me by asking to wear panties/underpants the Friday before the weekend. Only one accident on day one ....... beginners luck. Now 2 weeks into training things are going well, we mostly have accident free days. They have also decided to use mommy/daddy's toilet. ( I put a step at the toilet and a special seat in for them.) The only problem is when we are outside in the garden (we have summer here and a heat-wave at the moment) and they want to wee or poo they will pull down their underwear and just do it right there. I am glad they don't do it in their underwear, but we will have to work at getting them to run inside and using the toilet. The next challenge is traveling to my parents that live an hour away from us.

 

Success!! We finally potty trained! (They are a couple months shy of 3) Here's my story:
 
We had been trying off and on since before they were 2. (I know, I was a bit delusional). They learned how to use the potty, but would never go on their own. Time passed and I wanted to keep them home for several days for one of those 3 day methods, but we kept getting sidetracked with birthdays, holidays, illness, you name it. All the while I kept trying to encourage use of the potty. People suggested sticker charts, candy, toys, special trips, cool underwear... no amount of bribery worked. No amount of "you're a big kid, not a baby" or "your cousins/friends at school use the potty" talk worked either. We tried weekends with underwear.. they didn't want to wear underwear, refused to sit on the potty.. accidents everywhere (even though they clearly hated the wet feeling)...would always ask to have the diaper back. Lots of frustration and crying.
 
I kept seeing their daycare reports telling me that they were dry most of the day, and using the potty without issue. Of course at home it was the complete opposite.
They were changing the kids regardless of whether or not the diaper had been used. Talk about throwing my money away!
 
So basically, I got fed up. A couple of weeks ago I told my husband that we're not buying diapers anymore.  I then sat down with the kids and said:
"Listen, kids... I went to the store and they said they can't sell us diapers anymore.. there's a shortage on diapers. They can't give us any because you're too big, and they need to give all the diapers to the babies".
Naturally, I got a steady string of "why?" questions. My daughter even followed up with "Can we get a baby?" HAHA
 
Anyway, I told them this every day during the week and then when the weekend came told them that we were going to start wearing underwear so we can practice using the potty. I would remind them: "We're running out of diapers!". They put on their undies, no problem. Of course the first day we had a lot of accidents, but on day 2, the light bulb went on for my daughter. We went to put on her night-time diaper and she refused! She has been 90% accident free since.
 
My son took an additional weekend of "practice". He hadn't been using the potty with the regularity that my daughter had. (My daughter had learned that she could delay bedtime by stating that she had to use the potty).
But, by the end of the 2nd weekend my son was on board too.
 
A couple of days ago they were playing on their own, I heard my daughter whisper to my son "I have to go potty... don't play with my toys" and she ran off to use the potty... OH HER OWN.
We're currently using a different brand of diapers.."special night time diapers" until they are consistently dry at night (in daughter's case, she doesn't always want to wear the diaper, but hey! that's fine by me.. she's dry at night most of the time anyway)
 
I cannot believe that it worked... I wish that I had gotten fed up sooner. These kids are like me.. I have never cared about material things, but if there's a sense of obligation I feel like I have no choice.

 

Yay!! I love the diaper shortage! That's a gem. Woo!

 

OMG!  now that is a smart thinking kid!
love.it.