Toilet Training in Less Than a Day

This method is awesome for the kid who is easy going and is eager to please. Instead of a 50 dollar peeing doll we used her favorite teddy bear and a squirt bottle. She saw how I made bear pee but it didnt matter and was really effective. we psyched her up for the big day for a week before we started. Wrapped the potty like a present so it was really exciting. Talked about how fun it would be..read potty books about big girls. Worked like a charm. Early in the training she was burned out on sugar treats so we used a sticker chart, party hats and a candle she could blow out as a reward ("Susie is a big girl today"- to happy birthday tune). She also was told she could open a present for each poo on the potty (extra incentive to try). We went through all the steps of training and after 2 hrs she hadnt managed to pee yet despite 3 juice boxes. I went into the kitchen to make an early lunch and she came to get me 5 minutes later fully dressed saying she had peed in the potty and wanted a treat. "yeah right" I thought, but sure enough she had pulled her pants down, peed in the pot and pulled her pants up all by herself. After showing me she took the pot, marched to the bathroom, dumped it in the toilet and flushed! We started training at 9am and this was at 11! The rest of the day she had only 2 accidents. With the accidents you are supposed to do 10 practice potty drills. The trick for us was to make them fun. Some parents think it works better if they dont like it and cry but it worked great for us as fun practice (they're called positive practice drills after all). Talk in an upbeat voice with a smile about it but remind her that you have to practice so she doesnt go pee pee in her pants again. "if you were in here playing with your dolly and suddenly you had to go pee pee what do you do? do you go in your pants? No, run to the potty! Quick! Go go go! Thats right! Now pull down your pants! OK, 9 more times! Lets pretend you were here coloring and suddenly you have to poop! What do you do?...right! to the potty! Go go go! Faster faster! YEah! Good job! OK 8 more times!" It is exausting but it works. Instead of getting frustrated by each accident be happy that there is an opportunity for practice. Never show frustration or anger and remember that this is a new concept and requires practice! This is where she figured out a lot of the steps like how to pull up and down her undies..and later her pants and undies. And even though she had fun with the drills I think she realized she didnt want to do drills all the time. The second day she had no accidents except during her sleep at nap time. She also pooed in the potty twice on day two after holding it all day the first day. Cried after the first one because she thought she did something wrong (we had to throw another potty party and get out a present). We called cookie monster and dora explorer on the phone. You have to watch the face for #2 and then rush her/him to the potty. Reading books and drinking juice boxes on the potty was key to relaxing her enough so she could go #1 or #2. Potty books worked best because she was thinking about it. At some point in the training I was burnt out on talking about potties so we watched a video of a mom using this method with her two year old and also some potty songs we found on youtube. She was riveted watching the little girl go through the same training steps she just did with me and her teddy bear.. I think this method might be tricky if your child has an especially defiant personality but the steps might actually help them be less defiant. Keep it fun and if they get upset give hugs and keep talking upbeat and how proud you are of them for learning how to be a big kid. If they melt down durinng practice promise a treat after 10 runs. They say dont treat for practice but if it keeps them going and enjoying learning and keeps them practicing do it. Also use it to teach numbers (7 more times and your finished and get a treat! -show your fingers..6 more times etc..). Try it, it really works! Update: 3 weeks later and averaging less than one accident per week (usually my fault), self initiating (except before bed and outings) and is dry every morning -never put diapers back on at night because she wouldnt let me (shes a 12 hr sleeper so I put her on the potty at 11pm to pee so she can make it through the night-she never even really wakes up but it works). The book glosses over issues with # 2 but it does work the same way as training for #1 you just have to extend training for that part since you have so fewer opportunities. We had no accidents with #2 ever but it took a couple of weeks of continued encouragement, prune juice and promised rewards/treats for it to become relaxed and routine again (ie she would just hold it) but now there is no issue, even at daycare. Wish I had started earlier, the process was so easy. Read more

My son had been very resistant to potty training. He wasn't motivated and he is very easy-going so he wasn't the kind of child to be really excited about trying it just for a lollipop or sticker or some kind of reward. He was happy with his pullups which only exacerbated the problem. (I think going to pullups only made me feel better about not having him in actual diapers but didn't help with potty training.) Early in the summer when he was 3 months shy of his fourth birthday he finally started to pee in the potty sometimes but I still had him in pullups. And he would sit on the potty facing the back of the potty meaning he had to get entirely undressed. Alas the night of preschool orientation (4 days before the first day of school) I learned that the teachers would NOT be allowed into the bathroom to assist him and that all children were expected to be potty trained. YIKES! I had bought this book but hadn't read it yet so I decided it was time to take action. I had 4 days to get him ready for school. Mind you, my son was already urinating in the potty on occasion so it wasn't as difficult as it could be with some kids but what I liked about the book is that in just a few hours I accomplished several big steps with him. Within a few hours he was wearing underwear and pushing down and pulling up his pants on his own and using the potty the right way... as in sitting normally ( he doesn't stand). So he could totally go into school and go to the bathroom without help as long as his pants were elastic. This was a big accomplishment and I would never had the skills or resources to do this without the book. I really didn't know HOW to potty train. This book was very clear and it was a very pleasant experience. My son loved it that he was teaching the bear... we modified the experience.... we used a bear (and a squirt bottle) instead of a doll and he used the toilet because he never liked the little potties though he did pee in the potty and take care of it all at first. I think that if I had the book earlier he would have been potty trained a year ago. I can't believe it sometimes that after almost 4 years of diapers one day i took them away and never turned back. He was dry the first several nights... we had probably an accident every couple of days for the first week but he has never had an accident at school or at this sitters where he goes 2 afternoons a week. She has known him since he was a baby and was really impressed with the overnight achievement. Our biggest challenge now is that he hasn't had a bowel movement in the potty yet. He keeps going in his underwear and the book doesn't really address this issue much except to say that it goes along with urinating. It has been several days and I know he is withholding his bowel movement. I am hoping to overcome this issue soon. He usually goes every couple of days and almost only at home anyway. Sometimes he does wait too long to get to the potty and pees as he is pulling down his pants so I do still encourage him at certain times. But it is important that this book praises dry pants which is smart. But I will say that this book was a very useful tool for me and I do not agree with those that feel it is demeaning. I told my son so many times how proud I was of him for dry pants and I did modify things by not doing the whole ten times of practicing the dry pants and going to the potty because he already knew this. But having him actually take care of his messes was a pretty big help because accidents became a hassle. The only other thing that I had tried prior to this were naked days and taking him to the potty every 15 minutes.... being naked around the house did raise some awareness but wasn't as helpful as the book since the book teaches all of the steps in going to the potty and taking him to the potty every 15 minutes was much more stressful than the book;s method because there was a reasoning and methodology to everything in the book. And again it was not humiliating for my son. He loved teaching the bear and getting all of his favorite things, drinks and snacks. I think I timed it well. We had no TV. We read a few books in between. He loved the attention because like another reviewer mentioned, how often do you give your child your complete attention for 4 hours. He is not a stubborn child but he needed the STRUCTURE of this method because just leaving things so open.... it just wasn't working for us. The book is very inexpensive and is worth a look if you are looking to potty train. Read more