potty training tips

musicmom

Fri, Oct 24 2014, 9:57 am

You really can't worry about what everyone else is doing in this situation. Every child is ready at a different age. I recommend having a small potty seat in several areas of the house, as well as the kind that fits on your toilet with handles, as well as a step stool, so your child has options. You can also get a nice foldable travel potty for your stroller and your car, so that when your child needs to go you have one quickly. You can try putting your child on the potty every half hour or hour, but sometimes you have a stubborn child. In this case the only one who can potty train your child is the child themselves. If you know that your child knows what they are doing, and is just being stubborn, sometimes you can have them switch to undies and clean their messes until they really want to be potty trained. We sing songs on the potty, talk about the feelings associated with going potty, how to wipe ourselves, wash hands, etc. Good luck!!!!!

Fri, Oct 24 2014, 10:06 am

I can't believe I'm actually posting here - but I am! We tried training my oldest right before he turned three (Pesach time) and it was a total disaster - he was not interested at all, and we gave up. This summer, he started asking for underwear (YAY peer pressure) but had an accident every day or two for weeks on end. I was very close to giving up again, but I stuck it out.

Since he started playgroup this year, he has had maybe 5 accidents total!

What worked:

Peer pressure - when all the other kids are wearing underwear and going to the bathroom he wants to too (vs at home when it's him and a little brother in diapers)

Charts - I made charts for him (starting with four boxes, which took him 3 weeks to fill!!) where I drew him, with UNDERWEAR on, and a toilet, with a flusher... and a PRIZE and we discussed as we drew the chart. And every night we discussed the chart again, either ending with or without putting on a sticker, depending if his underwear was still "clean and dry"

Encouragement - I got very bothered by his accidents, and had an extremely hard time being supportive. But once he started playgroup, I picked up on the attitude his (very, very experienced!) teacher had - when he had an accident, he said "oh no, I made a mistake! And I'm trying so hard..." so we switched to that approach - he was trying so hard to stay clean and dry but he made a mistake, and that's okay.

We are now on our hopefully last chart. He has so far been putting on a sticker every night Smile

As soon as the chart (with his requested FOURTEEN BOXES) is filled, he's going to get his last prize, which is tzitzis! He's very excited, and so are we.

Moral of story:
Don't get upset, be encouraging. It takes time - a lot for some kids - but they all catch on eventually. Good luck!

aussie2

Sun, Nov 02 2014, 1:20 am

Not sure if you still need help with this but..
I found that if kids was REALLY ready it goes much faster then if you are trying to push a kid before they are ready.

Like poster above- peer pressure of other kids in group going to bathroom helped.
We gave a small treat (choc chip/lentil) e/ time they went and a bit bigger (marshmellow) if they made dirty on toilet.. and a toy when they had no accidents for 2 weeks (using chart system).

the morah suggested we send a bag of choc chips to playgroup and she let child give out choc chip to e/o when she made (this was only for the first few days).. she felt otherwise other kids are all jealous and also my daughter felt so special giving s/t out to e/o else..(just an idea of course)

In the beg.. need to remind a lot and eventually it will become second nature to them to tell you when they need to go. I brought along diaper in beg when we went out and if she needed to go and no bathroom close by I would give her diaper to use.. not sure if not having bathrooms nearby is a problem for you.

Otherwise encourage, encourage, encourage.. praise for when they go.. and if they have an accident.. its ok (dont blame them) just try to say.. ok you see how it feels when it needs to come out.. try and rem to tell me before and run to bathroom.

we used a stool and toilet seat (to make her fit better on toilet and not feel like falling in) but never used potty.

I still didn't work out toilet training at night business down pat..

sarahlieba

Mon, Nov 03 2014, 8:08 am

My 5 kids were all trained at different ages. The earliest one was 1 1/2 and the latest one was almost 3. It really depends on the child, but most important on you. Are you willing to stick with it? Are you willing to clean up his/her messes all the time and be really encouraging? I know that most people just wait for the child to show signs of readiness, but I am Russian and so we do it before any signs. Smile

I just kept putting underwear on my kids and after every meal/snack/drink I would put them on the potty. If they did in the potty, they got a praise and a candy. If they did not, we would try again and sometimes I would slightly "shame" them. It worked and like I said before, all of them were out of diapers by 3. My youngest will be 3 at the end of Chanukkah, and he has been potty trained since the beginning of the summer.