They go on to say, "any suggestions on starting would be greatly appreciated. I've heard a step-up stool and potty training toilet cover may be better than an actual potty (no messy clean up bowl and the "big boy" toilet may be fun.). I'm almost at the end of a box of pampers, should I just go ahead and get pull-ups?
Please advise.
Thanks,
FYI - He's in daycare 3 days per week and I don't think any of the students in his class are potty trained yet, however is teacher is open to working with me."
Here are the replies:
"I am no expert having just potty trained my almost two year old daughter a little over one month ago, but here are a few things I did that have worked for us.
I set aside three days that I would be around and be able to devote to potty training. (I had purchased a bjorn potty, which she had used before and she understood the purpose of the potty for months before we started training.) On the first day, I just said that we were going to wear our new underwear, which were training pants from Hannah Anderson. I did not force her to put them on, however, so we spent much time naked that day. She of course peed on herself and only by doing this realized what it was all about.
For us, I don't think it could have worked to train in pull ups because just like diapers they can't tell if they peed and she needed to make that connection herself. Over the next three days, we had many accidents but she also started to make the connection and to tell me that she needed to pee or poop. I would remind her, but I never even strongly urged that she sit on the potty herself. She took to it quickly, but I was also ready to give it up if she seemed not ready or not interested. I put her in a pull up for naps because I don't want her to have an accident and wake herself up and I also put her in a diaper (because we have a bunch left) for overnight. We plan to work on those later.
I think the little potty worked better for us as a starter, because she has more control and feels more grounded sitting on it. We have now started with a potty insert on the big potty after a month or so with the little ones.
I don't know if this is useful for others, since every child is different, but hopefully it helps a little."
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"Our daughter took her first poop on the potty the day before her third birthday (a month and a half ago), so we're hardly experts at this, but for what it's worth:
One tip I read for potty training that I found helpful is, before you even introduce the potty, start doing all diapering in the bathroom (if you aren't already). This establishes the idea that that's where potty stuff takes place. You can of course do this once you switch to pull-ups, too.
As is common for many kids, our daughter got pee down pretty quickly but was several months in producing the big stuff anywhere but in her pull-up. So don't worry if this happens. In fact, for months she would only poop not only in her pull-up but STANDING, which is about as far from a toilet posture as can be and led to much private fatalism on my part. I didn't push her, but I did repeat, every time we changed a poopy pull-up, that soon she would be putting all that right in the potty. Eventually she grew to intensely dislike (as I did) the changing of a poopy pull-up, so the idea began to sink in.
One thing that helped move things along was getting (far later in the process than I should have) a seat to put on the toilet. She was only intermittently interested in the portable potty and for a while preferred to sit on the toilet. It was really quite admirable how she balanced herself up there on her hands, but kids need to be stable to move their bowels. In that position, she never could. A potty seat (Dora!) really helped.
The only book on the subject I read was Elizabeth Pantley's, which I found to be reassuring. The big thing to remember is: your child has for two plus years been going in his diaper, any place and any time, without giving it a thought. Now we introduce this whole process of holding it in, going to a designated place, climbing up or sitting down on it, getting clothes out of the way, grabbing toilet paper, wiping, washing hands ... it's a huge amount of information for kids to process, and it takes time. There'll be accidents and setbacks and plateaus, but then out of nowhere it all comes together and you'll see that the wheels were turning the whole time.”
