Wee & Poo Hell! (Potty Training Tips)

Member Name: wendybull

Product:	Potty Training Tips
Date:	16/02/06 (5590 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Will hopefully train your child in less time with less mess

Disadvantages: No potty training goes completely smoothly

I am mum to two youngish kids. My son is now 4 and a half and we potty trained him when he was just over 2 years old. I working part time at this point, 3 days a week, and had never potty trained before.

I decided to start in the June/July as the weather was warm and I figured we’d be in the garden most of the time, therefore minimising mess to clean up!

I was sadly mistaken with the idea that this would be a quick and easy process and not following any particular method or tried and tested way I was soon in the midst of a poo and pee hell!

The whole thing took about 6 months for him to master, with wee being the easier one for him. (This was a surprise as so many people had told me that they get control of their bowels first!) He just would not use the potty or toilet for his poos and there were plenty of dirty pants and plops on the floor to clean up.

So, when I realised a few weeks ago that my daughter who was 2 at the end of November seemed to be taking an interest in the fact that she had something in her nappy I knew it was time to do a bit of research and master the potty training part of life a lot better than last time.

I looked on the internet first and found lots of advice given on websites like pampers, huggies and bounty but my break through came when chatting on the Discovery Health forum for parents. One of the other mums suggested the Gina Ford “Potty Training in One Week” book. Another mum suggested Dr Phil’s methods so I got the book and printed the instructions from Dr Phil’s website and this is what happened.

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The main thing that all books and sites seem to agree on is that your child has to be ready. This can vary in age any where from 2 to 3.5 years. I wanted my daughter to be out of nappies by September when she starts pre-school but I would not have pushed her if I didn’t think she was ready.

Things to look out for to see if your child is ready to start potty training are:

Their nappy is dry for a few hours length at a time.
Your child knows that they need the loo – like saying, “I need a poo”, before they do it.
They know the difference between wet/dry, clean/dirty, pants/nappy.
They can follow simple directions like “let’s go to the bathroom”.
They show an interest in what you are doing on the loo.
They can pull pants up and down by themselves.

My daughter was showing all these signs and I started by:

Half an hour before her bath in the evening I was taking her nappy off and letting her run around with nothing on. I showed her where the potty was and what it was for and then let her take the lead. Amazingly she used the potty by herself straight away and there were never any leaks on the floor.

I did this for the first week, half an hour a day before her bath, no knickers just so she would get the feel of what it was all about. I thought I had cracked it and put her knickers on the first day of the next week, straight away from the morning.

This was a big mistake; she wet herself every time she wore knickers. I was guessing she felt too much like she had something on that would catch it, like her nappy did. Thinking for longer I realised I had not really shown her how what to do with her knickers – i.e. pulling them down, then using the toilet. Still this didn’t improve the situation.

I knew I had to go a different route so read up again from the book mentioned above.

Where had I been going wrong?

Well, I had basically believed she would catch on all by herself. Looking back this was a ridiculous notion and I realised I had to put time and effort into this or it would not happen in the required one week Gina Ford suggests.

This is where I am now!

We have been putting her knickers on in the morning after her breakfast, and then every 15 minutes, taker her to the toilet to have a wee. This seems like really hard work at first, and there is some resilience from her occasionally. For instance if she is playing with her toys and I get up and say, wee wee time. She doesn’t always want to go. If this happens I pick her up and start talking about something interesting to her, like have a dolls tea party, and I keep talking all the way to the bathroom and through getting her knickers down. She seems to listen in anticipation and forgets about what we are doing. So far this has worked and she has wet her self only twice during the day.

I have made sure she has access to lots of drinks all through the day, this way she always needs a wee, even if it is only a small amount every time we go.

You can do the 15 minute system for one or two days depending on how well they respond. On the next day, increase the time in between visits to 20 minutes, then 30 minutes. By the end of the week you should be on visits every hour and a half or so or even only when they tell you they need to go.

If your child does a bowel movement around the same time each day, make sure they are on a toilet trip when this will normally coincide. This way the poo is more likely to go in the toilet and not in their pants. It is a good idea to let them see what their poo looks like before you start potty training. Sometimes kids, who have not seen their poo before due to quick nappy changes etc can become a bit scared when they see what’s come out of them for the first time. Make sure the first poo on the potty/toilet is a positive experience.

The other major factor in getting them trained is to give lots of praise. When I say lots of praise I mean really lavish it on. Clap your hands and whoop with delight when they do it in the potty or toilet. Do a little dance to show them you are really pleased and give lots of kisses and cuddles. Rachel thinks it hilarious when I start jigging about the bathroom and is obviously pleased with herself too. On the other side of the coin if they wet their pants don’t scold them. But say “Never mind, but try and get to the toilet for the next one”. Change them and clean them up and move on.

It is a good idea to have words ready to use to describe certain bits to them. For instance when I want Rachel to wipe after a wee, we call her female bits a “pocket”. Don’t ask where it came from but she kind of adopted it and I am happy to have a word that’s not gross, offensive or clinically correct in order to describe the bit I need her to wipe. For boys we just use “willy” as that seems universally acceptable! I use the word “poo” and “wee” for the motions but some parents prefer “pee”. I find this a bit nasty for kids to use for some reason so we prefer wee.

Dr Phil, am American life strategist, suggests using a doll that wets itself. Have two potties side by side and they go together. This is supposed to help to show your child what to do and make them feel more comfortable about going with a “buddy”. I have not tried this approach, as I felt buying a doll especially for this purpose, when I would not have the doll already was too expensive when I could hopefully achieve the same results without one. It’s an interesting approach though and if you have a doll that wets anyway it might be worth a try. Maybe not so clever for boys though.

A little tip I read somewhere on wiping was to squash the cardboard tube inside the loo roll so it’s not round. This will minimise the amount of loo paper your child can pull off and will avoid heaps of it down the loo or on the floor.

The last practice I will try, if the going every 15 minutes thing doesn’t work, in a week, is to introduce a sticker chart or other incentive program. I want to avoid sweet treats as an incentive but Rachel would respond to stickers I think. You can stick them on a special bathroom chart, or on the potty itself.

Lastly, a little thing that I am doing is to avoid the potty altogether. There is one in the bathroom and she will use it every now and then if she is getting ready for her bath and needs a wee but I have a child’s toilet seat on the loo and this stays on all the time. Adults have to remove and replace when they need to go. When I take her to the loo I always put her on the big toilet. Eventually when she has the hang of going without being prompted I will invest in one of those toilet seats with the little stepladders on them so she can go herself.

Oh and one final thing – don’t forget to teach them to wash and dry their hands after the loo. They will actually enjoy this bit as water usually tempts any toddler!

Whatever approach you take – good luck. Stay patient, keep praising and most of all make sure you are BOTH ready to take on the challenge.

xx

Points of reference:

Gina Ford book – Potty Training in One Week
Drphil.com

Edited on 19/2/06 to let you know I am day 5 of the 15 minute thing with my daughter and we are now going every hour and a half and she is doing brilliantly so it does work. Also her nappies are dry in the morning when she wakes up and she takes it off and does a massive wee on the loo first thing. Excellent stuff. Good luck with yours. x

Summary: Hope some of these tips help with this period in your little ones life. x