When our 7 yr old, Emory, was born, we were sort of clueless about parenting anything other than the 'traditional' methods. Even on disciplining, I really didn't have a clue other than going by what I thought I should do. Thankfully, the Lord rescued me and led us to some wonderful parenting resources and childrearing material. But, that is another post for another time.
When it came time for pottytraining, it was really hard work. Frustrating. Emory was 3 years old, weighed 40 or so pounds and size 6 diapers were getting too tight. Finally, he pottytrained at a month after he turned 3. He would still have occasional accidents on up for months after he trained.
With Erin, 4-year old, she seemed interested in the potty at about 10 months old. She would see her brother use it and the little potty was still in the bathroom at that time. I started sitting her on there before bathtime. She would potty. I think if I had been consistent and hadn't thought she was too young to train, she would've trained at around a yr old. She was trained a couple of months before she turned 2 years old. She even night trained at the same time.
When I was pregnant with Evan (2yr old) I had read articles like this about training babies from birth to go potty. I even bought a book about Elimination Communication (I let a friend borrow the book so I don't remember the title). It was no longer strange to me anymore.
When Evan was 2 weeks old, I put him on the potty. He was so cute sitting on this great big potty, his skin all wrinkled. He went. I just about told everybody. I remember when he was 4 months old, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast. He was in my lap and I heard and felt him starting to grunt. I had just changed his diaper, so I thought, why let him soil this new diaper when I can take him to the potty? So I ran to the bathroom, put him on the potty and he went! I think this was his first poop in the potty. I was stoked. :) It was not his last.
At this time, my mom kept my kids for me while I taught school. She thought the idea absurd and she and my sister concurred that I should just let him be a baby and not try to grow him up so fast. So, I could only take him to the potty during the afternoons and the weekends. This wasn't consistent enough, so I pretty much didn't try any harder than taking him occasionally on the weekends. Even so, he was not scared of the big huge potty when it was time to train. He was comfortable with going on the potty. When it came time to officially train him (I wanted him trained all the way before the new baby came), I put him straight into underwear. He had about 6 accidents the first day (Monday) and from then on that week, he had accidents every day, but they got less and less. By that Saturday, he was telling me when he had to go. He was trained a month shy of 2 yrs old.
Now with Ella, I have stayed home with her from the beginning. I have started out taking her to the potty. Even more so now since she is more agile and has developed muscles in her neck. The first time I put her on the potty, she went. Just like that. It was as if she just knew to go! Amazing. (Sorry, I still have'nt got used to the fact that babies can be potty trained...it still makes me excited). So..even though I haven't totally trained her to NOT go in her diaper, she still goes on the potty every time I take her. She is harder to get on there for poops because she doesn't give me as much of a warning as Evan did. :)
Some books and articles like this one, say to have a special sound you make to train the baby to 'go' when she hears the sound. I haven't been too consistent with that because she just goes as soon as I put her on. :) I have recently started saying 'Shhh' but I think that will be a problem. I need to save 'Shh' for when we are in church and she starts making noise. :)
To sum up, here are some helpful hints for early training (keep in mind, one can be more rigid and it is possible to totally train your child at a very young age, but this is more flexible. My goal is just to get my kids comfortable with the potty and to hopefully develop an early-trained child):
1. From the earliest point possible, take your baby to the potty. You can start off taking the baby with you while you potty. She will learn from your example.
2. Take your baby after each diaper change and before baths. If your baby wakes up and she feels dry, hurry and take her before she pees. Also, you can find success in taking your child about 10 minutes after feeding her.
3. To prevent from having to change so many poopy diapers, take your child at the first sign that she is about to have a bowel movement. Go with the first grunt. :) As weird as it sounds, sometimes I just know when my babies are about to go 'potty'. Go with that intuition.
4. With older training, don't be afraid to go straight to the undies. Pull-ups can be a training child's worst enemy. Don't worry. You won't have to clean up pee and poop more than around 5 or 6 days. :) Then it will be sporatic for awhile. You will be so proud of your little girl or boy. All while the Pull Up wearers will still be peeing and pooping in their Pull Ups! :)
I hope this was helpful. Training doesn't have to be a sudden process. It can be a smooth, easy, and gradual transition.
I mean, how would you feel if all of the sudden, one day, someone place you over this huge hole with the likelihood that you might fall into this big water abyss?
Have a happy, wintry Saturday and Happy Training!
When it came time for pottytraining, it was really hard work. Frustrating. Emory was 3 years old, weighed 40 or so pounds and size 6 diapers were getting too tight. Finally, he pottytrained at a month after he turned 3. He would still have occasional accidents on up for months after he trained.
With Erin, 4-year old, she seemed interested in the potty at about 10 months old. She would see her brother use it and the little potty was still in the bathroom at that time. I started sitting her on there before bathtime. She would potty. I think if I had been consistent and hadn't thought she was too young to train, she would've trained at around a yr old. She was trained a couple of months before she turned 2 years old. She even night trained at the same time.
When I was pregnant with Evan (2yr old) I had read articles like this about training babies from birth to go potty. I even bought a book about Elimination Communication (I let a friend borrow the book so I don't remember the title). It was no longer strange to me anymore.
When Evan was 2 weeks old, I put him on the potty. He was so cute sitting on this great big potty, his skin all wrinkled. He went. I just about told everybody. I remember when he was 4 months old, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast. He was in my lap and I heard and felt him starting to grunt. I had just changed his diaper, so I thought, why let him soil this new diaper when I can take him to the potty? So I ran to the bathroom, put him on the potty and he went! I think this was his first poop in the potty. I was stoked. :) It was not his last.
At this time, my mom kept my kids for me while I taught school. She thought the idea absurd and she and my sister concurred that I should just let him be a baby and not try to grow him up so fast. So, I could only take him to the potty during the afternoons and the weekends. This wasn't consistent enough, so I pretty much didn't try any harder than taking him occasionally on the weekends. Even so, he was not scared of the big huge potty when it was time to train. He was comfortable with going on the potty. When it came time to officially train him (I wanted him trained all the way before the new baby came), I put him straight into underwear. He had about 6 accidents the first day (Monday) and from then on that week, he had accidents every day, but they got less and less. By that Saturday, he was telling me when he had to go. He was trained a month shy of 2 yrs old.
Now with Ella, I have stayed home with her from the beginning. I have started out taking her to the potty. Even more so now since she is more agile and has developed muscles in her neck. The first time I put her on the potty, she went. Just like that. It was as if she just knew to go! Amazing. (Sorry, I still have'nt got used to the fact that babies can be potty trained...it still makes me excited). So..even though I haven't totally trained her to NOT go in her diaper, she still goes on the potty every time I take her. She is harder to get on there for poops because she doesn't give me as much of a warning as Evan did. :)
Some books and articles like this one, say to have a special sound you make to train the baby to 'go' when she hears the sound. I haven't been too consistent with that because she just goes as soon as I put her on. :) I have recently started saying 'Shhh' but I think that will be a problem. I need to save 'Shh' for when we are in church and she starts making noise. :)
To sum up, here are some helpful hints for early training (keep in mind, one can be more rigid and it is possible to totally train your child at a very young age, but this is more flexible. My goal is just to get my kids comfortable with the potty and to hopefully develop an early-trained child):
1. From the earliest point possible, take your baby to the potty. You can start off taking the baby with you while you potty. She will learn from your example.
2. Take your baby after each diaper change and before baths. If your baby wakes up and she feels dry, hurry and take her before she pees. Also, you can find success in taking your child about 10 minutes after feeding her.
3. To prevent from having to change so many poopy diapers, take your child at the first sign that she is about to have a bowel movement. Go with the first grunt. :) As weird as it sounds, sometimes I just know when my babies are about to go 'potty'. Go with that intuition.
4. With older training, don't be afraid to go straight to the undies. Pull-ups can be a training child's worst enemy. Don't worry. You won't have to clean up pee and poop more than around 5 or 6 days. :) Then it will be sporatic for awhile. You will be so proud of your little girl or boy. All while the Pull Up wearers will still be peeing and pooping in their Pull Ups! :)
I hope this was helpful. Training doesn't have to be a sudden process. It can be a smooth, easy, and gradual transition.
I mean, how would you feel if all of the sudden, one day, someone place you over this huge hole with the likelihood that you might fall into this big water abyss?
Have a happy, wintry Saturday and Happy Training!
I've started putting Emma on the potty. I should've started sooner! She now goes to the potty and lifts the lid and says "Wanna go tee-tee." So I put her on there! She hasn't made a deposit yet but it isn't for lack of trying! You've inspired me to work with her more! Good post!
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