How I Potty-Trained My Daughter in 3 Days and My Son in 1

When my daughter Camila was 18-months-old she was very interested in using the toilet. She would tell me when she went pee and when she had to poop. We got her a potty and set it up in the bathroom, but my son was only 7-months-old at the time and I couldn't imagine myself running around looking for a bathroom in public places every time my daughter had to go. Everything I read and the expert talk on potty training I attended said if you miss your window of opportunity, the time when the child is interested in using the potty, they may lose interest all together and you will regret it... But I was exhausted and the little potty we got my daughter started accumulating dust.

One year later, when my son was 18 months-old and finally sleeping through the night, I felt ready to tackle potty-training. By this time my son was speaking in complete sentences and would tell me he was going to pee or poop. He hated being dirty and would ask me to change him after each time he wet or soiled his diaper. So I thought "let's kill two birds with one stone." We bought a second potty and I cleared my schedule for a week -- we weren't leaving the house for seven days.

My approach: 


1. I went cold turkey -- put the diapers away and put cute underwear on both of my eager and excited children (I prepped them for about two weeks by watching a video my mom found that has two panda bears singing goodbye to diapers, and reading The Potty Book for Girls and The Potty Book for Boys every day), and gave them lots of liquids (Jell-O, tea, popsicles, water, smoothies, you name it).

2. Every five minutes I said "If you need to pee or poop let me know, I'll help you go to the bathroom." I never ask my kids "Do you have to go to the bathroom?", because the answer is always no. Even now that they are four and three-years-old the answer is always no.

3. If Camila or Mateo forgot to tell me they had to go and I noticed they were going, I scooped them up and ran to the bathroom so they would get at least a few drops in the potty. Then, I made a big deal about how they were able to use it! I sang them a little song, lifted them up in the air, spun around and sincerely celebrated with them every single time.

4. I had a six-pack of Brawny paper towels and was ready for many, many accidents. I also scheduled a carpet cleaning for the following week.

5. When they had an accident I never scolded them or made them feel bad. I just said "Oh no, you had an accident. Let's clean you up and put on some clean underwear. Then asked "Where do we pee and poop?", just to confirm they knew they were supposed to use the potty now.

Day 1

My daughter had one accident. One! I couldn't believe it. She was a pro on day one! My son on the other hand had many, many accidents.

Day 2

My daughter had about 3 accidents but liked her potty and even pooped in it. My son on the other hand had many, many, many accidents.

Day 3

My daughter had no accidents. My son... oh, the poor kid. He had more accidents than I could count. The accidents didn't bother me though, what broke my heart was his frustration and tears. Mateo is a very intelligent child. He is good at things and he knew it even at 1.5-years-old. The problem was that he would tell me he had to pee right after he peed. He did it consistently and no matter how fast I ran to the bathroom with him he didn't seem physically ready to hold it. Celebrating a few drops in the potty wasn't good enough for him. I saw how hard he was being on himself and called potty-training off for him.

I told him that I knew he really wanted to use his potty and his underwear but that we were going to start using diapers again. He refused. I said "When your sister was one-and-a-half-years-old she didn't use the potty either. We will try again in a few months." I promised to leave his underwear where he could see it and the diapers went back on and he was a happy child again.

My daughter was done. We stayed home a total of 5 days but she was done after three. Five days was enough for me to realize that cleaning a soiled potty is no fun though. So my husband bought a Bjorn toilet seat trainer and a portable step and I told my daughter the potty was now only for pee and that poop had to go into the toilet because it was too stinky and dirty. Luckily she agreed and stopped using the potty completely by the end of the week.

Camila had accidents at parks every once in a while for about three months but it was generally when she was really engrossed in a game and when I forgot to say "Camila, let me know if you need to use the bathroom!"







Wait, the title says I potty trained my son in one day, what's up?

Well, the truth is that I didn't potty-train him at all. Five months after his initial attempt, my son turned two-years-old. We were on our way to a birthday party at a park and he declared "I'm not going to use diapers anymore. I want my Thomas underwear for the party." I tried to persuade him to hold off until after the party, but he wouldn't budge. The diapers came off and the Thomas (the train) underwear went on. We went to the party with five changes of clothes in the diaper bag and I prayed for him to be successful. At the park he asked to use the toilet two or three times all on his own and never had an accident after that. He essentially potty-trained himself!

I'm horrified at the prospect of potty-training a child for six months or longer. I think if the process takes longer than a week (expecting accidents every now and then after that period of time), then the child is simply not ready.

I believe my kids were successful because they were ready for potty-training and because I didn't make it a power struggle. I didn't bribe them or give them prizes. I simply told them what was expected of them, helped them get excited about getting rid of hot, bulky, uncomfortable, dirty diapers, and celebrated every success with them.

Now that Camila is four and Mateo is three-years-old I need to tackle night-time dryness training because they still wear diapers to bed. Are your children diaper-free at night? How did you do it?



Links:

Baby Bjorn Large Potty & Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer: http://www.bjornpotty.com

The Potty Book for Girls: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-potty-book-for-girls-alyssa-satin-capucilli/1008266929?ean=9780764181283&itm=1&usri=the%2bpotty%2bbook%2bfor%2bgirls

The Potty Book for Boys: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/potty-book-for-boys-alyssa-satin-capucilli/1100303868?ean=9780764152320&itm=2&usri=the%2bpotty%2bbook%2bfor%2bgirls