Let me start out by saying that potty training my older daughter, who is now five, was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Looking back, I made a lot of mistakes potty training my first daughter Raelyn, but I’m here today, experienced as ever and ready to train my second daughter, Sloan. I want to mention, we did not do any sticker charts or treats for when she successfully went on the potty. I tried it with my Rae and it really just caused more problems. Sloan didn’t seem to mind she didn’t receive any treats but I think it’s important to find what works for you your child.
I’ll be honest, I was selfishly was postponing potty training her because I hate being in public and rushing to find a bathroom or else your two year old is going to have an accident so I waited until she made the decision. Plus, having them go in a public restroom kind of grosses me out. First, they don’t fit, they’re touching everything and it’s just gross. She just turned two years old on May 3 and over the last couple of months she has used the potty periodically. We try to make it a fun experience for her. It started when she would wake up dry in the morning, we would celebrate and took her to the bathroom. Just a few days ago she told me “no more diapers” and I said “okay, let’s do this baby girl!” I gave her some of her sister’s old panties and the next night, it was no more diaper!
I set a timer for 90 minutes and every time the timer went off. We cheered and ran to the potty together and she went every single time. When nighttime came, I was prepared to put her in a diaper again because I didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night to a wet bed and have to change sheets. Nope! She said “no diaper, I want panties.” So again, I let her control the situation and we hoped for the best. I was shocked, the next morning she was completely dry! I heard her in her room and I ran over to take her to the bathroom and she peed on the potty, yay! I was so proud of her and we were both so excited. Day two, we continued the timer method of 90 minutes and she did great with no pee accidents all day. Unfortunately, she did have one poop accident but I had read online and my friends were telling me that poop is a little harder. I didn’t get angry at her or scold her, I just said “it’s okay, next time tell mommy when you have to potty” and I left it at that.
That night, again, she was dead set on no diapers and the same thing happened the next morning – all dry! On this day we had to run some errands and I was so nervous. First, we went to Walmart and got a little portable potty and put it in the back of my car. We still stuck to the timer and made it fun. I gave her some privacy and drove to an empty parking lot and let her go potty in the back of my car on her new little toilet. I put a little potty first aid kit in the back with toilet paper, disinfecting wipes, regular wipes, an extra set of panties and an outfit.
My biggest piece of advice would be to wait until your child clearly shows signs that they are ready. Potty training, in my opinion, is one thing we can’t push on our kids. If they are not ready, then they just simply aren’t ready and that’s okay. I think the signs that they’re ready for the potty could be that they’re interested in using it or they want to wear big kid underwear, at least in my experience. Someone once told me that they’re not going to go to college in diapers so just let them do this on their own time. That really spoke to me because with my first daughter, I was excited for her to use the potty, for no diapers and all these milestones but what ended up happening was I put too much pressure on her that she didn’t need which led to constipation from holding it in. It was just a very unpleasant experience for for the both of us and I didn’t want to repeat that with my second daughter.
So if your little one is ready, I wish you luck and if they aren’t, enjoy the uninterrupted long walks through target in the meantime.
