Im Trying to Potty Train This Weekend

I agree with a lot of the other moms...she is just not ready yet. When she is, it will be very quick and simple to potty train her. Wait a few more months and try again. I know as parents we want to potty train early, but it really will be better for her and you if you wait this out some! Good luck!

You don't say how old she is, but it sounds as though she's not ready. Also, I don't think you can expect to potty train in a weekend. If you will wait until she is fully ready, the process will go much smoother and faster.

I read that your little one was born on Dec 2008? Wow! She is so little!
Sorry to say this but, I think you are rushing into a milestone excessively. Kids are ready or not. This is a hard milestone to master and, 3 days is kind of a short time. Candies are not a good idea to get her to go potty. I would give her a break, she already is "worn out" and it is not a good idea to do this.Let her take a break, and start over again slowly, little by little without pressure.
Does she know when she feels like going?, "Does she know how to pull down her pull ups or panties?, "Does she like the ring toilet or the potty" Those are important things you should know about her.
It sounds to me that she is NOT ready. The older the kid, the easier will be the process of potty training without regression (and this part IS frustrating). I waited until my kids were 3 years old even when they "seem" to be ready, I just taught them what they were supposed to do while in the bathroom, and then at three I started to potty train them. They were trained in 1 week and half (with all they needed to know to be actually potty trained) My little one is 4 and half, and he is totally potty trained during the day and overnight!!He wipes himself (I check every time, and he is very clean, he uses wipes not toilet paper).He never was interested in charts or rewards, he never "get it". He was happy with music and books in the bathroom and he was totally relaxed, that is all he needed and needs now.
Take it easy because your anxiety or nervousness will only make your child constipated. Relax and she will be relax.
Good Luck!
Music

I did not do candy bribes for that very reason! I got a toy he wanted (a pack of cars), and put it on the shelf behind the toilet and told him he could have them once he stayed dry for a week. That seemed to work much better. I trained both of my boys in less than a week, but I made sure they were using the potty at least part of the time before we started and went to undies so I knew they understood what to do.

I had this problem with my son, the candy ended up being a distraction. I decided I'd reward him every time he tried with a sticker, then if he went I would give him a candy (I used dum dum lollypops) without telling him ahead of time. I stopped saying, "If you go, you get a lolly..." because that just made him scream for the lolly. Instead I'd say, "Good job, I'll get your sticker ready!" and let the lolly be a surprise that came with the praise, "Woohoo!! You did it! You're so awesome! Here, you deserve a lolly!"

Keep it up, don't give in and don't switch to pullups or you're setting yourself up for a very long potty training experience. Keep her in underwear no matter what. Once you start, don't stop.

Oh, I almost forgot. I gave my son a flashlight that he could only have while sitting on the potty. Gave him motivation to stay on long enough to give it a good try. He loves flashlights.

It is frustrating... because "expectations" on her and her "ability" is not in line with each other.

How old is she?

Hey! GOOD LUCK. I started my daughter on the 3 day method today as well! We having about the same progress too! I am a little more relaxed this time around, but I remember with my son I was in tears a few times during those few days. It was SOOO stressful and I was sure he wasn't getting it. Now that you have started, DON'T STOP. She will catch on in the next couple days and it will be so worth it.

In the meantime, if you need someone to commiserate with then send me a message! Potty training is NO fun! :)

EDIT - Part of my enthusiasm is that when we decided to potty train my son everyone told me it wasn't going to work, so it was that much more rewarding for me when we achieved success.

i used the 2 m&ms trick for potty training my daughter too, she was about 20 months when we started and we ran into the same problem because until she actually peed in the potty, she didnt know what she was going to get the m&ms for! She just got mad because she wanted the candy. Hopefully this doesn't sound crazy, but what i did was let her go potty with me, you know actually be in there when i had to pee. Then i went and got myself 2 m&ms cause MOMMY PEE PEED IN THE POTTY!! It may sound crazy, but i swear it worked. She picked right up on what it was she had to do to get her own m&ms.

I just finished potty training my 23 month old daughter, she did that the first day too, I was going crazy running after her with towels! I think we went through ten pairs of undies the first day.
It is really hard for them to remember, and to control it.
The second day was way better and by the third day she was a pro at pee pee. It took a week and half or maybe two weeks for her to poop in the toilet though. Don't let this first day get you down, hopefully you have a good natural enzyme cleaner for the carpet?

The best advice I got was to take away pull ups and diapers all together, except for night, because they can fall in to a habit of holding it until you put them in a pull up.

The candy bribe doesn't really work for us. I did try with poop, but she wasn't having it.

Good luck, and now that you have started I would try to stick with it so she doesn't get mixed messages.

An interesting book you might want to read is "Punished By Rewards, The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes" by Alfie Kohn. Mr. Kohn has also written a book titled: "Unconditional Parenting, Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason."

I didn't do rewards. Her reward for getting on the potty was a story while she sat. Then if she went, she could pick out another book. We started with stickers, but she just wanted the stickers. At 22 months, she doesn't quite get the task=reward yet. My daughter had a ton of accidents the first day. Every time she piddled on the floor I'd take her to the potty and repeat, "IF you need to go potty, tell mommy so we can stay nice and dry." At the end of day 2 she got it and has been pee trained for 7 months now.

I went with an M&M for sitting on the potty, 2 if he went in the potty. He was trained pretty quickly, abandoned the M&M's pretty quickly too. I guess he was ready. IF you want to do it over the weekend, it can be done. Just keep giving her salty snacks with plenty to drink so you will have lots of opportunities! Good luck to you. She is close.
R.

Hmm...she might be too young, but it is a good sign that she is interested. I would definitely reward her for sitting on the potty. That's the first step, so make it a positive thing when she does that. I used stickers for sitting on the potty, then m&m's or smarties when she actually went in the potty. If you give her lots to drink, then just keep sitting her on the potty and rewarding her, eventually something will come out and she will earn the "big" prize :) good luck, but try to be patient, expect lots of accidents, and don't be afraid to throw in the towel and try again in a few months. Better that than have both of you frustrated and hating the potty!

You are doing it right...she's just too young to fully understand what's going on. I have 2 kids & started potty training my oldest at 18 months -- the day she told me that she wanted to poop on the toilet -- and she did! (She pretty much did every time since that day, too.) Anyway...it took another year and a half before she was actually potty trained -- when she was ready.

Don't get totally discouraged...just watch her signs & help her as much as you can without huge expectations. =) She'll get it eventually!

Give her a drink and expect she will need to go soon. Use stickers for every time she tries one sticker on her hand. When she goes give her a sticker on a chart and on her. It is knowing when she needs to go and trying to being in front of it. Read and sing on the pot because she needs to relax to release it. Yes, you will be cleaning the floor, a lot.

I just started potty training today also so I read your responses. mine is 8 months older than yours I tried him at a younger age and decided to wait. now he is pulling off his dirty diapers. we bought big boy pants yesterday and he got so excited we spent last evening sitting on the potty making friends with it. he is excited he can sit on it by himself. he can pull his pants up and down which is exciting for him also. mine does not talk well yet for other reasons so I understand he might have problems communicating when he has to go so I am expecting more accidents. diapers are on ly used at night and once they are gone no more.

I really like the idea of mommy getting m&ms for pottying and he doesnt till he potties. I am actually going to use that. and the cars was a great idea too but I think I will use guns or horses.. good luck and wish me luck also. we can do this but if you have to wait a while don't be suprised.

Hi - I have 4 grown children of my own and have been a family child care provider for over 18 years. I think parents often make the mistake of thinking their very young child is ready for potty training just because they go on the potty accidentally or on purpose a time or two and/or show an interest in the potty. Or they can 'catch' it because their child always has a bm at the same time every day. Children are typically are not ready until the age of 2 1/2 - 3 years and in my experience right around the 3rd birthday seems to be the time many children train. When a child is truly truly ready they will train themselves in just a few days and it will be their accomplishment. The very best thing you can do is wait and be patient for your child to be truly ready. ( note - typically, but not always - some children can do this earlier and many do it later lol ) If your little girl is flipping out and crying for the candy (I prefer a sticker chart) she is not emotionally ready.

We gave our son special stickers to put on a piece of paper when he used the potty. He didn't get any reward after collecting so many - he just liked being able to look at it. We'd say, "look how many times you used the potty!" He was into it for a couple of weeks and by then he was using the potty all the time and didn't care about the stickers. I think he just liked having a reminder of his successes, especially when he was frustrated after an accident.

When I was training him, the first day was AWESOME! Then next day he was peeing and pooping everywhere but in the potty. I ended up putting him in diapers for the rest of the day and then we both started fresh the next morning in a better mood. I'm not sure if you're already doing this, and it's a little gross, but if my son pooped in his undies, we'd drop the poop in the potty first and say, "that's where the poop goes" then go dump the poop in the toilet and he could flush it. Even though he understood what we were saying, I think actually SEEING that that's what we wanted seemed to help.

I say if you think she's ready, go ahead and do it as long as you can keep it fun. If it's stressful for either of you, take a break and try again later. You're getting her used to the idea so that's going to help even if she's not quite ready yet. We also got a bunch of books and movies about the potty from the library and I think those tend to make more of an impression than just what mommy and daddy are saying. Good luck!

Here's one of several sites that gives some great "readiness" checklists. I wonder whether your daughter is truly ready for success yet: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

In my own experience and that of several families I know, once the child is ready, she will willingly train herself, with just your support and a bit of coaching on the how-to's.

Kids who are ready can sometimes train in one, two or three days, or usually not more than a week or two, without the parent having to watch and coax and set timers and give prizes. A child who's ready for success will go for it, just as when they learned to walk or talk. It's a completely natural step toward maturity.

I have heard of a number of kids who trained much younger in three days, but backsliding is common. They often hit a wall when they realize they are supposed to take responsibility for this annoying intrusion for the rest of their lives.

Please know that night training and poop training are completely separate steps for most kids, and each can have its own set of challenges to overcome. Many children don't develop the bladder control or ability to wake at night from bladder signals until they are well into grade school.