Help! Potty wisdom needed!
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Natalie will be 2 in a few weeks. Her signs of potty readiness...frequently has dry diaper after an hour or so, and sometimes after 2 hrs.; has had 2 2-3 hr naps with a dry diaper; knows everything about the potty, the terminology, the procedure, etc.
Almost 2 weeks ago, she was standing at the tub naked waiting for her bath and peed down her leg. She freaked! She hated it, cried, and we sat her on the potty. For 3 days after that incident, almost every time she peed and once when she pooped she would clench, grab herself, whine, and say "pee pee, potty" hurriedly. We made it several times and were really impressed! Once even for a poop! We're thinking, wow this is going great.
Then I think she peed in her diaper once or twice and realized "hey, it's not on my legs when I pee now, cool, no big deal". She STOPPED telling us, stopped asking to go, and stopped getting on the potty when we would ask her to.
DH and I talked about it and we felt like she did fantastic when she thought she would mess on herself. We decided to go cold turkey on the diapers today. (Keep in mind we've been promoting "panties" to her for a while now, too). I've never kept a record of her potty habits until today.
It hasn't gone well! Here's what's happened today (all with ONLY panties on):
9am- peed a lot in panties, doesn't tell me (but was also wearing pants)
I remove pants, only panties from here on out
9:30 pee in panties, only a little, told me
9:45 pee in panties, only a little, told me
10 same thing
10:30 outside in shirt and panties; whines that she has to pee, dribbles in panties but finishes in potty 
11:15 I ask her, no
11:40 I ask her, no
11:50 I'm sitting right next to her and see something is going to happen. We get to the potty and she poops and pees with no accident in panties
12:10 & 12:20 Major pee accidents in panties while eating lunch; tells me as she's going, the second time she finishes with some pee in the potty
Is this the way it goes in the beginning? Am I doing the right thing? I feel SO AMATEUR at this! If anything, before we started this, she was quite dry in the mornings. I have upped her fluids though.
Also, for the first time in DAYS, while still wearing a diaper, she told DH and I twice lastnight that she had to pee-pee, then when she got on the potty she did both times.
Am I noticing it more because we're going through 8 million panties? We just really felt that she knew about the safety net of the diaper so she didn't mind. We thought the panties might be a wake-up call like they were before during her unplanned naked pee at the bathtub.
Any thoughts, suggestions, support would be much appreciated! Are we on the right track? Is this the way it is in the beginning? This IS our first day (since 8am this morning) for going panties cold turkey. Do you think it sounds like she's not ready for this or am I expecting too much too soon? It seems like she has peed 100x since 8am!
If she's not, okay, but after her successes about 10 days ago, I felt like she must really be ready.
TIA
Reds-You are doing an awesome job!!!!She sounds like she's ready,staying dry during naps is one of the 1st steps to potty training.I did decrease my DD fluids though.If I felt she wasn't getting enough I increased apple sauce and fruits and freezies so I knew she was staying hydrated.I also went to panties,shefelt pretty in them and didn't not to soil them.Personally I think for this being the 1st official day you guys are doing GREAT.She's also going through an independent stage so she'll catch on quick.Even if my DD had an accident I didn't act disappointed and just told her we'd try again next time.It is frustrating trying to catch every pee.Reds you're being too hard on yourself you are doing a GREAT job.Just being with her contantly and asking her to go pee,praising when needed is the only thing you can do,the rest is up to Natalie.
To Natalie-Way to go big girl!!! ^5((HUGS))
Thanks A LOT!!! That makes me feel sooo much better you don't even know! Yes, I never say anything negative or act disappointed, and she seems very happy when she goes on the potty. She knows she will get a sticker on her chart and on her hand and she likes looking at her chart.
I think you're right...it IS frustrating trying to catch every pee or beat her to it, and I think that's the way I felt this morning. Your post makes me feel more calm! I've pretty much cleaned out our schedule this week so we're at home and close to the potty.
I put a diaper on her for her nap, and will at sleep times. She still pees a tremendous amount at night, and as I mentioned above, she's had 2 dry naps (maybe 3), and when they're not dry naps, they are much lighter than they used to be. Did you all keep them in diapers for sleeping for a while after they were trained? How did that work?
Thanks again Triplet...I needed that!!
Any other thoughts/suggestions are welcome!
I think she is doing great, and she definitely sounds ready. I would probably cut back on some of the fluids you are giving her, and just give her what you normally do. It does sound like she is going a lot. You don't want her to get tired of having to go all the time. Heck, I wouldn't like it if I had to go that much. . You are doing a great job, I bet in a day or two, she will have it down.
She's just starting. She has to process all the feelings and sensations and know when to tell you. She's messing up because it's all so new! Just give her a few days. She'll figure it out.
YUP- I still used diapers at bed/naps until I had her completely trained in the daytime.When she was trained in the day then I worked on the naptime diaper.To my surprise it wasn't a big deal b/c she was dry during naps(Thats why we started potty traing)Bedtime took a little longer b/c she slept 12 hours.I don't think it took that long though.One day at a time and it just happens.She'll just get it and she'll stick with it.I remember we took 1 step forward and 2 back for the 1st couple of days.
Funny Story-On our 3rd or 4th day,Katie wanted to wear her underwear and a dress to the park.I was hesistant but she was persistant,so we went.Well,she was in the line-up for the slide and was at the top and yelled MOMMY MOMMY PEE PEE
I had to climb up the slide,grab her and run home with her in my arms LOL I will always remember that moment.She made it and was so proud of herself.Just think in another year I'll be chasing 3 boys for pee LOL
Natalie is doing a great job, she's not even two yet. I used the pull up for naps only and underwear the rest of the time. I had the really thick training pants and they didn't hold all the liquid but more than regular underwear for boys. I would imagine little girls panties are thinner (and cuter). Keep up the good work!!!
THANK YOU to everyone!! I really appreciate it and it's a boost of confidence that it sounds like we're heading in the right direction. I hate it when I feel like I'm floundering because I want to do the right thing.
Debbie -I had thought of the same thing...cutting back to regular fluids. We're going to do that this afternoon.
Thanks for the nighttime potty advice as well. Natalie sleeps 11-12 hrs. at night also, so nighttime might be a trick for us also when the time comes.
You girls are really great, as usual!
She bat 100 this afternoon....ZERO accidents from the time she woke from her nap (3:00) until bedtime (8:00). I'm so proud of her!!
But I WILL keep in mind the "1 step forward, 2 steps back". Tomorrow will be a new day!
I do appreciate everyone's posts, because this morning I was feeling pretty frazzled.
Sound like you are doing it all perfect! That is so wonderful that she is doing such a great job! It is so much easier to potty train in the summer, I think you are doing it just right.
We are going to start Taylor in couple weeks after her Birthday.
Emily wanted to wear underwear and I let her. It moved things along a lot faster and we didn't have that many messes.
With Sarah, she had a diaper rash, so I put the cloth training pants on her at night, instead of a pull-up, so her skin could get some air. She was terrified, because she didn't want the pee to run down her legs. She was dry at night anyway, though. and actually it moved things along for her, at that point, too. (mine were older, though.)
She's told me twice this morning, and gone pee in the potty both times with no accidents. YAY!!
I'm sure training in the summer *is* easier. She spent all of yesterday in a t-shirt and panties, both inside and outside. Quicker to get off, less soiled clothes, and she can feel it running down her leg.
YaaaaaaaaY!!!! Natalie!!! Way to go Sweetheart^5
How wonderful! See, she is getting it more today!
We had to make an unexpected trip to the ped today so I had to quickly decide if we were going to go diaper but still promote the potty. I ended up being safe and going with the diaper, but she still told me while we were waiting at the dr's office and she went pee-pee there! Dry diaper all the way.
I'm so proud of her! I'm starting to trust her when *I* ask her if she has to go. If she says no, at least so far, she really doesn't have to go. It's cute because it's like she'll stop for a second when I ask her and take stock of how she "feels" down there before she answers.
I'm still a little confused on the sleeping/potty thing though. She sometimes has dry diapers during a nap, but she is still soooooooo soaked in the mornings that she often still has a minor leak. I can't even imagine her keeping a dry diaper at night yet.
Does that sometimes come quite a bit after the daytime training is conquered?
Wow, Natalie's giving you one of the easiest potty training experiences ever! You must have chosen the perfect time to start. Don't worry about the nighttime training yet. It often doesn't happen until daytime dryness is totally established.
Way to go, Natalie!!!
It all sounds positive!!
The nighttime training will just happen. We setiched to pull ups when they were well trained during the day. The reality is, her body just needs to develop the ability to hold her pee all night. It happens on its own. You will know. With all kids it is a bit different, some where between 2-6 months later.
We also went to pull ups if we had to leave the house (instead of diapers) if I got nervous about their ability. Another habit we picked up pretty soon, is whereever we went we went potty first (at the store). That way it wasn't a nervous, gotta go, new potty experience. It was just hey lets stop by the potty.
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