Potty Training?

MommyToAshley wrote: Is anyone potty training yet? I was thinking about starting Ashley soon, but I am not sure what to do about the bathrooms. We currently keep the bathroom door closed because she would have her hands and everything else in the toilet if we kept them open. I thought about the locks for the toilets... has anyone tried them?

kit_kats_mom replied: yes, I couldn't get them to stick to our toilets. I tried two different ones and I cleaned the toilets with alcohol before I applied them but they fell off in hours.

I keep thinking about starting K but dirty/wet diapers dont' bother her. I've started asking her if she is wet or dirty but she always says no, even if she is. I heard that they need to be aware of being soiled before they can begin to grasp what is going on down there. I'm going to start changing her every hour or so just so she gets used to being clean...maybe that will work. I also heard that it is easier to just wait until they really start to show interest in going potty before trying to start training otherwise it can be really really hard. This is not something that I need to add to my problems. I think we will just take our time. She does have a potty that she sits on when I'm going to the bathroom but I suspect she really just thinks it's a seat right now.

booey2 replied: Well we haven't officially started but Thomas and Matthew both showed early signs of wanting to then stopped. We usually keep the bathroom door open now and he gets to see what goes on in the washroom. I was really luck with Matthew because my babysitter did most of the training as she had him 5 days a week for 10 hours a day. And I think the same will probably happen with Thomas. I don't know about the locks on the toliet but if you really had to go and couldn't get them off - well you kinda get where I am going with this - so we never looked into them. Good luck I hear girls train earlier and easier then boys.

Jamison'smama replied: We have had to lock all of our toilets--we use one that locked in the back easier for us to open but allowed the lid to go up about 2 inches--just enough to slide a hand into---ick. so we put on a side clamp. Yep it is a pain but she cannot get into them. Here is a link to what we use.

Toilet lock

It fit our toilets (all but one) but the locks on onestepahead.com look a little cooler.


I was wondering about potty training as well. I was thinking about putting her chair in the bathroom and just seeing what she does. Can't hurt to explore.

coasterqueen replied: This is so funny you ask this question because it has been on my mind ever since Christmas My mom and dad got Kylie underwear for Christmas. That completely shocked me when I opened up the pack but they both looked at me and said "well, you gotta start sometime".

We bought her a potty around her 1st birthday. It has been sitting in her bathroom ever since. I make a point to always go to the bathroom back in her bathroom and when I go back there I say "Kylie, mommy's gotta go potty, do you wanna go with me?" and she always *escorts* me back to the potty saying "pee, pee". So cute! Then she watches me lift up the toilet lid and then I sit down, then she opens her potty lid and sits down. Then when I'm finished I flush toilet and put lid down and she puts her lid down. So darn cute!

I see no real signs that she is ready, though. I will ask her if she pee'd or poo'd and she tells me no when she has. She doesn't really care if she's gone, either. She would sit in it comfortably all day if you let her, even though I haven't. LOL. I kept thinking my prob with that is I've always changed her like every hour or so and never gave her the opportunity to "feel" what it's like to sit in poo or pee, KWIM ;-) Course she has at night, though, so not sure.

This morning was kinda different though. She has been having pasty (tmi) stools for quite some time now, whereas she usually has nice watery type breastfed stools. This morning she had the watery stool and immediately after she went she was pulling at her diaper and wouldn't stop until I changed it, so who knows maybe this is a sign. Probably just mommy wishing it was,

I know they say the age for potty training is between the ages of 18 months and 24 months, but that they have to be ready, no forcing the issue. That is why I wanted to get her *acquainted* with her potty well before 18 months. I wasn't real for sure if I was going to try training at 18 months, but after getting those cute little undies for her from my parents, I'm not sure, lol. They are just so cute!!!

As far as safety in the bathroom/toilet room. Our master bath has a "toilet room", so we just close the lid on the toilet and close that door while we are in the bathroom. Kylie used to always go open that door and get in there, but now she doesn't even try to go into the toilet room as long as we have that door closed. She's never tried to open the lid, either. She usually just goes for the tp, it's more fun

In her bathroom we leave that door open most of the time, but close the toilet lid. She has never tried to open it and she goes in there a lot by herself. My biggest worry in her bathroom is she likes to try to climb in the tub and I don't want her doing that when I'm not looking, so I have been closing that door now.

She can open doors, though, so if she wanted to go in there she could We just keep close eye on her.

I've heard a bit about success with some anitomically correct potty doll that Dr. Phil talks about. They have little boy and girl dolls. I don't have the link on my home computer, but I do at work. If I remember I will post it tomorrow. I'm thinking about ordering one of those dolls and using his *plan* to see if it would work. Not sure when I'll try though

MomToMany replied: We're not. Hannah isn't interested yet. My boys weren't trained until after 3 years old . But she comes in the bathroom with me every single time, so she knows what the process looks like. She doesn't care if her diapers are wet or dirty. Hopefully she won't take as long to train.

As for the locks, I don't use them. Ethan has a hard enough time making it to the toilet in time, so that would only complicate it more for him. He gets so involved with what he's doing that he "forgets" to go, and winds up having accidents.

So, we're going to wait awhile yet until she has more of an interest.

aspenblue1 replied: I haven't started. I don't think Isabella is too interested in it yet.

Heather replied: Alison has her own potty right next to ours...LOL! She follows us into the bathroom every time we go and says "Potty, Pee Pee". She has yet to go in it though. She has shown some signs like AFTER she goes Pee or Poo she tells us. And of course she goes up to the potty and knows what it is. And she will often take her diaper off. BUT she isn't bothered too much by a dirty diaper and she still wakes up with a very full diaper. I guess we will just continue to do it the way we do and eventually she will get it. Of course when she gets a little older adn still hasn't done it...I am going to be a little more for it.

As for locks, we don't use them either. Ali doesn't pay attention to the bathroom unless we are in there and she doesn't touch the toilet. She would rather play in teh tub with her Ariel doll. LOL But we keep the door shut anyway. I have to say though she is in there a lot with me because I have to pee every hour...LOL!!

I say it wouldn't hurt her to get a potty and see how she responds to it. Good luck. I know this time in our parenting is going to be treacherous one!! LOL

MommyToAshley replied: Thanks everyone for the feedback. (And the link to the toilet locks) I don't think Ashley is quite ready yet, but I am going to get her a potty chair just to get her used to it. I always know when she is going "poo poo" because she will go sit in a corner. And, when she is done, she will come up to me and say "All Done" But, she doesn't seem to mind when she is wet, but I have never let her get really wet (except over night).

jcc64 replied: My only advice about potty learning is to let the child lead. Both my boys were out of diapers before the age of 2, but I swear it's because we let them run around naked in the summer and they liked to pee outside. There was just more of a consciousness concerning bodily functions while they had no clothes on, kwim? They enjoyed the process, and they understood that it wasn't important to us. No pressure. Otherwise, it becomes a control issue. Not sure how we'll deal with a girl. Somehow, it seems less appropriate to let a girl pee outside, although I don't want to be a sexist about it either. She still seems a little young, Dee Dee, but if she shows an interest, just keep it low key.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: Maddie was trained at 2.5 years old. Exactly one year ago. She was introduced to the potty at 18 mos, but decided one day on her own that she wanted to go in the big potty. I never forced her to go before a certain age. I heard they have more accidents that way. I love the potty chair we bought her. It can attach to the toilet seat. That is the only way she would go...if it was on the big potty (like mommy and daddy's). She never went in the small chair. Less to clean up!

Anyway, she wasn't hard to train and didn't have but maybe 3 accidents. They really need to get a 'feel' for it and be aware of what they are doing. They need to know how to start and stop the urine flow, etc. Of course the only way to let them get a feel for it is to put some panties on them and see how they react to the wetness. It is a lot different than a diaper. I would never suggest using pull-ups to train. It makes more of a mess to use panties, but pull ups are just diapers and when you train with those it just takes longer. We only used them at night and for naptime. Just my opinion.

Good luck! I bet she will be easy to train.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: Wow Potty Training already! I'm still trying to get Claudia to walk!

I do remember when I was potty training my older children there was a book called "Once Upon a Potty" and it was really good. You can buy it for both boys and girls. We bought a little potty chair and found that if we kept it were they spent most of there time, they used it. Also we didn't really make a big deal about the accidents and rewarded and praised big time when they used the Potty, although a lot of people don't like the "reward" idea. I just gave them M&M's. Good Luck and let us know how it goes. Ashley is pretty smart so it might not take you too long.

3_call_me_mama replied: we decided to try introducing the potty this past week. We let Cameron pick one of those little seats that cover the regular toilet seat so we wouldn't have to have an extra thing in our main bathroom which is very tiny! He picked out a blues clues one (his most favorite thing to watch ) (actually the only thing i let him watch besides sesame street!) He kept saying Elmo and looking throught all the seat choices but there was no Elmo so he decided to get blue puppy as he calls her. Anyway, he is really into putting the seat onto the toilet, and putting paper in the toilet, but has only sat on the potty twice without a diaper and about five times with a diaper. He really likes to sit on it and read his books. My mom says that we were trained totally by 18-21 months and she had 3 of us. So it won't hurt him to start now. (we turned out great as far as I'm concerned) I also own a daycare/ preschool center and several of the children there are learning to use the potty so Cameron is especially interested in it. He will come and tell me "mama poop" or "mama caca" or try to take his diaper off as soon as he wets or soils it. From my experience these are all signs of readiness to start toilet training, so we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you all posted on when we have success! Good luck to anyone else undertaking this endevor!