WARNING: This post contains talk of pooping. Potty training talk might detail more bathroom words than you care to read about...
I have been scared I would jinx myself if I ever bragged about my potty trained child, I haven't really tooted my own horn about my method I used and how super awesome I am. (oh, and my wonderfuly smart Little Lady Bug who is the real star here)
First, my Bug will turn 3 this month. She was fully potty trained wearing big girl panties at 19 months old. No bullcrap. Even at night. We went cold turkey on the pull-ups and braved it with panties and never looked back, BEFORE she turned 2. The average age most parents START potty training.
Change the world people, don't buy diapers forever.
WHAT WE DID:
I put her little pooping butt on the toilet at SIX MONTHS OLD! Now, I can't take credit for the initial idea, my friend had put her daughter, who is around the same age as mine on the toilet and it got me thinking how it could work.
Bug was an OBVIOUS pooper, bright red face, scrunched eyes, grown man sounding grunts, typical baby. I was thinking I was stupid, watching her sit wherever she was pooping herself, then having to change her, then deal with the dirty diaper once again when it was time to take out the diaper pail. No sir, that was not gonna fly with me. I knew wet diapers were still going to be in my life until she could talk and was able to KNOW when she had to pee, but nope, we were gonna start potty training at six months old. crazy.
At the first sign of the "poop face" I would swoop her up, be unbuttoning the onesie on the way and put her chubby butt on a toilet topper potty chair. To her, it was fun running down the hallway and she would smile as we sang on the toilet and flushed and waved bye. DONE.
By the time she was walking she didn't know any different. Yes, wherever we were, she would as-loud-as-she-could-yell, "POOOP", and off we would have to run. And Yep, She went through a phase where she was known as "The Girl Who Cried Poop" I think either because she had so much fun running down the hallway, and being in her bathroom singing, she faked it. Or maybe that she was trying to go when she didn't have to because she wanted a treat. Or maybe because when you attempt to potty train a baby, they think they are going to poop even if they only are going to fart. So, be prepared for multiple trips to toilet just for farts. Hey, at least she's a lady and won't be farting in public... maybe.
WHY IT WORKED:
Consistency and EFFORT. You really have to absolutely drop everything in one second and hurry to the closest bathroom because a six month old is just gonna go.
Treats. I know, I know, there are many people with their opinions about giving your child treats like an animal. Also to not reward them with sweets for behavior so you're not encouraging poor eating habits.
1) My baby is NOT an animal, she does though really like to get special surprises and have things that aren't always allowed. I love how excited she always got, and still does, when we were/are so proud of her for doing a good job.
2) The first treats she started getting was when she could chew food and old enough to know the treat was for going on the potty. Gerber makes awesome whole fruit roll ups, yogurt puffs, juice fruit snacks, crispy wheels, etc. As she grew older she started wanting the gerber fruit roll ups, along with fresh fruit like raspberries or blueberries, or Popsicles. Always had to make sure I had treats with me when we went out of the house just in case. Treats were only, and have always been only for going number two.
OH MY GOSH THIS IS TURNING INTO A NOVEL BLOG POST I'M SO SORRY:
We had a very easy first six months of me carrying her to the toilet. Then another pretty easy six months of learning to run to the bathroom and we started trying to pee on the toilet. I was lucky in that at this point she would wake up in the middle of the night and I would sit her on the toilet until she peed. That helped get the routine down for her going at night, and also helped assure me when we went to panties as long as we woke up we could avoid accidents.
BUT, Accidents do happen. And, it has to be AN ACCIDENT TO YOU too, we never got mad. She was never punished for accidents in the middle of the night. She was never punished for accidents at all.
TWO BUMPS IN THE ROAD WE ENCOUNTERED:
We BOTH got Food Poisoning. BLEH. Unavoidable necessity of pull-ups. Four days of a grumpy toddler not liking wearing a "baby diaper" and wanting her panties back on. Then Once we were well there was a small few days of rough transition back to normal bathroom habits.
AND THEN- Baby Sister was born when she was 2 and half years old... She wanted to be like her little sister and started pooping in her pants like a baby. This was the frustrating part, to have been so successful and gone so long being completely potty trained it was hard to get through to my stubborn toddler, I mean, precious child. I couldn't imagine STARTING potty training at this age.
The first thing that worked, using the Gramy as leverage in my dealings with pants pooper. Every kid who adores and has the most amazing-super-love for their grandparents normally respond when they think they will upset them. In my case, I told her Gramy was getting mad at ME and I was getting in trouble because it was MY JOB to TEACH HER how to poop on the toilet.
Holy crap, it worked. So much so, she almost made my mom cry when she said, "Gramy please don't be mad at mom... I'm gonna poop on the toilet."
The second thing we did different we hadn't tried before was I bought her a real her size potty chair. This eliminated needing me to lift her up on the toilet allowing her to be more of a big girl and sit and go by herself. This resulted in a need for her "priBacy" but actually worked. The best potty chair I found, was the sturdy Baby Bjorn model, I found it at Target. She does have to get completely naked and sit there for about 20 minutes. BUT, what a big girl I have to not yet be three and on her own go poop and pee. :)
(with help with washing hands and cleaning up of course)
So, another six months of normalcy and this way too long of a blog post.
DON'T WAIT TO START POTTY TRAINING. Good habits start early. Don't expect success, then you'll be even more excited when it does work.
Yes, this was successful with ONE child. Little Sister Bear is now six months old but NOT the OBVIOUS pooper like big sister was we've made it twice... So, here we go again, I'm gonna have to watch this one closer I think!
Goodluck!
Update: January 2013 thank you for all the traffic from Pinterest this post gets and I apologize for it being such a LONG WORDY MINI NOVEL. Go figure the longest written post on the whole blog bores the most people to death! But I welcome any attention.
Bug is now almost 4 and my perfect big girl, her little sister Bear is 17 months old and loves to use the toilet at her Gramy's but NOT at home, and more recently given its winter time, seems terrified of the ice cold toilet... definitely more of a challenge than her sister but we will do it, and you can too!
