Potty Training

[HeisAlmighty]

K, I know that no one has been here for a while, but I am going to try anyway. I have a 2 year old girl that needs to be potty trained soon. I also have a 8 month old baby boy that I am nursing. My little girl began potty training herself for a while and I thought that was great, let her do it, that way I don't have to deal with it. However, she lost interest and so I tried to pick up and encourage her to keep going. But she kept telling me that she needed to go and/or needed assistance when ever I was in the middle of nursing. There was no way that I was going to make my baby stop nursing and listen to him scream while I was helping her. So now she is at the stage of taking off her clothes and changing them 20 times a day. She even sometimes attempts to change herself. I do not want for her to loose interest and just stop all together, but when I don't have someone else to help me do the training, What am I to do? Will she eventually loose interest? Will there be a time that it will be to late and I will have 2 kids in diapers for ever (not literally of course)?

[mom_of_jcchlsm]

Just guessing that she using "wanting to go" as a test: does mom love me more or the baby? That's why she always picks nursing time to try. Why not beat her to it? When you're about to nurse, let her know. Say something like: Sweetie, I want to help you with going potty first, before I get settled down to feed your brother. Then spend 5 or 10 minutes totally absorbed in her world - make her the star, the princess, the absolute center of attention, and not just dependant on whether she's going potty or not - she needs your love and reassurance that her little brother hasn't usurped her position in the family.

[HeisAlmighty]

does mom love me more or the baby? That's why she always picks nursing time to try.

She needs your love and reassurance that her little brother hasn't usurped her position in the family.
[/b]

That could be the case, I guess. But I thought that when they when they felt that way they were aggressive toward the baby. From the moment he was born she has always loved him. I was quiet happy with how well she took it. He was "her baby". They really have a great relationship. But she's that was with all baby's, she loves them all. No matter who's they are.
There again, she was the "baby" before. And now she isn't. And although she has never hurt him, when she is tired, she will want me to hold her and not him. Every ones in a while she will try to put him out of the way.

[miztrniceguy]

i've been working with my daughter potty training for a while. she does real well until it comes time to poo. she will pee in her potty, pull up her "big girl panties" and then 5 min later tell me she has poo....cant get her to tell me ahead that she needs to, or to get her to go on the potty.

getting very frustrated with the whole thing

[shanstress70]

I know it can be annoying sometimes when someone pulls the, "listen to me cause I've been there" thing. BUT, I just want to share my experience. When they are ready they will train themselves. I know it sounds too simple and cliche, but I almost pulled my hair out with my son. He was 4 when he finally was trained 100%. He was trained with pee before he was 3, but the other for some reason took forever. And trust me, we tried it ALL and nothing worked. I wish I would have just chilled out about it bc I stressed so much for no reason. Not to say you shouldn't encourage and praise when it DOES happen... but when there are accidents, it's really no big deal.

[TXRed]

I'm with Shantress totally on this. You encourage, but you try not to make it a battle. It will happen eventually.

My grandmother told me that a child should be potty trained by the time it is 6 months old. Baloney!!! I only had one out of 7 that could walk at 6 months. . . . . . .who the heck is getting trained here? The deal was that my grandmother learned to pay attention to the "time" of day that her child had a bowel movement, and she took them at the right time. Sorry, but I had too many other things to do than to take a six month old and hold them over the toilet.

I used stickers, toys, candy, you name it, and I tried it. What worked best for me was when I relaxed and quit worrying so much about "when" the child was going to be potty trained.

I absolutely refuse to even attempt to potty train in the winter time. (too many clothes to wash when they wet them) For me, letting them wear panties around once they started showing an interest worked pretty well. Once they have started having long spans of time dry, they find that a wet pair of pants is not pleasant. (disposable diapers keep them too dry to notice; so panties really give them a "wet" attitude, especially when it runs down their legs.)

I found rather quickly that if I was too pushy about the whole thing, the child began to balk about it, and it became a vicious struggle between the two of us. So; for me, trying to be encouraging and yet non challant helped.

One of my aunts told someone once that I never potty trained my kids . . . . . . I just let them potty train themselves. Made life a whole lot easier on the whole family, and they are all grown and not wearing diapers; so I guess it worked.

Peace,
TXRed

P.S. Trust yourself. Heavenly Father sent the children to you to be taken care of. . . . . .you will know when the time is right if you will just remember that Heavenly Father trusted you. You love this child and know it better than anyone else does. I believe that the reason so many of us stress over "potty training" so much is that we "worry" what others will think. Try not to. Just be concerned with you and your child's needs.