Potty training **For our daughters**

I'm just curious to see how many mommies have experience with potty training girls.

I have a few questions:

How old was your daughter when you decided to potty train?

How did you know she was ready to potty train?

What were some of the ups?

What were some of the downs?

How long did it take to teach her?

Any tips?

Any regrets?



I am asking because my daughter turned one last month and has just recently learned to walk. She is a babbling machine...think a drunken Wendy Williams lol. Anyhow, I am soo tired of buying and changing diapers. I'm not sure if she is ready to train now because she doesn't vocalize when she has to "pee" or "poop" but maybe in the next few months. I'd like to have her trained by 24 months or sooner.

Sorry to bombard you all with so many questions. She is my only child and none of my friends have babies so I have nobody to ask.

I didn't really start training her until her 2nd birthday. My daugher was a late walker..didn't start walking until she was 13 months. I bought her the potty at 18 months to get her familiar but I didn't force her. She showed signs at 2 but the daycare she was in wasn't helpful with the process. So, during the week when we got home and on the weekends I'd put on her undies with or w/o the plastic covers to get her used to the feeling of not having a diaper/pull-up on. The accidents were frustrating but I just mentally prepared myself for it. I bought her a potty seat for the big toilet and I took it around instead of the actual potty.

I'd sit her on the pot every hour but I wasn't overbearing with it. I made it fun for her with songs and praise. She didn't want her Dora undies to get messed up so the reward factor really helped. If you start too early, she will regress. I have two friends who started the process too early (after their kids turned 1) and their kids still have accidents during the night. My little one doesn't have night accidents or day accidents. I'm glad that I let her go at her own pace instead of rushing the process. Remember, every child is different. Some are ready at 1 and some aren't ready until 3 or 4.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate you taking the time to respond!

My daughter is 18months. I bought her a princess pot for her 1yr old bday. I put her on the pot in the morning (soon as she woke up) around 13mths. The potty make these royal music sound and she loves it.

My problem is the evening potty time. I am not consistent with it. I am going to buy her some underwear this weekend. She can now say that she has boo booed and tries to take her diaper off. IMO that is when a child is ready. When they know they don't want the poop or pee on them and can bring you a diaper to change them...HAYLE NAW...sit on the pot!

I never understood the concept of 2,3,4 yr olds that can hold a conversation with you...aren't ready for the pot. I just can't process that logic in my head.

There were the "Potty cues" that I've noticed when my daughter (who is now 3) had when she was about 16 months.

1. When she had to poopy in her diaper she would wander away from everyone to have her privacy.

2. Her poopy was waaayy too much for her diaper to hold (looked more toilet/potty worthy poopies and less infant size)

3. I had her potty sitting in the bathroom and whenever I used the bathroom she would imitate me and sit on her potty (Good time for toddler chatter and she can see that using the potty isn't scary).

4. I knew her poopy cues so whenever she looked like she had to poo we would walk to her potty together (and while I did this I would let her know that it's potty time and I would sing a potty song for her as we were walking) take off her diaper and she would poopy in the potty! Make sure you have little things to give her for a job well done. My daughter loved stickers so I would give her Dora stickers or her favorite snack afterwards.

5. Make sure once she uses the potty regularly put her on a "Drinking" schedule. I wouldn't let my daughter drink anything after 7pm so that she wouldn't have any overnight accidents.

6. Be consistant or else she will revert back to old habits! My daughter wore her panties during the day and a pull-ups over night.

7. Be sure to invest in those toddler wipes! My daughter has a hard time pulling her own toilet paper (or at least the right amount) and using the toddler wipes helps her to be more independent because they pop up one at a time and they help her to stay fresh and clean! (Sorry, I sound like a commercial but they are the best) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Now, she just gets up and goes on her own, the only reason she calls me into the bathroom is when she poopies because she still haven't mastered the cleaning aspect of that just yet but we've came a long way. 1 down another one to go (I have a 15 month old daughter and since she was a late walker she doesn't look ready just yet) [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] HTH

Great advice tashafawn24!!!! My daughter is 2 and some change and she definitely has these signs!!! I am going to start the process!!!!

My daughter is 15mos and she has started to go away for her private ppops. I do take her in the bathroom with me and tell her that mommy has to pee-pee. Now i am wondering should i put the pot in the bathroom?

oh, and this might be helpful as well; take your daughter shopping with you so that she can pick out her first pair of panties or training undies. Gerber makes these really great training underwear that are made out of cotton. The have a thick cotton middle that is just enough to soak up an accident so it isn't causing a puddle but thin enough so that she understands that an accident has taken place.

We had a time with the pull-ups at first because they are too much like a diaper and to her it was just that so those gerber training underwear worked fine. It's all about what makes them comfortable and what works for the both of you. There's really no wrong or right way to potty train (please don't get too upset and fuss when an accident takes place or else all of that hard work of potty training days or weeks before is out of the window). Be sure to give plenty of praises, hugs, and kisses!

My daughter who is 3 now, still loves praises for big girl things like remembering to flush the toilet, wiping her front [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] , and pulling up her panties and pants all by herself!

Trust me, I had not a clue what to do when I started potty training, and I was afraid of messing up but in a way, she taught me more than she'll ever know; now I know just what to do (in a way because each child is different) when my second daughter begins the potty training process!

It's not easy but it's definitely rewarding because not only her but you too will be learning something new!

My daughter, 19 months, is ready to go for sure BUT she won't sit still on the potty for more than 10 seconds at a time before she's off and running, squealing and giggling like a maniac. It's a big game to her. I've tried having her sit on the potty in front of the tv and it's worked a couple of times (and she peed in the potty) but mostly she still does her running game. I'm not sure what to do about this. Anyone else have experience with an extreme case of ants in the pants? My mom said my old potty chair had a belt AND a tray to keep me in place, I haven't seen anything like that though.

If I can remember correctly, my daughter did the same when it came down to show time! First, I use to close the bathroom door while we were both inside for potty time. Then I've notice that she likes to take certain things with her to the potty like her stuffed dog named "Puppy" or her favorite book she likes for me to read so I guess you have to find something that can catch her attention while sitting on the potty. Singing a song like itsy-bitsy spider (because of the hand movements) use to get her focused on how she can do the same.

I don't know if this would work but if she had a doll with a potty in the bathroom while she's using the potty (that way you two can sit and talk about what the dolly is doing and how she's doing the same thing as your daughter). I might have to take my own advice on this one.... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I am so in love with this post. I am going through the same thing. My daughter is two and she is refusing to potty. She will go behind the door to fill her diaper but wont do it on the potty. I tried the underwear but my daughter would take off the underwear and run free. So I will be trying these improvements on my old methods.

My daughter was nearly three. It was our first attempt. She trained straight away with no accidents. We went straight to cotton underpants and never used pull ups.

We were using modern cloth diapers so it wasn't costing us much to wait until she was ready. I had a potty in the bathroom for 6 months before we finally used it. I encouraged her to sit on it and pretend to go to toilet every time I went to toilet.

My daughter was 18 months old when she started pulling off her diaper. So we started based on that. We would place her on the potty first thing in the morning and right before bed. She would stay dry all day! She was so much easier to train than my son. I agree with tashafawn24 with buying the favorite undies. It worked for my son too! Good luck.

Ok so im starting the process tomorrow. I went to walmart just now looking for some gerber pants but they didn't have any so i'm using the training pants for now until i can get the others. Lawd help me. But i know its time she told me last night i stinking in my pamper. Yup time to go potty. lol

@ Marhia - If there is a Babies R Us in your area, check there.

Hmmm not sure we got one let me google it real quick

well that's in austin

I have a 27 month old and she has been fully potty trained since she was 22 months old. I started getting her familiar with the restroom from birth. When she and I were home alone because her father was at work or in class I would take her in the restroom with me. I knew she was ready to start going to the restroom when she started only going when we were at home. She wouldn't go in her pamper when we were out in public. (very smart girl). When she started walking 3 days before her birthday i started putting her on the toilet, not a potty, as soon as she woke up in the morning and before she went to bed at night. Those were the first times I introduced. When we were at home I would let her go bottomless so she would how it feels to be without a diaper. We bought a potty the week after her birthday when she got the concept of going before bed and early morning. The potty played music and it had her dad's recorded voice so she loved going to the potty just to hear his voice. I think she loves him more than I do.

I also introduced her to the restroom at the places we visited most often like at church and relatives house. At exactly 15 months I remember she told me she had to "boo boo" when we were at church and I took her to the bathroom and that was the last time she even thought about doing the number 2 in her pants. She had a few pee pee accidents when she couldn't make it to the toilet or potty in time but it was okay, she's just a baby. At her daycare they asked that she wear the pull ups that open on the side just in case she had an accident but at home she only wore underwear except at night.

In came 2010, out went went the pull ups when i noticed she never wets the bed. For her 2nd birthday in February she had on her Dora undies for her Dora party.

TIPS: I used to let her wear her underwear over her pull up so she could be used to wearing them and pulling them up. I let her choose her underwear at the store as well as which one she wants to wear when she get dressed. That way she feel more responsible and involved. You can also look on babycenter.com for tips and make sure you have a great support system of people who are encouraging. I know a lot of schools say its not their job to potty train. Try to teach her on the big toilet so u don't have do teach it twice. My baby called her potty the baby toilet so she didn't like it much. Last but definitely not least let her go on her own, don't force, make it fun. Whenever u go, encourage her to go. Say things like "mommy is a big girl, look at mommy pee" and she'll go just because she wanna be like MOMMY.

Great post! I am in the process of training my 21 month old daughter. She loves to take her diaper off and sit on the potty several times a day.  She even asks to go potty when we are in the bathroom. The only problem is she has no idea what its actually for. She once spent 10 minutes sitting on the potty, then ask to get up (or "get down" in her words), takes 4 steps and pees on the floor (but was completely unaware that she did anything). That tells me it's too soon. But we will still go through the motions. 

We have been off an on about the potty. My little one loves to sit on it and close the lid to it, and wash her hands, but she won't pee pee in it. She will tell us that she has pee peed in her diaper SOMETIMES afterwards, but right now I think we may just be lazy about pushing it.

Potty training is going, but not fast enough! She'll sit there in the morning but usually won't do anything. Other times during the day she refuses to sit on the potty (really a Dora potty ring on the big toilet). She is almost 21 months and doesn't seem to care about being wet or poopy AT ALL!! I really want to get this done over the summer because she starts preschool for two days/week in the fall and they'll only use disposable diapers (I use cloth). So my motivation is not spending money on sposies (plus my mom is harassing me, reminding me that I was potty trained at 18 months)

How old was your daughter when you decided to potty train? 2

How did you know she was ready to potty train? she kept picking out panties in the store, (even though there were MY size) i figured she was ready to wear them

What were some of the ups? no more diapers...wooohooo!!

What were some of the downs? this kid has to go potty in EVERY STORE we go to!!

How long did it take to teach her? we started a week after her birthday, in Sept. and by February she was fully potty trained, as in we could go out to the store, park, play areas, where ever and she would stop to let me know she had to potty.

Any tips? be consistant.

Any regrets? none that i can think of!

oh and we had a regular pink potty. no bells and whistles. but i did make her a potty chart to help her feel good about her progress.