Monday, March 16, 2009

Potty training - do I have a problem?

Hey ladies, just wanted to put this one out there & see if anyone has had a similar experience,or any advice!

My daughter is coming up to 3 1/2 years old, & is not fully potty trained as yet. She will sometimes pee in the potty or in the bathoom, when I take her there, and is in pull-ups during the day & a regular diaper at night. The baby books seem to suggest that she "should" be clean by now, but she doesn't always seem to beware of the need to pee, until after the event....she'll tell me when she has peed, rather than she needs to pee. I am worried about trying to force her before she is ready, & making it traumatic for everyone concerned. I have friends who have basically put their kids in regular underwear & let them have accidents until they are clean, but I also have a 15 month old son, who I can just see following us around & putting his hands in pee puddles while I'm attempting cleanup! Is she just a late bloomer in this department, should I be concerned...or am I just missing something? Arrggghh! It's not as if I want her to be trained by this time next week, but I would like her to go to preschool / playgroup in the fall & she would need to be potty trained to attend them apparently.

6 comments:

  1. My daughter was more than 3.5 years old and wasn't at all potty trained. Then one day she decided it was time and she was fully trained in like a week, night and day. I think the late ones train faster when they decide its time.

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  2. I am actually training my two year old son this week.Sigh. I met a Mom when I was training my daughter and she told me go go full force in underwear! It makes sense that it would confuse them. Why is it, that they can pee in their pull up or diapers but it's not ok to pee in their undies. It sure would be a hard thing to grasp when your that age. So I would do the undie thing. Another thing I noticed when I was potty training my oldest is try not to put too much pressure on her. If she knows you want her to pee in the potty and will most likely do the opposite. I sure hope this helps a bit. I am on my second trip potty training as we speak and I know it is no fun. I will be blogging about this too. :)

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  3. My son is 3 years and 3 months old and is just recently potty trained during the day. I let him wear underwear all day long, and I also have a 15 month old son as well. I found wearing underwear was great in training him, as if he peed on the floor I would just clean it up. If I was afraid the baby would put his hands in the mess while I was cleaning it up, then I would place him in his crib or in his playpen while I cleaned it up. Good luck with it! :) BTW, my little guy will not poop in the potty yet. We are working on it.

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  4. What is your potty training schedule like? Are you waiting for her to tell you when she has to pee or do you place her on the potty every so often and see if she can pee?

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  5. We place her on the potty or go to the bathroom every so often during the day & before bedtime to see if she can pee...we have a Dora the Explorer calender in the kitchen, & she gets a sticker for every pee in the potty / bathroom, but some days she just doesn't even seem interested in trying, though we keep trying (but not forcing the issue). We're pretty good at praising her for using them, but don't try to make her feel bad if she can't pee, or does it in her diapers. We did try the underwear way one weekend before Christmas, but were constantly cleaning up pee & Rhiannon didn't seem to realise she was going to pee until she was actually peeing, so I think she was just nowhere near ready at that point.

    Michelle, I know my friends were having the same poopy issue with their son, who is almost 4. They told him that if he did 10 poops in the bathroom, he could get the Star wars light sabre toy that he had been begging them for....he was on poop #6 and counting the last time I spoke to them - I know some parents are not to keen on going this route as it just feels like bribery to them, but I thought I would mention it anyways!

    Thanks for the advice ladies, & for making me feel less of a loser!! I was starting to feel like I was doing something wrong, but maybe not :0)

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  6. I hear that some kids bladders mature slower than others. Maybe that's whats going on with your daughter. Sounds to me she just is not ready for it. And when she is she will let you know. Hang in there! And you are NOT a looser. Your a terrific Mom by the sounds of it:)

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