This is a guest post by Hellobee hostess Andrea!

Potty training. Two words that fill many parents with dread. Disposable diapers are so convenient that many people, at least those in the US, are waiting longer to potty train. DH and I definitely fell into this category. We had dabbled here and there with potty training, but it was sporadic. However, with baby sis arriving in a month, we felt like it was time to bite the bullet. DD was also at the point where she could take off all her clothes and practically change her own diaper (a very comical sight), so we felt like that was a sure sign of potty readiness! But how do you know for sure, right? None of her peers at daycare had been trained, even the ones who were approaching 3 years old (DD is 2 years and 7 months old). Well, as the saying goes, you’ll never know until you try. So try we did over the three-day Thanksgiving break.

 

For research, I re-read all the Hellobee blog posts on the subject.

For supplies, my first purchase was a bottle of pee and poop stain remover because I was so worried about damage to my carpet and furniture! I went to the supermarket to get juice boxes and popsicles, which would help keep her hydrated and in need of bathroom trips. I also bought marshmallows to use as our pee reward and lollipops as our poop reward.

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We already owned a few potties since DD had been going here and there, so I knew which one she liked the best. Her preference was and still is the Fisher Price Cheer for Me Potty. This is a great potty to use because it starts playing a song as soon as the first dribble of pee comes out. Your toddler might start off peeing in little, teeny amounts that would just get lost in the adult toilet. By using this potty, everyone will know for sure if your toddler has peed. Plus, the potty’s music and phrases are just fun.

I made a list of activities to keep everyone entertained indoors for the duration of potty training.  I filled a gift bag with potty training presents for DD to open on the first day. It contained:

I gave DD a heads up about potty training the night before. I told her about the new underwear purchases, and that was enough to have her jumping up and down in excitement!

We presented her with the gift bag of goodies, which she loved. She immediately wanted to take off her diaper and put on a pair of undies plus her potty watch. We had breakfast and tried to get her to drink a lot of liquids. She’s never been a fan of juice, but I tried the juice boxes anyway. No dice. So we just stuck to milk and water, but she wasn’t drinking a lot. Her watch went off every 30 minutes but she said that she didn’t have to potty so we didn’t make her sit. Finally, at 10:30 am, she was sitting on my leather office chair and started to pee. Oh no!! We rushed her into the bathroom where she finished peeing. YAY! We were really impressed that she had the ability to hold it mid-pee and finish off in the potty. There was lots of cheering, a marshmallow reward, and stickers were applied to her potty chart.

Here’s how the rest of the day went –

12:15 pm: Ran to the bathroom to pee but couldn’t hold it, peed by the bathroom door
2 pm: 1st fully successful pee in the potty!
3:30 pm: Poop in the potty!!!!!!
4:40 pm: Pee accident on her foam play mat squares
5:15 pm: 2nd successful pee of the day in the potty!

A lot of parents want to give up after Day One, but we thought our results were fantastic! We were especially amazed that she took a poop in the potty. She initially asked for a diaper to poop in and I had a moment of panic. I didn’t want her to hold it in all day so I debated giving in to her diaper request. But I decided to hold off and do everything I could to get that poop in the potty first. I tried giving her a popsicle, but like the juice boxes, she wasn’t a fan. The lollipops were supposed to be a reward, but I decided to go ahead and give her one pre-poop. If I wanted her to sit on the potty for a while, then the lollipop would be perfect since it takes so long to finish. She’s never had a lollipop before and luckily she did like it. Whew! So there we sat. I read her books and played her videos on the iPad while she licked her lolly. We did this for an hour and a half. Suddenly, the music started playing – she did it – there was poop in the potty! I was so relieved and pleased that I didn’t give into the diaper request.

The second day was exhausting! DD really got into this potty thing full swing and could not get enough. She kept running to the bathroom and we didn’t have to do much prodding.

This was the potty schedule:

7:30 am: Pee
9:30 am: Pee
10:15 am: Pee
11:05 am: Pee
11:20 am: Poop
11:55 am: Pee
2:15 pm: Pee
2:55 pm: Pee
3:55 pm: Pee
4:05 pm: Pee
4:45 pm: Pee

I was exhausted at that point so I stopped keeping track. However, notice that there were no accidents?? We were amazed! We also left the house for a quick errand after her 2:55 pm pee. She did say that she wanted to pee while we were out, but we told her that she needed to wait until we were home again. So we were home by 3:55 pm and she peed again. Even though we were not out for long, it was good for everyone to practice the potty routine for leaving the house.

Third and final day of potty training at home. The schedule was:

7:00 am: Pee
7:40 am: Pee
8:50 am: Pee
10:45 am: Pee
11:55 am: Pee
12:20 pm: Pee
2:00 pm: Pee
2:10 pm: Ran to the potty to poop, started to go in her underwear, but she was able to stop and finish in the potty.
3:50 pm: Pee
4:30 pm: Pee
5:15 pm: Pee
6:30 pm: Pee

On day three, we left the house again for a quick errand in the morning and even had an afternoon play date at my BIL’s house! DD’s 3:50 pm and 4:30 pm pees happened during the play date. It was fantastic that she used the potty there as well!

DD returned to daycare the next day and had NO ACCIDENTS there either! We did it! DH and I were incredibly proud of our girl. Potty training was way easier than we could have ever imagined. She’s not having any accidents and she’ll use any public restroom wherever we go (for pees AND poops)! DD will even pee on command, whenever we ask, so I think this is why we haven’t had any accidents. I think it’s important to note that we did not force her to sit on the potty at any point during the training. We gave her control over deciding when to sit and I think that really worked for her. She’s also learning how to hold it in for longer periods of time so we’re not in the bathroom nearly as a much a week and a half later.

Additionally, DD quickly lost interest in stickers for the potty chart and marshmallows/lollipops, so she didn’t even get any rewards for going to the potty past the initial three days.

You’re probably left wondering about what we did for naps and overnight. DD no longer naps so we didn’t have to do anything there! We decided not to potty train overnight because she doesn’t seem ready for that. She sleeps for 12+ hours at night and her overnight diaper still weighs about five pounds in the morning (she doesn’t even drink anything before bed), so we’re going to tackle that after she turns 3. I’ve read that a lot of kids start to stay dry overnight between the ages of 3 and 4 when they are more developmentally ready for it.

So that was our relatively pain-free potty training experience. I didn’t even have to use any of the stain remover!

Have you or will you be trying the three day potty training method?

Potty training part 5 of 14

1. Best Potties by Guides
2. Favorite Potty Training Books by Mrs. Bee
3. Potty Training Accessories by Guides
4. Printable Potty Training Rewards Chart by printables
5. Three-day potty training by parenting
6. It's My Potty and I'll Try if I Want To by mrs. wagon
7. Let the potty training begin by Mrs. Sunglasses
8. Conventional vs Early Potty Training by Mrs. Superhero
9. Charlie is now Prince of the Potty! by Mr. Bee
10. Potty Training Bootcamp by Mrs. Cowgirl
11. Style vs. Practicality: Skinny Jeans and Little Boys by Mrs. Cowgirl
12. Easy Does it with the Potty by Mrs. High Heels
13. Enter the World of Potty Training by Mrs. Checkers
14. Potty training a 22 Month Old by mrs. tictactoe