Over Thanksgiving weekend, Mr. Cereal and I decided to try to get LeLe potty trained. She was about to be 23months old, so we figured it was time to try. She had been showing signs of readiness and we both had four days in a row off to try the three day method. No suspense needed, we failed and LeLe is still in diapers, but the process was definitely interesting.
Day One: LeLe was super happy to be pantsless for the day. This girl already loves being naked, so being allowed to remain naked was a thrill for her. We talked to her in the days leading up to the start that we were going to try to go to the bathroom on the potty instead of the diaper. We even got her some Minnie Mouse underpants and she was super excited. It actually started out really well. She was fine to sit on the potty every 15-20 minutes and even though she wasn’t going to the bathroom, she wasn’t resisting the potty. Mid-day, she pooped in the potty without any prompting from us, and we celebrated with her. About 10 minutes after that success, she peed on the stairs. We told her it was ok to have accidents, but she should try to tell us when she thinks she needs to go potty. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon doing the potty every 15 minutes, and she successfully peed twice in the potty and pooped once more as well. We were stoked! We put her in a disposable diaper for her nap time and she woke up dry, so we put her on the potty and she screamed and cried like we were killing her. I think it threw all of us off, and she promptly peed on the stairs again (apparently this is her place to pee). We continued for the evening and she did ok, with three accidents, and one success. We were all exhausted by bedtime, and she filled a diaper to the brim overnight.
Day Two: We started out ok, LeLe sat on the potty for us a few times in the morning, but didn’t actually pee. We went against the “rules” of the three day method and ventured out of the house. I packed two extra sets of clothing and threw a towel into the car just in case. Much to our surprise, LeLe did not have an accident the entire time we were out. She peed in the potty right when we got home. And this is where our success came to a screeching halt. She absolutely refused to sit on the potty after this. She would scream and cry and immediately get up and run away from the potty as soon as we put her on it. She had multiple accidents and stopped even giving us any clues that she needed to go. I had read that this was common, so we decided to stick with it. By the end of day two, I was exhausted, LeLe was exhausted and we were both a little cranky.
Day Three: LeLe woke up with an extremely full diaper and was in a terrible mood. She refused to even sit on the potty, and stiff legged us if we tried to get her to sit on it. She had accidents everywhere and gave us no clues whatsoever that she needed to go. She would actually freak out at the mention of the potty and then right after trying to get her to sit down, she would pee somewhere else in the house. It was becoming evident to me that she just wasn’t really that ready to be potty trained. Even with the cool underpants and the celebrations, she just wasn’t interested. I was burned out, Mr. Cereal was definitely getting overwhelmed, so we caved and gave her a diaper and had a long cuddle on the couch. FAIL.
Since then, we’ve had hit and miss successes with the potty. She still kind of freaks out when we ask her to go on the potty, so I am fine with waiting a little longer to try again. She pees consistently in the shower when I ask her to, so she knows how to but she just doesn’t seem to want to. I definitely don’t want to push her because I really don’t want her to have bad associations with the potty and potty training in general. She can hold her pee for an incredibly long time, so I know that physically she is ready. When I ask her if she wants to stop wearing diapers, she says no. I think part of the issue is that she genuinely likes the patterns on the diapers we use and is not willing to part with them yet.
So we will try again in the coming months. Maybe do a trial run over a weekend to see how she reacts. I would love to have one less child in diapers, but I am not going to rush her because of that. This whole potty training business is no joke. I dread having to do it, but I know that eventually we need to help her transition out of diapers. I just want to make sure that the timing is right.
guest
We just went through this with our 30 month old boy. Did great day 1, was having none of it the next day. We put him back in diapers but left the potties out and would ask in the morning if he wanted to wear big boy underwear or diapers. One day, he decided it was underwear and he’s been doing great since then. In this case, it just had to be his decision – and it’s his body so I’m OK with that.
All that to say, she won’t go to Kindergarten in diapers!
clementine / 806 posts
your comment about how she “likes the patterns on the diapers we use” jumped out at me. Do you think she might have an easier time with the transition if you switched to a different brand of boring diapers?
(DS is 16 months old, so I know NOTHING about potty training — your comment just struck me, and was something I had never thought about)
blogger / kiwi / 626 posts
@MrsLonghorn: We actually use cloth diapers with cutesy patterns on them so switching would be hard. I think if I could get her to have the same affection for her underpants, she might be willing to let go of her diapers. Good question though.
guest
We had the exact same experience with my daughter when she was a little over 2. Our ped said to wait until she made it very clear that she was ready. She’s now 2 years 9 months– and I hope she expresses interest soon bc 3 is soon! Love any tips that anyone has if they have been through this!
olive / 50 posts
The exact same thing happened to us after Christmas. Since then, she’s had good days of peeing on the potty several times, and days where she refuses to sit on the potty at all. Sigh. We may try again over President’s Day weekend, but I am not looking forward to it!
apricot / 317 posts
Good luck…! My first was easy to potty train at 19 months, though night training took a lot longer…but some of the foster kids I’ve had are DIFFICULT. We currently have an almost 3 and 1/2 year old little boy who is most definitely still in diapers…and will be in them for a while longer.
guest
The patterns thing leaped out at me too. We used cloth, and when we started using training pants at night (we are fully potty trained except at night) our daughter hated it. The Seventh Generation brand is her least favorite. They are bland (paper bag color and no fancy print) and not super soft. We couldn’t keep using cloth at night anyway because we didn’t accumulate enough to wash, so maybe try that when you give it a go again.
guest
This is almost exactly how my potty training experience with my daughter went at 26 months! We forgot about it. She pretty much stopped showing interest, so I was worried I had missed a window…but when she started at a daycare center at 31 months, they had her trained in 3 days! It was pretty amazing. And she’s not had an accident since. Give it some time before you try again.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
What if you try plain old disposal diapers? The fact that she likes the patterns might be why she doesn’t want to give them up, no matter how fun the underwear are.
cherry / 157 posts
If she is interested in the regular toilet at all maybe you could try that instead of a small potty? I agree if you could make her diapers “boring” that might help
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
I think my kid would have been like that at 22 mo. She’s almost 29 months now and she’s been talking alot about panties and not wanting diapers, which is a big change from 6 months ago.
hostess / cantaloupe / 6486 posts
We’ve been potty training for about 3 weeks now. It’s going well but we have at least one pee accident everyday (DD is 28 months), bit otherwise she is doing amazingly well. All that to say, she still asks me for her “Mickey diaper” and tries to wear her baby sisters diapers. I totally belive your little one may really love her diaper patterns!
guest
We rewarded sitting on the potty. Every decent sit got a tiny treat. We also let them sit on the potty while watching tv. For my three is really kept things pleasant and all gave up the need for rewards once it clicked.
guest
Maybe the 3 day method is too intense for her? My son would have refused the potty pretty quick if we were taking him to it every 15 minutes. We’ve used a very gradual process over the last 3 months and are pretty reliably trained while awake. We practiced on the potty morning and bedtime until he got the hang of it, then underwear just on weekends (taking him every 1-2 hours), then pull-ups at daycare, then finally underwear everywhere. He’s also 34 months – she may just be a little young (though girls are supposed to do well a little earlier) Don’t rush!
guest
Do you have any cloth trainers for her? I don’t know what brand of cloth you use but Blueberry makes trainers in the same patterns as their diapers most of the time so if she has favorites you could try those? I’m don’t know anything about them as my DD is only 15 months and not ready for potty training yet.
coffee bean / 28 posts
It’s no “done in 3 days” method (at least not for us), but we followed the plan in the book “Oh Crap! Potty Training”. We hit a similar wall of crazy resistance from our 26 month old, and all I wanted to do was Make It Stop. His behavior was just crazy and he peed through all the pants. The book’s author recommends backing off at this point, and gives good tips about reminders without hovering. We are about 1 1/2 weeks in and there’s no looking back! If you prefer the “pants less” route, I can’t recommend this book enough.
GOLD / apricot / 341 posts
We did the 3-day with our first at 22 months and have actually regretted it since, even though it was “successful”. He was waking us up every night to change his wet diaper etc so we felt like he was really ready. But I think under two is a little early to be really potty-trained and expected to manage it all at pre-school with other adults etc. It’s a lot of responsibility on such a small child.
Our second child has refused – in the manner that your little one did – most attempts at potty-training. I thought he would just never get to it. We have backed-off each time and tried to just wait him out and now, at almost 3.5 he has just potty-trained himself and is managing it so so well. It has been completely painless with almost no accidents at all and completely child-led. I know he’s quite late but this just feels like the way to go for us.
Our third child is almost 21 months old now and is slowly experimenting with the potty. We are following her lead and letting her do it at her own pace and in her own time and hoping it will be as painless as it was with our second.
Good luck!
guest
My doctor has always stressed that 2.5 is when they can actually fully understand the concept of being potty trained. I do know lots do it earlier but I always kept that in mind with my son who was potty trained at 28 months thanks in large part to our daycare and probably the pressure from his peers. We got a small potty and potty seat for our toilet when he started walking. We would offer for him to sit before bath and on weekends but never forced. I think that helped him be comfortable with it from a young age. Good luck! It will happen eventually just might not be on your time table.