Potty Training On Hold for Now

Ok, so I may have been a little bit hasty in trying to potty train Annie. When I wrote about potty training Annie a couple of weeks ago, I hoped that this week’s entry would be about our success. Unfortnately, no progress has been made. I thought the signs were there. I pulled out the potty and she was all smiles. She would even say, “I have to go potty, mommy” and sit on it – but nothing, no pee, just a smile then she gets up and runs through the house without any pants on. I think the nudy run is her favorite part of trying to potty train.

I even think she has taken some steps backward. All of sudden, she doesn’t even want her diaper changed – even the poopy ones. I have to chase her down in order to do it. So we are holding off on the hard-core attempt to potty train. We are headed out of town next weekend, so I am going to wait until we get back. Once we are back home, I’m going to try the same method that I did with Zoe, spend the weekend at home an let her run around naked so she has not choice but to go on the potty (I hope that she doesn’t figure out that the floor is an option).

In the meantime, I’ll continue to ask her if she wants to go on the potty and try to make a big deal about it so that she might stay interested. Annie wants to do everything that Zoe does, so encouragement from Zoe might help. I didn’t do the reward system with Zoe, but it is something that I might try with Annie. Friends tell me that M&M’s really do the trick and you can give one or two for pees and several poops. I also soliciated advice for Jen P. regarding her successes, here’s what she had to say:

Give lots of praise, even for trying, and don’t get upset when accidents happen. Potty training can take 3-6 months. Don’t force it – you will just get into a power struggle. Look for these signs and when you’re ready, spend a weekend at home, let your little one run around naked and watch her every move. When you first start, you’ll think they go 20 times in a day. But you’ll quickly notice a routine like they potty right when they wake up, one more time in the morning, one time before nap, one time after nap, one time before bed. You’ll also quickly notice a poopy routine too. When I first potty-trained, I still put a pull-up on at nap. Mine would hold their poopy until naptime. I didn’t think that was such a bad thing because it was teaching them to control it. They quickly dropped that habit when I stopped putting a pull-up on them (I did the same thing and it worked out great, less than two weeks of pull-ups and Zoe was done). Also, night-time potty-training sometimes takes a lot longer. I always put a diaper on at night until they wake up with a dry diaper 4 days in a row. Limit drinks after dinner and let nature take its course. Some little one’s bladders just can’t hang with nighttime potty-I was a bed-wetter until age 8, gasp! So I don’t push my kids on that front.

Thanks Jen P., and please tell us your smarty potty training tips!

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