Both of my boys showed signs of wanting to sit on the big potty at 18 months. However it was sporadic and they still reserved poop for their diapers and would not tell us when they had to go. It was more of us sitting them on the potty or some days we'd say we were going to set a timer for every 30 minutes and after about 3 hours we kind of just lost momentum, went and ran errands, went to a playdate, etc. so the 30 minute rule was no longer convenient. My oldest turns 3 next month and I just decided it was now or never. I prepped my husband for 2 weeks prior making sure he understood we were literally going to be at home for 3 straight days (my mom actually came over the first day, Friday until my DH got off work). I told him we weren't cooking, cleaning, working on projects, or running to the store. And we had to keep our eyes on them for 3 straight days, was he ready? He agreed. Even on Thursday Dylan was starting to get sick, by Friday DH and I both were sick with some kind of cold bug, but we sucked it up and did it anyways!
Preparation:
-First, you have to buy the E-Book at http://www.3daypottytraining.com/ . I gave it to my mom and DH to read (I'll admit that DH probably skimmed the guide until he was so frustrated by noon on Saturday that he spent their nap time reading it word for word, it was smooth sailing after that!).
-I made a trip to Target for big boy underwear, 20 pairs for each kid, flushable wipes, potty treats(2 M&M's for peeing, reese's peanut butter cups for pooping), stickers, 2 suprise gifts (Hexbugs- this one was a blast, and two cars from Cars movie that you pull back and let go), lots of juice, snacks, rubber gloves, and waterproof pad for each bed(we already had one on each, but we double layered for quick changes at night or nap time). I did all the grocery shopping but planned on ordering food in for 3 nights in a row and made sure nothing had to be cooked or prepared extensively.
-I didn't mention anything to the kids except Grandma was coming to our house the next day.
-I moved their rug from their play area into our bedroom, moved the couches around so I could sort of corral them to one area, set out paper towels and cleaner(out of their reach), got potty treat stash ready, set out a couple stacks of flushable wipes at each toilet, and covered the couches with older blankets. We have wood floors so I decided not to put a tarp down.
-I should have got more sleep the night before, I was a little nervous and jittery:(
The BIG DAY!
-We woke the boys up, changed their pull-ups, ate breakfast and tried to get them to drink juice with breakfast and then I changed them in to undies and grabbed a Target bag and we ran around the house to each of our diaper stashes and I let the boys throw them in the bag and they were laughing and thought it was so much fun. Then we went to the garage and tossed them into the trash. I thought about keeping them but didn't want to give myself that chance of giving up so away they went.
-My mom arrived and we came up with a plan and away we went. The first day was 9 accidents, it felt like 20! I was prepared for my floor to be flooded with urine, it wasn't, it was usually a tiny spot because we'd pick them up and run to the toilet! Pooping accidents weren't too bad because my kids were constipated, TMI?,so it stayed in their underwear and we flushed it down the toilet.
-My oldest kept saying he didn't have to poop but you could tell he had to. But I followed the guide and didn't allow him to just hang out on the toilet.
-At night, they both had an accident around 3 or 4am after going to bed at 7pm and being woke up by us to go potty at 8pm and back to bed. Also, just a note that we always gave our kids a full cup of milk to go to bed with at nap time and bed time. It's one of those things every month we'd say we needed to wean them off of, and just never did. They asked a couple times the first night for their milk and then fell asleep and it's not been an issue since.
-My dad came over to say hi and ask me a couple of work related questions and no lie, I'd turn and look at the paper my dad had and within 30 seconds one of the kids peed standing like 2 feet from me. I cleaned that up, he asked another question, I turned to look at my Dad, Dylan squatted down and peed. I finally had to tell my Dad I just couldn't do this right now, it'd have to wait. He felt bad and really didn't understand that you have to look AT THEM ALL DAY LONG!
The Next Two Days:
These days were sort of a blur. It reminded me of when Dylan was born and just the complete exhaustion. By Sunday, Dylan was accident free, asking to go potty, yelling poop and super proud of himself. He even made it through the night (with a wake up at 8pm and 5am to go potty) dry and all naptimes since have been dry (they sleep about 2 hours for a nap). AJ at this point was doing great except for saying his butt hurt but not wanting to go potty or going into the bathroom and then saying he didn't have to go. And so he wet himself once that day I think trying to avoid pooping, TMI again huh? By Monday I was on my own and my husband even said Monday evening that as soon as he got in his car to go to work, he thought to himself, 'I feel so bad for her doing this today by herself.' It really wasn't awful, I moved the furniture back, left the blankets on them, made them lunch, picked up around the house and just continued to ask like every 15 minutes, "Tell mommy when he have to go potty, OOOOOKAAAY?" They did awesome. But for two straight days I literally had to hear my oldest scream, cry and throw fits saying his butt hurt and go into the potty like every 5 minutes. On Tuesday I finally told him he'd get a time out if he screamed or yelled and that if he continued to scream in time out, he'd have to go take a nap. That helped alot, and he did get a few time outs and he did have to go take one 10 minute nap. By Wednesday though, the whining stopped, the boys were cheering each other on to go poop and high fiving each other and life sort of returned to normal minus the diapers!
In Conclusion:
I understand this might not work for every kid but for me, it was worth a shot. I don't have a lot of experience in potty training and my mom simply potty trained the kids she watched when I was little by throwing Cheerios in the toilet and having them pee to sink them, then they got a couple Skittles. But that didn't work for my kids so I tried something else. It wasn't the diaper cost that made me decide to do this, it's that my oldest is 3 years old and he was less potty trained than my youngest and he had no problems pooping in his diaper then coming to tell me to "CHANGE my diaper." It wasn't cute. I can't even describe the changes that have taken place in 3 short days with my boys and their attitudes, their manners, everything. They are such big boys now! My parents are on vacation since last Saturday so I have had them at home with me which made it ideal to do this now. I've got to snuggle with them, play with them, bake with them and now I get to finish up preparations for their 2nd and 3rd birthday which both occur in November. Yes, I feel like i've spent 12 hours a day inside my half bath but it's been worth it! If you haven't read the 3 Day Potty Training guide, check it out and see what you think. It's got great detail in there and I'd love to hear if it worked for you!
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| Celebrating a succesful week with frozen yogurt! |
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| Coloring and keeping them entertained during training! |
