Oh Crap! Potty Training

I've been reading the book Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki and was wondering if anyone has tried her methods. We are looking to potty train my over two and a half year old son. Her methods seem a bit extreme to me. But maybe thats what it takes to learn. I'm also going to be traveling alone with him next month and wondering if I should hold off until after the trip to start. Anyone have tips that worked for them?

Don't hold off. If your child is ready, waiting may only hurt the training process. Potty training is a natural process, and should be simple, so I don't understand why people make it so difficult. It can be time consuming, but by potty training age parents are skilled in patience. As far as the book goes, I haven't read it, but if it doesn't sound right to you, it probably isn't. Every child is different so what works for one, may not for another.
As far as what worked for me, I just waited until they showed an interest in the potty, and sat them on it several times a day (when I would normally change their diaper). Eventually, magic happened.
Don't hold yourself or your child to anyone else's standards. Just because little Timmy was trained by age 3 doesn't mean your son will. And that's ok!

My daughter was potty trained by 20 months. I bought the character underwear and put her in them. I would explain to her that X character didn't want to be peed on and that we had to go on the potty. Then, every 45 minutes to an hour I would take her to the bathroom and sit her on the "big girl potty." We bought a toilet topper for the big toilet. It took about 2-3 weeks for her to grasp the concept, but it worked. My sister let her boys run around naked. That was pretty funny lol. Every child is different thought, so I would try a way that works for you. You may have to try a couple different ways, but you will find something that works. Good luck!

My oldest son was not interested in potty training. He finally started using the potty to go pee at around three. Then it took another six months before he would use the potty for bowel movements. My caregiver was the one who told me it was time to go to the store and let him pick out his big boy underwear. He loved them and didn't want to have an accident in them. The first day he wore his big boy underwear he got busy playing and peed right through them. I changed him and told my caregiver. She said just hand him paper towels and have him clean it up. The same thing happened the next day and I gave him the paper towels and he cleaned up his pee. That was the last time he peed in his underwear. My best advice is not to stress out about potty training. It will happen when your child is ready.

I don't necessarily know that everyone would recommend rewards each time they successfully make it to the bathroom, but it worked for us. I started with M&M's. 1 for potty and 2 for...you know. As she started getting the hang of it, we would scale back by saying "Ok, if you go two times you get a treat." I personally don't agree with any extreme method when it comes to something like potty training. It really takes patience. After all, they only know one way and it takes time to transition.

This is an area where I was extremely lucky and didn't have a problem with it at all. In fact, when someone asks me how I potty trained my daughter, I don't even have a good answer to give because basically I didn't. I bought her one of those little potty chairs but right from the start, she just started going on her own and wanted to use it. Wasn't too long before she demanded using "the big potty."
To answer your question about your upcoming trip... since it's next month and you're traveling alone with him, I'd personally wait. There's really no need to give yourself undue stress over the matter, not to mention training mishaps while traveling when you can just wait until you get back home. A solo trip like that (solo adult I mean!) is stressful enough without choosing to add to it.

Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I will go ahead and wait until we get back from our trip to really focus on it. No need for added stress. He just needs to be fully potty trained by September so he can start preschool. That gives us all summer to work on it if we need it. We have a potty chair that he has used successfully from time to time. I think it's more a matter of training me to be consistent. He picks things up pretty quickly so hoping it will be the same with potty training. I've just got to stop being lazy and do it (after my trip of course).

mandak said:
Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I will go ahead and wait until we get back from our trip to really focus on it. No need for added stress. He just needs to be fully potty trained by September so he can start preschool. That gives us all summer to work on it if we need it. We have a potty chair that he has used successfully from time to time. I think it's more a matter of training me to be consistent. He picks things up pretty quickly so hoping it will be the same with potty training. I've just got to stop being lazy and do it (after my trip of course).

Good call on waiting until you are back from your trip. Starting now and then leaving could set him back. My sister did that, started to potty train and then they went on a trip and stuck my nephew in a diaper for the ride. Surprisingly, it made him not care about all the progress he made.

So...okay..NO you should not wait. If the child is ready he/she will be showing signs, may it be little signs or huge signs, we as parents must be aware and be ready to take action. My youngest child is a boy and the only boy, so when it came time to potty train him, lets just say it was different. He will be three in a few weeks but nevertheless he is very potty trained. I really started when he turned two and faithfully, no matter what, kept the routine of taking him to the bathroom and making sure he had on a pull-up. At first it will be frustrating because of all the accidents that are bound to happen but in the end it will be well worth it. My toddler was happy because he had a routine even if it wasn't successful just yet. Patience is key in this situation mommies!!

Well I can say that we did not use any book, and not this one, but I know that going back in time we could have used all of the help that we could have gotten our hands on, so we should have bought this book. Potty training is so frustrating, even after the first time, so having it laid out step by step would have really been helpful for us.

I have a 4 year old boy. I was the first of all my sisters to have a boy, and the first to experience the nightmare of trying to potty train him! My first child was a girl and a breeze to potty train. She was in panties by 2. My son however was stubborn. We had no problem with the peeing part since he had to stand up. When it came to doing #2, he refused to sit on the potty. Not only did I buy him a potty seat that fit on the toilet, I also bought a toddler size potty that looked liked a race car. He was not impressed with either of them. For almost 6 months we had to deal with him pooping in his underwear. He refused to go anywhere near the potty when he needed to go. Then one day he told me he thought he was ready to try the potty thing. He was just shy of his 4th birthday! After that day it's been smooth sailing. Up to that point, I thought about admitting myself somewhere with a padded room.

It is so true that every child is different. My two were very different. My oldest didn't want anything to do with the potty. She would go on it but it was very difficult to get her to stop wetting in her pants. Finally one day I said this is it and I was determined to get her to use the potty. I was ready to spend the whole day in there if I had to. Finally just before she turned 4 she started using it on her own without my telling her to. With her, everything was in her time. It still is like that too.
My son on the other hand was trained before she was. They are 15 months apart and as soon as he knew what she was doing then he wanted to do it too. He was much easier and less stressful. I wish it would have been like that for my daughter.

Our 3 year old twins have just recently both started pooping on the toilet! YAY!! Up until now, they happily did a wee on the toilet, but flat out refused and demanded a nappy on to poop. Our boy started pooping first and we gave him lots of praise and rewards, hoping our little girl would want to be part of it too but she didn't bight. Eventually, we just refused to give her a nappy and said "If you need to poo, use the toilet or you'll have to do it in your undies." It felt mean, but she eventually sat on the toilet and pooped and we haven't looked back since.

My advice would be just to persevere. All kids need different techniques. I got my 11 year old out of a nappy by asking if he wanted to poop outside like our puppy and that got him all excited. He went out the back and pooped on the grass a few times, and then used the toilet a few days later. (I had to pick up the dogs poo anyway, so it didn't seem much worse!)

Good Luck!

My ordeal potty training was hectic because my son would not talk or show any signs. I started out by putting him on the potty every two hours; it was difficult but after a month, he started showing signs. Also, I would yell 'pee' and grab him as we rushed to the bathroom and he loved the rush and got interested in going to pee. But when we had long trips, he would be in diapers; until I noticed he wouldn't pee in his diapers until he was on his potty and that was when I knew, he was matured enough to go without diapers.

Happy to say we started and things are going pretty well! He stays dry most of the time while we are home. But, going out is another story. Also, he completely refuses to go when he goes to play-school twice a week. We have our trip coming up next week so I will keep him in a pull up while we are on the plane and out and about. I've been using the Gerber cloth training pants at home and really like them. He needs to be completely independent to start preschool in the fall and I think we are well on our way. Thanks everyone for the advice!

I am happy to here that things are going well. Are you following the methods that are used in the book that you are reading? I have a 2 year old daughter that needs to be completely independent at using the potty by the Fall. I think I will try using the Gerber cloth training pants. I currently use Pull Ups at home and my daughter will go in her Pull Up instead of telling me that she needs to use the potty. Maybe, using cloth training pants will allow here to experience the uncomfortable sensation of being wet.

My 2 year old girl has her own idea on potty training. Depending on her mood each day, she will either refuse to use the potty at all for the day, or she will insist to use the potty. Then there are days where she will refuse to wear a nappy and then just end up peeing on the floor because she also refuses to go to the potty. I've kind of given up on this. I'm leaving her to decide on her own, I invite her to come to the toilet with me and her potty is in the bathroom next to the toilet...but then she just thinks it's really funny that mommy peepee's and will insist to try and use the toilet while I'm on it ( I haven't actually allowed this), so when I say no wait for mommy to finish or use your potty she will just throw a fit....I'm kind of dispirited when it comes to the whole potty training thing.

A new mom will quickly learn when baby is telling her that he is tired or hungry. Baby will also tell you when he is about to soil his diaper - or 'eliminate' in the jargon. The signs are usually a grunting and moving into a certain position. My son used to get this far away look on his face and he would be very noisy so that everyone around him knew what was on the way!
This is the problem with every mom. You just calm in this situation. Many moms in all countries are now practicing 'elimination communication' whereby they watch baby for signs that he is ready to 'eliminate' and then dangle him over the toilet or a potty.
The diapers are considerable, and of course you would be doing your bit to help the environment.
Potty training at the 'traditional' age of around 2-3 can be a real battle and a scary time for a kid. Starting much earlier would spare you both but the technique does require constant attention and, for this reason, some experts 'pooh-pooh' the idea (sorry!) 'I think it will always be something practiced by a minority of parents doing it for ideological reasons such as being closer to the baby or to help save the environment'. Two good reasons I would have thought