My daughter is two years old and her doctor says she is ready for potty traing any advice?

Question

My problem is that every time i tell her she has to wear underwear she gets very scared. she is terrifed of the thought. Her doctor said i should also wait until my daughter says she is ready. the doctor said focing her is bad What do i do?

Answer 1

I say you should wait until your daughter shows signs that she is ready. You shouldn't have to try to potty train her just because she is a certain age. Age doesn't have anything to do with potty training. It's more of an emotional capability. She'll let you know when it's time. If you try to force her before that, it'll only make it worse and prolong the process. Good Luck!

Answer 2

I am a preschool teacher and at age 2 the number one thing on the parents' minds is potty training. I don't know when 2 became the magic number. But like a lot of people are saying...every child is completely different. I would drop the subject completely until your daughter starts to show interest. This is the one area which a child has complete control and the more they are pushed before they're ready the more they'll resist.

With my first daughter, I tried before she was ready. I tried m n' m's; throwing a potty party (dr. phil) when she'd go; letting her run around naked; putting her in underwear...sometimes they'd work, but mostly they didn't. So I spent about 7 months "potty training."

With my second daughter I never made her do anything and when she was ready...it took TWO days! They let you know by showing an interest in using the toilet (not just flushing or putting toilet paper down it).

There is no hurry. Good luck.

Answer 3

Hi Krys,

The Pediatrician is an expert in many things but not neccesarily when it comes to potty training. The best expert in this subject is your child. Every child is different. They all learn at different rates and speeds. She may have a fear of having nothing near her skin. You may need to start with a padded training pant. Perhaps putting the training pant over the diaper for a couple of weeks then slowly substituting the trainers for the diaper. Maybe a shopping trip where she can choose her own "big girl" panties will help. It will also be something that you and your daughter can do together, just the two of you. Special mother and daughter time.
It is also very impotant to remember that this problem may be as frustrating for her as it is for you. Never allow her to see your frustation. Don't try to force the issue, If something doesn't work once, try it again in another week or so.
If using the potty is a difficult thing, perhaps a sticker could be given as a small reward whenever the potty is used successfully.When my 2 year old was training( she is just trained herself) My husband and I would sing a special song to her everytime she used the potty. We reserved one song and only sang that song when she had success. She would clap loudly and sing her song. Her pride was her biggest reward.
Potty training isn't a written science. What works for one child, may not work for yours. I hope that some of my suggestions may be of use to you. Good luck , be patient. In good time, when she is ready, she will train.

Answer 4

My daughter just turned 2 as well and I am going through the same thing. While she still has her accidents from time to time she is almost there.While I am not a pro there are a few things that I have learned to make the transaction smoother. My #1 tip is NO diapers or pull-ups. Once you decide that you are going to potty train the diapers and pull ups have to go. I know that others think they work but my daughter didn't treat them any different than a diaper, not to mention they cost twice as much.
#2 Take her to the store to pick out underwear. My daughter didn't want anything to do with the underwear I bought her. She however loves the Dora "underpants" that she picked out. (Just make sure you buy several packs- lots of accidents happen at first)
#3 there are lots of fun potty training books and videos out. I let my daugher watch "Elmo Goes Potty" at least once a day. She sings the songs and talks about Elmo when she is on the potty.
#4 Be patient!!!! Accidents happen, when she has one just change her pants and tell her that its okay, next time she can go on the potty.
#5 Sweat pants are a life saver. There is going to be a lot of messes at first so easy on, easy off is great.
I hope these tips help! I know that there is a lot but I wish that someone would have told me all of this when I started.

Answer 5

It's nice that someone knows how to cut and paste. *eye roll*

Anyway, I wouldn't force her since that c an only intimidate her even more. Signs of readiness include telling you when she's wet or dirty, not liking the feeling of being wet, and taking an interest in you when you use the toilet. If she's not quite ready, you can always try again later.

I made a sticker chart for my son and he got a small star for every pee; a really big one for poop. So far we've only got three big stars as he's afraid to poop in the potty. So I know what you're going through. If your daughter sees that big girl pants have Dora, Barbie, etc. characters on them, she might be more agreeable to wearing them.

Don't make them feel bad for accidents and have lots and lots of patience. You can get books for kids that talk about going to the potty - even though I have a boy we have the DOra potty book that makes a flushing sound when you push the button. Incentives might help but I'd be careful about using treats, especially food, for going to the potty. However, I do withhold fluids like juice and milk until my son uses the toilet first, just because I don't need an overfull bladder to deal with.

Once you start, expect accidents in the first couple days. at least with my son, the first day was the worst. Now he's doing quite well at it and can stay dry during the day and go by himself.

Answer 6

Maybe if you just let her wear those pull ups instead of telling her she has to wear underwear. I would listen to the Doctor about not forcing your child to potty train. There are other fun things that might help the process though. My daughter loved to "read" So every hour or so we would go to the potty and she would pick out her favorite story and sit on the potty while reading it. I know some women that will take their children to a sitter for a week during that time so the sitter can help. My friends son was trained in about 3 days because of the day care she took him to.

Answer 7

I agree with your doctor; your daughter may not be ready at this time. My children were born 13 months apart and I took a really laid back approach to potty training - my daughter was 2½ when she finally got out of diapers. I would take your daughter to the store and let her pick out her own underwear and she will quickly overcome her fear once she is involved in the decision-making process. Take your purchase home, but don't make her wear them immediately; your daughter will decide when she is ready. The key thing to remember is not to stress out - she may be picking up on this. Let her see you use the bathroom, but be fairly casual about it. When my own daughter had an 'accident' I would not get upset at all, thus taking the pressure off my child. I would strongly advise you NOT to use pull-ups at nighttime - these will not help train your child as she will be confused. I can say in all honesty that my daughter never wet the bed at night and my son only had one accident. I was so nervous at the prospect of potty training, but it really was quite simple. The first time we tried, my daughter got so upset I put her back in diapers as I felt it was too soon - a couple of months later I tried again, and this time we were successful! Good luck!

Answer 8

Buy the pamper pull panties because they still feel like a diaper, get her a potty chair then for a while you are just going to start taking her to the pot pull down the panties and sit her on it while she is sitting read her a story or give her a toy or something to eat make it comfortable for her to be there, sometimes running the water slowly in the sink so that she can here the flow might also help her to go. I raised 2 girls and potty training isn't easy, but take it slow and stay on your game and it will get done. Sometimes a reward for going is also something you might want to try. Turn it into a game but most of all have fun with her and the potty training.

Answer 9

go slow try pampers pull ups or
try underwear that is thicker in the middle (training pants?) i'm not sure what they're called....
anyway don't expect instant results and try these new things a little at a time (an hour a day and build from there) and don't leave home...let your daughter feel safe on her own potty. Bring her into the bathroom with you and sit on the potties together....buy the book, Everybody Poops! or similar titles that talk about sitting on the potty. Read them together while she's sitting on the potty. Reward, Reward, Reward! Even if she just sits. My son loved M&M's after sitting on the potty and washing his hands first, of course. Good Luck!

Answer 10

First of all, wait until the weather is warmer. That way you can let her run around with nothing on from the waist down in case of emergancy.
Second, buy the potty chair now and keep it in the house. Let her come to it, don't force it on her. Let her ask questions about it. You can tell her that it is a big girl potty. Now that she is a big girl, she won't need diapers anymore.
Put the underwear away for now. When the time comes, bring her with you to the store and to the underwear department and tell her how pretty these underwear are. Make a big deal of it and ask her if she would like to pick some out.
Also, buy a doll that goes potty. Your daughter can feed her a bottle and then you can put the doll on the potty chair to show your daughter what it's for.
Never punish your daughter for accidents (they are going to happen- period). Encourage her to sit on the potty when she has to go.
When she goes on it for the first time, make a HUGE deal of it. Throw confetti, praise her, reward her with stickers or something she really digs. Give her a reward every time she goes on the potty chair. Call your daughters favorite people when she goes the first time and enthusiastically tell them all about how she went on the potty.
Kids really just want to please us. Rewarding them and praising them just makes them want to do it more. If you give them negative feedback when they have accidents it can be detrimental.
I trained my daughter @ 2 1/2 yo because I already knew I was going to wait until the weather got warmer to do this. I also knew that I really had to dedicate the time to this. I took a week off from work to do it. If you don't take the time and just plan on staying home, it's really not fair to her. I only put pull ups on at bedtime because I couldn't expect her to wake up at night to go. Otherwise, the diapers went away cold turkey. It was only a matter of time before she stopped wetting at night time too. Once she went about a month with dry pull ups overnight, I took them away too. But when you do that, you need to make sure she has access to the potty. In other words, no crib and either put the potty in her room or make sure she has easy access to the potty wherever you have it.
This worked out extremly well for me.
P.S.
A lot of people put pull ups on the child if they are going for a long car ride. I think that's confusing to kids. I just put the potty chair in the car along with a plastic bag to line the chair and some wipes. My daughter was trained within the week.
Good Luck!