Naked potty training: Bad habit, or necessary step?

Question

I've been trying to toilet train my two and a half year old daughter for the past four days. Pull ups didn't work, because it didn't click in her head that it wasn't a diaper. So I tried putting her in regular underwear, but she never made it to the toilet on time. I think she was confounded by having to take clothing off to go to the bathroom. (Plus she catches the impulse to pee pretty late.)

So I tried keeping her naked, and she always made it to the potty. Now she's pretty good at going to the potty --- but only when she's naked! Otherwise she pees in whatever she is wearing.

How do I bridge the gap and get her to wear clothing and use the potty? Do kids go through a naked stage while potty training?

Should I just wait a bit longer to put her in clothing until she's a pro at reading her signals?

I need advice and tips.

Yea, when we go out, I let her run around naked.

=/

No, I put a Pull Up on, but those really don't work very well because she still pees. I can't imagine that sends any more of a mixed signal than having her sleep in diapers still.

Answer 1

Wow! I remember that stage! It was soooo hard and I felt like I was moping up puddles every half an hour! I did the naked potty training and I did find that she did better making it to the potty, because just getting to the bathroom in time was hard enough. Then for her to try to hold it while also trying to pull down undies was just too much for her. During the day I would have her "practice" pulling down her panties, and when she got the hang of it, we put her in panties all the time. We bought this potty training video called "Potty Power" and my daughter absolutely loved it! (You can find it on Ebay or Amazon) We watched it every morning and it seemed to get her excited to try again for the day. And a tip I learned was to put a maxi pad in her panties so if she didn't quite make it it wasn't such a mess. It sounds like you're doing great so far! Especially since she's not even three yet! Way to go and good luck! :)

Answer 2

This is exacty how I potty trained my 2 yrl old son. I also tried pull ups and underwear at first but both confused him. As soon as I let him go naked he understood what was going on, he had one accident but after that he knew he shouldnt go on the floor so he made sure to go to the potty. He got to the point that he didnt want to be naked anymore so I gradually put clothes on him, first just a shirt and then shorts too and then I finally got him to wear underwear under his clothes. So far he has done great, he has had accidents, you cant expect a child not too. But my advice is just take it slow and give her time to adjust. I hope this helps!

Answer 3

That is great your daughter has control when she is naked! With time she will get greater control. What worked for my kids is The Potty Stool http://www.thepottystool.com This stool makes every toilet kid-sized. The handles on this stool make all the difference. My daughter potty trained quickly because she was so excited about using this stool. She loved using the big toilet because she knew that is what everyone uses. I like that it is sturdy and safe and got her out of diapers fast. The best thing is that kids use it for years. Hope this helps you.

Answer 4

Please don;t bash me, but naked potty training WORKS for my son! He knows when he has to go. He does not like the feeling of being wet or dirty, so when he does have on a pull-up or underpants, he gets the idea to run to the potty. Of course we have accidents-lots of 2 1/2 year olds do. But it works for us, and you know that every kid is different.

I have read some web sites and PTing books that do state that there is a naked stage of training. But, others I have read offer a contradictory point of view. It's up to the individual parent to make a decision as to what works best for their child.

Best of luck to you!

Answer 5

That's why naked potty training isn't a good idea. Now you've got yourself in a situation where you either have to leave her naked or pretty much backtrack everything you already did and start over with her clothes on. What we used to potty train our son was cloth diapers and then underwear. The cloth diapers are great because they get the sensation of being soggy and it's gross and they don't like it so they learn to react, but it's not like the underwear where it just leaks all over the floor. After awhile you can switch to the underwear and keep up with the progress. It actually only took our son 1 day to learn he didn't want to wear a soggy "diaper baby butt" as we called them so he tried extra hard to read his bodies signals so he didn't have to wear it again. Good luck and incase you don't have any boys, girls are way easier to train. I just showed my girls what I wanted them to do and they picked it up right away.

Answer 6

That's how I potty trained both of my boys. It went very quickly and we had few (with one) to no (with the other) accidents afterwards. They had no problem transitioning to successfully taking down their pants to go potty, though. Maybe your daughter is just too young?

My oldest was 20 months when he completed potty training, but my youngest was just about to turn three.

Answer 7

What you could do is put her in a skirt and skip the underwear while she is home. It is a good thing that she is able to make it to the potty without anything getting in the way.. she will learn better bladder control and before you know it, she will be in panties.

Answer 8

I don't even know what to say here....no, not all kids run around naked while trying to learn to go potty. The fact that she can't tell you when she needs to go means she's probably a little too young. Anyway, don't go back now.

One question - what do you do when you're out? Does she go out naked? Do you put her back in diapers? If the latter, you're sending her a mixed signal and that's no good.

Answer 9

put her in clothes she pees them because she doesnt know how to take them off take her potty once and hour and help her,