Why does potty training have to be so difficult and frustrating?!?
After we got home from vacation in Canada back in September, I decided to potty train Paige. She was almost 3 years old (between a rough pregnancy and a C-section, we started late) so I thought that she should just take off with it. She did really good at first. She would hold it until I would tell her it was time to go potty and if she had to go before then she would tell me. If she did have an accident, she would tell me right away.
Now, she hardly ever tells me when she has to go potty. I just make her go every 2 hours. However, if she has to go in between then, she usually just goes in her Pull-Ups and doesn't even tell me. I just find out next time I check her Pull-Ups. She can do the whole bathroom routine all by herself. She just doesn't seem to care enough to make sure she always goes in the toilet. I get so frustrated and I have tried many things. We have told her that if she will come and tell us that she has to go to the bathroom that we will giver her a treat. We have taken away her prized blanket and doll when she goes in her pull-ups. We have tried spanking or time out when she goes in her pull-ups. Nothing seems to work.
Now many might argue that in pull-ups she doesn't tell me when she has had an accident because she doesn't feel herself being wet. However, I have had her in the thick training underwear. We were using vinyl pants over the underwear but the smell of them gives Joseph a headache. Even when underwear, she doesn't tell me when she has an accident. So if she is playing and I just notice it, I don't know how long she has been wet or where all she has sat that I need to clean up.
I feel like I will never get Paige fully potty-trained. I don't feel like I can enroll her in preschool until we get the whole "going bathroom" down a little better. However, it feels like it is NEVER going to happen. She might have a good day of telling me and I get really excited that maybe we are making progress, but then we are back to the same old for weeks. Does anybody have any suggestions? Will my daughter ever be fully potty-trained????
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3 comments:
I haven't started potty training Zaylee yet, so I can't offer any help from my own experience. My mom has specifically told us not to ask her for help, but she mentioned that preschool might actually have a good influence. Paige would see the other kids going, and might want to go in the potty too so she can be like the other kids. A tiny comfort can be found in the fact that there are very few adults who are still in training pants, so eventually it should sink in :)
I'm so relieved to know that I'm not the only one going through this right now! Madison has been driving me up the wall (check our blog, cuz I posted on this same thing today) and I don't know if there is any concrete solution. I honestly don't remember what we did with Kellen, but with Madison I have had more success when I have let her go comando because the cause/effect is immediately evident to her. It does mean that you will need to either be prepared to clean the carpets frequently for a while or keep her on bare floors, so you'll have to weigh that in the balance. Also, what Stephanie mentioned is about seeing others go in the potty is excellent advice; peer pressure works wonders, even if it's just in the form of having other kids who are already toilet-trained come over. A friend of mine has a daycare and everyone makes a big deal of announcing every time they have to go to the bathroom because that encourages the trainees to notice that everyone else is doing it, so that's we are doing now, too. We keep a jar of treats (the current resident is spiced gum drops) and Madison gets to have one every time she goes in the potty, I cheer/clap, and I verbally tell her how glad I am that she went in the potty. Maddi is getting better with #1, but #2 is our challenge. When she went #2in the potty today I gave lots of loud cheering and she got a bowl of ice cream but it's not consistent so I'm seeking advice for that still on my blog. Probably the last piece of advice I would offer is not to stress over it. If you transfer your stress to her, it's only going to make it more difficult. I hope this wasn't too much stuff, I know I tend to ramble on. Hang in there!
Don't give up! Paige will eventually potty train, but it will be on HER timetable. That's the hardest thing to accept. Emily took so much longer than my other children, I thought I was going to go nuts! The worst part was that I think she picked up on my frustration, and it only made the training worse. Calista had lots of good ideas, although it helps to remember that she's not going to do it till she's good and ready. It's just one of those things you get to ride out till she's ready. Yikes! (This too shall pass.)
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