Cold turkey potty training?

Question

has anyone just went cold turkey and just started putting hteir toddler in underwear and let them have accidents until they get it?...is this an effective method? I know some kids don't mind having messy drawers....I don't think my daugher is one of them as she tells me when se is dirty and wants to be changed promptly......Im thinking of doing this....any ideas or tips?

Answer 1

It depends on the child. Some children get it right away and other  children could care less. If you are prepared for the time and mess go fot it.

Answer 2

I very highly recommend the method described in the book "Toilet Training in less than a day".  I did this with my daughter and it really works.  It is kind of cold turkey, but with a lot of guidance and LOTS of practice--constant practice for a day but boy is it worth it.  She was trained for both day and night time within 2 days.  Her hardest thing was feeling comfortable pooping in the toilet.  But, one accident in undies and she decided the toilet is better.

Answer 3

Going naked worked for us. For two days, my daughter was naked and hated the feeling of accidents. (She had a few, of course.) After that she was potty trained.

Answer 4

Does she stay dry overnight? If so, then she is definately ready and your cold turkey technique would probably work! I would just recommend you get those thick underwear to use in the very beginning. When my daughter was potty training I could only find them in white, so I dyed them pink for her :) Good luck!!!

Answer 5

We potty trained our oldest when she was 2 yrs and 9 mos., about 2 weeks before # 2 was born. She never had an         , but when we went places we put her in a pull up just to be safe & took her to the bathroom whenever we could. My sons were a little more difficult, but we never had any issues. It's a little inconvenient to potty train at first,  but I think if you use pull ups exclusively, they feel too much like diapers. Try just panties, and let her pick them out by herself. Good Luck :)

Answer 6

pull ups are fine b4 underwear.

How old is the child? Does she show interest? All three of mine were pretty easy to'train' but my son now 4.5 is still hard to convince to use potty for #2.

I think since she doesn't like being in messy pants is a good sign. Not the staying dry all nite..that can take yrs and only now working on that w/my 3 and 4yos.

try dvds and books on potty time, bear in big blue house and blues clues have nice dvds.



try setting a timer every 15 mins or so after having a drink to take her to potty. reward her when she goes. we had the musical potty and one child loved it, the other didn't and wanted the grown up potty.

expect accidents for a month at least and is like having a baby again, taking extra clothes each time u go any where. Oh and setting one of those disposable changing pads on car seat works great for accidents.

expect set backs..my 2.5yo just quit and we went back to pull ups for two months..then one day, she was potty trained and still is.

check out the link below for great ideas and products.

Answer 7

"Carriehas5" wrote in response to a similar question:

I began potty training all my children when they showed signs of readiness. Which I consider to be,: verbally able to understand my words when I explained to them what I wanted them to do and not do, and physically able to 'hold it' long enough to get to the toilet (as evidenced by some dry nights or longer daytime periods)/. For our family (5 kids) this happened at the following times:

child #1 ~ 22 months

#2 ~ 27 months

#3 ~ 18 month

#4~ 18 months

#5 ~ 24 months

Each one of them only took two weeks (max) to potty train (except number 3 who took a month), so I know they were 'ready'.

Here are my tips:

Do NOT use diapers or pull ups during the potty training process. This only confuses the child an prolongs any progress

You may have to use pull ups at night time for a few extra weeks, but using them during the day is a complete waste of time and money.

~ Let the child be naked from the waist down (if you can stand it). This allows him/her to notice that their is actually something coming out of his/he body and it will help him/her to understand what you mean when you say, "Put the pee in the potty". They might not have ever noticed that wet stuff actually comes out of their body and seeing it will help.

Also, not wearing pants or anything reminds them they are to go to the potty

~ Keep the potty chair in the main living area for a few days. That way it's close by, and everytime he/she starts to pee, you can easily get to the potty and sit him down (even if he's already finished on the floor).

~I never used a reward for going potty. I can't say that I am completely against it, but I do feel that lots of praise and hugs ad smiles and cheering is enough of an award. We even went so far as to carry the potty around the house to show everyone, "Look what _did!!"

~Do not let your child set the rules with potty training. Many people will tell you "don't push it"....PHOOEY. Just as we as parents should 'push' our children to do the right thing in other situations (say please, don't hit, apologize...), we should 'push' them to use the potty when they are able. If you leave it to a child, why would he want to give himself more work when he's only 2 or 3? He is ABLE to go potty at 1 and a half or 2, why shouldn't we 'push' it? It worked for all of mine!

My own daughter was potty trained for peeing really soon, but the pooping was also taking her awhile. She kept going to p**p on her brother's bedroom floor!! Anyway, I just used the same methods I had ben using for the peeing. I knew she knew right from wrong on this matter because she understood me when I said "don't p**p on the floor", and I knew she was deliberately choosing to disobey. So she got a spanking. This is the way we deal with disobedience in our house. You may deal with it differently and thats okay, so long as you DO deal with it.

Years ago, before this new generation of "experts" came in to play, our grandmothers had our parents potty trained at 1 and a half or even younger. Thta's becuase they "pushed" the issue. Maybe we should take our que from them!

So yes, push the issue. If your sure he/she understands, then set the boundaries and stick to it!

Good luck

Mom of 5 who has potty trained all of my own early and I also have had the experience of potty training many of my daycare children. Potty training is one of my favorite stages of child rearing!

Answer 8

I just started that last sunday .. I have a fully potty trained little boy now .. I also did a sticker chart and a reward .. Everytime he would go I would praise him and then we would go to the chart get a sticker on it and I'd give him 1 gummy snack .. after 2 days of gummy snacks he forgot about them and has been using the potty ever since .. I still do keep track with stickers now only so I can put it in his baby book .. We count up the stickers every night and I put a little note next to it and he gets a cookie after dinner for how many times he went

Answer 9

I did it just fine. One day I took away his diapers, put on big boy pants ( and vinyl underwear you get at walmarts just to stop it from the floor, he felt all the icky-ness but my floor didnt! ). He was very upset at first, but I took him potty every 1/2 hour, set him on the toilet, pretended to pee in it with him watching and he caught on. If I saw " the look " of pee or icky coming I hauled him in there and plopped him down. Bring a book and stay with her!( Go out and buy a special book, if she loves Elmo, or princesses then buy one just for potty time, don't let her have it if shes not on the toilet. ). Read it to her to calm her and help her  relax enough to go. If she is resistant, or cries alot she may not be ready so don't force it on her. If she seems overly distressed at the accidents this may not be the way for you either. ( By overly distressed I mean freaked out, crying, ashamed ) you always want potty training to be a positive experience. Try googling potty vidoes ( Elmo's in particular ) on youtube or go out and buy it. Good luck!

Oh, don't reward with junk food. It may work, but will set a bad habit. My son became attatched to his " potty book " (batman book that I used to potty train him he LOVES batman) so now when he goes potty he takes his book and " reads " it. If you use candy she will become accustomed to recieving candy and thats just not healthy. Nor will she understand when you stop giving it to her and she may revert back to having accidents.

Answer 10

I am trying this on my grandson...I bought toddler underwear this week end, and he still messes on his self. I will put him on the potty for the longest..he does nothing..as soon as I put him down...he will go into a quiet room where no one is , and soil his underwear.

I wish I could get him going...because he is going on 3 years old. My daughter says he is trained....but he is not.

Answer 11

I worked in a day care in the toddler room and I was always a firm believer in this method.  I always told parents that I had no problem changing the child, just make sure she or he had enough clean clothes.  I think it is very effective.  Try pull ups first though, she may get it on her own that way and want to be a big girl.  I think the underwear method works best for kids who are just lazy.

Answer 12

With my son having him wear pull-ups wasn't working at all because he didn't get the idea of them. He just thought they were a diaper so he never wanted to go to the bathroom. We started putting him in underwear and taking him to the bathroom pretty frequently during the day. It took a few months before he got the peeing in the potty down and it took some punishments. Some people have told me we shouldn't have punished him but when we talked to him and it got to the point where we KNEW he understood what to do and just didn't feel like getting up from a show or from his toys, thats when we started punishments, like time out and standing in the corner. The pooping in the potty took longer. He said it was scary and refused to EVER go in the toilet. Not once did he ever make it to the bathroom. until about a month ago and he just decided one day it was time to go and he has been going to the bathroom on his own ever since! I ended up spending the whole time about what I would have spent on pull-ups because eventually there are less and less accidents. So it's really up to you. Cleaning #2 out of underwear is something I never did but some people choose to. I just threw them away.

Answer 13

I too think that it depends on the kid. You know your daughter the most, so if you think that it might work, try it.  I personally tried a few different methods including the 'naked' method, but found that rewarding with my daughter with her favorite stickers worked the best. Every time she successfully went potty, she got a sticker - simple, but effective.She was fully trained at 26 months old. Now, I'm in the process of potty training my 24 month old twins. Good luck!

Answer 14

If you often are in public I wouldn't recomend it. You always want to be safe. Why not just use pull ups? If she is still having accidents she just isn't ready and going "cold turkey" won't make a difference.