Potty training advice....?

Question

Well I almost had my 22 month old potty trained until we stopped being home so much. I was using the naked from the waste down method. Now we are home 24/7 again but we have little boys over so we can't continue that method. I was going to buy her the thick potty training panties (not pull-ups, almost real underwear).

Anyway my real question is this... she likes to sit on the potty but only for a few seconds. How do I teach her to sit on it when she has to go, not just for fun?

Any other potty training advice is welcome as well!

Thanks

Answer 1

It sounds like you're on the right track, and your daughter is just entering the right age to begin experiencing the fabled 'two steps forward, one step back' stage.  I'm a firm believer that toddlers should not feel comfy if they wet or soil themselves, so the use of traditional training pants at home (and with the plastic covers in public) will help them equate the discomfort of a full bladder with the icky feeling of wet pants when they feel the urge to urinate.

My daughter was around 26 months when she was fully potty trained, but at 22 months, she was still working on the process of sitting still on the potty chair until she was done.  I found that if I sat near her reading her favorite book about big kids who used the potty, she would stay seated just to hear the story.  This gave her lots of time to make sure her bladder was empty.  When the story was over, we talked about how she was just like the little girl in the book.

We kept the book right next to her potty chair so she could look at it if I wasn't with her when she decided to experiment with the potty.  It worked, but only after a few months of effort.

Give yourself a little more time ... it sounds like she's making good progress.

Answer 2

Use the sticker charts!  They have them at stores or you can just make your own.  She'll find it fun.  She gets one on the chart when she pees and two on the chart when she poops and at the end of the chart you take her some place fun.

Answer 3

Try buying pretty necklaces or things that she might like from like the dollar store.  She can either wear it when she has to go, or use it as a reward to wear if she successfully goes.