Hi all, my daughter is 2 yrs old and we have not started to potty train her yet. She drinks around 1.5l of water a day and is therefore constantly needing to wee. I have heard that potty training a child when they’re not ready can do some serious psychological harm.
she does not tell me yet when she needs the loo. The other day I asked her if she wanted to take her nappy off and tell mommy when she needs to wee, and she said no.
Has anyone done any research into the perils of potty training too early? Or best methods to train them?
At this age some children see their poo and pee as a part of them so aren’t quite as excited as mom and dad are in the whole potty training process.
Instead of emphasizing on the tell me when you have to go wee part. Just begin with making the potty fun.
Some suggestions that have helped me with my daughters:
Go out and pick a fun potty chair. They make them from the plain and mundane to ones that play music when they go potty in them.
My youngest picked out one that has a padded seat and a little toilet paper holder on the side. She loves that.
I also suggest some potty books. There are a bunch of them. You can google potty training books for girls and a whole bunch of them are available. If you’d like something more personalized. Which sometimes can help too, you could get something like this:http://www.etsy.com/listing/69462115/bye-bye-diapers-personalized-potty , or you could make one of your own on the computer , print it out and laminate it. You can go to the library and borrow a potty training book and instead of reading the name used by the author replace it with your daughter’s name if you don’t want to buy a book or make one of your own.
I know when my third daughter was born I found a book that the little character’s name was Hannah. My daughter was so excited and though it was all about her. LOL I used the same book with my 4th daughter but just replaced the word Hannah with Maggie when I read it to her. Of course if your child knows how to read and recognize her name then that might not work as well. Especially if you have a child that will say " That’s not what it says, mommy." LOL
Just take it one step at a time. Make a big deal. If you get out of your nappy then you can wear big girl underpants and we can go pick out a pair .Tell her how it is so nice to stay dry and not smell from pooping. How she can run and play and not have mommy interrupt her while she is playing to change her pants.
Maybe make a star chart. Or use any kind of stickers that you ant. Show her for each time she is dry or doesn’t have have a poo accident that she can put a sticker on her chart. Then once she gets so many she can get a prize or you can take her out to her favorite fast food store for a hamburger or ice cream. I know this method has worked really well for my youngest daughter.
These are all tried and true things I have done with my girls. Some children are easier to train than others. I found that first borns take longer to train then any subsequent children you have. I remember my 2nd daughter took a week at the age of 3. End of story no accidents. My third daughter literally took three days when she was 3. My youngest is more af a challenge but she was born with health problems. I think had she not she’d be just as easy to train.
If you keep it fun I do not think you can do much harm - they will eventually sort it out for themselves anyway. Tracy gave some great ideas on keeping it fun. I used to sit my daughter on the potty before bath time and always praised her if she sat whether she went or not - she found it fun for some reason else I wouldn’t have done so. This is the age where parents start to get frustrated and want it accomplished, but wait a few more months and you’ll be surprised how far she has come. In general perils of potty training relate to parents who force it and punish their children or belittle them for not getting it right - not just gently persuading or testing what your child might be ready for.