Friday, April 27, 2012

3 Day Potting Training in Review

So earlier this week I embarked on my first trial of potty training!  I have friends who have used the 3 Day Method which is supposed to train your toddler in 3 days. I must say that sounded like the way to go to me!
Kay was potty trained after day 1.

One day? Seriously? Yes its true.  I can still hardly believe it myself.
I know there may be some moms who are curious about this and may want to try it yourself, so I will tell you about our experience!

We began on Monday and planned to take the full 3 days to potty train.  You put them in underwear and NO PULL UPS, ever.  (We broke that rule at night time but I will explain later : ))
You fill them up with fluids any way you can, which forces them to have to go potty often during the training process.  You are supposed to stay by your toddler's side all day long, reminding them to tell you if they have to go (every few minutes, so it is alot!), and letting them have accidents... whisking them to the toilet as soon as you catch the accident.  The reason you have to stay by their side is you MUST catch every accident so you can take them to the potty immediately.  This helps teach them WHEN they have to go and WHERE they are supposed to go.

I documented her progress which I will show you below:
Day 1:
8:05 a.m.- Accident
8:10 a.m.- Accident
9:15 a.m.- Accident
10:30 a.m.- SUCCESS!
10:40 a.m.- SUCCESS!
11:40 a.m.- Accident
12:00 p.m.- SUCCESS!
1:00-3:00- Naptime and woke up dry!
3:30 p.m.- SUCCESS!
4:30 p.m.- SUCCESS!
5:50 p.m.-poo poo SUCCESS!
6:50 p.m.- SUCCESS!
8:00 p.m.- SUCCESS!
Wet her bed in the night and had an accident around 6:00 a.m. the next morning in her room when she woke up.

Day 2:
No accidents.
Wore a pull up for night time.

Day 3:
No accidents.
Wore a pull up for night time.

So as you can see, Kay did really well with this method.  Even though technically she was trained after Day 1, we still implemented the techniques for day 2 and 3.  I just didn't have to deal with the accidents! The author suggests beginning this at age 22 months because she says that is the best age to potty train.  Kay is 28 months and I personally think this was the best age to do it.  I think if I did it at age 22 months Kay would not have done as well and it would have been more difficult.  She is much more capable at this age to tell me "Mommy I need to go potty."  I don't see her able to do that as well at age 22 months.  Every child is different, so judge for yourself if you think your child would be ready at that age or not.

Here is the one thing we had trouble with.  We used positive reinforcement by giving her candy or a reward when she was successful.  It worked!  However, it turned into being all about the candy.  She figured out she could "cry wolf" in efforts to get the candy.  That little stinker!  I figured out after about 5 times she said she had to go and nothing happened.  She was disciplined and explained why being dishonest is sin.  Problem solved : )


Here she is with her candy...


Yes, candy overload for a day... maybe next time I will prepare ahead of time and not do as much candy.


But if you choose to do the candy route, make sure she brushes her teeth, okay? : )


Don't forget the sticker chart by the potty.


Since you are supposed to not leave the toddler's side, it is good to have someone watching any other children you might have so they aren't neglected.  Daddy is good for that : )  If you have never swung in a Brazilian hammock you haven't experienced a true hammock!  I could fall asleep every time.


On day 3 we celebrated by painting her nails and eating cinnamon roll pancakes for dinner. YUM!

The reason we decided to bust the rule about Pull ups at night is because we knew before we started that she doesn't wake up dry.  The author said a child older than 22 months should wake up with a dry diaper, which shows they are capable of wearing underwear at night.

Kay does not wake up dry, and I love my sleep : )  So I feel fine with using Pull Ups at night until I feel she is ready.

In review, I totally recommend this method. It is hardcore and intense, but it gets the job done. The E-Book goes into much more detail about how to do it and every kind of scenario you might face and I would recommend buying it online.


Happy potty training!


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