And now... the gory potty details:
Stickers didn't work, celebration didn't work. The secret to our success: M&Ms
After a lot of trial and error, I realized what worked best for Victoria was reward for the little things.
We started out asking her if she needed to go, but after seeing some advice on a free DVD, they made a point for changing wording to "Okay, potty break time!" Which worked well in the beginning - of course, if you ask a toddler if they need to go, they'll say NO - it's in their nature!
Regular M&Ms for #1, peanut for #2. If all goes well, she got between 2 and 4 M&Ms with each potty visit.
The first step was recognizing her if her diaper/pullup/underwear was dry when we got into the bathroom ("Are your undies wet or dry? Dry? WooHoo!!!")
Next was to go potty, wipe, wash hands, etc. When all is cleaned up, we go to the packages of M&Ms. If V just peed, she would get two regular M&Ms, and I would explain that one was for dry undies, and one was for peeing in the potty. Ditto with Peanut M&Ms.
We started with peanut M&Ms and realized quickly they were the perfect motivator. She would get one for pooping in the potty, but she would get TWO if ALL the poop was in the potty (as opposed to starting in her pullup, then going on the potty).
We had a little bit of a tough time explaining that the M&M reward isn't a forever thing, but I explained to Victoria as the bags were getting emptier (I was only using small packets of candy) that they were almost gone, and once they were gone, she was to go in the potty because that's where big girls go. So far, so good!
Of course there are still a few accidents here and there, mostly when she's too distracted to realize she needs to go until it's too late.
Hmmm... what else? Victoria is now only in pullups for naptime and at night (and the occasional long trip, depending on where we're going). And so far it's gone much smoother than I anticipated. We're not having nearly the issues I thought we would with having to be out and about needing to find a bathroom.
I think we've cut back on her overall liquid intake a bit, too. She still gets a drink whenever she wants one, but we're not offering water/juice/milk constantly. I think that cuts down on accidents as well.
Well, it's taken me over a week to get this post out, but hopefully it works for someone!
3 comments:
Awesome! Congrats on potty training! Ivey has been dry for naps for quite a while now (probably because she was so used to them with no diaper since she ran around naked more than I preferred LOL), but what worked for us at night was just going cold turkey! (I was suggested this after realizing I was sending mixed signals with diaper/pull-ups vs panties) I figured we'd have a few accidents the first few nights, but she stayed dry from night one and hasn't worn anything but panties since! We did the same for outings (we actually just recently (as in, a few weeks ago) conquered outings because I'm a WIMP!!), and we did actually have 2 public accidents during that time, but it wasn't as bad as I thought, and she hasn't had one since. And I was just going to post about this on my blog, but we also got a Baby Bjorn Little Potty for Bethany (starting EC) and I take that with us in the car for long trips (like to our cabin in the mountains where we're in the middle of nowhere most of the drive) and if Ivey has to go potty and there isn't one close, I just sit it on the seat of the car so it's more like a "real" potty and I just carry a little plastic bottle of water to rinse it out with. It's always just pee though. LOL (thankfully...) I've actually seen similar potty's on Ikea for only $2.99!!
Ack...sorry for the novel. Anyway, again, congrats on being out of diapers. Isn't it weird? All of a sudden Bethany had like 3 times as many diapers to wear (cloth) once Ivey was done. LOL
Love the pictures! Glad the M&M's are working!! Mom (Penny)
V did so well while she was here with us. The "potty break time" really seemed to work best. Also, thanks for putting all the links with date of updates, love that convenience. Just checked out the crockpot link, fantastic. Thanks. Love and hugs, Busha
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