I need advise on potty training girls. I'm babysitting two granddaughters and my almost two year old needs potty training and I have no experience at all.
It helps if you have a sense of when she is most likely to need to go. Then get her on the potty with you there with her. It takes great patience. If she goes, give a lot of praise! Praise is everything. If she doesn't, there's always next time. Good luck.
I have 5 grandsons and I potty trained the older two but that was long ago. Girls are easier in my opinion to train. Also, I've noticed kids are getting trained later and later as evidenced by the toddler sizes in diapers and pull ups, etc. My youngest grandson was the hardest to train, he's 4 now and trained and it was his nanny and parents who did it. They used bribery, chocolate in his case because he will do anything for it. It's okay once in awhile. His parents are dentists and don't condone sweets but you gotta do what you gotta do. You also have to be consistent, so do it when you aren't out and about. I'm sure there are also a million helpful hints online. Good luck!
You know Chrissy, any kid that can change his/her own diaper, (pull ups) should have been potty trained long ago, and by any humane means.
My son was trained well before 2. My younger gs however, was a tough case. They just didn't have the patience or too lazy to get him trained and he was about 2 and a half.. One weekend after they dropped the boys off for their weekend overnight with me, they forgot to pack diapers. Well, I wasn't about to run out for any and already had a few pair of those thick training pants in the house. After the diaper came off and the pants went on, that kid screamed his head off. It wasn't easy, but I didn't budge. Later, when I brought him to the potty, he went. That was it.
I think that's part of the problem now, the kids train with these super absorbent pull ups. It's not like being wet in one of those training pants that I used on my children. My daughter was trained by 18 months. My son took longer but wasn't much older than 2. Nowdays parents don't even think about training til at least 2.
I think that starting younger is better; but I agree that nowdays, you see much older toddlers still wearing diapers. It probably did halp that the babies back in our days were actually able to feel the being wet and not likeing it, and now it is all absorbed and they don't have any negatice consequences whe they wet their pants. My oldest son hated it from the time he was maybe 6 months old, and was definitely trained well before he was 2 years old, although he still had accidents when he was outside playing and could not get back in the housse and to the bathroom fast enough. For the grandaughters, @Von Jones , I think that getting some training pants , so they can tell it when they wet them (and will want to stay dry), will help. Take them to the bathroom fairly often at first. I don't know if they still make those little kids potty chairs; but those sure worked good when my kids were learning. Good luck with this adventure ! !
I remember training pants with my boys. I really only trained one and he helped train his two brothers, you know, I bet you can't.... Oh the clean -ups. Well, Jaz will be two next month and she is pretty smart and doesn't like it when she spills any thing on her that gets her wet. I'm hoping that will be my salvation.
Let us know how it goes. If they are willing it won't take more than a day or two. If they're not, it will take a lot longer. But every child is different.
@Von Jones How's the potty training going Von? Having potty trained 3 daughters of my own I can tell you that a different method worked for each one of them. Being consistent and taking them to the potty on a regular schedule helps for sure. For my oldest child, sitting her on her potty and reading a little to her while we waited for her body to perform its natural functions and rewarding her with M&M's (her favorite candy at the time) worked best. I don't remember how long it took but I'm thinking at least a few weeks. Some "experts" say it takes at least 21 days to make or break a habit...so potty training is like that too...it just depends on how long it takes the child to "get the hang of it" and for their bodies to have control of this function also. My "baby" is in the process of potty training her "baby" right now and she would tell you that it's a process...with one successful day eventually leading to success for the majority of days. Accidents happen occasionally even after most kids are "potty trained."
@Babs Hunt. I haven't begun the potty training yet. She is so active that I think I am going to set a schedule for her.
They have children's story books about potty training...so if your granddaughter likes to be read too, you might want to read her some of those. And once you do that you can show her the big girl potty that is just for her (if you have one) and ask her if she would like to use it. I found it also helped if I just took mine with me when I had to go and we both ended up using the potty.
Much easier to "potty train" than all of these examples, is a tiny kitty, maybe two weeks old. They instinctively "dig in the dirt", if placed there, do the thing, then jump away. Did you know that the Momma Cat EATS the placenta and umbilical cord after the birth(s), then EATS the excrement of all the kits for a period of some weeks? Sounds morbid and sickening. Viewed in another way, however, how more effectively could a Momma Cat prevent the spread of infection amongst her young? Frank
@Frank Sanoica. I'm not a cat person but those are some interesting facts that you've shared. @Babs Hunt. She's only two and yes she goes when I go and sits on her potty, only one successful outcome thus far. I even tried running water a few times and that didn't work. I spoke too soon we just had success, yeah!