It’s National Potty training month. Is your child fully potty trained? Read how we got the end of our potty training journey and what you can do to get closer.
The potty training journey has now come to a full end in our home and I feel like an entity has passed on. It has been a long journey for us. When I read about moms that have potty trained their kids in days or weeks I can’t help but sigh a little. I wish I potty trained in weeks! I wish my little girl would have gotten to the end of this journey sooner. But I know that every child is different and what works for one child may not work on another.
Our potty training journey was long but productive. What do I mean? I started potty training Victoria before she was 2. You may think that was early but my daughter would always give me cues as a baby that she needed her diaper changed. In her case, it was a sort of a loud hiccuppy" sounding inhale, which told me she either had just gone or was in the process of going poop or pee. As soon as she started walking well, I would sit her down on the toilet when I saw or heard signs that she wanted to poop. Check out my post almost 2 years ago on why I was so tired. Potty Training Woes, I'm so Tired.
By 3 my daughter was almost fully potty trained, except for overnights and long naps. When she started daycare I was so proud that my little girl had very few accidents. However, she continued with training panties. I tried to get her not to drink water before bedtime to see if she’d wake up dry. She didn’t. This continued for many months and I wondered what I was doing wrong?
My sister, Dasy (below), a 20 year experienced pre-school teacher with tons of potty training experience told me that every child was different and ever physical body was different. She told me not to push, that one day, when her body was ready, she’d wake up dry. So I listened and figured that by 4 years old we’d be pullup free. We weren’t but we were getting closer.
After Victoria turned 3 and a half, she’d have some days where she’d wake up dry. I figured that if she continued that I could change to panties. I didn’t. I waited until she’d gone a full dry week, it never happened.
When she turned 4 in late March, we had her 4-year doctor visit. Her doctor told me to ditch the pullups for panties for a couple of weeks and see how she’d do. She said some kids have a false sense of security when they have training panties so they’re likely to unconsciously wet themselves while thinking they are dry. Ok, I’d give it a try and…
It Worked!
For the first few days, she’d have accidents but now it’s been about 8 weeks since she’d had an accident and we have officially graduated to panties full time! The potty training journey is a different one for every child. What may work for one child may not necessarily work for another. One thing is for certain, the journey doesn’t last forever. If you’re still on your journey and need more help. Check out these blog posts and products that I created that helped us on our journey. ¡Buena Suerte!
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