For All You Potty Training Experts...

[Daycare_Mama]

I'm going to start potty training my DD soon. She's been showing signs for a few months now, so I think it's time.. telling me if she went pee/poop, staying dry for periods of time, etc.

I've heard so many mixed opinions on training in pull-ups vs. underwear, but I haven't heard much of WHY people do one or the other.

I don't have a preference or opinion either way since I've never potty trained a child before, but I don't want to allow my daughter to go around in underwear and then when my DCB is ready to train, not allow him to go around in underwear, kwim? I want to pick a way to train my daughter that will be the same way I will require other DCK's to potty train in my home. Or is this unreasonable...will every kid need to train differently?

I'm just so confused as to how to go about it and everywhere I look, read, talk to people, everyone has such different ideas about the best way to potty train.

So to those of you who have potty trained many, what is your strategy? Do you prefer them be in underwear while they are training or pull-ups? And why? If you do let them be in underwear, do you have a rule such as one accident and they are in pull ups the rest of the day?

And one more thing about being potty trained and rates? I'm debating on if I should have my toddler rate stay the same UNTIL they are potty trained. For example, I charge $175 for my toddler rate. I originally figured I'd drop it to $165 when they turn 3. But now I've also heard many providers don't drop the rate down until they are potty trained...whether they are 2 or 4. This makes a lot of sense to me, but for those of you who do this, do you find that parents push potty training too soon to get the lower rate? And at what point do you say child is officially potty trained and able to go down to the lower rate? Because I know kids will still have accidents from time to time.

[kidkair]

I've potty trained from diapers before. The key is to get the kid to recognize what they are doing and how to control it. I have found the best way to potty train is a lot of potty time. I take daycare kids to the bathroom every 10 minutes and have them sit for 3 to 5 minutes until they succeed. Once they succeed I wait 45 minutes before starting the 10 minute routine again. The more successes the better. Always encourage them to follow a routine. There is no need to reward other than simple praise but some kids respond a little faster if given added incentive such as stickers, a special toy, or small bits of food. After awhile the kid can tell you when they need to go and once that occurs you can usually get them on a routine durning daycare at least starting with every hour and gradually extending to 2 hours or whatever fits best with normal routine. I personally prefer to train from diapers vs underwear or pullups because diapers catch BMs better and lead to less messy stinky clean ups. Once the kid is successfully keeping a diaper dry all day on a schedule I change them to underpants and try to keep them on schedule. Some times we have to go back to every 45 minutes and extend it back out but that usually goes quick.

Biggest things: Find a routine that you are comfortable with and follow it. Don't give up and start over repeatedly. Give it two weeks of being as consistent as possible before you give up and give it a rest for awhile if the kid is still not getting it. Rest for about a month unless the child asks to start again. As long as the kid is interested keep going because it is very hard to build that interest back up again.

Good Luck!

[daysofelijah]

My rate goes down when they are 3 AND potty trained. Only $5 a week though.

I keep them in diapers until they can stay absolutely dry for two hours. If they can stay dry while being reminded to go to the potty every two hours then they can wear underwear. If they have more then one accident they go back in diapers for the day. The majority of the kids I have trained or help train are ready at 2-2.5 and can pick it up pretty quickly (within 2 weeks) of taking them to the potty on a 1.5-2 hour schedule. My dd was the hardest, but she had poop-holding issues that made it a little harder. She did finally train at 2.5 though.

I do not care for pull-ups (except at night). They are just glorified diapers. Usually they are more expensive and you have to take pants off to put them on if they don't have the velcro sides. So they take more time to deal with than plain ol' diapers.

[AnythingsPossible]

For my own children I preferred underwear rather then pull ups. With daycare children, I generally go with pull ups till they get the idea of what we are doing then prefer to switch them to underwear. I have only had complete success with potty training once transitioning from pull ups to underwear.
As far as daycare and potty training, a lot of it depends on how much time you have to dedicate to potty training and how dedicated the parent is. Potty training is all about time and consistency. I currently have a little boy who is 3.5 and still not potty trained. Still in pull ups, parents who could care less about working with him, and he has no desire, and why should he. If he makes a mess in his pants, no big deal for him. Took him to the bathroom this morning and not 15 minutes later messed his pants. Drives me nuts. I also have one little girl who just turned 2, and usually I have them working on it by then, but she shows no interest what so ever!
Personally I prefer no pull-ups but for sanitary and clean up issues, they are certainly better. Especially if you have a child who could care less if they are wet or not.

[Unregistered]

For my own 3 kids who I trained and 3 daycare kids so far this is what I did. Required underwear ONLY no pull ups except for nap/bed time I never used pull ups because they are just like diapers and the kids will use them as so. I would take the kids potty EVERY hour and have them sit for 5 minutes if they went pee/poop I would give them LOTS of postive praise clapping my hands jumping up and down and saying YEAH BIG BOY/GIRL when they would go in their pants I would say big girls and boys dont pee/poop in their pants they go pee/poop in the potty. It usually took around 1 to 2 weeks and thats it but you HAVE to stick to it and do it everyday and your little one will get it. the ages I trained are anywhere for 1 and half to 2 and half.

[Lilbutterflie]

I have trained 3 so far; & I definitely believe if they are truly ready, potty training can only be successful if done in underwear. You can start in pullups to get the idea, but if you are going to fully potty train you've got to use underwear. Gerber makes a training pant that is just like underwear but super thick and absorbent. They still feel very wet, but it definitely decreases the mess.
My son was definitely the hardest to train. His body would expel fluids little bits at a time about 20 times a day. It wasn't until recently that he was able to physically hold it for long periods of time, & we are finally potty trained!
I have a dcg that I trained who was no problem whatsoever. Until she went with her dad out of state for 6 weeks, and when she came back her mom said she had to be in pullups b/c she was having so many accidents. Well, I'm about to tell mom that since she's had no accidents at my house outside of nap, I want her to bring underwear for her. Or I may just buy her some.
Anyway, however you decide to do it; Good Luck!

[lvt77]

how do you control BMs from happening all over your house if you use underwear? I tried that and it was a disaster...DCG had BM in UW and poop went all over the daycare. Other DCK stepped in it, one touched it with hands it was even on toys and our crawl through tunnel. I had to give the little girl a bath it was so bad. Meanwhile all the other kids were having to be confined to one part of my house becuase I still had to clean up the poop in the DC.

Then I had to pull out chemcials to clean the carpet, something I never do while kids are present. It was one of the worst daycare days ever....
It took me almost two hours or more to get the daycare back to a healthy state, but took me the entire weekend to correct it...UGH

[Lilbutterflie]

I've been fortunate that all that I've trained started off fully trained on pooping in the potty. That was the easy part. The very rare BM accident that occurs in underwear usually is fully contained b/c of it's consistency (not too loose).

[Daycare_Mama]

how do you control BMs from happening all over your house if you use underwear? I tried that and it was a disaster...DCG had BM in UW and poop went all over the daycare. Other DCK stepped in it, one touched it with hands it was even on toys and our crawl through tunnel. I had to give the little girl a bath it was so bad. Meanwhile all the other kids were having to be confined to one part of my house becuase I still had to clean up the poop in the DC.

Then I had to pull out chemcials to clean the carpet, something I never do while kids are present. It was one of the worst daycare days ever....
It took me almost two hours or more to get the daycare back to a healthy state, but took me the entire weekend to correct it...UGH

This is exactly what I'm worried about. I think that underwear would train them faster, but I don't want this scenario either!

Not so much worried about my daughter because she only has a BM once per day and it's always in the evening after dinner, but my DCB goes at least 3 times a day here and it's never predictable!

I am fine with training my daughter in just underwear, but then when it comes time for DCB to train, it seems wrong to require pull-ups when his parent's will have seen that I didn't train my daughter that way.

I dunno... what about pull-ups OVER underwear..so they feel that they are wet, but if they do get wet or have a BM, it won't go all over?? anyone do this??

[Blackcat31]

I've been lucky too with BM's because most of my potty trainers have a routine enough already that 99% of their BM'ing occurs at home. When my dck's start potty training I ask the parents to NOT use pull-ups and to buy plastic pants along with the super thick absorbent training underwear. When they have a pee or poop accident it remains in the training pants. No one ready to potty train should be having really loose poo. The BM I get from my potty trainers can be shaken out into the toilet and not too much fuss. I also prefer the plastic pants with thick trainer underwear because the kid can still FEEL the wetness where as I don't think pull ups are anything but a diaper that gets put on differently. After they go for at least 2 weeks to a month with no accidents do I let them go with normal underwear. Each kid is different. I alsolet my trainers run around all day with only the trainer undies and plastic pants for the first whole week. No pants to take on and off while we are learning. They aren't naked and no one else seems bothered by it. It is easier for the kid and we introduce the pants back to them once they learn to master going potty on a basic level.

http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/CTGY/Gerber-Training-Pants.html

Oh and I also charge a higher rate until they are completely trained even if that means they are 5.

[kitkat]

I do pull ups alone the first week, once they can show they can go potty on the toilet. After I can see that they can, then they can wear underwear with the pull ups over the undies. I do think underwear trains faster, but I'm not about to let dck make a mess all over my house. They have to be able to go 2 weeks no accidents before I'll let them go with just underwear.

My rates change when a dck is fully potty trained. That means no accidents for 2 weeks and goes without me keeping them on a schedule. I've been spoiled with great parents, so I haven't had any issues with parents trying to train when dck is not really ready.

[lvt77]

that sounds like a good idea....UW do feel different....
Thanks

[Daycare_Mama]

I've been lucky too with BM's because most of my potty trainers have a routine enough already that 99% of their BM'ing occurs at home. When my dck's start potty training I ask the parents to NOT use pull-ups and to buy plastic pants along with the super thick absorbent training underwear. When they have a pee or poop accident it remains in the training pants. No one ready to potty train should be having really loose poo. The BM I get from my potty trainers can be shaken out into the toilet and not too much fuss. I also prefer the plastic pants with thick trainer underwear because the kid can still FEEL the wetness where as I don't think pull ups are anything but a diaper that gets put on differently. After they go for at least 2 weeks to a month with no accidents do I let them go with normal underwear. Each kid is different. I alsolet my trainers run around all day with only the trainer undies and plastic pants for the first whole week. No pants to take on and off while we are learning. They aren't naked and no one else seems bothered by it. It is easier for the kid and we introduce the pants back to them once they learn to master going potty on a basic level.

http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/CTGY/Gerber-Training-Pants.html

Oh and I also charge a higher rate until they are completely trained even if that means they are 5.

Do you know if they generally sell the training underwear in stores or do you have to order them online? I always see people mention this, but the only thing I ever find in stores is pull-ups (huggies), easy ups (pampers) or the generic pull-ups (target and babiesrus)..but they aren't underwear..they are thick like a pull-up... the training underwear sounds like a good idea, but I never see any in the stores!

[Blackcat31]

Do you know if they generally sell the training underwear in stores or do you have to order them online? I always see people mention this, but the only thing I ever find in stores is pull-ups (huggies), easy ups (pampers) or the generic pull-ups (target and babiesrus)..but they aren't underwear..they are thick like a pull-up... the training underwear sounds like a good idea, but I never see any in the stores!

Most of my parents get them from Wal-mart or K-mart. Both of those stores do the order on-line and deliver to the store too. I dunno of other stores who sell them but we have Target, Wal-mart and K-mart in my town and I know they all sell them.

[Missani]

I used to work with someone in a toddler room who swore by the diaper OVER underwear method. It does work. They still feel wet and it does contain some of the mess. She had great success with it. If I were you, though, I'd consider diapers instead of pull ups to make it easier for you and to keep it cheaper (although with the underwear it doesn't make much of a difference.)

Personally, I am an underwear gal just because I really don't see the point of pull ups. The point of potty training is to learn to go potty-not to learn how to pull up and down your pants. I don't get why someone would pay more for that. However, I do understand why people want to keep the mess contained! With my toddlers (I was a toddler teacher in a center for 9 years) and my oldest son I kept them in diapers until I was seeing a pattern of dry diapers for long periods and they were showing an interest in potty training. Then I talked to the parents and came up with a plan we could all agree on. Then it was underwear time-taking them to the potty about every hour to hour-and-a-half. (Remember, they were already showing that they could keep a diaper dry for 2 hours or so before we started this.) After we had some successes, I just put them on the regular every 2 hour or so "diaper/potty shift" schedule but asked if they had to go in between. Most got it in a week or two at the most. Asking them if they have to go is also good because they actually have to think about it and get used to that question. However, most will respond "no" because they don't want to stop playing, and that's okay because you already know they can stay dry for an extended period.

Good luck! I actually enjoy potty training! (when the kid is ready, and DON'T let a parent talk you into it when you know the child isn't ready. That is just frustrating for everyone most of the time!)