Potty training help!

[sjbraunlich]

I'm a mom of 5 under 7 and I have successfully potty trained my oldest two children using the OH Crap! Potty Training method so we are using it again with our middle child C. I wanted to potty train C when she was a little younger because she was showing signs of readiness (taking off her diapers, asking to use the potty) but I was heavily pregnant with the twins at that time and just didn't have the energy or support to jump into it then. And then the twins came and I was suddenly (unplanned) exclusively pumping for them as well as doing our first year of homeschool so I kept potty training on the backburner. Then summer break came and we struggled to find a solid no-plans weekend where we could just do the dang thing until finally we settled on a weekend shortly before the twins' first birthday. We are going on week 3(?) now and I feel like we've made negative progress. She did fairly well the first few days with only a few accidents total and now she's constantly peeing on the floor (often right in front of the toilet or little potty), the couch, the dining room chairs...etc. I do have to say that she had a probably traumatic experience when she forgot to put the built-in kid potty seat down over the adult potty seat in the bathroom and she fell in when she was attempting to use the potty herself so now she's afraid of the big toilet (and I don't blame her!) So I've been sensitive to that and just trying to focus on getting her comfortable using the little potty but now she's even refusing to go on that. She'll sit for "tries" (though lately even that involves a lot of arguing/bribery) but she's not releasing pee anymore. Often times it's a huge struggle to get her to sit and stay for a good enough amount of time to actually pee and then after all of that struggle she'll stand up and pee on the floor right in front of the potty.

Now...ALL of this is made even more difficult due to having two crawling babies in the house. I cannot simply leave the little potty out in the open for her to use because the twins absolutely love playing with the potty seat and I can't always have visuals on the potty so if I did leave it out there's a huge possibility that C would use the potty and the twins would get to the pee/poo before I do (gross). So I keep the little potty behind a locked gate and there are is often another locked gate to get to the room the little potty is in depending on which room you are in.

I just don't know how to make the little potty accessible enough for the toddler without making it also accessible enough for the babies.

If youve read this far, thank you! If you have any tips for me, I'd be super grateful! I feel like a total failure and regret not training her earlier even though it still would have been super difficult but at least I wouldn't have had to worry about babies eating poop.

 

[missh84]

@sjbraunlich We just had success with my 3 year old who was struggling to relax to pee! One time she went while sitting on her potty and watching her favorite show. But it was a bit of a fluke.. Then we hit the jackpot when I put her little potty in the kitchen and put a towel down, then a big bowl of warm water and some little spoons and cups in it. She was so excited to play and the warm water encouraged the pee to come out! After a few times, 3 or 4 over a couple days, she learned the feeling and can now go when I prompt her! I’m so proud of her and that she was able to overcome her fear. It’s cute how proud she is of herself too and being a “potty girl”. We also got everyone on board, and if she goes on the potty, she gets 2 chocolate chips and so does everyone else. She likes all the attention and excitement, so it’s been a big help having all the kids involved.

Don’t forget to google for other suggestions! That’s where I got the idea for playing in water!

 

[marisasa]

@sjbraunlich I don’t know the ages of your kids, but we have had success with “gating” off a hallway with a piece a furniture like an ottoman that the bigger kids can crawl over without help but the crawling baby cannot climb over. Maybe something like that would be a solution in your case? Also, the only way I have potty trained my kids #3 and 4 (I also had 5 kids in 7 years) was to outsource help for the other kids so I could be 1 on 1 like a hawk with the potty training kiddo for a week straight. It was a combo of my husband, a grandma, and hired babysitter to make it work.

 

[sjbraunlich]

@marisasa Oh that's a good idea about the ottoman. I will see if I can rally some sitters for help. I definitely need to be watching her more closely but it's pretty challenging as I'm sure you know when you have other littles to chase after, cook for, wipe butts, change diapers...etc. not to mention all the housework. I so wish my parents lived in our state and could help with stuff like this!

 

[wren84]

@sjbraunlich I have that summer infant potty that looks just like a potty.

I will say though every kid is different and unfortunately I truly believe they don’t do it until they’re ready and really want to. I have one kid that potty trained at 2 and 3 months, another that potty trained themselves at 18 months, and another that’s almost 3 with zero signs of readiness. I really think you just kind of have to leave little potties out and gently encourage them and do some pants free time and close watching. Anything else isn’t worth the stress imo.