Potty Train Your Child Before 2 Years Old

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:54:03 +0000

My son was 21 months old when he began showing signs he was ready to potty train. He would keep a dry diaper for 2 or more hours, he would hide to make a BM at the same time every day, and would occasionally go on the toilet when we sat him down.I was hesitant to start potty training because we have a newborn in the house but, after talking to my husband, we decided it was best to start. At this point I started doing my research. I already have some experience with this area because I worked in a daycare for so many years. There, we simply sat the child down every two hours and hoped they were dry so that they could go. To me, this method seemed hit or miss. I didn’t want to do something that required so much timing since I had a newborn to look after. What I really wanted was a method that would teach my son what it felt like to have to go to the bathroom so that I would not have to ask him all day long.This was when I discovered “naked potty training” (I will call this NPT). With this method, your child is completely naked from the waist down and it should only take 2-3 days. It seemed too good to be true at first. Three days and my son would be potty trained? It couldn’t hurt to try, but I was going to make a few adjustments. I should also add that this method works best for children between 20 and 24 months because at this age they love to be naked. This becomes an incentive for them go on the toilet. They don’t want to wear that diaper.On the first day of NPT your child spends the whole day naked and this is exactly what I did. You should expect to have a few accidents to clean up so try to pick a room where clean-up is easy. If you feel the kitchen is too uncomfortable to spend the whole day then just have cleaning supplies on hand. I chose our living room. Near the front door we have a small tiled area so I placed his potty there and kept carpet cleaner, 409, paper towels, and baby wipes on the steps. The day went extremely well. He did not pee on the floor at all but he did poop once. Lucky for me he ran to hide over by the front door so clean-up was easy. While cleaning up I made sure to say, “this is not OK” and “our poop goes in the toilet.” NPT suggests that your child should help clean the mess but I just cannot see letting my son touch urine or poop. Instead, I took his BM and we walked to the toilet together and he flushed it.The second day of NPT is the same as the first but, you spend one hour outside. This teaches your child that potty training is not limited to inside the house. Now obviously you cannot let your child run around naked. NPT suggest putting them in pants only. I’m guessing pull-ups and underwear feel to much like diapers and you want to remind them that they are naked under their pants. This is exactly what I did and we did not have one accident. My son even pooped on the potty that day. I was so excited and amazed that this was working so quickly.On the third day of NPT your child is still naked inside, spends one hour outside and then one hour in the car or at the store. This made me nervous so I adjusted. I wanted to get my son used to wearing underwear (with NPT they do not wear underwear for 3 months). So I went out and bought him underwear and he wore them all day long. When I put them on, and throughout the day, I reminded him that he was not wearing a diaper and he needs to use the toilet. When we went out to the store we put a pull-up on over his underwear. This way, if he had an accident, he would feel wet and uncomfortable but we would not have the mess. He did very well again. This time he asked to go to the bathroom when he had to pee. He did, however make a BM in his underwear. I guess it felt to much like a diaper for him to want to go on the toilet. I also found that he couldn’t figure out how to push and now that he was more aware of his bodily functions, it scared him a little bit.At this point, NPT suggests spending more time away from the house and keeping your child naked when they are home for the next 3 months. My son spends the day in underwear. The only time he is naked is when I notice him holding his butt. I do this to encourage him to have his BM’s on the toilet. So far so good. He is pretty much potty trained. He never pees in his pants and will occasionally poop, but I expected that. If your child goes to a day care provider, you will need to speak to them about how to continue potty training. Some providers may not be comfortable with them only in pants and may request a Pull-up. If this is the case, see if they will let you put a Pull-up over his/her underwear. Pull-ups on their own are OK as well. When my son visits his grandparents, we send him in a Pull-up (we tell him they are underwear) so that they don’t have to deal with accidents and my son still stays dry.NPT gives a few tips to help with the training process…

I am definitely a fan of NPT. I made a few adjustments so that it would work for me but I stuck with the same concept and in 3 days my son was potty trained. It really works! I hope my experience will help you have a succesful potty training experience.

My name is Kim Seals and I am a mother of two and a former teacher. I now spend my time writing articles like this for my blog http://myparenting411.blogspot.com.
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Potty Train Your Child Before 2 Years Old