3 year old DD and potty training

DD turned 3 ...1 month ago. Not making excuses but in April I had my son, and then in July I ended up having 2 back surgeries where my mother had to live with us from the end of June to the end of Sept. b/c I could not lift and do much etc....my daughter was definitely acting out etc...she started preschool in Sept. Prior to preschool she would go pee pee on the potty here and there but since school I am told she goes on alot there and wears pullups there and home. They are putting underwear on her over her pullup there. I know she is ready b/c she knows when she is going to the bathroom and says it....at times she can do pee pee on the potty many times in a day at home but at times she refuses...any suggestions? I try to bring her often at home but what can I do if she flat out refuses? I don't want to force her and make it something traumatic etc.....I also want her to feel in control b/c I know that the potty can become a big control issue. I am open to all suggestions and NOT offended for any responses :)

Re: 3 year old DD and potty training

Get rid of the pull ups at home. Reward her for having dry pants periodically and when she does pee or poop on the potty give her an even bigger reward. If she has an accident, let her help clean up and tell her "we don't do peepee/poopy here, we do peepee/poopy here" (showing her the potty). She will get it if you are consistent. The pull-ups are basically diapers so if you want her to toilet train yuo'll probably have to get rid of them. If you are worried about her making a mess in the house get padded cotton underware. I would also watch her like a hawk for a couple of days to try and catch her before she has an accident. Give her as many chances to be successfully and get that awesome reward. Fill her up with fluids and fiber. You can take her to the potty every 20 minutes or so initially then after successfully going on the potty 5 times you can let her begin initiating toileting by telling you she has to go or just going on her own if she can. HTH.....

Re: 3 year old DD and potty training

No pullups at home
get a notebook and put the date on the page and for each pee give her one sticker, each poop gets two stickers and every morning remind her how great she did hte day before
if she has an accident, dont say anything negative but also dont say anything positive either - I just said "ok next time, go in the potty" but i wasnt overly nice about it - just neutral. . . if she went in teh potty i had an entire song and dance routine, we would call grandma, DH, etc

We had a rough start but after about a month she started going completely independently (doesnt even ask, which kills me LOL)

Re: 3 year old DD and potty training

I never used any pull-ups. During the weekend (the only time I had to train her) I would leave her in panties the whole day. Of course there was time she pee'd on the floor but I would keep talking to her that she needed to do it in the potty. I would sit there with her and wait till she would do it. I would tell her how a big girl she was and eventually it worked. The first time she did it, I jumped up and down, celebrated with her and told her how big she was. Took 2 weeks of jumping up and down but that made her want to use the potty. The first few days, I had to keep track and remind her but then she caught up pretty quick.

My DD was 2.5 yrs when we fully got rid of diapers. The whole thing took about 2 weeks for her to fully understand the whole potty thing. She turns 3 in December and doesn't use the potty anymore. She has learn how to use the toilet and wipe herself and quickly wash her hands at the end.

Re: 3 year old DD and potty training

I agree to get rid of the pull-ups. I trained my DS 3 weeks before he turned 3. It took 36 hours. I put him straight into undies. I told him no pee pee in the undies and he understood. If he started to feel wet, he'd yell "potty" and run to the potty. This only happened twice. After that he always yelled "potty" when he had to go. It took him until day 2 to poopie in the potty. He was reluctant to but did it. Initially he was only pooping every other day but after a few days he was pooping in the potty every day.

I rewarded DS with M&Ms. 1 for pee pee and 3 for poop. I don't give him candy, at all, so this was huge. Kept the M&M's in a see-through container in the bathroom. By day 5 it had become so automatic that he wasn't asking for M&M's anymore. They are gone. GL!