Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

So my DD turned 3 in Sept. and up until now she's been giving me a hard time about using the potty. She knows what to do, she knows when she's peeing and pooping (she always tells me), and she isn't afraid of the potty...............honestly, it's just sheer laziness at this point. She doesn't want to be bothered.

Anyway, for the past week we've been hyping up leaving her diapers for Santa and she's been SUPER excited about the idea that Santa will take all of her diapers to the babies who need them and in return, leave her "Ariel" big girl panties. She tells "Hermie" (our Elf on the Shelf) every day about leaving her diapers for Santa as well as everyone else who will listen. LOL So in preparation I'm trying to get her on the potty as much as possible now and I am putting her in panties while we're home.

Here is my question: Now that we've made a big thing about Santa taking the diapers we obviously REALLY need to follow through and once Xmas morning is here the diapers need to be gone and she will be FORCED to use the potty ALL the time. So I'm curious..............has anyone gone cold turkey (so to speak) with potty training like this? How did it work out?

I thought for overnight I would let "Santa" leave her overnight pull ups because I think it's probably too much to pull the rug from under her at night.........right??? Any insight is appreciated!!! TIA!!!!

Message edited 12/6/2011 8:37:54 AM.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

I went cold turkey at the same time for day and night... I was SO nervous but I think it's confusing to keep the pull up at night. To my shock, DS was fine and in a year has only ever had one accident and that's because he drank something too late. He has a small drink of milk at dinner and that's it for the rest of the night. We also got sheet savers from One Step Ahead just in case to make overnight sheet changes easy.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

We went cold turkey with DS. I didn't even give him advance notice. We woke up on a Saturday, and I put underwear on him and told him to tell me when he had to go. Every 10-15 minutes I asked him. He did have a temper tantrum as soon as I put them on asking for his diaper back, and he also asked for a diaper to be put back on each time we changed DD.

But, after day one, he only had 2 accidents. Day two was better with no accidents, and from there on, he has been trained ever since.

The anticipation for us was much worse than it actually was. We even said to each other how we were completely surprised how well it went.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

I wanted to add, for nights, we do put a pull up on him and he hasn't peed at night yet. He's dry every morning. But I still put them on just in case (because he has a brand new mattress). He knows they are only for night, and he calls them a pull up, not a diaper. They come off right after he goes first thing in the morning. There is no confusion for him.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

We went cold turkey pretty much as well, but she still uses a pull up for night BUT wakes up mostly dry.

She was trained in a day and a half and has not had ONE accident since trained.

We woke up on a sunday, made her put her diapers in the garbage and that was it. The first few hours was shear torture...but then all of a sudden it clicked and like i said not one accident since.

Just stick to it, even through the accidents.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

Thank you!!! I'm glad to see that going cold turkey can work. I was afraid I put myself into a real pickle but telling her Santa was taking the diapers away.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

we toyed with potty trianing for months...some days were better than others. When he was 33 months exactly, i put him in underwear one day and told him no more diapers. He held his pee all day, while i kept giving him water to drink. he ran to me at about 3 pm, saying that "a little pee pee came out on his floor." I asked him if he needed to use the potty. he said "no." Thirty seconds later the same exact scenario, this time i put him on the potty. Poor kid had to pee so bad, he sat there for 5 minutes. That was the last pee accident he had. He held his poop for three days after that, crapped his pants at school the third day, his cute, blond girlfriend made fun of him, and he never crapped his pants again. ever.

i really believe what made all the difference is the fact that he moved into the 3 year old room where all the kids were using the potty. socialization can work wonders!

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

I guess my method is cold turkey but it works.. it takes patience but it works..

NO DIAPERS, NO PULL UPS.. I'm sorry.. but both are diapers.. you are sending the wrong message to the kids.. you are telling them basically that they have to use the toilet all day, every day but at night they can have an accident because they will have a diaper (pull up) on..

They need to feel the mess in order to learn how to hold it and not be lazy in holding it in until it's too late.

Invest in 2 sheet savers and you won't have to swap out sheets in the middle of the night.. cut back the liquid 1-2 hours before bed and make sure they go right before bed and first thing when they wake up..

GL!

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

I believe in all or nothing except for night time. We did pull-ups for DS, but only for about a month. Mainly because I didn't want to change sheets and all in the middle of the night. We told him he should keep the ull-ups dry and we called them night time underwear. He was not confused about it in the slightest. He potty trained really well, in a week he was telling us everytime he had to go rather than me asking. and had only 2 accidents the entire time. Most mornings he woke up dry so after a few weeks we tossed the pull-ups too.

Best thing you can do is remoc=ve ALL diapers from your home so you aren't tempted to turn back Prepare to have some accidents, but it shouldn't last long. Good luck!

Message edited 12/6/2011 11:28:49 AM.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

Thanks so much everyone for the advice!!!!!

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

yup, we did the 3 day potty training thing and it worked out fast! IMO, I wouldn't want to be totally training a kid on Christmas morning...you have enough to do and the presents are too enticing (rather than thinking about going on the pot). I'd mail off the diapers on Monday with her wish list to Santa.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

I think at her age it can work. Here's my potty training experience.

DD1 started using the potty randomly at 18 mths. I let her use it whenever she wanted, but didn't force her. I did switch to pull ups because she could then go on her own when she wanted, but i thought she was too young for me to force it 100%. At 25 mths, i stopped pull ups during the day. she peed herself a few times, but within a week, she was good to go.

2 months later, i saw that she was getting up to go during the night, so we stopped them at night as well.

2-3 mths laters, she started having accidents every.single.night. I wasn't sleeping because I would get up for her 2-3 times per night, plus my little one kept waking up, so I was up 4-6 times per night every night. Then she started having daytime accidents, when she had been great for almost 6 mths. the ped said put her back in pull ups, even though i really didn't want to. she had been asking for them. one single time i gave in and said fine, wear your pull up. then she didn't want to, and hasnt had an accident since. i did go back to pull ups at night because i needed to sleep. in the last mth or so, i saw that she was started to hold it during the night. so, i talked up that she would have no more pull ups at night when she turned 3. she basically asked to stop wearing them about a week before her birthday, and so far so good.

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by sasha96

yup, we did the 3 day potty training thing and it worked out fast! IMO, I wouldn't want to be totally training a kid on Christmas morning...you have enough to do and the presents are too enticing (rather than thinking about going on the pot). I'd mail off the diapers on Monday with her wish list to Santa.

To be honest, we're working on the potty training now so my hope is that by Xmas Eve to ditch the diapers cold turkey won't be an issue because she will be pretty much use to going on the potty by that point. That's my hope anyway. We'll see how this all works out! Potty training has the be the worst part of parenting!!

Re: Potty Training - Cold Turkey (sorta) Question

Posted by sasha96

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by sasha96

yup, we did the 3 day potty training thing and it worked out fast! IMO, I wouldn't want to be totally training a kid on Christmas morning...you have enough to do and the presents are too enticing (rather than thinking about going on the pot). I'd mail off the diapers on Monday with her wish list to Santa.

To be honest, we're working on the potty training now so my hope is that by Xmas Eve to ditch the diapers cold turkey won't be an issue because she will be pretty much use to going on the potty by that point. That's my hope anyway. We'll see how this all works out! Potty training has the be the worst part of parenting!!

yeah, but if she is ready enough to make the transition, just go for it. i kinda think that if you don't take the lead and make her do it all the time, then she will just be lazy and only go sometimes. i'd rather just have a few days of mess and send the message that it is time to use the potty only. you seem to have a good momentum going so run with it!