Our Potty Training Journey

I am a member of the buybuy BABY babyhood influencer network, however all opinions expressed in this post are my own. #buybuyBABY #babyhood #sponsored

I’m a google mom.

My kids sneeze, I google.

So, when it came time to potty train, I googled.

And, I hit pinterest. I read article after article on “How To Potty Train” or “How To Potty Train in 3 days”. Every article I read said it should take around 3-5 days total. Everything was very encouraging. I read about all of the signs to know if your child is ready and I felt like Brooke was demonstrating the majority of them a lot. I really wanted to start potty training before Baby Kev Kev was born, but with my bed rest, that wasn’t able to become a reality. So, we decided to start the first week of April (a week before her 2 year birthday). This might sound crazy considering Baby Kev Kev was only 2 weeks old and let me assure you… it was.

But, we dove right in. We headed to buybuy BABY and bought all of the essentials. We bought a potty seat for upstairs and downstairs, a step stool, training pants, a fun new sippy cup, a new book and a sticker book. We also decided to start for the first two days while my parents were in town and could help with Brooke as well. Brooke immediately LOVED her new panties, but she loved the stickers more of course.

We started our day off in panties and Brooke had a few accidents. She did not like it at all. She was horrified that she was wet. We took her to the potty every 30 minutes and if she went, then she got to pick out a sticker (& we threw a huge party complete with high fives). It was a great game except that she kept wanting stickers all the time. The first week went okay, we had fewer and fewer accidents but no “successful” days.

Then, we went out of town for the weekend for her birthday party and that threw us all off. We put her in diapers for the trip and a few times in the weekend. We were afraid that this might confuse her, but we were already slightly down that she wasn’t quite getting it yet so we didn’t think it would hurt that much. Well, I guess this threw her off big time. She had a ton of accidents the next week and was no longer telling us when she had to go #2. At this point, she still had not verbally told us she had to go pee. Instead of verbally telling us, she would grab at herself and we knew to take her. By the end of the week, she stopped doing this as well. We were all VERY frustrated. So, we decided to take a break. Yep, we quit.

It was very hard for me to quit. I felt like a complete failure as a mom. I felt like I gave it my all and failed. There were times I was in the middle of nursing and had to help Brooke on the toilet at the same time. It was all so hard. I put in so much energy and effort, not to mention cleaned up so much pee. But, our little family felt like it was best for all our sanity. Potty training had become a huge stressor.

After a day off, I was nursing when Brooke came out of her room at nap time and said “potty”. I immediately started to sit brother down, then I heard “YUCK”…. I walked around the corner and saw my toddler with her diaper off, pooping on my floor. Yep, that happened. Yuck indeed. It was time to start potty training again, we had no choice.

So, we began again. I felt like this time, we were really making traction. For about 2 weeks, Brooke would only have 1 accident a day and she even went two days in a row with no accidents. We ventured out of the house in panties to Target and the Post Office successfully.

Then… we went backwards again. Out of no where, Brooke started fighting me every time it was time to go potty. She stopped showing us that she had to go and didn’t go on the potty one time last Monday. So, we decided to take a break again. We honestly just don’t know what to do. The next day she took her diaper off after every time she peed and twice just before she peed. She’s showing all the signs that its time to potty training, but its just not working.

I think the problem is that she won’t “verbally” tell us she has to go. She can say “potty” and she knows where “potty” goes… she just won’t tell us before or run to the potty. She “holds it” and relies on us to take her.

So… as of now, we are 2x Potty Training Quitters… we are hoping to start again this weekend with the mentality that “3rd times a charm?”… Give me all your suggestions in the comments… I need them.. badly!! Oh.. and those potty train in 3 days articles are fantasy people… fantasy.

Signed,

Confessions of 2x Potty Training Quitter Mama

P.S. You all know that buybuy BABY is my favorite place to shop for baby products. They just have such amazing customer service. All of their employees are so well trained and knowledgable. My salesperson really helped me pick out the potty gear that would be good for us and it is really great! I highly recommend this potty and these training pants!