Rural Mama's Sandbox

The third change in our household involved Big Sister. She is about 2 1/2 and on March 7th, I decided No more diapers during the day at home! We are starting to Potty Train! I know that a lot of Moms won't agree with the method I've chosen, however based on my daughter's personality and behaviors I found the following to be the best for her and I would encourage all moms to research potty training methods and find the best for them and their child(ren).

I decided to let Big Sister run around bottomless (We have laminate floors that clean easily). I had tried this before when she was a bit younger and it failed miserably, she just didn't care. This time, however, she was more self aware and had been coming to me asking for diaper changes when she was wet or dirty.

I started the instant she woke up on March 7th. I sat her on the potty and asked her if she needed to go, which she didn't. I gave her some juice and by 10:45 she had her first accident. She let me know about it, but wasn't all that upset. By the third time she went potty on herself, she became embarrassed and was looking for an alternative. On the fourth time I caught her mid potty and rushed her over to her potty chair. Even though some of it ended up on the floor, I still praised her for the potty that made it into the potty chair. She loves stickers, so it was a BIG deal for her to earn stickers for her potty chair success.

I left her bottomless at home for a couple days and then decided to try to add some panties. My mom had bought her some cute Minnie Mouse panties so I decided to give them a try. She had a couple accidents in them and kept getting upset because she didn't understand why the pee was still coming out since she had something on her bottom. I tried to explain that she couldn't potty in the panties, but she just wasn't getting it.

I figured it was too far a jump so I put her in the Blueberry cloth trainers I had bought for her. I should have tried these in the first place, but jumped the gun. The trainers worked MUCH better. She could feel the wetness but there wasn't a huge puddle under her and she figured out that the wetness didn't feel good. After a couple days in the trainers she progressed so much better. She usually averages 1 or 2 accidents per day, some of which were my fault when I get busy and didn't pay attention to her asking for help to pull her panties down.

I normally put diapers on her for errands, but on the 18th I got brave and put her in panties during church. I was SO proud that she made it all through church and then went potty on the potty chair when we got home. She has been a quick learner and I am just so blessed that this method has really worked for her. I am hoping to have her completely potty trained by her 3rd birthday!

What method worked best to potty train your little one and at what age did you start him/her?

Have a wonderful day dear Followers!