I Need a Doula for Potty Training
"Yes babe, I know, she peed on the couch again."
This became way too common of a phrase in our house. There we were, working on potty training with our soon to be two year old. Couch, steps, in front of the fridge. Never ending. You name it, our daughter probably peed on it.
We decided early on to go with the "two day method" aka totally get rid of diapers all together and let them run naked plan..... Earth to self, potty training is hard. I don't care how ready, not ready, old, young, smart, your toddler is. It is not a walk in the park. I quickly found myself becoming frustrated and confused on how to even teach this concept. I quickly turned to a mommy support group on Facebook to vent and maybe get some good advice.
Wrong. That made me more confused. I just needed someone to listen to me and come up with a plan! I figured out a few things on my own this go around...
Step #1 - Find out a good time to potty train.
Our daughter just turned 20 months and it was just beginning to get warm outside, so we were always on the go to fun, new places. Too many distractions. Plan ahead a few weeks and pick an ENTIRE week dedicated for this. It will give you time to prepare, and make things a tad less stressful.
Step #2 - Lower your Expectations
Trust me on this one. We made a special trip to Target, I hyped it up to her big time. We picked out some princess underwear, she opened the pack before we even paid, I thought to myself, "this is it, she loves them!". When we got home, she wouldn't even keep them on longer than 4 seconds. She would rather wear pants, with no undies on at all. Which equaled way more laundry. I also expected our daughter to pick up this potty thing by the end of day one. In reality, once we backed off on her a tad, she started going on the potty more frequently.
Step #3 - Ease Up on the Rewards
I found myself with a toddler who was jellybean crazy, only an hour in.
She realized sitting on the potty = jellybean!!!
Mommy is in the kitchen that must mean I ask for a jelly bean.
Mommy went to the potty, do I get a jelly bean? No, Bailee, sorry.
I bit of interest does not mean they are 100% ready to be potty trained tomorrow.
Patience is key. You can do this! Your toddler will do this! I promise.