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My 1 ½ year old held the longest potty strike, but is now willing to use the potty on a regular basis while she is awake. Although she generally has a wet or messy diaper after naps and waking in the morning, while awake she has been initiating using the toilet consistently for the past week. In the end she is potty trained at about the same age as her older sister and before baby #3 is born. Now, if we can only convince her to use the potty for her BMs. I’m working on her sister to convince her of this (I’m slowly realizing the power older sibling has on motivating a younger sibling to do and learn stuff.)

As mentioned in other posts, I started potty learning with my youngest daughter at birth, but she stopped wanting to use the potty when she was 10 months old, which coincided with us getting our house ready to move.

About a month ago I started putting a diaper back on her because we all got sick and I got a really nasty spider bite that put me out for a few weeks. Once I was feeling better I took the diaper off again and she responded right away with knowing when she was voiding. For a day she yelled “mommy” every time she voided except nap time. At the end of the day she ran to the little potty and went unassisted. Since then we have been without a diaper except when we go out and has been willing to use the potty regularly. I think I know what her potty schedule is, so this has helped eliminated messy situations.

Last week we went on vacation and I was not able to take her to the potty as frequently; however, she still voided on the potty when I remembered. This week has been the best week yet. She has initiated going to the potty about ½ of the time and the times she didn’t I usually caught her holding herself. We have only had one accident in the house and she showed us right where it was at. While out she has been willing to go on the potty in public restrooms which she hasn’t been willing to do since about 9 months. We have also come home from outings with dry diapers.

While at home I have been having my toddler go potty when her older sister goes. They seem to have about the same schedule for potty needs so when older sister goes, I send little sister in to sit next to her on a little potty. The younger one usually voids along side her older sibling. I also ask the older sister to come watch her little sister use the potty if older sister does not need to void. It has been memorable as the both cheer each other on while they go potty.

In the end the success of my daughter’s potty learning has been her own. I have facilitated in giving her opportunities to use the potty; however, she has learned the cause and effect on her own.

Now we get to start infant potty learning with #3 in a few weeks when he is born! Maybe we will try Diaper Free Baby methods this time?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Baby. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.