Child Potty Training

On my daughter's second birthday, her pediatrician told me to be patient. I was tired of being patient. I was tired of buying diapers and pull-ups. My daughter seemed to have no interest whatsoever in potty training. She viewed the bathroom as nothing more than a place to take a bath. I had been working on potty training for several months and tried everything the so-called experts were advising.

My mother told me that potty training is something that will someday just click for her. She also told me to be patient. I was getting tired of hearing that word.

When Should Potty Training Start?

At first, our daycare provider recommended using what she called "potty treats" to reward her. I kept a small container of M&M's in our bathroom to use for bribery. At first, the little colored candies seemed to encourage her tremendously. She would actually ask for a potty treat, but not quite make it to the bathroom in time. I started out giving her just one M&M for simply sitting on the potty, and two M&M's if she actually did anything while she was sitting there. After a few weeks of eating lots of candies and producing little results, its charm wore off. She no longer had interest in M&M's. Our potty training adventure seemed as if it had come to yet another end.

I was out of ideas. It seemed that everyone had potty training advice for me. Some of the advice seemed completely off the wall and others made perfect sense. Ultimately though, the potty training decision and comfort would come solely from my two-year old. She had made it perfectly clear that potty training just wasn't in her near future.

On the exact day that she turned two and a half years old, her best friend at daycare suddenly started using the potty. My daughter announced that she wanted to be a big girl too and within a week, my potty training frustrations had come to a complete end. Suddenly, it did just click for her. My mother, as usual, was absolutely right. It just needed to click for her. I was completely shocked that all of the time and energy I had spent with potty training had completely failed and all that needed to happen was for her to witness her daycare friend becoming a big girl.

It is six months later and she still wears pull-ups at night just to be safe. My grocery bill has decreased a little bit and I am much happier. Now, I've turned into one of those moms that you see out shopping, who rushes their child to the nearest bathroom when they announce that they have to go. I don't mind the mad dashes simply because I know that it means my potty training days are over.

Article by P.R. Jones an independent writer for Healthy Help Files on Baby Health Issues.

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