About a month later I realized I was being stupid and selfish and I needed to give Kalianna the time and attention she deserved. So we got rid of the pull-ups completely, went back to panties, and pretty much did nothing for 3 days except go to the bathroom. I set the timer for every 30 minutes and she had a sticker chart to win her special prize. I did everything right this time. I put 100% of my focus on Kalianna for those 3 days. The first day she had several accidents, but I never gave up on her this time. The second day only a couple accidents, and by the third day she was golden! If she started having an accident, she would stop herself and only get a couple drops on her panties. She started getting better at telling me when she had to go, and we were able to move the timer back to every hour.
She has even kept her panties dry all night since that first night. She has even woken me up in the middle of the night a couple times saying, "Mommy, need to go potty in toilet". I am so impressed with her! She still has trouble pooping in the toilet, but I know that takes a lot longer for kids to get comfortable doing. So I try my best to encourage her, and she has to clean up her own messes each time there is an accident.
Then this last week she has given up. She has multiple accidents a day, and doesn't seem to care in the least little bit. She won't even tell me if she is wet, she just keeps right on playing as if nothing is wrong until I notice her wet pants and make her change. She has told me the last couple days that she wants to wear diapers or pull-ups again. She doesn't try and stop herself, she doesn't tell me when she needs to go, she still has to clean up her own messes but this doesn't even seem to faze her. She doesn't mind being wet or dirty and she very matter-of-factly will clean up the floor or chair or whatever, change her clothes, and then keep on going as if nothing happened. I am at a complete loss! I don't understand why she doesn't care anymore? We still use the timer and have "potty time", I still get excited with each success, and she still has her sticker chart. Did any of you ever experience this with your children when potty training? Is this just a weird phase? Cause I can work through it if it's just a phase that will pass. I am just so frustrated right now! I know she can do it, but how do I get her to want to again?
4 comments:
Um, let's just say that I experienced this for 3 YEARS!!! Yes, I think that we've finally nipped it in the bud with my oldest. He's almost 6! You have to change the motivation. Make it exciting again. Go to the dollar store and check out the party favors there or something like that. After spending $$$ on a psychologist I can with 100% confidence say that you have to find the right motivator and go from there. She is still young enough that you could put it on hold "until she's ready to be a big girl", but really she's just lost motivation and that's what you've got to tap into again.
Tom and I were just talking about potty training yesterday and that's we're already looking forward to "swishing" the panties in the toilet again. (And Eden's only 3 months!) I HATE potty training. I would take a newborn baby ANY day over that! It took us quite a while with Alli. The poop the longest. She just decided one day to poop in the toilet and has ever since. The pee... well, she'd have accidents if she was playing and didn't want to stop mostly. A while after she was completely trained (like a few months later) she started doing the quarter size pee in her panties or a little more. That lasted a month or so and now she's back to being fabulous! It's just hard!!! Hard for them and you! (especially you!) Just keep it up, keep doing prizes and treats and praise and she'll eventually come around! It's so frustrating!!! Keep up the good work, you can do it! (Sorry this is so long!) :)
Oh yes! Macie did that 4 months into training! It was so frustrating!!! But just know, she's learning autonomy. It's a phase and she'll get over it soon. Just a word of advice: don't get mad at her. I learned this the hard way and I think it took macie longer to get through this phase than other kids because I was getting upset. Good luck!!! And hang in there!
I love these comments! Great info for all of us! We were super lucky with Ryan. But the one thing that does really stand out to me, is I once heard Dr. Phil say that one slip up with 'the getting upset with them' thing can set you back at least 7 days. 7 days for every time you get upset! Be cool about it.
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