Potty training and having a life…

150 150 Hillary Gustaveson

Ok I really really REALLY need help! I feel so lost I want to cry.

Here is an update on Lilly’s potty training experience.

Pretty much done except for nights and naps. She is either at home, or at my moms house and tells us whenever she has to pee. She usually is naked (so much easier) and just goes as she needs to without us having to tell her to go. She has a small potty on the floor in the living room. I can’t keep her potty in the bathroom at my house, because you have to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom and we don’t allow her in the kitchen. Problem #1.

Yesterday, she started this new thing of sitting on the potty and leaning back as she pees and it shoots OVER the seat and ALL OVER the floor. Of course she doesn’t understand the whole concept of sitting back to not have that happen.

I have been really afraid to leave my house with her to go shopping, out to eat, Sea World, etc. She is wearing little panties and has been doing great. I did buy her that little travel potty and keep it set up in the back of my SUV.

Here’s adventure #1 to Joann Fabrics the other day…

I put her potty under her stroller. She didn’t pee before we left so I knew she would have to go. Walking down an isle she said “peepee!” so I sat her potty right there in the middle of the isle (sorry people. I have a kid who will pee all over if I didn’t) and sat her down on it. Nope. She said “no peepee” got up and ran down the isle naked. Oy. I put her back in the stoller and we left. Before we get in the car she says peepee again. I put her on the potty in the car and she doesn’t go. I buckle her up and she said she had to pee. I took her back out and placed her on the potty. Nope. I’m sure people in the parking lot were watching me wondering what the heck I was doing for so long!

We drive home (about 4 miles?) and at the bottom of the freeway she said “peepee mom! peepee!” so I pull into a gas station and grab her out and set her on the potty. Nope. She won’t go. Maybe she has pee fright?? I put a diaper on her because I just can’t stop every 30 seconds. We get home and she keeps saying peepee. I run her upstairs, pull her diaper off and she ran to her potty and peed like a full cup worth. It was a lot and the diaper was DRY! So that’s good. But not good that she won’t use her potty on the go.

Onto adventure #2 tonight at Souplantation…

I brought along with me her potty seat in her diaper bag (it folds flat) and some extra clothes. We get to our table and she holds herself saying she has to pee. I run her with her potty seat to the bathroom. I put the potty seat on the toilet (it becomes one of those) and she screamed.. she did not want to be on it. SO I set it up on the floor. Nope. No pee. I put her clothes back on and go to the table. I go get food and come back and she is crying “peepee!!” and I take her back to the bathroom and she has a little bit of pee in her undies but just a little dribble. She refuses to go in the potty. I just don’t know what to do at this point… she refuses to go on her potty or the big potty and I was left with the option of letting her scream in the bathroom or put her in her diaper. I put her in the diaper and we go back to the table.

After about 3 minutes at the table she cries “mama… peeepeeeeeee!!!” and looks down and I knew she had peed and she was looking at me like what did I do? She was doing really well holding it in but just wouldn’t go when she needed to.

Now here’s my dilemma… (in case you haven’t noticed)— how the heck do I get her to go in either her travel potty or a big potty so I can actually go outside my house with her?! I feel like such a failure putting her in the diaper 🙁 I also feel like I can’t leave my house do go do anything since she has pee phobia of any potty outside of her own! PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW and help me as to what to do!! I have tried putting the travel potty in the living room by her regular potty. I really don’t want to carry her Baby Bijorn potty everywhere I go (I mean I could make a cute bag for it to throw it on the stroller but how to clean on the go??) Should I train her for the big potty and HOW??

I feel lost and I need help PLEASE!

THANK YOU!

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7 comments
  • Justine
    September 3, 2010 at 6:21 pm

    Hills, I have no advice for you but thank you for a good laugh. I might also add that you are scaring the crap out of those of us who have yet to do the whole kid thing… 🙂

  • Ali @PickleSugarPlum
    September 3, 2010 at 6:32 pm

    I’d really like to say I have the answer for you, but there really is nothing I can advise you to do that would be guaranteed.

    We tried really hard, carried spare clothes everywhere, along with our potty, and it was like a losing battle. He just wasn’t ready. We ended up using pull-ups when we left the house, until one day, Pickle just said he was done with them, and wanted to be a big boy. It was literally like a light switch, from one day to the next. One day he refused, the next day, he was completely done with diapers.

    Hugs and lots of luck and patience…you will need it! But all said and done, it’s worth ALL that hard work and frustration! HONESTLY!

  • cindy
    September 3, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    I think that you.should.skip.the. small.potty. I bring cleaning wipes travel.size and clean public parties. Liners.distract little.ones. I also wad up toilet paper before putting her on the potty because so.many are.missing.the front.of the toilet ring and the pee will.shoot right at you. Other than thatall I. Canq say to you is just keep at it. Repetition. I also limit the amount of fluid before.bed.time.and if I know we’re going out. Good luck

  • Marie
    September 3, 2010 at 6:49 pm

    Positive reinforcement and a bit of bribery 🙂

    I dont know how you potty trained her in the first place, but what worked with Cailin was rewarding her for going potty with something she liked (some use m&ms, cookies, fruit snacks, anything they don’t get on a regular basis that they would want).

    When she tells you she has to go potty take her and let her know if she goes potty she gets her treat. You may also want to get into the habit of taking into the bathrooms of everywhere you go even if she doesn’t tell you she has to go. When I was potty training Cailin the first thing I would do is take her into the bathroom and ask her if she had to go. Sometimes she would say yes, sometimes no, but taking her into all the different bathrooms got her used to what they were like. It ALWAYS helps if you can go potty with her to, it makes them feel more cofortable if they see you doing it…and when she does go potty make a BIG deal about it. I would always give Cailin high fives when I would hear the pee start to hit the bowl, and she to this day still looks up at me with a smile to see if I notice her starting when we are in a public bathroom. 🙂

    It will get easier, I promise….she just started potty training not too long ago and is doing a great job so far! Keep your head up! 🙂

  • Rachel R
    September 3, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    Ok Hil, I have potty trained three kids, in the process of two more, but they were all over 2. Kayah was 26 months and she didn’t like the little potty just the toilet with no chair on top. She pretty much potty trained herself, so who knows. Alden was 2yr and 6 months and was trained day, night and naps in 3 days. The others are not mine, so we won’t go there. the thing is, potty taining a child under 3 let alone 2 is an amazing feat ad you should be proud, but each kid is different and you DON’T have a life when potty training. My kids were fine on big potties, but they were also older. Does she help you dump the potty into the big toilet and flush? If not start showing her where it goes and let her flush. Then you are going to have to bite the bullet and let her through the kitchen to try the big potty at home. If she is not comfortable with it at home, she is NEVER going to get used to toilets in public. Don’t feel like a failure with the diapers. She is just starting, so you can’t expect her to get so much at one time. My only other suggestion is to switch to pull-ups if you have to wen you are out instead of diapers. This was something I learned from the potty-trining in a day book. Even though they are like diapers, they do look different than a diaper and can be explained as a training underwear or something. Good luck!!!

  • carlee
    September 3, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    Hey lady. Okay so far really really good. Potty training is hard stuff! I would have her come in with you from time to time when you go pee on the big toilet. Let her see its no big deal and then encourage her to try it next. I would let her know also before you leave the house that everytime she pee pees in the travel toilet or big toilet she will get a skittle or m&m. Bribery with training really does help. No joke! Good luck!

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