How to Potty Train in 3 Days

Heather Dessinger

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potty training tips

Potty Training Day 1

Yesterday was “P Day.”“P” stands for pee-pee, poop, and PANTIES. I’m sure you know where this is going.

On the recommendation of a friend I downloaded Lora Jensen’s book, “3 Day Potty Training”. It took about 20 minutes to get through the whole book. Gotta love that!

A few interesting things about Lora’s method:

  • She makes a case for not asking a child if they need to go potty, instead saying “Tell me when you need to go potty, ok?” It’s subtle, but I like her point that it helps the child learn when they need to go potty instead of becoming dependent on caregivers to tell them when to go.
  • She considers using training pants or vinyl covered panties “crutches,” saying “You shouldn’t be going anywhere during the three days of training and after the three days, there won’t be a need.”
  • She discourages letting children sit on the potty for long periods of time, saying “Let them see if they need to go, and if nothing, take them down. Your action of picking the child up and running them to the bathroom to do business helps the whole thing to ‘click’ with the child.”

If nothing else, her book helped me shift from overwhelmed to confident and excited. She provides a clear strategy and lists items that will be needed and tasks that should be done ahead of time. Check. Check. Aaaand check!

This morning my daughter went pee in her potty right after waking up and received her much anticipated first pair of panties. We don’t use external reward systems in our parenting, but we decided to make an exception just this once and had lots of goodies ready. Totally unnecessary. My daughter wore those panties like they were Cinderella’s ball gown.

Early morning was super easy. Loving her new panties (and the action of pulling them up and down) she went pee in the potty a zillion times. I got over confident.

10:24 a.m — First Accident

Poop! I wasn’t even in the room like I was supposed to be. Lora insists that we keep the child in our sight the entire time, but my daughter was doing so well I forgot it was my job to ensure her success. So when Gigi yelled accident and she started crying I ran her to the potty, chastising myself the whole way. It broke my heart so see her so upset, but I sat her on the potty and cheered because she “finished” on the potty. I’m surprised I didn’t give myself a hernia gyrating and cheering like a madwoman, but it would have been worth it even if I had. The sight of mommy’s funny dance had her wanting to try again a couple minutes later!

10:30 am – First Rebound

Goes pee in the potty 3 times! Just getting her mojo back, I think.

Not a Play By Play

I doubt you want a play-by-play, so here’s the short version: my daughter had an accident during naptime even though she emptied her bladder a zillion times before we laid down. Also, I got her a little too preoccupied playing in the backyard and she had a BM but she came running to me and tried to make it to the potty. My heart has never before swelled with pride over poop, but it did today. We had a lot of fun outside though.

As day 1 wrapped she began encouraging me in the restroom. I guess after almost twelve hours of discussing and celebrating every potty success she felt it was fair game ; – ) Overall, my sweet girl had a fantastic day. She received quality time, love and support. She was celebrated and so were her successes. I really enjoyed it too, although it was pretty exhausting. I’m heading to bed early in hopes that I’ll be coherent enough to recognize her “need to go” signs tomorrow. Guess that probably depends on how many times I have to change the sheets tonight.

3 day potty training tips

Potty Training Day 2

7:24 am: It’s Day 2 and I want to quit. I’m exhausted. In her book, 3 Day Potty Training, Lora Jensen stresses the importance of letting everything else go for this short period of time. Did I listen to her? No. Yesterday I still made three meals from scratch, cleaned the house for a showing, did exercises to prevent my diastasis (abdominal separation) from getting worse,  and blogged. I consider this blog an opportunity to review the day and make adjustments so I’ll continue doing it, but I’m done with trying to be superwoman.

My precious girl slept great last night. She had an accident and slept right through it. I tossed and turned, obsessed with helping her get to the potty before she went pee in the bed. Laying in bed awake isn’t part of the program, but after a day obsessed with checking on the status of her bladder I found it almost impossible to “turn off” when I needed to. I finally woke her up at 4:30 am and took her to the potty. The trip was successful, but we never got fully back to sleep after that.

Daniel preserved the integrity of this operation by opting to work from home today. The hour he usually commutes home from work is allocated as a break for me. Bless that man. I need some time to recover from my poor choices, and this is my one free pass. If you are going to attempt this, set EVERYTHING else aside and take care of yourself and your child. There is just no other way.

Rebound

7:36 am After a sip of Gigi’s coffee I have recommitted. I will do this.

Relapse

9:21 am Went pee on the floor while engrossed in water coloring.

Results

2:26 pm Dry panties after a 2.5 hour nap! Success feels good!

Relationship

One of the most surprising things about the last two days is how intensely she is soaking in my undivided attention. I had imagined some frustration on her part, but all she seems to notice is that for now we are glued at the hip. Go figure, she likes it.

There is a real world out there, and in that world I need to finish our taxes and locate some maternity clothes I accidentally put in storage. But this experience has reinforced something it has taken me awhile to figure out. Time together does not always equate quality time. Our relationship thrives when I intentionally make her my sole focus on a regular basis. Right now, that means the zoo every Friday morning. The time we spend there enjoying each other makes the other six days of the week a thousand times easier.

Recap

I started this day feeling completely defeated. Caffeine got me so far, but what really saved me were the helpful tips ya’ll shared in my comment section. The advice was so good I plan on using every single piece of it to get to the finish line. Thank you and keep the encouragement/help/opinions coming!!!

Potty Training Day 3

Great news!!! My girl is completely potty trained!

Ha ha. I am NOT serious. April Fools!

On to the real post:

Remember how I said I was done being superwoman? Scratch that. Since I am pregnant AND selling our house AND potty training, I was planning to ask my mom for help with making some meals this week. She, um, started packing and made up this crazy story about having planned a trip to my sisters long in advance. Like I am going to buy that! (Love you, Gigi)

So, no help on the meal front and I don’t want to let my groceries go bad. Have I mentioned yet that Daddypotamus is sick? Yeah, that too. So it is me vs. potty training/keep house clean so it will sell/make meals. Bring it on!! Just kidding, I am so scared I am about to pee my pants (but I won’t because that would be a very bad example!)

Last night I tried to do some prep ahead of time to keep things simple, if you call simple grinding wheat in your front yard at 10 pm because it’s too loud to do in the house. The upside of making mayonnaise and starting the pizza and tortilla dough is that I got to see a beautiful full moon.

Nice view for grinding wheat, don’t you think? Now, jumping right in . . .

Nightime Training

I sent this question to Lora Jensen about her book, 3 Day Potty Training, a few days ago:

How do they transition into sensing when they need to urinate while they’re asleep so that they wake up and go to the restroom? Not sure if this would affect anything but we do co-sleep with her.

Julie Jensen responded (her daughter, maybe?). Here’s what she had to say:

Co-sleeping shouldn’t have a large effect on the training, however, you just have to put up with accidents in your bed. If she does have accidents during the nights, the best way to teach her how to wake prior to when she would release is to pin point when the accidents are happening. Once you have an idea of when they occur, then you should begin taking her to the potty just prior to those times, before the accident takes place. If you do this consistently to where she has multiple dry nights, then she is going to learn to wake herself and go potty before releasing in her bed. It could take a few nights to get your times accurate enough, but once you do, it will be smooth sailing from there.

Last night, my girl stayed dry from 7pm – 4am. Nine hours! I checked her at 4am and she was dry. I asked her to tell me if she needs to go potty she was so out she didn’t even respond. Five minutes later she started moving around and was sopping wet. So now we’ve pin pointed “accident hour.”

Today we prepped for night time training by laying in bed and pretending to be asleep. Then I would say “Sweet girl, wake up. Tell me if you need to go potty, ok?” She loves this game, and I hope it helps because so far she has simply ignored me every time I try to wake her.

Move move move!

She was dry for 2 hrs at naptime until I dawdled in bed for 30 seconds after she woke up. Sheesh, no margin here!

When will it “click”?

It’s obvious: there is no going back now. Unfortunately, I don’t think my daughter has connected the urge to potty with the need to tell me and hurry to the restroom. We have been mostly accident free because I constantly say “Tell mommy if you need to go potty, ok?” She has yet to volunteer that she needs to go potty at any other time than immediately after I say that to her.

What now?

As part of our Day 1 ceremony we packed away all of her cloth diapers and put the changing table in the garage. Lora says the purpose is to communicate the end of the diapering stage to the child, but  I think it is really for the parent. My daughter has made a lot of progress in the last 3 days, but I don’t feel very confident going back to life as normal, especially to run errands and such. In some ways I’d love to go back to diapers because it is predictable, but I won’t.  So I have a few questions for you moms who have already blazed this trail.

  1. How did it “click” for your child?
  2. How did you handle going potty away from home? I don’t go many places but I am considering taking a little potty chair everywhere with me because public toilets are gross!

Thank you in advance.

One Month Update

It has been exactly one month since my sweet girl put on her first pair of big girl panties. Lora Jensens 3 Day Potty Training method helped us make a lot of progress, but things have not worked out quite as expected.

Let’s review some of the principles I shared on Day 1’s post:

She makes a case for not asking a child if they need to go potty, instead saying “Tell me when you need to go potty, ok?” It’s subtle, but I like her point that it helps the child learn when they  need to go potty instead of becoming dependent on caregivers to tell them when to go.

After the thousandth time I said “Tell me if you need to go potty, okay?” She began completely ignoring me. If I don’t remind/cajole/make her go my ears are regaled with the sound of splashing urine on the tile kitchen floor.

She considers using training pants or vinyl covered panties “crutches,” saying “You shouldn’t be going anywhere during the three days of training and after the three days, there won’t be a need.”

After two solid weeks of washing our bed sheets I cried “Uncle!” on this one. She still wears regular panties during the day but I called Kristi over at Hip Green Baby to talk nighttime pants. To my surprise, she offered me five pairs of barely-used trainers that her sister-in-law was getting rid of for free! Gotta say, that is one of the perks of supporting local businesses. They care and stuff.

Thank you Kristi! This pregnant momma is finally getting some rest!

She discourages letting children sit on the potty for long periods of time, saying “Let them see if they need to go, and if nothing, take them down. Your action of picking the child up and running them to the bathroom to do business helps the whole thing to ‘click’ with the child.”

We’ve actually abided by this recommendation, but judging by the number of BM accidents we’ve had I’m not sure we should be.

Oh, and remember when I said this?

We don’t use external reward systems in our parenting, but we decided to make an exception just this once and had lots of goodies ready. Totally unnecessary. She wore those panties like they were Cinderella’s ball gown.

Turns out when it comes to getting my child to go potty or eat her veggies I am a reward mama after all. “Yes you can have some pineapple after you potty” is now a common phrase in this house.

Fruit works wonders with this girl.

All-in-all, I would say my little girl is trainedish. She is more aware of her body and tells me immediately if there is an accident. Lora Jensen’s method gave me a strategy to get started with and we’ve made adjustments from there. So although I didn’t get the results Lora says are typical I’m still glad I bought her ebook. I think (at least I hope) we’ll have this thing down pat before Babypotamus is born.

tips for potty training

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About HEATHER

Heather is a holistic health educator, herbalist, DIYer, Lyme and mold warrior. Since founding Mommypotamus.com in 2009, Heather has been taking complicated health research and making it easy to understand. She shares tested natural recipes and herbal remedies with millions of naturally minded mamas around the world. 

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67 thoughts on “How to Potty Train in 3 Days”

  1. I have never read this book. But it sounds just perfect! I always say it is more about training US in the first week. Recognizing their signals, staying close to them, Never-ever letting them know we are frustrated accident after accident. My best advice is even after a couple of weeks, when you start going out in panties, and she seems to be doing perfectly… still keep the same attitude (and ALWAYS a spare pair of panties and pants) That is when the frustration can really creep in and can make them feel embarrassed. Accidents are no big deal! EVEN IN PUBLIC! (kind of tricky when you are standing in the toy isle at Target with a huge puddle under their feet!) : ) I love that you are taking such a postivie approach! I’m always so sad to see moms dread potty training. Have fun with it!

    Reply
  2. Thanks for your encouragement, Jessica. We understand that children need positive reinforcement to change their thinking, but I am finding that I need it just as much. Advice and encouragement from other moms has been a lifeline as I prepared and began this process.

    Reply
  3. I totally agree with being with them a solid 3 days or really even the whole week. Also YES on the positive reinforcement. Jumping and screaming when they do good and getting them so excited! the only thing I do and I don’t view it as negative reinforcement, but when they have an accident I always so “Oh yucky! that’s gross. Isn’t it gross to poop in your panties, etc.” not making THEM feel bad or pointing out that they pooped and it’s gross, but just bringing about the understanding that pooping or peeing in your panties isn’t good. But again, that’s just what I do.
    We do the candy or fruit snack or something she loves every time she pees and then if there are no accidents after a set number of days, she gets a reward like a toy she really wanted. But I am TOTALLY a reward mommy, so that’s just me. (blame it on being an aunt first!)
    You’re doing great. From my experience and talking around with moms THE MOST important thing is consistency on YOUR part.
    So keep it up!

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  4. Go Katie! I just wanted to say that, as far as nightime goes, I think it’s great to give this method a shot. But there are lots of kids that just sleep really deeply and don’t wake up to pee. I totally agree that letting them wet the bed a few times is well worth it if it trains their brains to send wake up messages, rather than just relying on pull-ups, which can have the opposite effect. BUT, just because something works great for someone else’s child doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you child. All that to say that should you, or anyone else, have to use pull-ups at night, this should NOT be viewed as failure. I am opposed to limiting water intake in the evenings because I think we are, in general, a chronically dehydrated society, and I do not think that hydration is the cause of bedwetting. For some older children, I have read that mineral deficiency can be a factor.
    Anyhow, as a mother of five, let me just say that all of them were different, and I don’t think there is any “one size fits all” solution for any aspect of parenting. I do, however, think that learning from one another is both wise and appropriate, as long as we hold sacred our own mothering instinct, and trust it above all other voices.
    It sounds like this is a great little potty training program that will work well for most kids, so I wish you and Katie great success!

    Reply
    • Kim – You make some great points. The nighttime thing is my biggest concern and I’m glad you addressed it. One the one hand I can see how it would be an advantage for Katie if we did both at the same time. On the other hand, I am going to have a newborn in late August/early September and I need my rest both now and then.

      I agree with you about dehydration as well. I actually sent Lora a message regarding this recommendation because in the 2-3 hours before bedtime (recommended limited intake of fluids) we are playing in the sunshine in TEXAS. Water is essential and I don’t know how to get around that. I know I can encourage more water earlier in the day, and I know that if I drink a big glass of water before bed that I have to get up a million times, but I feel unsure of how to proceed with Katie.

      It seems like limiting fluids doesn’t teach a child to wake when the have to go. How THAT happens I have no idea.

      Reply
    • Great suggestion, Meredith! Simple tips like this keep the hassle-factor down and I LOVE that. I am using a pad made for a crib right now but would prefer to have something that covers a larger area.

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  5. We have done it the same with each kid, only becasue it seems to work for us. But we do undies all day including nap, then we put diapers on for overnight. Thain did fine overnight right from the start, but Ava didn’t. And our dr said sometimes their tiny bladders simply CAN’T hold it for 12 hours. And if they are good sleepers, sometimes they won’… See Moret know to get up. We tried overnight with Ava at first, but I was having to get up 3-4 times a night to change sheets, even if she hadn’t had anything to drink. So decided with her, after 1 week of waking up in dry diapers (which includes if she DOES need to go potty, waking us up to take her) then we switched to panties overnight. It didn’t take long because they Don’t like diapers once they are out of them. But about another month.

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  6. i’m sorry i don’t have any helpful advice heather!! i am so thankful to be blessed with a daughter who is very ambitious and easy to “train” and teach. i had always let her follow me into the restroom when i had to go, that way she would be familiar with the concept. right as she turned 2 years old she showed total interest on her own and would tell me that she needed to go pee pee without me even having to ask her. so i bought one of those small potties and put it in the living room (the room that we spent the most time in), that way when she needed to go she could simply go sit down on her own and go. in addition to that, i rented a video from the library called “once upon a potty”. she watched it and she LOVED it.
    i put her in pull ups at first, but she HATED them. she asked if she could wear undies like mama, so i said “yes” of course. she used the small potty for about 2 weeks, then when she had to go she started telling me that she wanted to use the big girl potty. so i got her a small seat to put on the toilet seat and she started using it every time 🙂 away to storage went the small potty!
    she never had any nap time accidents or night time accidents either… to this day.
    plus, she hates the feeling of being dirty.
    i hope it’s that easy with luke!!!

    i suppose the only actual advice i can give from my experience is the potty in the living room and the video. if all else fails, give it a try!
    good luck on your new adventure!!

    Reply
  7. Hey, I am a friend of Dr. Cindy’s and found your blog through her. I have a 4 year old and I loosely used this book when we potty trained her at 2. We never used pull ups except on a plane ride a month after ditching diapers because you can’t get out of your seat at all times. We still have issues at night so what we do is wear a cover that is either Mother of Eden brand or Bummis brand, bought from cloth diaper stores. She still feels wet but it does not require an immediate change of sheets. She also sleeps on top of an “ultimate crib sheet” in her big girl bed to contain leaks. She gets very upset about wetting the bed but we also don’t want to limit water intake. Often I will get her up at about midnight when I go to bed and let her use the potty then. That helps but I often forget.

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  8. Thanks, Christy. It’s good to hear from someone that used the same method. I should be getting some cloth trainers that look like panties in the mail tomorrow and I am so excited. I’ve been washing sheets everyday since we started training ; – )

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    • What kind of cloth trainers or system would you say worked best for your kids for nighttime? My 26 mo. old daughter does not like anything that feels bulky like a diaper… so I’m thinking about ordering an absorbent pad instead. I’m curious about what you ended up using.

      Reply
  9. Hi Heather! I think we met at a cloth diaper party at Dr. Cindy’s last year around this time, before I moved to Argentina. I found your blog through Dr. Cindy’s facebook page and I LOVE it! So much great info! Anyway, I’ve been doing EC with my baby since she was about 7 months old but only for BM’s and it has worked out great. We have only had one or two “dirty” diapers in the last year. She is 20 months now and tells me every time she needs the “loo” to have a BM. Now I’m trying to train her to pee on the loo as well. I have her bare bottomed at home and this seems to work. She tells me almost every time she needs to pee. But I’m scared of night time training! I am due with baby number two as well in early August and I would like to have Mariana completely potty trained by then… so I’ll be checking your blog for anymore advise! The one idea I can offer is to use a soft wool blanket under her at night. Wool is amazing and will repel liquid while at the same time not have to be washed every day but just aired out… just an idea – haven’t tried it yet!

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  10. Hi Kate! I remember meeting you and talking about your big move. I even remember the cute jean skirt you were wearing. LOL! Thanks for sharing your experience. Two “dirty” diapers in a year sounds like heaven. We are considering EC with the next baby but are not fully committed yet. Do you have a blog? You need to! I would love to read about life in Argentina.

    Reply
    • I don’t have a blog but maybe I should start one :). I strongly recommend trying EC at least for BMs… using it for everything seems a little daunting to me but I know it has worked for many people. I just hate the thought of my baby sitting in a mess, and I hate changing dirty, smelly diapers! The only problem I have run into is that I still have to sit with my baby on the loo for her to go – ha! Hopefully she will grow out of that soon :). We are extremely “attached” – family bed, family loo 🙂

      Reply
  11. LOL! Love the family loo. A lot of moms have told me the same thing about EC (watching for BM but not the other). Sounds great to me.

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  12. Ok, I am about to start potty training and have heard a lot about this. I’m nervous and actually was supposed to do this during this holiday weekend but, the weekend got a hold of me before reading the book. I think I will try in a week or so. I am encouraged to see this worked for several people. Though, I still have nerves. I’ll keep you posted and let you know how it goes! 😉

    Reply
  13. Ok, I know I am really (really) late on posting this, but I just found your blog via pinterest and I am about to go thru potty training with my daughter. How old was your daughter when you started training? Where there signs that led you to believe that she was ready? Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Hi Melissa! She was 27 months when we started. To be honest I didn’t really recognize any signs. I was pregnant at the time and just knew I didn’t want two little ones in diapers!

      Reply
  14. Hi there

    Thanks for your posts re. the 3 day potty training method. I’m on day 1.5 and it really hasn’t gone well (although it could be worst). He does not tell me when he needs to go and I can never get him into the potty quick enough to finish it there. Also, last night he had several accidents in bed (even after he peed in the potty at 11pm). And that was after giving him no fluids after 6pm. I also woke up several times to take him in the night with no luck. Before we started he would always wake up with a wet diaper. He has had no bowel movement since we started either. A couple of my friends said it worked for them, but they had no nighttime issues and were younger than my son who is almost 3. I’m going to stick it out these three or four days. But my question is…..if it doesn’t ‘work’ in three days what would you recommend doing afterward to continue the potty training, but so that I can get out of my house again and regain some santity in the night.

    thanks
    Melissa

    Reply
    • We didn’t find that our daughter was ready for nighttime training so we bought some super-absorbent training pants and let it go. Regarding daytime, each child is so different I can’t really say. Katie was not truly trained in three days, but she had the basic idea and we just went on with our lives. Accidents happened, but we I got better at reading her cues and she got better at communicating her needs. It was a gradual process 🙂 Good luck!

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  15. my son was so much easier than my daughter! he was completely trained by two and a half. took us no time at all.

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  16. I used the 3 day method and stickers. We started at 24 months it was perfect timing. By day 3 my son got it. Good luck

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  17. My son was actually easier to potty train than my daughter. He started showing signs of being ready shortly after he turned 2, and by 25 months, he was trained. All we did was let him go nakey, and take him to the potty frequently. It took him a few days to get the idea and a couple weeks to get really consistent with it. I say whenever they show signs of being ready, go for it.

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  18. My twin boys were practicing until they were 2. But didnt get it until 3. And we’ve had no accidents…unlike my friends’ children who were potty trained earlier.

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  19. I potty trained my little boy using the “toilet training in less than a day” by Simon and scheuster. It really was more of a weekend thing. He was 25 months old. I actually think it is better to do this younger rather than older for several reasons, some of them outlined in the book. We started on a Thursday .afternoon ( having been preparing him and discussing it for 2 weeks prior) and by sh day afternoon I took him out for the day with big boy undies. Within a month or two he was also refusing night time diapers. I am planning the using the same method with my daughter. It is based on practice, muscle memory, repetition, and praise/reward. It really works!

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  20. My son wasn’t ready until he was one month shy of being 3. My daughter, on the other hand, trained herself before she turned 2. lol

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  21. I have a friend who all of her kids so far (two boys and a girl) were potty trained before 2. Her oldest was 18 month old, which shocked me since her oldest is a boy. My oldest son didn’t PT until over 3. My youngest son is PTing right now and doing a great job at just over 2. I don’t necessarily notice a difference in age with friends that do EC vs those that didn’t…or that it is easier, but that is just what I’ve seen.

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  22. I did this method for my 2.5 year old boy. It was not good for us. He is very sensitive and he wasn’t ready yet, but he sensed how important we were making it (with all the celebrations, etc. after success) and he felt a LOt of pressure. He had a very difficult time emotionally with potty training because of it, and I wish that I had been more sensitive to him and followed his lead more – instead of going with the recommendations of others regarding his readiness. So my advice is to just trust yourself! (I have a feeling you’re pretty good about that anyway…)

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  23. Do you think he is ready? I have three boys (the third is a baby so he doesn’t count yet) that were potty trained before two, my first son I started at 22 months and it took about a month till I felt totally confident in him to go on his own without reminding (he was dry at night by 2.5 yrs). My second boy started at 18 months, but I wasn’t ready, so I didn’t let him go diaper-less until 20 months …. he hasn’t had any problems during the day and naps but still wears a diaper at night (he will be 3 in July). If you see he is ready, then go for it. Its so much easier when they are ready instead of pushing it on them.

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  24. We started my son at 22 months (the 3 day PT recommendation), and it was a little early for him. We was doing really well, but I got really sick for 3 weeks at that time and he got a stomach virus. Completely derailed us! With my 2nd son (he’s 18 months old now), I’m going to wait until after Christmas, and he’ll be about 26 months old. I’m due with baby #3 in September, so I’d like to wait a few months after that for obvious reasons.

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  25. Oh, and he just turned 3 and is completely potty trained. No diapers, even at night. But, we still struggle with going #2.

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  26. I would say 3.5 …. I tried earlier with my older boy and it was a fight with younger I waited til he was 3 and then til summer so he could gun around half naked so he was closer to 3.5 and it was a snap

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  27. i started with axel at 21 months and it went really well! he couldn’t talk at all yet and it was still successful! 🙂

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  28. First off, I have to say I originally stumbled upon your site a few years back when I was googling the three day method…. Worked well for my son back then, who was just over 3, but I waited with him because I had a baby at home. Training my second child was at about 2.5 and all went well. Good luck!

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  29. It worked well for Ryan at about 27 months. He was ready and caught on quickly. I tried it with my daughter at about the same age and she wasn’t ready. Did it again a few months later and it went very well.

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  30. My son was closer to 3 and a little beyond to really perfect it. Both of my sister’s boys were about the same age. Always a tricky thing, but looking back it never seems that bad. Good luck when the time comes!

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  31. I actually did Ec’ing with my son for most of his first year, then noticed signs of readiness around 18 mos.. I grabbed a potty, and he took it from there.. didn’t follow and methods.. nothing.. he was “trained” before his second birthday.

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  32. Kudos to all you that did it before 3! My philosophy is one that carries to food, “Do it as natural as possible!” For us, I waited until THEY told me they were ready, then there was no training, and MAYBE 2 accidents. NO STRESS, easy as pie! My boys were both about 3 months over 3. I really do not think they are naturally ready before 3 without being pushed into it, which is fine if it works for you. So, please do not take that as an insult to anyone here! :):):)

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  33. I have not PT’d my boy yet, but my mom had my brother out of diapers by 2 yo. He got a little matchbox car if he went “tinkle” in the toilet, and a matchbox truck if he went “potty”. He really liked the rewards, so apparently it went pretty easy. I’m planning on trying with my son later this summer when he’s about 20 months and can talk a little better than he can now. I used the Potty Boot Camp method with my dd, and it went really well for us. (Kind of similar to the three day.)

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  34. My ped said there is actually something in the spinal cord that turns on around 24 months that gives you that “signal” that you’ve got to go. So, I say relax. It will come when they are ready. If you push too soon, you are the one that’s trained not them.

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  35. My son potty trained in a day at exactly age 3. At the time, I was a school teacher and his birthday is at the end of May, so I tried the summer after he turned 2, but he resisted 100%. We literally tried the day after he turned 3, and in one day, we were done. Something that helped though was the fact that he had been dry over night beginning at 18 months. 🙂 In hind sight, I think waiting a bit enabled him to be ready 100%.

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  36. My boys were both potty trained by 18 months. One of them even through the night! The other is almost 3 and still needs a diaper to sleep at night. They couldnt tell me completely by then but I would put them on about every hour.

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  37. 21 months with our boy. It was super easy. We love the book “Diaper Free before 3”

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  38. My 3 boys were all trained by 18-24 months! It helps when there are older children for them to learn from as well. My girls helped train their 1st brother!

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  39. My eldest boy learned at 20 months, and we will try around that time with my youngest son as well. We cloth diapered up until then, and encouraged him to watch/try when he showed interested. We taught him baby signs so he could sign us “potty”, one day we just switched to big boy underwear. With a little diligence on my part, we had it down in a couple of days 🙂 Good luck!

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  40. We just did the 3 day with our son whose 2.5 this weekend! He has an older sister too (she’s 4 and potty trained with the 3 day at 29 months). He did great! In some ways he was faster than our daugther! And we didn’t do any rewards with him either (just encouragement). We’re still working on nightime but he’s doing great on daytime!

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  41. We did the 3 Day at a few months after 2.5. We would have done it earlier, but at 2.5 we moved and had a baby, so there were already enough changes in his life!

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  42. it was so long and drawn out with my first that i decided i wouldn’t rush it at all with my second. i’d rather change diapers than clean up peepee floors. you can’t make them use the potty if they don’t want to, that’s my philosophy. i would wait till he seems interested then just start taking him to the potty regularly, then when you feel comfortable, switch to underwear!

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  43. I was thinking 2.5 and it worked out to about 3.5. LOL He had no interest. Not until I signed him up for an art class with 4 year olds and they all were able to use the restroom independently. Funny how a child sees things- his favorite part of the whole experience was going to use the potty and using the step stool to wash his hands- without mama. 🙂

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  44. There isn’t a specific age although my boys were closer to 3 1/2 but you’ll know when they are ready because it will be super easy! If he keeps having accidents he is not ready..no need for any frustration, to me it’s like everything else, when the timing is right it’s takes very little effort!

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  45. They pretty much did it themselves by age 3 1/2. No fighting or accidents. They were just ready to be like ‘dad’.

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  46. I have 6 girlfriends and I all had sons in the same year…we all used 3daypottytraining.com which says best and only time is 22-28months period…all our boys done in 3 days not accidents no looking back…totally works!!!

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  47. Oh, There is so much to say about potty training little boys!! He was potty trained in 2 days at age 2yr+2months. I did a comando style w/ him. Gave him ginger tea (diuretic) and he “got” to take his toilet w/ him to every room. He also “got” to clean up every mess. He went potty 12 times in the first hour. That is a lot of cleaning w/ soap and vinegar and paper towels. He was ready to figure this out real fast. We had a fun day and a got it done w/o silly stickers and rewards. He realized that he didn’t want to clean up all of the time and going potty that often didn’t allow for time to forget. A lot of times children don’t mind it because there is too much time between. We had snacks and games and all sorts to do that had to be interrupted while we were cleaning up. I told him how good he was doing at cleaning up. (He got really good that day ~ for a two year old. You obviously are there w/ your hands w/ theirs helping and stuff. But every stroke had his hands in it. I didn’t pretend he was helping. But we don’t roll that way. If he is a help we express that if not why lie… That’s another soap box for another day. Hope you have fun on your adventure!!

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  48. So grateful we ECd. Dry all night @ 9 months, in trainers at 14 months totally trained at 20 months (no accidents). Watching her is what got her 2 yr old cousin to finally use a potty. Surrounding them with other kids using a potty is really helpful I think.

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  49. I think it varies between each child. I don’t think it’s age but when they are ready. My little guy all of a sudden wanted to go pee on the potty one day…and I went with it (even though I wasn’t ready!!)…and I’m glad I did. He was trained in a weekend and only had a few accidents at night. It’s a process for child AND mom 🙂

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  50. Can you help me please? My 23 month old daughter was doing well for 2 weeks with pee pee and no accidents. We started with a 3-5 day home all the time, no panties, treat reward system. We got out to the zoo and museum in the weeks following with successful pee pees out and no accidents. She’s terrified to poop and has waited to get in diaper for nap to poop. We’ve only pooped in potty a handful of times. 1 week ago we started having 2-3 accidents per day. Since she was getting good at pee pee I wanted to focus on poop and I’m not sure if that stressed her or what. We also went on a 2 day trip (I’m pregnant and we started going to the pool- wearing swim diapers). I’m not sure if any or all of these have caused the set back. Now we have some success where she says “pee pee” and we’ll excitedly run her to the potty. But she will also just stand there, saw absolutely nothing, and look down as the pee runs down her leg. She’s totally up phased and not upset. It’s totally stressed me out and I’m sure my verbal and nonverbal responses (nothing mean or offensive- just not positive have not helped). I try to tell her she needs to tell us pee pee next time so we can go on potty but it’s not working. We are 1 full week into several accidents daily. Needless to say I could care less about poop if we could just get back on board with pee pee. Do I need to start fresh with another 3 days in the house?!?!

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  51. how is it that we feel precisely the same way? Although I gave up on my quest and put him some diapers on again. Before I start again I’m planning on supplementing with B vitamins!!!!!!!! (they’re good for nerves)

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