Getting Ready for “3 Day Potty Training”

You can read my previous posts regarding potty training HERE and HERE. 

We are going to try our own little version of the ever popular “3 Day Potty Training” program. It fits with my values, and Mark is very much ready for a big push in potty training so that we can get to the point or being diaper free. You can read the basics of the program over HERE.

There are lots of variations on this program, but we are keeping it pretty simple. Mark will be home and naked from the waist down wed-fri. Wednesday we aren’t going anywhere and at least one of us will be watching him closely all day. We will be taking regular trips to the bathroom and encouraging him to use his little potty, as well and bringing him there immediately after any “misses”. Every time he uses the potty we give a little cheer say “Yay! Pee pee in the potty!” or something to that extent, then help him to flush it down the toilet (that is usually his favorite part).

Anytime he pees anywhere other than the potty we say “Look, your going pee pee!” Then rush him to the bathroom to attempt to finish on the potty. If he gets ANYTHING in potty at all its a win and we do our little cheer and flush routine. If he doesn’t do anything in the potty we get a rag and go clean up the mess, very calmly. Mark is already getting this concept and tried to clean up a mess 2 days ago by himself. He is such a sweetie.

Thursday we will be staying home, except for one short trip out in pants or shorts, but no diaper or underwear. We will probably take a walk in the neighborhood.

Friday we will take a short trip out in the morning a short trip in the afternoon.

A big part of this program is NO MORE DIAPERS. If its going to work you need to be prepared for a few accidents along the way. Once they get a diaper back they realize they can use it to pee in and it backtracks the whole program. Some people also reccomend no underwear or anything tight for several months after you start as well, only lose pants. We will see how things go and play that by year. I will probably end up using our great Hanna Anderson training pants when going out just so we dont have a REALLY messy incident. Diaper Free Before 3 has no issues with training pants and even recommends them (given they are cotton).

Hanna Anderson training pants. The are padded briefs that can soak up a decent amount of urine in the case of an accident.

Besides training pants there are a few things we have bought to help out in this process. We own 2 Baby Bjorn potties with the back support. This type of potty is highly recommended in the book ‘Diaper Free Before Three’. We own one other small potty for the car, that will probably come in the house for our 3 day training program.

A great potty for toddlers.

We also bought a waterproof pad for the carseat as I expect that to be the place we have the most accidents. We got the sunsine kids one. It doesn’t fit perfect in our True Fit Car seat, but it will do the job for a few weeks (hopefully that’s all we need it)!

Dry Seat Pad, designed for a Raidian, but will work in any carseat or stroller.

I’m going to do a big shopping trip monday or tuesday so I have no need to go to the grocery store over the three days, and thats about it! We are still doing our normal at home diaper free time leading up to this. Instead of traditional 3 day potty training going from almost nothing to everything, I’m looking at this as a big final push towards full potty training. We are almost there, and I really hope to be 100% diaper free (during the day) by the end of the summer. I have no idea how to approach nights, so we will cross that bridge when we get there!

Potty “Training”

I’m not a big fan of “Potty Training” in the traditional sense. Mark has been using the potty since 3 weeks old. Not even close to every time until recently, but the option was there and we used it as much as we could.

Everything is gradual with babies, walking, talking, eating…. everything except learning to use the toilet. That just seems off to me, and after doing research and reading I learned that it is “off”. Many places in the world people never diaper their baby, they learn starting from birth, the signs that a baby needs poop or pee and then hold their baby over a proper place to do it. Split pants are common in many of these places on babies and toddlers to help this. They are pants that when in a standing postion cover everything, but when in a squatting postion are open to allow a child to use the toilet.

In the US before disposable diapers were common it was normal to be mostly potty trained by 18 months or well before, but today things are way different. It is normal for kids to be in diapers till the age of 3. Kids need to show “signs of readiness” to use the potty. Some of these “signs” are kind of absurd. One from baby center  is “Has “dry” periods of at least two hours or during naps, which shows that his bladder muscles are developed enough to hold urine.” If babies did not have bladder control of some sort pee would just dribble out all day. Another is “Has words for urine and stool.” Mark already tells me he needs to go to the bathroom and has no words for it. Though one time he did say “pee pee” imitating me and I hope it sticks, but so far no luck.

Mark on his throne with his scepter at 6 months old.

After doing much research and just thinking about how I parent, it just seems to me, that going to the bathroom should be a regular thing, just like eating, walking, and talking. There is no reason to hold kids back from it and therefore make it a bigger deal than it is. So that is what we have done, and are doing.

When it seems like Mark needs to go potty, I take him. Until recently, I had a very hard time knowing when that was, which is why traditional E.C. (Elimination Communication) didn’t work out so well for us. We had our peak just shy of 10 months old. Mark was always pooping in the potty and peeing in it several times a day. Then we went on a trip… and that all sort of fell apart and then we got home and he started walking, which mad things even harder. So we stopped for a while and now have restarted with much more enthusiasm and commitment.

I feel like going to the bathroom should be just like all other parts of a babies life, slowly learning how it works, doing more and more with help, then eventually doing more and more on their own. Mark using the potty started with my observation, he would fuss, I would hold him over the potty, if he went I made a certain sound. Eventually that sound meant to him, “Hey now is a good time to go potty if you need to!” Before and after naps, after eating, and anytime his diaper was off, we would give him the opportunity to go, sometimes he did, sometimes he didn’t, but going in his diaper wasn’t his only option. Going in the toilet was just a regular thing from day one.

Going potty before bed.

After our little break from about 10-13 months going potty looks a little different now. Mark being able to walk has a lot to do with it. If he needs to go, he will either go to the bathroom (where the little potty is now kept) or will grab his butt and cry. He will sit down and pee (he needs a little help sitting down) then try to wipe himself then, with help, dump the pee/poop in the toilet and flush it. He likes the routine. We take him to the potty whenever he wake ups, before and after meals, whenever we go, and whenever he signals that need to go by walking to the bathroom, or grabbing his butt.

At 15 months we have our ups and downs. Somedays Mark will use the potty about 90% of the time, even staying dry through his nap, but other days we don’t do nearly that well. Today so far he has pooped and peed in the potty once, and pooped on the floor once. Whenever he acts like he needs to go potty, or actually does (even if its “too late”) we take him to the potty. Every time. Its really working too. Even at my sisters house he ran to the bathroom to poop (but then he peed on the floor twice… ups and downs).  At home he is doing the best, and we often leave him naked from the waste down to facilitate going to the bathroom easily, if he is chilly we put on a pair of baby legs, or pants with nothing under them. We recently bought some underwear, mostly for him to wear when we have guests. Our plan is to just keep helping him get better and better, just like he’s slowly getting better and better at running, riding his train and stacking blocks.

Mark in his first pair of underwear.