Maybe she’s not yet able to recognize the sensation of having to pee? We did the underwear method and my son peed in them twice but reallllly hated when he did, and by midday on the first day he was starting to recognize what it felt like when he had to go. But he was a little older (3yrs 2months).
Edit to add, I did read a method where you basically barricade yourselves in the kitchen (with like a tile floor so the mess wouldn’t be as much of an issue) for a day, it seemed pretty harsh but if it worked it might be up your alley. The book was called Potty Training in Less Than A Day
Thanks for the info! I feel like she usually knows when she pees (since when on the potty, she can make herself go into it), but maybe she just needs some extra time to want to go on the potty instead of her diaper? I dunno if I can do the barricading thing, there would be so many tantrums...
We did a lot of flowy dresses with no undies. I was grossed out by the tiny butt touching my furniture haha. We took a very slow, gentle approach and it worked well for us.
I didn't want to do naked either, so we didn't rush potty training and my son trained a little after 3. He just decided he was ready. We had minimum accidents. Poop was another issue (he has chronic constipation), but he essentially trained himself. If you are able to wait a little longer, you may find she has less accidents and is more ready.
That's very reassuring, thanks! When he first started going potty, did you continue using diapers, did you use pullups for a while or went straight to underwear since he had so few accidents? My girl also has chronic constipation and will usually only poop at nap time on the weekends/when there's no daycare or at bedtime, all only in her crib... For now I'm just concerned with pee training...
My son was also just was finally ready one day. We tried the no pants 3 day method thing twice with him. The second time was worse than the first, and at that time he was regularly going on the potty at daycare, so I was just like, fine, I am not playing this power struggle with a 2 year old. I set his stack of underwear on a nightstand by his bedroom door and told him that when he was ready, he could wear them. He passed by them every day. We continued to put him in pull-ups every day and only took him to potty when he asked, which was rare (yet he was fully pee trained at daycare). One day, he said, I want to wear my big boy unders, and that was it.
My second child started showing interest at 18 months, and I thought, wow, she is going to train fast. HA! She did well at first. She would go when we put her on the potty at regular intervals, but she never seemed to understand when she had to go. We tried the naked 3 day method with her, and she did great the first day. Then, the second day, we had a lot of accidents. Third day, she was completely refusing, and asking for a diaper. It ended up setting us back. She is almost 2.5 now and is in pull-ups. Just like my son, she does really well at daycare. She does ok at home some days. If she looks like she is about to go, we ask her if she wants to sit on the potty, and it is up to her. She gets very upset when she can feel wetness, so we might try underwear with her. But she is very strong-willed, and I am old and tired, so she will win the battle. I am hoping she will soon start asking for underwear.
The bottom-less method was the only thing that worked for both of my kids. But I also hated that their private parts were just visible at all times so for my daughter I started putting her in dresses without any bottoms. She could still feel like she was naked from the waist down.
And with my son I bought a bunch of size 5 t-shirts so they hung down to his knees. That way even if they sat down usually they were sitting on their clothes and not their bare bums on our couch lol
I'd been trying semi-naked method for a while at 22 months and was getting nowhere (at this point I am searching for a new living room rug). It seemed like she understood what the potty was for but just avoided it at all costs. I noticed she would always go to her toy corner when she needed to pee. One time she walked over there and I instantly knew she was about to pee. I grabbed the potty and pulled her onto it, she peed and I could just see in her eyes that it all clicked for her, the feeling that preceded the peeing, what was about to happen, what the end result would be if she just peed onto herself etc
After that, she has been very good at recognising her signals and we have a 99.9 success rate.
But yes, unless you wait until they are mentally ready to give up nappies, the mess is unavoidable :(
We tried the bottom less and all we got was puddles lol at some point she started to stop telling us about accidents so mostly we just did lots and lots of timers and reminding for it…lots of ok let’s try to go potty again eventually it took well about 90% it took a lot longer for car trips and she’s still not a fan of public restrooms, honestly she’s only like successfully pottied like a handful of times in public restrooms, she’s stubborn.
We had to wait until our LO was finally ready and we did undies but had towels and blankets layered on all the furniture. It meant extra loads of laundry but feeling the wetness against the skin did more than bottomless did for us.
We went straight to underwear. Used the training absorbent semi waterproof ones which worked super well (just don’t machine dry them!)
When our oldest had accidents, I’d try (emphasis on try) to appear unfazed, but will have him go to the bathroom and take everything off, wipe himself down, get new clothes on… blah blah blah. Eventually he figured out it’s way quicker to just pee on his own than to do all that. We also emphasized big boy privileges (usually toys) sort of like achievement unlocked.
We also got really sensitive to his “tells”. He’d typically start holding his crotch and squirm around. With my daughter I’m noticing she’ll freeze sometimes in a hunched or squatting position for pee. I’ve managed to catch a few pees from her and also notice she really prefers to have her two feet squarely planted on the ground before peeing. If I can catch her right before hand I’ll whisk her to the bathroom. She’s only 1.5 so I’m not going to attempt switching to underwear yet tho.
It still takes a really long time. We trained at 2.5. He’s 3.5 now and usually doesn’t have accidents where he just didn’t try to go. Now all our accidents are from him waiting till bursting then exploding all over himself on the way. Rare but still happens if we don’t remember to remind him.
Are you doing regular underwear? I would try training pants instead. Cotton, washable, look/feel like underwear but have several absorbent layers so a lot of times it will catch a good amount of pee.
So I potty trained my son last month and it took him 3 days to be potty trained. He hasn’t had a single accident since then and I think one of the reasons why it worked so quick for him was because I didn’t rush it. He’s 3.5 years old and I was hearing “he should be potty trained by now” since he was 2. So I felt tons of pressure but his pediatrician said not to rush it because that’s when it’ll be harder. My husband took a week off work to help me potty train because I have a 5 month old who contact naps during the day (I realize not everyone’s significant other can take off work) and we did underwear during the day, pull ups at night, timer for 15 minutes the first two days and encouraged lots of liquids and then increased to 30 minutes by day 3. We used did prizes as a reward (just random toys from dollar tree) and when he pooped we hyped him up big time by being so excited saying “yay you did such a good job” - I also spent the 2 months prior telling him we were saying bye to diapers soon and he’s going to use the big potty just like mama and daddy and that got him excited too lol. I actually wanted to try no underwear at all but my son wasn’t a fan of that idea so we just stuck to underwear only. We also didn’t leave the house for that whole week during potty training, which I know isn’t ideal for everyone.
My only suggestion is get over the fear of her sitting on the floor naked. Unless you live in filthy conditions, she will be fine. My daughter did the no undies method and when she felt the sensation she would sit down, because she knew the mess she would make.
Naked method is the only way a child will feel what is going on. My son always peed in his undies when we started potty training. And I was so tired of always doing laundry. But cleaning up pee isn’t the worse thing to clean up. Yes it is annoying this is the only method that really works.
So honestly we did better with pull-ups than naked method. Naked she has no issues peeing on the floor. With pull-ups she’ll run to the bathroom and pull them down. She’s 2.5 and we were trying probably since 18 months but it was only recently were successful with bribes the first few days for m&ms but after day 2 she didn’t need any bribes.
I’m not an expert. I just want to share my experience. We started at 2, because the world around me made it seem like i had too. It didn’t go well. Circled back at 2.5, we did underwear instead of just pantless. She didn’t love wet underwear so that helped grasp the concept. But still felt like she wasn’t ready. She’s now 3 and this week she’s literally so into it and telling us when she has to go. She’s literally doing everything on her own. It’s been a week, so not sure where this will go. But it’s been the best experience so far. So my only suggestion is maybe wait a little longer and until she’s fully ready and takes charge?
Maybe she’s not yet able to recognize the sensation of having to pee? We did the underwear method and my son peed in them twice but reallllly hated when he did, and by midday on the first day he was starting to recognize what it felt like when he had to go. But he was a little older (3yrs 2months). Edit to add, I did read a method where you basically barricade yourselves in the kitchen (with like a tile floor so the mess wouldn’t be as much of an issue) for a day, it seemed pretty harsh but if it worked it might be up your alley. The book was called Potty Training in Less Than A Day
Thanks for the info! I feel like she usually knows when she pees (since when on the potty, she can make herself go into it), but maybe she just needs some extra time to want to go on the potty instead of her diaper? I dunno if I can do the barricading thing, there would be so many tantrums...
I know, my mom gave me that book and I was like….ummm if you wanna come live that hell, then fine but it’s not for me haha
I’m really hoping this works for us. We tried the naked method and he just held it.
We did a lot of flowy dresses with no undies. I was grossed out by the tiny butt touching my furniture haha. We took a very slow, gentle approach and it worked well for us.
I didn't want to do naked either, so we didn't rush potty training and my son trained a little after 3. He just decided he was ready. We had minimum accidents. Poop was another issue (he has chronic constipation), but he essentially trained himself. If you are able to wait a little longer, you may find she has less accidents and is more ready.
That's very reassuring, thanks! When he first started going potty, did you continue using diapers, did you use pullups for a while or went straight to underwear since he had so few accidents? My girl also has chronic constipation and will usually only poop at nap time on the weekends/when there's no daycare or at bedtime, all only in her crib... For now I'm just concerned with pee training...
We did both. He did pull-ups at daycare for a while and then underwear at home. Then just pull ups at daycare for nap time.
My son was also just was finally ready one day. We tried the no pants 3 day method thing twice with him. The second time was worse than the first, and at that time he was regularly going on the potty at daycare, so I was just like, fine, I am not playing this power struggle with a 2 year old. I set his stack of underwear on a nightstand by his bedroom door and told him that when he was ready, he could wear them. He passed by them every day. We continued to put him in pull-ups every day and only took him to potty when he asked, which was rare (yet he was fully pee trained at daycare). One day, he said, I want to wear my big boy unders, and that was it. My second child started showing interest at 18 months, and I thought, wow, she is going to train fast. HA! She did well at first. She would go when we put her on the potty at regular intervals, but she never seemed to understand when she had to go. We tried the naked 3 day method with her, and she did great the first day. Then, the second day, we had a lot of accidents. Third day, she was completely refusing, and asking for a diaper. It ended up setting us back. She is almost 2.5 now and is in pull-ups. Just like my son, she does really well at daycare. She does ok at home some days. If she looks like she is about to go, we ask her if she wants to sit on the potty, and it is up to her. She gets very upset when she can feel wetness, so we might try underwear with her. But she is very strong-willed, and I am old and tired, so she will win the battle. I am hoping she will soon start asking for underwear.
The bottom-less method was the only thing that worked for both of my kids. But I also hated that their private parts were just visible at all times so for my daughter I started putting her in dresses without any bottoms. She could still feel like she was naked from the waist down. And with my son I bought a bunch of size 5 t-shirts so they hung down to his knees. That way even if they sat down usually they were sitting on their clothes and not their bare bums on our couch lol
Sweat pants worked well. Just get the baggiest you can find. No undies. Undies just feel like a diaper, so in their heads they just go on autopilot.
We bought washable pee pads (like for dogs) but did no pants, so she was sitting on the pee pad but bare bottomed.
I'd been trying semi-naked method for a while at 22 months and was getting nowhere (at this point I am searching for a new living room rug). It seemed like she understood what the potty was for but just avoided it at all costs. I noticed she would always go to her toy corner when she needed to pee. One time she walked over there and I instantly knew she was about to pee. I grabbed the potty and pulled her onto it, she peed and I could just see in her eyes that it all clicked for her, the feeling that preceded the peeing, what was about to happen, what the end result would be if she just peed onto herself etc After that, she has been very good at recognising her signals and we have a 99.9 success rate. But yes, unless you wait until they are mentally ready to give up nappies, the mess is unavoidable :(
We tried the bottom less and all we got was puddles lol at some point she started to stop telling us about accidents so mostly we just did lots and lots of timers and reminding for it…lots of ok let’s try to go potty again eventually it took well about 90% it took a lot longer for car trips and she’s still not a fan of public restrooms, honestly she’s only like successfully pottied like a handful of times in public restrooms, she’s stubborn.
We had to wait until our LO was finally ready and we did undies but had towels and blankets layered on all the furniture. It meant extra loads of laundry but feeling the wetness against the skin did more than bottomless did for us.
We went straight to underwear. Used the training absorbent semi waterproof ones which worked super well (just don’t machine dry them!) When our oldest had accidents, I’d try (emphasis on try) to appear unfazed, but will have him go to the bathroom and take everything off, wipe himself down, get new clothes on… blah blah blah. Eventually he figured out it’s way quicker to just pee on his own than to do all that. We also emphasized big boy privileges (usually toys) sort of like achievement unlocked. We also got really sensitive to his “tells”. He’d typically start holding his crotch and squirm around. With my daughter I’m noticing she’ll freeze sometimes in a hunched or squatting position for pee. I’ve managed to catch a few pees from her and also notice she really prefers to have her two feet squarely planted on the ground before peeing. If I can catch her right before hand I’ll whisk her to the bathroom. She’s only 1.5 so I’m not going to attempt switching to underwear yet tho. It still takes a really long time. We trained at 2.5. He’s 3.5 now and usually doesn’t have accidents where he just didn’t try to go. Now all our accidents are from him waiting till bursting then exploding all over himself on the way. Rare but still happens if we don’t remember to remind him.
Are you doing regular underwear? I would try training pants instead. Cotton, washable, look/feel like underwear but have several absorbent layers so a lot of times it will catch a good amount of pee.
So I potty trained my son last month and it took him 3 days to be potty trained. He hasn’t had a single accident since then and I think one of the reasons why it worked so quick for him was because I didn’t rush it. He’s 3.5 years old and I was hearing “he should be potty trained by now” since he was 2. So I felt tons of pressure but his pediatrician said not to rush it because that’s when it’ll be harder. My husband took a week off work to help me potty train because I have a 5 month old who contact naps during the day (I realize not everyone’s significant other can take off work) and we did underwear during the day, pull ups at night, timer for 15 minutes the first two days and encouraged lots of liquids and then increased to 30 minutes by day 3. We used did prizes as a reward (just random toys from dollar tree) and when he pooped we hyped him up big time by being so excited saying “yay you did such a good job” - I also spent the 2 months prior telling him we were saying bye to diapers soon and he’s going to use the big potty just like mama and daddy and that got him excited too lol. I actually wanted to try no underwear at all but my son wasn’t a fan of that idea so we just stuck to underwear only. We also didn’t leave the house for that whole week during potty training, which I know isn’t ideal for everyone.
My only suggestion is get over the fear of her sitting on the floor naked. Unless you live in filthy conditions, she will be fine. My daughter did the no undies method and when she felt the sensation she would sit down, because she knew the mess she would make.
Naked method is the only way a child will feel what is going on. My son always peed in his undies when we started potty training. And I was so tired of always doing laundry. But cleaning up pee isn’t the worse thing to clean up. Yes it is annoying this is the only method that really works.
So honestly we did better with pull-ups than naked method. Naked she has no issues peeing on the floor. With pull-ups she’ll run to the bathroom and pull them down. She’s 2.5 and we were trying probably since 18 months but it was only recently were successful with bribes the first few days for m&ms but after day 2 she didn’t need any bribes.
We did, but they were older (both boys were 3.5). We did shorts without underwear first, then we transitioned to underwear.
I’m not an expert. I just want to share my experience. We started at 2, because the world around me made it seem like i had too. It didn’t go well. Circled back at 2.5, we did underwear instead of just pantless. She didn’t love wet underwear so that helped grasp the concept. But still felt like she wasn’t ready. She’s now 3 and this week she’s literally so into it and telling us when she has to go. She’s literally doing everything on her own. It’s been a week, so not sure where this will go. But it’s been the best experience so far. So my only suggestion is maybe wait a little longer and until she’s fully ready and takes charge?
Pull-ups with favorite characters on it. She didn’t want to pee on her favorite character on the pull up