August 29, 2010

I'm Asking For Some Advice

This post is for all you moms out there that read our blog.

I have had it easy lately with transitions with Makenna. Meaning after she turned one there wasn't really any. Other than eliminating her morning nap which she did on her own. But now she that she is a couple of months away from turning two I am finding myself with two huge transitions ahead of us. I am clueless in both when/how to potty train a toddler and when/how to take away her pacifier.

So that being said, if anyone of you who reads this has any advice about your experiences with either transition I would love it if you left a comment. Feel free to comment about anything from what has worked to what has not. Also, if you have any good books about these transitions that would be great too.

8 comments:

Hollie said...

I don't have much advice about the pacifier stuff since none or our kids would take one but with potty training my biggest piece of advice is just don't rush it. I found with my boys(which I heard is different then girls so take this with a grain of salt) it was a very frustrating experience when we tried and they were not ready, lots of accidents, messes, etc. When I tried again a few months later they did great, hardly any accidents and much easier for all of us. We did the no diaper, give lot so of juice and then when they would start to go catch them and sit them on the toilet or ask a lot if they had to go and have them sit on the toilet. We did rewards for going and really with both the rewards thing only lasted maybe 3 days and then they had it. Do it on a day that you don't have to go anywhere(week actually)let her pick out underwear she really likes and make a big deal out of it the few days before you start training. Let her drink lots of her favorite juice. When she goes praise her, call Daddy, make it a big deal. That's what we did with both boys and it worked great when they were ready. If you have any questions let me know:) Good luck!

Farmgirl Chaos said...

Well, I'll cover the paci, since I enjoy taking them away from kids. :)
My first time breaking the paci from a 2 yr old was when we couldn't find it at night time, so I made her go to bed without it. I told her mom, and she got excited, and said she was done with her paci.
I just broke an older girl of the paci this weekend. She usually had it only for nap/bed time. Since I was with her for 3 days, 2 nights, I figured we'd do it from the first nap, and go for them. Yes, she did cry for it the first nap and bed time, but she cried it out and went to sleep. I also removed any paci's that were within her reach, except for the one that I put in a drawer for her brother.
If Makenna has the paci for more than just nap/bed times, I'd transition to getting rid of it during the day, and using it only at night if you aren't ready for getting rid of it all together.
However, instead of having to break her of the habit twice, just go cold turkey and be done with it. Yes, it might be a rough couple of days, but you can do it!
Or, if you need some backup, call in 'boot camp', and I'd be happy to help out. I think I have become pretty immune to kids crying themselves to sleep at night, and I deal with the tantrums as they come.
Good luck!

Dorothy said...

I know we talked about this briefly while we were visiting, but I thought I'd go ahead and outline what we did with Liam.

We started potty training Liam back in January. Like Hollie, we did the no-diaper approach (at first we tried underwear, but soon realized that naked bottom worked better for Liam). The hardest part was getting him to understand his body's cues and how to control them. The first few days, I set up a stack of books (some favorites and some new ones about learning to go on the potty)in the bathroom, and every hour we would go and sit on the potty, reading lots of books, and just hanging out. It took him a couple of days and many accidents on the floor before he finally went on the potty. After that, he got it and went on the potty almost every time.

This went on for a few weeks, but then one day Liam decided he no longer wanted to go on the potty. He'd tell me he needed to go, but then refuse to sit on the potty and end up peeing on the floor instead. It was frustraing, but rather than making an issue out of it, I started giving him the option of underwear or diaper when we got dressed in the morning. He consistently chose a diaper for the next 4 months, but then one day decided to use the potty. He's been doing great ever since, and even sleeps without a diaper now...

I think it's important to take your kid's personality into consideration and do what you think will work best for her. For Liam, he needed the tools to learn how to do it, but then I acked off and let him decide when he was ready to do it on his own, because with Liam, if he doesn't want to do something, it's not going to happen...

Reading a LOT of books about going on th epotty was helpful for him, especially during those first few weeks. One book was a bunch of different songs about the subject...sometimes pretty humorous. And he also watched "Elmo's Potty Time" over and over. It seemed goofy to talk about the potty all day long, but it helped him learn to pay attention to what his body was telling him.

Good luck.

Dorothy said...
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Dorothy said...
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Melissa said...

Hello Allison, here are some links to what I wrote on my Babywise blog about pacifiers and potty training. There are book recommendations on there as well. Let me know if those posts were helpful or not. Good luck!!

http://babywisetips.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/toddlerwise-potty-training-made-easy/

http://babywisetips.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/toddlerwise-potty-training-made-easy-part-2/

http://babywisetips.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/pacifiers/

Melissa said...

I also showed Ella the DVD of Elmo's Potty Time as well and she LOVED it! I of course read a lot of potty training books too. I am not sure if that was on my blog or not, so just thought I would share :)

Stephanie said...

When we pottied trained Brenna, I thought Janel's post was very helpful: http://team-sullivan.blogspot.com/search?q=potty+training
Our rewards were 3 chocholate chips for every time she peed and icecream if she pooped in the potty. Once she filled her chart, we got a Happy Meal for her. Can you tell what she's motivated by? :)