Potty training is a mess. Literally. It’s one giant ball of different emotions. It’s smelly. It’s exhausting. It’s sticky. It’s absolutely flipping horrible and I’ve gotta say…I hate it. If I could hire someone to come over for the weekend and guarantee my three year old would be potty trained, I’d do it. I’m pretty good with the mess. We used cloth diapers for both of our babies, so cleaning up the mess doesn’t bother me very much. The emotions that come with it however, that’s a different story.
This is the most defeating process I’ve ever done as a mom, which of course terrifies me for the teen years. I know, I know. Everyone says, “He’ll get it eventually. Don’t force it. No one is pooping their pants in college.” I don’t really care though. Some days it does feel like he will 100% be the kid who is pooping his pants in college. There’s people who tell me, “Oh my child just started using the potty and got it right away! I’m very lucky.” Nope. Not my kid.
He’s gone number 1 and number 2 on the potty several times. He’ll go days without accidents and use the potty the entire day! And then he’ll go days with accidents and no potty time… Like I said, defeating. When I was at a birthday party recently I said something about getting my son into his Pull-up after swimming because he isn’t potty trained. Another mom looked at me kind of funny at first and with my son being the size of a five year old at the age of three (literally), I quickly said, “He just turned three…” assuming she was judging me.
I should’ve never assumed because when she smiled and said, “My son is older than yours by a couple of years and still has weeks of inconsistency with using the potty. No judgment here, mama. Safe zone!” I could’ve melted. It was nice to know I wasn’t alone in this, what seems like, never ending, defeating process.
If you’re potty training your toddler and thinking about how incredibly hard this is, I’m here to tell you I’m right there with you. I’ve tried so many different things. Candy, toys, doughnuts, ice cream, movie days, bribery, 3 days of being home doing nothing but being naked and using the potty. Nothing has worked for us so far. I’ve got one stubborn boy and I’m at the point where we are taking a break because as much as he seems ready for this process, I’ve gotta keep telling myself, “He won’t be pooping in his pants forever.”
Potty training SUCKS, but we’re moms. We can do anything. So to my fellow potty training, tired, in desperate need of an uninterrupted glass of wine and pedicure mamas, please know you’re not alone in this mess. Diapers are expensive, but so is therapy and if potty training is driving you insane like it is me, diapers are worth it. Stay strong mama. May the potty gods be in your favor!
Do you have any successful potty training tips? Comment below and share what potty training stories you have!
I feel you, I would literally cry some days because I couldn’t figure out how to get him consistently using it especially for number 2. I would exaggerate that he’d never be potty trained, because it was so frustrating. Being split patents made it even more difficult, because we approached the topic differently.
Things I do think helped were:
-Using absolutely no pull-up or diapers with the exception of nap time and bed time. If we were going somewhere other than home he wore plastic underpants/diaper covers over his underwear and under his regular clothes, and a couple changes of clothes were ready to go for accidents.
-Reading, talking, and singing about going potty, he especially loved “Even Firefighters go to the Potty” , and the Daniel Tiger Potty Song.
-Taking a potty break every 45-60 min and giving tons of encouragement and little incentives like a few m&m’s for going
It was probably about a month of this before I was able to retire the plastic underpants and he was consistently telling me when he had to go. He still has the occasional accident, but they are very minor and he gets more upset about it than I do.