I know what you are all thinking, “Potty training? Are we really going there?” But after all this is a lifestyle blog, and my life for the past week and a half has been cleaning up pee, doing laundry, and acting overly enthusiastic when my daughter goes in the potty. And since everyone who is a parent, or is planning on becoming a parent, will have to go through this thrilling experience (if you have not already), I thought I’d give my two cents on the matter.

(Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions about products mentioned in this post are my own. I am not receiving any payment or compensation to review the products mentioned, they are simply things that I like and have worked for me.)

When we were first thinking about potty training, a friend told me of a program she used called “3 Day Potty Training“. Like anyone else, I was skeptical. Could a child really be completely potty trained in three days? The idea of potty training and everything that accompanies it caused me to continually find excuses to put it off… for three months! Finally, after coming back from vacation with no job and only two weeks before my husband had to go back to school I felt like it was now or never. But I knew if I was going to do it I wanted to have a game plan; I didn’t want to jump into potty training cold turkey. There was no going back for me once we decided to start. I knew we’d have more success if we established a method and knew before hand how we were going to handle certain situations. So, I did a little research and found myself reading up on the “3 Day Potty Training” method that my friend had suggested.

After reading through the “3 Day Potty Training” program, I was really intrigued by it’s concepts and felt empowered to start. This particular method focuses heavily on love, consistency, patience, and positive reinforcements throughout the potty training process. Since my daughter (and probably most other kids) responds best to love, patience, and positive reinforcements (a.k.a candy) I thought I’d give it a try. I had my husband look over it too before we started potty training so we’d be on the same page throughout the process.

Day #1. An important part of potty training in three days is that you give your child your complete attention during that time so you can watch for signs of your child having to go potty or catch them in an accident. So on day 1 I woke up early and got ready for the day and finished a few tasks before my daughter woke up. Once she woke up, we changed her diaper, put on her “big girl panties”, and got rid of the any diapers we had left. Part of the program right from the beginning is to throw away all diapers and pull-ups to remove any and all temptations to revert backwards. Repeatedly during the day we would say to my daughter, “Tell us when you have to go potty” and then every twenty minutes or so we would take her to the potty. My mother-in-law bought her a cute little princess potty chair that senses when a child goes potty and plays a celebratory song once they do.  When my daughter would go potty, the potty chair would play it’s song while my husband and I clapped and cheered with excitement. What 2 year old wouldn’t love that kind of attention? She thought it was the funnest thing and had no problem going every time we’d take her. Plus she got a little treat after as well…positive reinforcements! There were 3-4 accidents to clean up the first day, but overall it was pretty manageable… Day #2 however was different story.

Day #2. On the second day of potty training my daughter did not find going on the potty very amusing. In fact, she refused to go on it at all! There was one point in the day that she begged to go to time out rather then sit on the potty! In turn I started to loose my patience. While the program stresses not to get upset when your child has an accident and not to force your child on the potty, by mid-afternoon I  was like, “to hell with it!” I was mad. I had spent the better half of the day cleaning up messes and doing laundry- not to mention my house reeked of urine. When I wasn’t cleaning up messes, I was sitting in the bathroom trying to get my daughter to go potty. Finally towards the end of the second day, we coaxed her to go in the potty and we made sure to make a big deal about it. I guess she found it fun again because she went several more times before bed willingly.

Day #3. On the third day of potty training we had much less accidents than the previous days; only two. We would remind her to let us know if she had to go potty, and when we saw her dancing around or holding herself we would take her to the potty.

It has been a week and a half since we started potty training and each day has been much the same as the third. She does great during the day as long as we stay on top of taking her potty on a regular basis. She has not yet pooped in the potty and has wet the bed almost every night since the day we started even when following the program. Any and all suggestions in this area would be welcomed!

In conclusion, would I say my daughter is completely potty trained? No. Does she still have accidents? Uh, yah. Would I still recommend “3 Day Potty Training“? Absolutely! (Again I am not receiving any payment or compensation for reviewing and recommending this product) I did not go into this process with the illusion that my daughter would be perfectly potty trained in 3 days– she’s 2! Like learning any new skill, it takes time and lots of practice to get really good at it. While she still has accidents, I love the concepts this program is based upon. Then again every parent and child is different and therefore requires different needs. I’m not saying you have to use this program, but I do think it is a good idea to do some research and prepare yourself ahead of time for potty training.

Have a game plan so you and your child can be successful.

If you have a spouse or someone helping you potty train, make sure you’re both on the some page about how you’re going to handle certain situations.

And lastly, do what works for you!

When researching how to go about potty training my child I heard from lots of different mothers how they did it with their children. I’m not saying any one of them were wrong or right. When it comes right down to it you have to do what works best for you and your child. I’ll freely admit that while the method I used is against using pull-ups, if my daughter is still consistently having accidents at night in a month or two I may very well resort to pull-ups at night. I very much value my sleep, and not having a washer and dryer of my own I get tired of having to do laundry every day.

Also for those who are interested, below is the potty chair that we use. It is great because it is easy to clean, can be used as a step-stool, and plays celebratory songs! I got mine at Walmart.