Here we go with yet another transition for our 2-year-old! A couple months ago, we moved her to a toddler bed, and that is going really well. So we decided to start the next big move — potty training. We are trying to get all these big transitions out of the way before the new baby comes. That will be a big enough change for her that we don’t want to throw in using the potty at the same time.
Using the 3-Day Potty Boot Camp
I decided after a little research and talking to some friends to use the 3-Day Potty Boot Camp method for potty training. First of all, the whole “3-day” part of this method is a joke if you ask me. Maybe for some kids it does work that quickly, but I guarantee for the majority it doesn’t. It took a full two-weeks before my girl had day-time pee training down. And I think that’s normal. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment thinking they will be fully trained in three days, because I think that would be more like a miracle.
With that being said, we followed the guidelines for the boot camp. On a Friday afternoon, I took our 2-year-old, Raylee, to the store and let her pick out new underwear. I was sure to talk to her about it and explain what was happening in a very excited and happy way. She was really excited and proud of the underwear when we got home, so we let her put them on right away. It was only a few hours before bedtime, so that evening went pretty well.
For the next three days, we stayed home. (Actually, now that I think about it, we stayed home all week!) We kept her in a shirt and underwear only, and we took her to the bathroom often to try to pee on the potty. We rewarded her with one M&M every time she peed on the potty without an accident. She also got a sticker. We taught her how to wipe, how to flush, and how to wash her hands. I feel like we were constantly asking her if she had to go pee and constantly reminding her to tell us if she needed to go. But even still, we would take her to the potty often to try.
We also made sure to never shame her when she had an accident. We would tell her it was OK but remind her we wanted to keep our underwear dry and we need to go in the potty. We did use pull-ups for nap time and at night.
Our Potty Training Progress
Here were are results for the first week:
- Day 1 — Successes: 1, Accidents: 5
- Day 2 — Successes: 7, Accidents: 2
- Day 3 — Successes: 4, Accidents: 2
- Day 4 — Successes: 7 (including a poop!) , Accidents: 2
- Day 5 — Successes: 5, Accidents: 2
- Day 6 — Successes: 6, Accidents: 2
- Day 7 — Successes: 5, Accidents: 3 (all poop)
As you can see, the first full day was the roughest. She was peeing all over the place! But we kept her off the carpet as much as we could that day. By the second day, she was down to only having two accidents a day. That kept up, though, all week long. The accidents became better, though. It wasn’t like she was peeing everywhere; instead, she would start to pee in her underwear and then realize and tell us.
On the first day, we weren’t taking her to the potty near as much as we should have been. But we learned that quickly. By day two, we were taking her closer to every 30 minutes. I recommend taking them at every transition — so before you eat breakfast, right after you finish breakfast, between games or different activities, etc.
After that first week, she only had one accident a day and it was always just a little pee in her underwear before she realized what was happening. We started taking her places, and she actually did really well with going on a big potty in a public restroom. I was happily surprised! I did put towels down in her car seat, just in case of an accident. I also made sure to take her to the bathroom before getting back in the car wherever we were.
After two full weeks of consistency on our part, she stopped having pee accidents. She started being able to tell us when she had to go pee. Now, poop is another story. She definitely doesn’t have that down yet. We also will still need to work on training her at nap time and during the night. But for now, we are just glad that it seems the day-time pee training is working. Next up, getting her to poop in the potty rather than her underwear! That’s a mess we look forward to not cleaning up anymore!
Here’s the potty we got for Raylee, and I love it! We bought it when she was closer to 1.5 years old. We set it up and started getting her used to it. It was something our pediatrician recommended, just so she wouldn’t be scared of it when potty training time came.
Did you use the boot camp method when potty training? How long did it take for your toddler to be fully trained?
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Congratulations! Sounds like this method is working well. Hopefully soon she will have all of it down and you can move on to another project of life. :0)