Potty Training

I had this thought when Charlotte was 16/17 months old. I have to depend on maid and MIL to make this happen since I am a FTWM. I told Brenda not to let Charlotte wear diaper during day time except when she is taking her nap. I guess I never insisted and soon this instruction was not followed.

I started to have this idea again when I read about the cloth diaper that Ethan is using. Ethan's mommy has converted the disposable diaper to the cloth diaper for a few good reasons (want to know more? read this blog). When I read about that and also went online to checkout the cloth diaper, I was really interested to try on Charlotte too. It is expensive but I thought if I convert now I will be able to safe a little in a long run. I then discussed with Pat. He was alright with the idea but we also thought about potty training.

Charlotte knew how to inform us when she wants to pass motion back then. Although she was (and still is) somehow having phobia of doing the "big business", she tells us only when the "business" is about to start. I then decided to start the potty training again. It was mid Sept. I gave Brenda the same instruction again and this time I insisted.

Of course, as all of us expected Charlotte wet many panties during her diaper free hours. She didn't know how to tell when she is about to wee wee but she will stand very still out of a sudden. It was always too late to bring the potty when we spotted that action. We kept telling her that she must let us know when she wants to wee wee and she always nod her head (without knowing what she is committing). Sometimes, we didn't get any "output" when we put her on the potty even though she sat there for quite awhile.

A couple of weeks later I changed my strategy. I told Brenda instead of waiting for Charlotte to tell when she wants to wee wee, bring her the potty when we think it's about time for her to wee wee. For example, right after she woke up from her sleep, or 1-2hours after feeding. Constantly reminding her with the action of bringing the potty to her to wee wee. It was quite a successful strategy. She only wet 1-2 panties during the day unless we forgot to ask her after a long time.

The real success happened when she finally realized what she is doing or being asked to do by sitting on a potty. One afternoon, she woke up from her nap and I brought the potty to her as usual and told her to wee wee in the potty and I will remove the diaper. She sat down on the potty as what I told her to, but out of a sudden she was curious of what's really happening. She then bend down her body (as she was sitting on the potty) wanted to see what's happening down there. She saw the heavy flow of urine (just woke up from sleep, remember?) went into the potty. BINGO!!!

After that incident, she never failed to wee wee in the potty (of course we continue our strategy which is bringing her the potty proactively). When she is finished, she says "more (no more), f-nish". Also, because she understood the purpose of being asked to sit on a potty she also kind of know how to hold/control her bladder. Her diaper that she wears during the nap (1 to 1.5hour) is hardly wet nowadays. We don't have to clean up the mess and wash many wet panties anymore too. She also understands that she is suppose to pass motion in the potty. She didn't want to do that in her diaper anymore.

From mid Sept until today, it's just a slight over 1 month period. I am very proud with her progress so far. I took her out without diaper on a short trip before, like go to the market and it was ok without any "accident". The challenge now is to teach her to (consistently) tell when she wants to wee wee (she has no problem telling when she wants to pass motion).

My next milestone is to let her nap without diaper and see if she wet her bed during that short 1- 1.5hours nap. I am tracking her progress on potty training because I want to know how long does it take to potty train her :)