The good news, if you’re starting to potty train your daughter, is that girls tend to master the art of using the potty a lot sooner than boys. By this stage, your daughter should be showing signs of readiness for potty training (if she hasn’t already started.)
For the most part, potty training two year old girls is simple. Buy a potty, and whenever possible, ask her whether she wants to use it. It can be hit and miss, and she might not be interested at first, but with time, you should find that she’s willing to use the potty at least most of the time.
The only real difference between potty training girls and boys at this age is that you need to teach your daughter to wipe from front to back – especially after she has had a bowel movement. This helps to prevent bladder and other infections, and is an important point to remember.
Teaching your daughter to pat the vaginal area, rather than wiping, maybe be simpler at first.
If you suspect that your daughter may have already got a bladder infection, look out for the common signs: a frequent need to urinate, burning when urinating, and even abdominal pain. If she has these symptoms, you will need to speak to your doctor.
You may also notice that your daughter wants to try peeing standing up. She may have seen a boy at school doing this, or even her father. It’s best to let her try – she’ll soon realise that girls just aren’t mechanically equipped for that sort of thing!
Let the child decide is the mantra recited by health professionals to parents considering toilet training their babies, toddlers and young children. It is a mantra that can be traced to the 1960s and leading paediatrician T. Berry Brazelton, who was among the first to advise against the often-harsh toilet-training techniques of the pre-war years in favour of a gentler, child-led approach.
By the '70s, the message was that toilet training before a child was ready could cause psychological damage.
But this message is now being challenged by health professionals and parenting experts, such as author and childhood nurse Robin Barker. They say the philosophy of waiting until a child is ready, combined with the use of disposables, has meant children are staying in nappies longer.
''The average age of children being trained has slipped from two to 2½ to three or even four in the United States,'' Barker says.
While she does not promote a return to the draconian measures of the 1940s and '50s, she believes the pendulum for letting children decide has swung too far.
''It would seem now that many parents are not really potty training their children,'' she says.
''They drift along and wait until the child is three or even four and hope they will come out of nappies in a couple of days.
''In effect, we have doubled the time that children are in nappies. There is also the feeling of, 'What does it matter, what the hell'. Our priorities have changed. We want kids to be talking Mandarin and playing the violin and they are still wobbling around in nappies.''
There has been little long-term research into toilet-training ages in Australia but research from the US and Europe shows that in the late '40s, toilet training was started at or before 18 months. By 2006, the age had risen to between 21 months and 36 months.
A 2003 American study found that only half the children on which the survey was based had completed daytime toilet training by the age of three.
Barker believes the convenience of disposable nappies means there is less incentive for parents to train their children. There is also less incentive for children to learn because disposables keep moisture away from the skin, meaning tots no longer know what it feels like to be wet.
In Australia, 95 per cent of nappies used are disposable, up from 40 per cent in 1993. With the average baby changed six to eight times a day, this represents about 3000 nappies for each child a year. In Australia, disposable ''pull-up'' nappies are now available for children 17 kilograms and over - the weight of an average four-year-old boy.
''The marketing techniques of disposable-nappy manufacturers have a lot to do with it. It doubles their profits to keep children in nappies for twice as long,'' Barker says.
Texas psychologist Dr Linda Sonna is among critics of Brazelton's approach in the US, where he has been the spokesman for disposable-nappy giant Pampers since the 1960s.
''The whole idea of waiting for a child to tell you they are ready comes from the disposable-diaper industry,'' Sonna says. ''The knowledge that it is even possible to train early has been completely wiped out.''
She says the best results are achieved when training starts before the age of two and in conjunction with cloth nappies. ''Cloth nappies mean children understand the sensation of being wet.''
Anna Christie also believes training should start well before two. She spent two years reviewing scientific literature about toilet training and interviewing Australian parents about their methods for her report, released by the University of NSW last year, Toilet Training of Infants and Children in Australia: 2010.
She says the key factor is not the readiness of the child but the expectations of the parents. ''We have replaced skills with products in many aspects of our life. Parents find it easier to put a disposable nappy on their child than to put the effort into training them.''
Paediatrician Chris Pearson, chairman of the child development and behaviour group with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, agrees most children have a ''window'' when training is most easily achieved. He says that for girls, this is usually between two and 2½ and for boys, between 2½ and three.
''Children should be toilet trained as soon as possible. But it's important not to create emotional issues for the child by trying to force them to do something they are not ready to do,'' Pearson says.
''As soon as the first sign of emotional distress shows up in the child, it is time to stop and try a different technique. If you are creating distress, you are highly likely to inhibit the success of training. As long as the child is co-operative and parents are willing to make an effort, it doesn't matter what age they start.''
Pearson is also concerned with the use of pull-ups as a toilet-training aid. ''My instinct says they give implicit permission to pee themselves.''
Cathrine Fowler, a professor of childhood nursing at the University of Technology, Sydney, believes training before the age of two can be futile. Children need a level of mental and physical maturity to succeed, she says.
But Barker says waiting until a child is two can backfire, as it coincides with other developmental peaks, such as learning to say no.
''I have observed a window of opportunity between 18 months and two years where a lot of toddlers start to show an interest in the thing and that fizzles out,'' Barker says.
For her research project, Christie interviewed 53 primary caregivers about toilet training.
She found the age at which toilet training started was a major determinant of the age when training would be completed. The best results were for those who started training from 19 months to 24 months. On average, these children were out of nappies by 25 months.
Christie says that among the parents who waited until their child was between two and three, some trained quickly and others took much longer than those in the 19- to 24-month group because the training period coincided with the ''terrible twos'', when toddlers start to assert their will.
For most women around the world, toilet training starts from birth. While it was the child-centric parenting approaches of the '60s and '70s that relaxed the rules on toilet training in the West, a similar philosophy is now driving the nappy-free idea.
The promoters of what is commonly labelled ''elimination communication'' or ''EC'', say they are using the same methods as women around the world who cannot afford nappies. The process involves the parent watching the infant for signs, such as facial expressions, noises or squirming, and then ''holding them out'' - taking the child to a potty, sink or outside. When they successfully ''catch'' an elimination, the parent signals encouragement.
Advocates say not only does EC work, it is also a way of becoming closer to the child.
In 2006, Herald journalist James Woodford documented his experiences of practising EC with his fourth child. At first sceptical, he became a convert after watching his daughter eliminate on cue into the sink or toilet as early as two weeks of age. By nine months, Woodford wrote, he could ''count on one hand the number of times I have changed a dirty nappy''.
Bellingen parent Nicole Moore is among the advocates and has produced a how-to DVD for parents.
As with other techniques, Moore says the results for when children are trained varies. Some are trained by 12 months, others take a little longer.
''I use the word 'gentle' at least 10 times in the DVD - it is a gentle process,'' she says. ''Being nappy-free gives you the freedom to choose; it is not about being out of nappies all the time but it doesn't mean you are locked into being in them all the time either. For the child, it means not having to go back at age two or three and re-learning something.''
Moore admits the practice works best with other attachment parenting techniques, such as carrying your baby in a sling or co-sleeping. ''When you're wearing your baby, these are symptoms that are impossible to miss. If they are five metres away on a rug, it is a lot harder.''
Mainstream health professionals are yet to back this method.
''Asian and other cultures have been holding their children out forever,'' Fowler says. ''There, it is the parents who are being trained to read their baby's cues. There is probably some behavioural effect on the child but the only person who is trained is the parent.'' Barker says parents who want to try nappy-free methods from birth must be dedicated but adds it is something all parents can do to some extent.
''When I did my training, I was taught that training children from birth was wrong … But in my work, I would see people from China who would train from a young age and have their babies all trained by 14 months and it wasn't causing much of a problem at all.''
If you're ready to ditch your toddler's diapers for good, the best time to start potty training may be between the second and third birthdays.
A new study suggests 27 to 32 months is the ideal window for moving your child out of diapers. Children who were toilet trained after 32 months were more likely to have urge incontinence -- daytime wetting and bed-wetting -- between ages 4 and 12.
And potty training children sooner than 27 months generally doesn't work either, according to background information in the study. Prior research has shown potty training too soon just prolongs the process.
"There are two schools of thought on potty training. One is to try to train the kids very, very early, and another says you should wait until kids are older and demonstrating signs of being ready. But there has never been a study scientifically showing when is the best time," said lead study author Dr. Joseph Barone, chief of urology at Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. "This study gives parents an idea of when it's a good time to train," he said.
Although there are always parents on the playground who brag they trained their child in a day, the study -- published in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Pediatric Urology -- found timing was more important than technique.
Researchers asked the parents of 157 children ages 4 to 12 who were seen by a doctor for urge incontinence about when they started potty training and which method they used. Their answers were compared to those from the parents of 58 children matched for age, gender, race and other factors who did not have urge incontinence.
The mean age for toilet training of children with urge incontinence was 31.7 months, compared to 28.7 months for children who did not have problems with daytime wetting.
As for technique, parents were given three choices: a child-oriented approach, described as waiting for the child to show signs of readiness before initiating training and then letting the child direct the toilet training process; a parent-oriented approach, described as starting training when the parent was ready and then bringing the child to the toilet at regular, defined intervals, or a combination of the two.
Researchers found no difference in the method of toilet training and the likelihood of having problems with wetting at ages 4 to 12.
Age shouldn't be the deciding factor in beginning potty training, said Peter Stavinoha, author of the book "Stress-Free Potty Training" and a clinical neuropsychologist at Children's Medical Center of Dallas.
The key is making sure your child is physically and developmentally ready, Stavinoha said. Although many children will show potty training readiness at about 2 1/2, it can vary, Stavinoha said.
"Many parents approach potty training as something over which they have total control," Stavinoha said. "Parents are a big contributor to their child's development, but they don't really control it. Parents are there to facilitate, to guide, to reinforce and to praise, but parents shouldn't put pressure on themselves that if they do a series of steps, the children will achieve a certain outcome."
If you feel like you've been changing diapers forever, you're not alone. Over the last few decades, the mean age of potting training has crept up in the United States and other countries, including Brazil, Switzerland and China, the article said. In 1980, the mean age U.S. children were toilet-trained was 26 months. In 2003, it was 36.8 months.
One possible explanation for later potty training is the widespread availability and convenience of disposable diapers, the study authors propose.
Tips to Trouble Free Toilet Training
When you think it's time, Barone and Stavinoha offer these tips for getting kids trained:
Look for signs of readiness. These include showing interest in the potty or toilet; staying dry during naps or for several hours during the day; being able to follow simple directions; being able to pull down their own pants; using words, posture or facial expressions that indicate they have to go.
Make a small potty available in the bathroom. Try doing practice runs when you think your toddler might need to go by having him sit or stand in front of the potty for a few minutes several times a day.
Most likely, your toddler won't actually go, Stavinoha said. But it can help them recognize the urge to go and associate the potty with it.
If your child resists, don't sweat it. Setting up a battle of wills will only make the process unnecessarily difficult on mom and dad. Back off for a few weeks, then try again.
While potty training, avoid asking: "Do you have to go to the potty?" "You're almost guaranteed your child will tell you 'no'," Stavinoha said.
If a child is 4 or 5 and still not staying dry during the day, or if you suspect the reason may have a physical cause, discuss it with the pediatrician, Stavinoha said.
The good news, if you’re starting to potty train your daughter, is that girls tend to master the art of using the potty a lot sooner than boys. By this stage, your daughter should be showing signs of readiness for potty training (if she hasn’t already started.)
For the most part, potty training two year old girls is simple. Buy a potty, and whenever possible, ask her whether she wants to use it. It can be hit and miss, and she might not be interested at first, but with time, you should find that she’s willing to use the potty at least most of the time.
The only real difference between potty training girls and boys at this age is that you need to teach your daughter to wipe from front to back – especially after she has had a bowel movement. This helps to prevent bladder and other infections, and is an important point to remember.
Teaching your daughter to pat the vaginal area, rather than wiping, maybe be simpler at first.
If you suspect that your daughter may have already got a bladder infection, look out for the common signs: a frequent need to urinate, burning when urinating, and even abdominal pain. If she has these symptoms, you will need to speak to your doctor.
You may also notice that your daughter wants to try peeing standing up. She may have seen a boy at school doing this, or even her father. It’s best to let her try – she’ll soon realise that girls just aren’t mechanically equipped for that sort of thing!
This is one toilet training method that is easy to understand and explain briefly and clearly without making you confused! guaranteed quality and has been certified reliable!
I was about to pull my hair out trying to potty train my 3 and ½ year old daughter. I made many, many, mistakes before I had my "Ah Ha" moment. Potty training your toddler can be a stress free process if you try to stay positive and do not give up.
You hear all these stories of Russian babies being potty trained at 6 months old and how your mother potty trained you 18 months. So imagine how I felt when my daughter who is 3 and ½ is still not potty trained. I had struggled since her 3rd birthday to get serious about potty training her, but nothing seemed to work.
I decided to take a positive approach to potty-training my daughter. I got rid of the Pull-Ups during the day and had her wear cotton underwear all day.
Once you start, don't look back. Keep going forward. I don't care how hard it gets, keep going, it gets better. I promise you.
Follow Instructions Potty Training Girls age 3
1. Say Good-Bye Pull-Ups
At least during the day, I said good-bye Pull-Ups. I concentrated on potty training during the day. I only put a Pull-Up on her at night. The first day of potty training, I put my daughter in regular cotton underwear all day. She picked out Princess and Dora the Explorer underwear at Target.
The first few days were probably the worst. Every 30 minutes I put her on the potty or I would tell her to go sit on the potty. So the first thing in the morning and right before she goes to bed,and all in between I put her on the potty. It was so exhausting. She did not like to stop playing to use the potty, but pretty soon she was going on her own.Hooray!
2. Create a Potty Chart
I created a potty chart. Every time she did something in the toilet we celebrated with stickers on the potty chart. She would get one sticker on the Potty Chart if she peed and two stickers if she pooped. Rewards really worked.It helped both of us keep track of her progress.
3. The Candy Incentive
I try not to give my daughter a lot of candy because it makes her too hyperactive and its bad for her teeth. But desperate times call for desperate measures. We went to Target and picked out a cute gift bag and filled it with candy. I had her pick out all her favorite candy. So every time she used the potty she got one candy and she got two candies if she pooped. She only got candy during potty training. It really worked.
4. Accidents Are a Good Thing
Believe it or not, accidents are your friend. At first the idea of accidents mortified me. I didn't want to deal with any accidents at all. The first few days the accidents were pretty frequent, but the accidents became less and less over time. Children really start to learn from their accidents. She started to notice when she had to go potty and would run to the bathroom on her own. Pretty soon, I wasn't so paranoid about the accidents anymore. If we had to go out somewhere, I would bring an extra set of clothes and underwear. But I usually had her use the bathroom before we left the house and again once we arrived at our destination.
5. Watch and Learn
Let your toddler watch you do it. Announce when you have to go to the bathroom, to help reinforce the idea. Let her think it is cool for "Big Girls" to use the potty. Diapers and Pull-Ups are for babies,"Big Girls Use the Potty." Also, stay in the bathroom with your child when they use the potty to monitor their progress.
6. Spread the Word
I told everybody that my daughter is doing a great job potty training, even if she had an accident that same day. It really boosted her self confidence. I would tell my husband,and make a huge deal about it. "Sarah Pooped Today!!! Good Job!!! You Are A Big Girl!!!" Everybody clapped and congratulated my daughter.
My daughter is now officially potty trained. She started to get the concept of when she had to use the bathroom. I still remind her, but for the most part, she will run into the bathroom on her own. Potty training your child doesn't have to be a negative experience. It can be a positive, learning experience for both you and your child.
The above can also help your child in potty training but it will be easier to learn if you watch an instructional video toilet training your child and complete guide guaranteed in 3 days your child will be successful defecate in the toilet. Click here to message this offer now
Hi I margareth. cases of toilet training children is very stressful and makes me angry. My daughter is 3 years old and acting very naughty, pee on the couch, at the dinner table, in the living room, in the bedroom. This makes me really angry.
I came to google to solve my problem. I found the potty training program for 3 days faster than dr, Lois Kleint. The first I do not care!
but after week I am keen to follow the method suggested. I try step by step for 3 days or less I managed to beat my child behavior.
Thanks dr.Lois. whoever you follow him and assured method will be successful toilet training your child for 3 days or less. Potty Train in Three Days
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