To The Mama Discouraged With Potty Training

To The Mama Discouraged With Potty Training

Are you discouraged with potty training? I’ve been there, Mama! I hope this post will give you hope for a light at the end of the potty training tunnel!

To the mama discouraged with potty training,

I was you, Mama. It took me two years to potty train my firstborn. Two.entire.years.

I had tried it all: sticker charts, candy, Dollar Tree trinkets, pull-ups, no pull-ups, panties, bare-bummed, potty training in one day, potty training in three days, tips aimed at potty training the strong-willed child. (We did not try infant potty training. That’s just not my style!)

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these methods, but they just weren’t best for our family.

It didn’t matter what we tried, it didn’t work.

We even took her to an urologist to make sure there wasn’t anything physically wrong with her. (There wasn’t.)

I imagined she would be wearing diapers forever.

I didn’t just feel like a potty training failure. I felt like a failure as a mother.

It was humbling–the messes, the tears (both hers and mine), the frustration and embarrassment.

When my second daughter turned 2, I didn’t even think about potty training her. While the mothers of her friends pulled out the stickers and charts and all kinds of prizes, I laughed and vowed to never potty train again.

No, really, I did.

I felt scarred for life. You might say I had potty training PTSD because that is what it felt like.

I would let her potty train herself.

And at 3 years and 4 months, she did just that. It took about a week, but when she was ready, my second child did it all on her own.

The method worked so well that I decided to do the same with my third child. So when she turned 2 and the other moms of the kids in her preschool class were reading potty training books and spending hours prodding their little ones along on the potty, I waited.

Her teacher even told me that she was ready, but I knew when she was really ready she would show me.

Last week, at 2 years and 9 months old, she did just that: She woke up on Tuesday morning and said: “Mommy, I’m ready to go potty now.”

She went potty all day long–no accidents.

I made her wear a pull-up, but at the end of the day it was still dry.

The next day, she brought me a pair of her sister’s panties: “Mommy, I’m wearing panties today.”

So I let her. Again, she went potty all day long.

Eight days ago, a switch flipped, and my youngest child potty trained just like that.

I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum, Mama. I was the mama who stressed herself out daily for two entire years, wondering why her child wouldn’t potty train.

And I’m the mama whose child potty trained herself overnight.

Take it from one mama who has been in the trenches: Potty training won’t last forever, and if you need to take a break, just take a break.

Seasoned mamas told me, and I didn’t believe them. Believe me now: Your child will potty train when he or she is ready. If you wait it out and practice some patience, you will save yourself a whole lot of heartache.

That fiery firstborn of mine? She finally potty trained herself (after Mama had long given up) at 4. It wasn’t a moment too early or a moment too late. It was exactly when she was ready to potty train.

Dear Mama discouraged with potty training, I want to save you from feeling like a potty training failure. I don’t want you to spend two years fretting about what you are doing wrong or if something is wrong with your child.

I don’t want to leave you hanging, Mamas. Here is how my husband and I laid the foundation for our 2nd and 3rd children to have success with child-led potty training.

I hope you will be encouraged!

Have you ever felt discouraged with potty training? What are your tips for moms in the trenches who might be potty training right now?

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Original article and pictures take thehumbledhomemaker.com site