So…. I know it has been quite a while since my last post. I tend to do that, lol, but as Hawk grows, matures and just straight up transforms into a BOY-not a baby anymore- I feel that I might have lots more to talk about now!
Yes the title says potty training and yes it also says 17mo (1 year & 5 months old) and yes it does also, boldly, say BOY ok. We started this adventure when Hawk was about 15mo and even though he did really well considering his age, he was obviously still too young. How could I tell? Well, even though he would only have a few accidents a day, it got to the point where when I would offer him the potty after a nap or first thing in the morning, he would cry and just refuse to even enter the bathroom. All it took was ONE TIME. I did not feel it was worth causing him to stress or even ‘ethical’ to continue as it was obviously upsetting him. He just wasn’t ready. Why did I start so young? Well, this will probably have to be followed up with a separate post but EC (Elimination Communication) was what prompted me. We started Hawk with EC when he was at or around 8 months old, part time but it was still a daily thing. By the age of 10 months he was no longer having BMs in his diaper, all were 100% in the toilet. Usually BMs are the hardest part but we lucked out and got that out of the way first!
My original plan was to start potty training as soon as he could walk, but he just wasn’t ready. What do you mean “he wasn’t ready“? Well, there are a handful of signs you have to watch for, many parents make the ‘mistake’ of making the decision to start potty training without really taking the child and certain attributes into consideration. Your child’s age has nothing to do with when they are ready to potty train, their actions are the deciding factors.
- Does my child speak or sign that he/she is eliminating?
- Does my child speak or sign that he/she is uncomfortable in a soiled diaper?
- Does my child know what the bathroom/toilet is for?
These are just SOME of the deciding factors that your child may be ready for potty training, they were a guideline for me with Hawk. Since he was exposed to the toilet at such a young age, he began to understand what it was and what it was used for. Hawk is not using a potty chair, we started out by just simply holding him over the regular toilet & eventually moved up to a seat reducer so he could hold himself up. Practicing EC with him also helped him realize that the diaper is not where eliminating should be done.
We just started FULL ON potty training on Monday (01/02/2017)…. At this point, even though it’s only been a couple months since our last try, Hawk has become more acquainted with the bathroom/toilet and what it means when we go in there. We took small steps, I’d casually offer the potty when he would wake up from a nap if I noticed he was still dry and took it from there. All on his own he started waking up in the mornings and calling from his crib, “papu“, his word for ‘poop’ which has now become the word for potty in general. 99 out of 100 times he will have a BM during that morning sit down so this meant he now feels and understands what his body is doing and where it needs to be done. This and a couple other little things here and there told me that he was now ready to begin.
I basically ran out of diapers this passed weekend and decided now would be a better time than any to get into it. That’s kinda how my brain works anyway, I’m incredibly impulsive. So, i brought out his cloth diapers and pre-fitted (is that even a word?), adjusted and snapped them to be used as underwear. I’m able to pull them up and down without having to snap/unsnap them every time and they work great. I settled on his Charlie Banana OS diapers as they have the best fit and seem to be the most comfortable & I just don’t put any inserts in them, this way he is able to feel that he is wet in the event that he has an accident but the PUL helps to prevent leaks!
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect as he will be turning a year and a half come the 24th of this month and my goal has always been to have my child potty trained by 18 months.
Where are we now? Well, we are 3 days in as of today and we are doing GREAT. I wasn’t able to create posts for Monday (Jan 2nd) & Tuesday (Jan 3rd) but I will add that info in below:
- Monday – Hawk went through about 4 underwear today…. He just didn’t seem to be grasping the fact that pee also goes in the potty. I started out taking him every 30min and nothing so I jumped to an hour. We had a couple catches and it seems like that’s about how often he’s going, unless its around a snack/meal time when his liquid intake is higher, but he is just not getting it. Twice I took him and he did nothing then he peed within 5-10min of taking him off. After each accident I would tell him “pee-pee goes in the toilet just like papu, not in your underwear” and I would sit him on the toilet while I grabbed clean clothes and underwear. If he finished going during this time, I would praise him with “yays! and high-fives”.
- Tuesday – MUCH better day, only 2 accidents today but we had 3 pee catches and 1 BM. I cannot believe how fast he is catching on. I am taking him every hour unless I notice he is drinking. Now I am taking him within just a few minutes after he puts his drink down. Example: He eliminated at 8:30ish but then he had breakfast w/milk at around 9am. It hadn’t been an hour in between but he drank a good 4-5oz of milk so I took him right after I finished cleaning him up, HE WENT! Lots of praising, “yays! & high-fives”.
- Wednesday (today, 01/04/2017) – ONE ACCIDENT and I don’t even want to count it as one because he told Greg (my husband) that he had to go and of course instead of just taking him, he stood there and asked him if he really had to go, OMG!! (I’m not mad though lol) Good point to make here though: ALWAYS take your child when they say they have to go, they might not actually go but at least you took them and at least they made an effort. Anyway, I yelled at him to take him so he did, Hawk peed as Greg was pulling his pants down. Just a simple “aww man, almost made it, its ok though” and we moved on. He is for sure going every hour almost on the hour and he is also going within 10 minutes after fluid intake (significant amount). I also offer before nap and after, the same goes with bed time. We did decide to hold off on naps and over night-today, we are using disposables at nap (3 hrs) and over night (10-12 hrs) because the cloth is just too uncomfortable for him to sleep in (stuffed). I figure once we get his daytime down 100% then we can move onto naps and over night but for now my little guy is doing an AMAZING job and I couldn’t be prouder.
Now you might be wondering (if you know Hawk’s sleep schedule) why he just went down, being its like a whole hour passed his bedtime. Well ladies and gentlemen, he had us take him to the bathroom about 4 times before I finally just told him to go to sleep, no more papu, I will consult with my mother tomorrow to figure out if this is typical “early training behavior” or if he is for real going to be waking us up at all hours to go now lol
We. Shall. See.
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