When the kiddos turned 2, I figured it was probably time to consider potty training. They were getting very good at communicating and would tell me after they had pooped in their diapers. I had no idea where to begin! I have heard many different methods like letting them sit on the potty until they go or take them every 20 minutes. I didn't think with training 3 kids at the same time, either of these would be possible for us to do. I had no clue what to do...so of course I started googling! I really needed someone to tell me exactly what to do step by step. Not too long after searching, that is exactly what I found!
There was an online book on how to potty train your toddler in 3 days. I got really excited when it said there was even a section about twins and triplets! I bought the book and read it several times. Essentially, you put your toddler in underwear and let them pee everywhere! You let them throw out all their diapers, explain the whole potty training process, put underwear on them and let them go about their day. You have to stay right with them every single step they take to catch them in the act of peeing and run them to the potty. Every time they get anything in the potty, you reward them. No where in these 3 days do you discipline or do anything negative around your child. The system works because everything in these three days is about rewards and being positive. You have to make sure they drink ALL day long. The more times they have to pee, the faster it clicks! I knew I had to follow her book EXACTLY in order for this to work for us. I was prepared to go through 3 days of misery, but if my trio was potty trained in 3 days, it would be worth it!
I prepared and organized several days in advance. We had just moved into our new house, so I wasn't too excited about them just peeing all over the place. I decided to make their playroom waterproof! We bought a tarp and carpet covering to put in their playroom and in the hallway to the bathroom. We were pretty much trapped in this room and the bathroom for three days. This saved us from ruining all of our carpet! We even moved our TV to the playroom!
You cannot by any means go about your regular day during these 3 days. Your eyes have to be glued to whatever they are doing. I prepared meals for three days and a daily schedule on what we were going to do. The book says you have to keep all of these words in mind so I taped them all over the walls, hoping that maybe it would help us!
You have to have rewards ready for every time they go potty, so I got tons of snacks and put all of them in their own baskets. I got toys for the first time they pooped in the potty.
I made sure I had plenty of underwear, juice, and cleaning supplies handy! This was enough underwear for the first hour!
She suggested having separate potties for each of them. I put stickers on them so they would know which was theirs.
I explained everything to them when they woke up and put their underwear on right after breakfast. They are supposed to walk around just in underwear so you can see when they are going right away. Connor was so excited about this big boy underwear. I let them throw all their diapers away. They thought that was alot of fun. (as you can tell in all of these pictures, my little man has an obsession with shoes! Even with no pants, he had to have his shoes on!)
Okay, so I didn't really throw them all away. This is one of the rules that I did not follow. I knew that we were going to tackle this a month in advance, so we had used most of our diapers. I actually got out little swimmers, so they would feel like they were throwing more away. I put them in the garage but left them there just in case! Then, we introduced them to the potty. It was a hit at first! They thought the potties were toys.
I considered Connor potty trained in less than an hour. We found out very fast that he must pee constantly. Within the first 20 minutes he had 5 accidents and he would get so upset every time. It was almost like he was embarrassed that he did it. About the 6th time when we actually made it to the potty with him and he got his first prize, it was smooth sailing with him. He figured out the system. He would go like every 10 minutes and ask for his prize. Here he is with his first couple of prizes and everyone watching Elmo's Potty Time.
Only a few hours in and we felt like we wanted to give up. They drank so much juice that day, the girls were literally peeing every 10 minutes. With no warning they would just stand there and pee. We went through 48, Yes FORTY EIGHT pairs of underwear the first day!! 48 times just in the first day, we had to clean up pee! Even when I first brought them home, I was not this exhausted. No telling how many calories we burned that day running them back in forth from the potty.
One thing that I would change, if I could go back would be to introduce the actual potties to them before hand. I on purpose had never shown them the potties. I thought if they played with them and sat on them before hand, they would think they were toys. I think this really back fired. The girls were terrified to sit on the potty. They wanted nothing to do with it. They would be standing in front of it going, but refused to sit down. Everything about this was supposed to be positive, so we never forced them to sit down.
Using the 3 day method, you also put them in underwear at bed time. You never put them in pull ups. I was really worried that after this exhausting day and another ahead of us, that I would be going on no sleep. We stopped giving them juice 2 hours before bed time. To my surprise, all three of them slept all night and they all three woke up dry the next morning!! This gave us a little bit of hope. Maybe this IS working!
For Connor, Day 2 was all about getting as many prizes as possible. He was already going to the potty and pulling his pants up and down. We started just letting him even go into the bathroom himself. Day 2, was no better for the girls. It actually got worse. They got smart, and realized all the juice they were drinking was causing them to keep going, so they quit drinking. If they do not have tons of attempts to succeed, this method is really hard to accomplish. They would dance around, and I would know they would have to go, but they refused to go when I took them. 5 minutes later they would go all over the floor. They would hold it for so long at this point, that they would go alot so several times, we made it from the playroom to the bathroom with them still going. They got a little in the potty and finally got a few prizes.
Day 3 was not much different. Connor continued to succeed and the girls were just stubborn. (Who knows where they got that from). We finished day 3 feeling like we had failed. I have to say these were probably the most trying days of my life. It is really easy to get frustrated and get mad at them but I just kept telling myself, it is just three days! I will confess that I went to bed the third day in tears, because I felt like I just went through all of this for nothing.
On Day 4, I had to go back to work. I didn't want to completely undo what we had tried for the past three days. I sent them to daycare in just underwear! I was really worried about the car ride, but it was never an issue. I was really worried for their poor daycare teachers! I of course, was not there but I think with having other kids going to the potty and remembering what we had been doing the past three days, it finally clicked for the girls on the 4th day!! I think they may of had a couple accidents, but I was so proud of them!! It was probably more like a week when I got confident that they were POTTY Trained! They came home most days with no accidents. It was probably 2 weeks before I would take them anywhere other than daycare and our house. I wasn't sure how we would manage getting them all to the bathroom in time. I still kind of worry about that to this day.
6 months later, it doesn't seem like it was all that bad, but when I was writing this it brought back every single feeling I had those three days. Them being potty trained, still to this day is exhausting. Sometimes we make 6-9 potty trips an hour. (Connor is still a frequent pee-er, as I call him) but at least he goes in the potty! They have had a couple issues off and on pooping on the potty. When they switched daycares, it became an issue. We brought back the reward system and works every time! They haven't been back in diapers since the day we started!
We did come across a few obstacles with this method, that will pretty much only be issues with multiples. We had a hard time with them understanding, you only get a reward when YOU go potty. We had sooo many breakdowns when one would get a prize and the other two wouldn't. I kept trying to remind them that when they went potty, they had a basket to choose from too. This worked sometimes, and sometimes it didn't. I think they also felt like they were being punished when they were taken away from what they were doing to go potty. When they were all three playing together and one acted like they had to go, they would get upset and worried that they would lose their toy. I think this was the main reason, the girls had a hard time. They felt more like they were in trouble because they were being taken away from each other, toys, and tv. This is probably why they did much better at daycare. Everyone was going potty at the same time!
I am not going to lie, I am sooo excited we have made it over this point! I still to this day am so proud of them and everything they accomplished!!
I just printed this blog post out Tracy! This is awesome! I attempted to put Kendall in panties a few weekends ago and it was exhausting. I am going to take your tips to heart and try again this weekend!
ReplyDelete