((sigh))
I looked back to see when we potty trained LO, and remembered it wasn't until after we returned home following Chase's birth and Norwood when she was 2 1/2 years old. I documented her "training" in this post (also copied below for your reading pleasure) and I'm afraid she set the bar a bit too high. Seriously. It was like, 2 days of training and she was DONE. Trained. Fully trained both day and night. Zero accidents since. See what I mean? Set the bar too high. I'm scared thinking about what Chase has in store for us! Haha!
Of course, I also have the heart mom dilemma of potty training him before his Fontan. So if we wait until he's 2 1/2, that'll be in April. Chances are, with him being so chunktastic, that his Fontan could take place as early as this summer/fall ((shudder)). And let's remember he's a boy, and I think I've heard boys are harder than girls to potty train? So I just don't know what to do. I try to keep my parenting timeline with Chase as close to LO's as possible, because I want him to be treated the same and not feel different because of his special heart, and being consistent with the kids is one way I feel I can do this from an early age. But I also don't want to be spinning my wheels for nothing! Ugh. Anyone have any thoughts/comments to help a mama out??
For your reading pleasure, here's a post I wrote last January about LO's potty successes. Enjoy the video, too -- it's one of my faves of that little girl of mine!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Potty Time!
Guess who finally started potty training the day after she turned 2 1/2? Yep! That's right! Our sweet LO has officially begun the process of ditching the diapers (Amen!)! Yesterday was our first day. I'll be honest, I had NO IDEA where to start. I've read about so many different approaches to potty training, from putting her in pull-ups all day, to going straight to "big girl" panties, to letting her run around the house completely naked for three days to magically do the trick. After much thought, I decided it would be best for us to go straight to the big girl panties during the day, and pull-ups during nap time and nighttime. My assumption is that this would be the best way for her to know when she's had an accident, plus it would eliminate transitioning from pull-ups to panties.
I consider our first day to be a complete success, although we technically had a 50% success rate. Her first accident was on the bean bag we bought her for her first birthday. That was my fault -- I should've known better than to leave the bean bag in the room. Then she headed towards the carpet in her play area and I caught her in the act and put her on the potty. Then later in the day she went twice on her potty! Woot! I was so excited!!! She got a few mini M&M's and an Elmo sticker each time. At nap time she wore a pull-up and woke up poopy, which I sort of expected. Later in the afternoon she went on the carpet outside the bathroom (again, my bad -- I thought daddy was watching her at the time), but then last night she went in the potty again for the third time! I figure if she uses the potty 3 times on her first day, that's a pretty good first day!!! She woke up very wet this morning, which really didn't surprise me (I understand the nighttime training usually comes later after she masters the daytime). She had one accident this morning where she peed on the hardwood floor standing 2 feet from hubs -- I'm not sure why. But I figure we just stick with this and try to be consistent and hopefully she will figure this out soon. It's really hard to keep her off the couches and carpeted areas, so I hope it doesn't take forever! :)
Here she is announcing to the world what she did yesterday!
You know, keeping your parenting similar between two kids is one thing, trying to keep them on the same milestone guideline is something else entirely. I completely agree with you that your disciplining should be as consistent as possible with both kids (leaving room for natural age gap differences), just because you don't want Chase getting preferential treatment for his heart.
ReplyDeleteBut with stuff like walking, and weaning the bottle, and the binky, and potty training, my sense is that kids will do all of this when they're ready. Yes, you can help them along, but you even have difference between completely heart healthy siblings. I think you and I discipline pretty similarly (at least that's the vibe I get from our conversations and reading your blog), but I think (ok, I know!) I'm a more loosy-goosy parent on this kinda stuff - maybe it's from living in California so long. ;-)
For Bodie, we have a potty out. When he's ready, we'll work on training. He tells me when he went poop or pee and likes to sit on the potty, but hasn't actually gone yet.
With Sierra, we jumped the gun a little bit (she seemed interested, but looking back, probably wasn't as interested as we thought) and it literally took us 18 months to train her - we started before Bodie was born and then all heck broke loose after he came. It literally wasn't until he was home and our life had settled a bit that she trained - and she did it in 2 days at that point.
So, going from that experience, unless he's totally itching to potty train, you may want to wait until after the Fontan. It's such a huge emotional thing, it might throw everything off anyway - so if you're looking at the Fontan in the next 6-9 months or so, if you train now, you might just end up training a second time after the Fontan. No fun. Although I suppose if he is trained and doesn't regress (possible, right?), his need to get out of bed to go to the bathroom might help with keeping him upright and help with the drainage. Just a thought...
Good luck mama - I'm so curious to hear what you end up deciding to do! In the meantime, we'll keep washing diapers over here on our end (cloth-diapering Bodie) until we're right there with you potty training!
Heart Hugs...
Hi! I have to comment because I'm so frustrated with MC and her potty issues, it may just be for me to vent of all things. ;)
ReplyDeleteShe is 4 1/2 and still has accidents.
Yes. I know. Pretty bad.
I'm a very laid back parent when it comes to these types of things, but I'm honsetly about to pull my hair out with her.
I'm telling you this because I was in your frame of mind a year or so ago. I kept putting off potty training, waiting until after her Fontan. I just knew that any effort I put into it pre-Fontan would be thrown out of the window with such a difficult, traumatic event in her life and such a long period in the hospital.
I so wish I would have done it pre Fontan. Of course, she and Chase are different because she would NEVER gain weight and was 3 when it was finally time for Fontan. (Almost 3 1/2)
Moms I've spoken to about this say that their children did very well with the potty training once the children recovered. (I think we parents forget how quickly they recover and bounce back, even while in the hopsital.) Adults, not so much!!
Anywho, MC has additional "issues" and I know each child is so very different, but if you think he is interested in going potty in the least, I'd jump on it. Doesnt' hurt to try. I sure wish I had.
I know MC will get it some day. The little stinker is so hard headed and such a little mess right now! She is old enough to know better but so darn hard headed at this age.
Good luck in whatever you decide!! Kerri
I have a 4 1/2 year old with HLHS. He had the Fontan when he was almost 3 1/2. I did not force the potty training before his Fontan. We introduced him to the 'potty' when he was 2. He did not take to it and in the back of my mind I knew of the regression he could experience during and after the Fontan. I didn't want to potty train twice. From 2 years to 3 years we would casually offer for him to potty and he would do it every once in a while. Once we got to the Fontan, he was maybe half trained. He went through the Fontan in pull ups. It was a blessing because there were no issues to get his bladder going during our time in the hospital. At about a month post Fontan we focused hard on potty training. It took us 6 months of training and he was 95% trained (few accidents here and there). He is a little over 4 1/2 now and there are no worries. Hope your training goes smoothly.
ReplyDeleteAG's cardiologist said most likely a spring/summer fontan so I have just decided to wait for "serious" potty training. I will put her on the potty ocassionally if she asks, but it's nothing serious. I will do "real" training post fontan. As for training boys.... I have a heart healthy little boy who I trained at exactly 2 1/2. He was not showing any potty interest. I used the potty training bootcamp method and it took a full 7 days to train him. It was very difficult since he had no interest in the potty. But after the 7 days he was fully trained. Boys are tough....
ReplyDelete