A Technique for Getting Rid of Pull-Ups Once and For All

Question:

My daughter was 20 months when we started and is now 22 mo. She is now dry through night time and naps and knows it is potty time right when she gets up. She also knows that number two goes in the potty with only occasional accidents here and there. We have never done completely away with pull ups for outside the house. I tried undies underneath and she never noticed. How do I get rid of the pull ups and not have her wet several outfits while out and about? It is hard to spend several consecutive days at home right now. We are getting a travel potty, but even when we have it how will she know she has to tell us while out of the house that she has to pee? Or does she just learn through trial and error?


Answer:

Glad to hear you're making progress...and that we just need to get over that last hurdle.

I think you might have to just bite the bullet and totally get rid of the pull-ups. You might have a few days of accidents, but I think we can minimize them. I think it should be pretty easy but a little time consuming.

My advice is to wait until you get the travel potty. Plan on bringing it with you EVERYWHERE for a little while. I would also get a Potty Watch or even just a kitchen timer. The first day out of pull-ups, set the timer for about every 20 minutes. Take her to the potty every time the timer rings. You can increase or decrease the timer intervals depending on how well she is staying dry. The beauty of the travel potty is that you can take it out anywhere (from the grocery store parking lot to the trunk of your car!). Once she goes two or three days with very few accidents (even though she won't be self-initiating) it will usually help her brain to make the connection between a full bladder and that feeling of needing to go. I think you'll find that shortly thereafter she'll actually start telling you - especially if the intervals have gotten far enough between that it gives her the chance to self-initiate.

So...hopefully that helps. It should be a good way to stop the pull-ups for good without having to deal with the stress of a bunch of accidents.


Post by Suzanne Riffel, author of "The Potty Boot Camp: Basic Training for Toddlers" - a new, fast, easy toilet training method that produces remarkable results.

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