I understand how toilet training can be a crucial stage in our child's development. But what actually led me to proactively toilet-train my daughter are 2 things: 1. The unbelievable rise in cost of living, not only in the Philippines but also around the world and 2. The natural calamities that caused increase awareness in protecting the environment. Disposable diapers are getting more and more expensive these days and they take about 450 years to decompose! (source: http://www.ktka.com/news/2008/apr/17/break_it_down_how_long_does_trash_take_degrade/) I wouldn't want to add up to all the environmental pollutants! However, I think it's a little late to start with cloth diapers now, not to mention it's inefficiency for my family set up during sleep because of my work-sleep prohibitions.
Anyway, so I introduced Ella to toilet training when she reached her 1st year and got a potty trainer as a present. I didn't force-train her that early though. I just taught her what her pink seat was for and waited until she clearly showed feelings of pee or poop. That happened a few months before her 2nd birthday. Since then, I have been instructing everyone in the house to encourage Ella to go to the potty every 30 minutes to sit down, even though she isn't feeling anything. When she pees successfully, we give her a variety of rewards: a kiss, a hug, a "very good" clap, sweets, juice, etc. Training for number 2 had been more difficult. She knew when she felt like pooping because she was always constipated (something we just recently found an effective remedy to...). But she didn't want to do it without a diaper because she thought it was yucky! That was our fault, by the way, because we started out telling Ella that her poop is yucky when she was younger and I found out that it's not supportive for toilet training. Parents and caregivers should educate children that peeing and pooping is the body's way of getting rid of waste and it's just normal.
Now that Ella is 2 years and 4 months, I'm proud to say that she doesn't use diapers during the day anymore. She has accidents, which we very lightly react to, whenever she's too preoccupied with play or tv. But she's getting better. She had also tried pooping in the potty about 3 times, but she's still grossed out about it and would rather not. At night and during her afternoon nap, she still needs to wear diapers. I was told by another mommy that training during sleep would mean having to break the sleep cycle to go to the toilet. I believe Ella is too young for that and we'd more likely get into a tantrum fit than get her trained. So I'm parking that for Toilet Training Part 2...and hopefully voluntary potty pooping.
You can also learn more about toilet training from these links:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T106600.asp
http://www.parenting.com/article/Toddler/Development/Potty-Training-Guide
Tell me about your toilet training experience with your kids! It would help us a lot!
your every woman,
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