3 Day Potty Training

Well, we are officially potty trained via the 3-Day Potty training method!  Read on to find out what worked, what didn't & how we are all holding up (including my furniture & floors) after the whole process.  Plus, links to everything I used!!
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Getting Prepared

I spent a bit of time getting prepared so that I was (or thought I was) 100% ready to go!  Here's a list of everything I had on hand and whether I ended upending it or not. (Most products are linked at the end of this post to make it easy for ya!)

• Training Potty
• Treats (I used the organic bunnies linked at the end of this post and some fruit strips I got at Whole Foods-I planned on giving her 1 bunny per potty & 1 fruit strip per poop)
• Glitter
• Stickers
• Pens
• Potty Pads (for furniture & beds)
• Cozy/fun socks
• Fun papers to decorate after going in the potty
• Tons of paper towels 
• Floor cleaners (hard floors & carpet)
• Big girl undies
• Overnight Pull-Ups 

Day 1

Oh. My. God.  I am so exhausted!  I had no idea going into this that it would be so draining.  I knew that it wouldn't be easy, but emotionally & mentally draining was not something I had prepared for.  

Day 1 was supposed to be focused on getting a potty into the toilet.  I knew there would be accidents, I had prepared for that!  I knew it wouldn't happen right away, I was prepared for that too.  But I wasn't prepared for full blown battle.  She did not want anything to do with the toilet.  Nothing.  Didn't want to talk about it, sit on it, look at it.  Nothing.  No treat, game or bribe of any sort was going to change that!  And every time I tried it turned into the most inner ear damaging screams, stiff body resistance, clawing to get away,-she even took a swipe at me once-straight up battles!!!   So my Day 1 goal quickly changed from getting a potty into the toilet to getting the toddler to calmly, happily sit on the toilet.  Yep.  Just sit.  I'm talking baby steps here! 

I had read the 3 day potty training books so I knew that rewards had to be very specific to pee-in-the-potty ONLY.  But, you know what, forget that.  That wasn't working for us.  By late afternoon I decided to offer her a sucker (check out the linked products below for the sugar free suckers i decided to use) that she could only suck on while on the potty.  AND IT WORKED!!!!  It was great!!!  She was happily sitting there and getting used to the idea of it.  We sang songs & looked at the sticker page to pick which one we would get to put on the paper once she decided to finally put her pee in the potty.  It was great!  Then, after 2-3 times doing that I stopped giving the sucker and she was fine!!  Sitting there so calmly!!  Still no pee, but I felt a small success was made today!

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Day 2

Ok, here we go again...

I had a total "preparer fail"!  Last night for bed time I excitedly opened the package of overnight "undies"/pullups only to quickly discover I had instead gotten overnight DIAPERS!!!!  The #1, absolute NO-NO!!!  Ugh!!  Well, nothing I could do about it at that point.  As I put the diaper on her I told her it was her new nighttime underwear but she just kept saying  "Diaper!" excitedly. UGH!! 

The next morning she fought taking the "diaper" off!  Protesting "no take DIAPER OFF"!!!  Complete with tears, cries & total melt down.  It felt like I had taken 2 steps back.  But, I simply explained to her that those were only for sleeping and she needed to go in the big girl potty again.

It felt like we were back at square one.  Sitting on the potty while she cried and said "no-no-no".   I took her off the potty and had a conversation with her about what to expect again today and how proud I was of her for all of her progress yesterday.  I gave her some water and about 20 min later we tried again...this time with the sucker.  And again, it worked!  She was happily walking into the bathroom and asking to get up in the toilet!  And then.............POTTY!!!!!!!  WE HAVE A POTTY IN THE TOILET!!!!!!!!!!!!!    WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!  We celebrated, hugged, high 5'd, wiped, put glitter in the toilet, flushed and waved goodbye, and finally put a sticker on the paper!!!!!  SUCCESS!  I felt like SuperMOM!  NO wait, I WAS Supermom!!!  ....Then, 20 minutes later she peed on the floor again... **head officially out of the clouds** lol

All in all, by the end of Day 2 it felt like a success.  After about noon we were 100% potty in the toilet with 0 accidents on the floor.   And we had 1 poop in the toilet and 1 in her undies.  We also went outside to play for about an hour and had 0 accidents and I went to Target and got the correct nighttime underwear!!!  So, I am going to chalk this one up as a WIN!!

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Day 3

We started the day off with a pee accident and a HUGE poop accident.  So again, I felt like we were starting 2 steps back.  But then...no more accidents for the rest of the day!!!  She was FANTASTIC!!  I was starting to see her queues and get her to the potty quickly enough that we were mess free! We even went to a birthday party for about an hour and a half with no messes!  I used some nighttime underwear for her nap and she stayed dry for the entire 2 hours!!  YAY!!! 

It finally felt like we are getting there!  **HUGE sigh of relief**

What Worked/What Didn't

Ok, I was definitely over prepared with everything I would need but I would highly recommend that you are too!  Because you NEVER KNOW what will work for you & your little one.  SO be ready just in case!!  

This is a list of all the things I got in advance & how they worked for me:

• Training Potty-I always gave Ashlyn a choice of the big potty or the little potty (training potty).  She chose the big potty every time!  Still has never used the training potty!  But, it is early in this process and per the advice of many friends, I will keep it in my car for the inevitable EMERGENCY!!!
• Treats-Ashlyn was not overly motivated by treats.  The suckers worked to get her comfortable on the toilet but I stopped giving them to her after the morning of day 2.  She could care less about a treat after she went potty though.  So, for us, I put the treats away.
• Glitter-This was a BIG WINNER!!!  She loved getting to put the glitter in the toilet and wave goodbye to it and the pee while she flushed!!  Definitely recommend trying this out!!
• Stickers-Also a BIG WIN!!!  She was very motivated by the stickers!  Plus, sometimes she would "goof-off" on the toilet & wouldn't pee unless she concentrated.  We would focus on picking out our sticker then a pee would happen shortly after!
• Pens-Nope.  Not interested at all.
• Potty Pads (for furniture & beds)-Yes!  Just for peace of mind.  Ashlyn only had accidents in certain places (her play area) so we never had an accident on the furniture but it made me feel so much better when we snuggled on the couch!
• Cozy/fun socks-It's mid winter here (well...california winter, but it still gets cold in the house!) so I definitely used these!
• Fun papers to decorate after going in the potty!  Yep!  She only chose stickers but it was a WIN!!
• Tons of paper towels-Yep!  Its amazing how much liquid come out of them during that first 2 days!!!  Lots of cleaning up!
• Floor cleaners (hard floors & carpet)-YEP!  See previous comment
• Big girl undies-Yep!  Not only are they super cute but they do seem to help Ashlyn get used to the change.  She gets excited to put on her Big Girl Underwear!   
• Overnight Pull-Ups-Again, YES!  In my opinion Ashlyn is not ready to go accident free all night.  She is about 50/50 for waking up dry currently.  And I KNOW I'm not ready for her to go into the bathroom by herself to go potty. So, for us, overnight underwear are a go!

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...And Now What?

Overall we are very happy with her progress!  We are now at day 5.  She only has pee accidents in the morning for some reason.  She is 50/50 for poop accidents so we are still working on that.  But we have gone outside to play, gone to a birthday party & gone out to dinner-ALL SUCCESSFULLY ACCIDENT FREE!!!  She even went potty in a public restroom! (My advice to you on this is-use one of your hands to cover the automatic flush sensor!!  Otherwise it will flush a bunch of times and its scary for the little one sitting there!  So try to avoid it flushing until little one is done!).

And keep in mind this is an on-going process.  Yes, I consider Ashlyn potty trained.  But that doesn't mean that she is going to take herself into the bathroom on her own and be accident free.  It just means she holds it between bathroom sessions and I have to take her frequently.  So make sure your expectations aren't too crazy!   

I would highly recommend this method if you are looking at potty training your little one!  Be prepared for the first few days!! It going to be SO HARD!!!  But its over pretty quickly and totally worth it!!   And I've made it super easy to get prepared by linking everything I used (including the "treats" since they WILL WORK for some kiddo's)!  

​GOOD LUCK & let me know how it goes for you!!!!!
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