My Baby is NOT a Baby! {potty trained! and a quick round-up}

I can't believe my baby girl is potty trained. Aside from night time that is. Does that even count?

She decided towards the middle of last week that she did not want to wear diapers. So We decided to go bare bottom...

Little did I realize that her sitting on the potty was also practice for actually potty training. You know, because babies use the potty before 2!

Now I now that kids can be potty trained early, and sometimes it just emphasizes the potty usage when there is an older sibling that does.

I didn't expect it.

Baby girl essentially potty trained herself. In 3 days. She has even made 2 trips out of the house without any accidents.

When wearing a diaper, she started pulling the "potty" yell after she did her business. When we went diaper free (no pull-ups or even underwear of any kind), baisically naked, we had only a handful of accidents.

I remember doing this with little man. He was a little harder. Took a little longer (like a week), and needed incentive: potty chart with smiley faces, jelly beans, chocolate... But he would loose it if he had an accident. We did the no diapers with him too. He was ready, but didn't want to give it up. He wanted the Big Boy Undies more though...

Honestly, if I were to do it all again I would do it the same way. I'm still waiting for the regression with Baby Girl. Like this was a fluke. After all she is only 21 months, not even 2 yet (but almost)...Accidents will happen. That's a given.

There are so many resources of potty training without diapers (quitting diapers cold turkey). So many people have written blog posts about them. And a lot more since we went through this with Little Man.

I thought I would compile a list of different reading for you if you were going through the same thing as I am right now, or did 2 years ago...

Parenting.com - Extreme Potty Training - a fairly humorous diary account of a mom's bootcamp style potty training with two twin boys at 2 years. We would say the same thing with accidents. we didn't need much reward besides clapping for little girl.

Alphamom - How to Potty Train Your Kid (Boot Camp Style) - We did not do underwear right away. Neither kid like the feeling of pee running down their leg being stark naked. We did underwear by day 3. and I didn't bring only 1 pair of change of clothes... My little girl prefers to be naked. It's hard to use that as a consequence when that is what they want.

The Unemployed Mom - 15 Tips for Potty Training Boot Camp Style - Totally makes it easier when you remember to bring the training potty with you. It was difficult going out with little man without a potty and so much easier when we brought it with us for little girl. Positive attitude is half the battle. You don't want to discourage the little learner.

Four Moms For Moms - Potty Training the Cold Turkey Way - I almost needed to use candy as bribery for my son. Towards the end we used it as a counting game (subtracting and counting again). Anything can be turned into a learning experience. Little girl didn't even care about the candy... You really don't need all the baby potty training paraphernalia. Just strong whits, positive attitude, and endurance to make it through to the end. They will get it, eventually. Every child is different. Read your child;s cues.

BabyCenter - Potty Training in 3 Days or Less - honestly this was too much to read for me... too much prep. I would much rather dive in head first and get it over with... Like showing the kid how to do a potty dance... I never did that, didn't need to. A kid will think of something all on their own once they have the control. You'll see it too... But it does off some great resources at the end.

Toilet Training in Less than a Day by Nathan Azrin (1989) - I haven't read it, but it shows parents have been doing this for a while, right? Your local library might have a copy.

These are just a few in the web bound with LOTS of info... I'm sure you can find whatever you are looking for!

Happy Training!