my daughter is 15 months old i am bout 6 weeks prego with my 2nd child(planned). I resally want her too potty trained by the time i have this baby or atleast started potty training. I have no idea where to began i to get a book bout how to potty train but my bf say i don need one. I think I do i think it would help me a lot to beable to read about what ppl do and what works maybe help get started bc i am so lost as to where to being he thinks it is as simple as put her on the potty but its not. I mean shoulld i take her out of diapers and put her pull ups or underwear, how often should i take her bathroom should i go pee with her or jsut stand there, how do i tell her when she needs to pee like how do i explain it, should i give her a reward for using bathroom, should i punish her when she has an accident, should i read her books bout using the potty should watch videos with her of kids usiong the potty? I am just freaking out about all of this or it is ok to feel this way i just feel so over whelmed and dont know where to being plz help.

Toilet Training in Less than a Day! by Nathan Azrin

I purchased this book on the advice of my Dr. She had used it for 4 of her 5 kids the 1st child she did the "usual" way and then did the rest by this book!!! It really works! And you get all the info you said you wanted in this one small paperback book. the link to the AMazon site to buy it is:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_19?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=toilet+training+in+less+than+a+day&sprefix=toilet+training+in+

Hope this helps!!! It really does work!!! =)

I'll tell you all the mistakes that I made so you have a head start. Right now I am on day four and my daughter is doing really well with it.

1.) While she is sitting on the potty let her sit there for a while. I was taking my daughter off too soon and she would pee herself 10 minutes after I would take her off the potty. Now we just hang out and read books and look at pictures in magazines. 

2.) Make sure she drinks a lot. Doesn't matter what, but the more she has to pee the more times you can work with her. Constantly ask her if she has to go potty. But in the beginning bring her to the potty yourself.

3.) Go to the Dollar Store and buy 5-10 dollars in toys so she gets positive reinforcement when she goes on the potty. Give her one every time she goes on the potty. My daughter loves getting her prizes.

4.) She may not get it right away but be persistant. Also, don't think you can skip a day or two because you'll have to start all over again.

Hope this helps!

Melissa

Hi!  I have a now almost 4 year old boy and the way I went about potty training was completely different from your other 2 responses, so I thought I would share.

One thing to remember is the muscle in the urinary tract has to be fully developed before your child can actually "feel" the urge to go.  If your daughter is not showing signs of this than you just may be setting her and yourself up to fail.  15 months old is a bit early for potty training, but for girls it does happen (rarely for boys).  They say girls generally potty train closer to 2 years old while boys closer to 3 years.

My degree is in child development and I worked for 5 years as a preschool teacher and developmenatal specialist.  So my husband and I decided to go with the method I found to be the easiest on both parents and child.  Remember potty training should always be a positive experience.   Starting at about 2 years old we got a potty for our son and talked to him about using it.  We'd ask him all the time if he wanted to try it and he was always welcome in the bathroom with us.  We just wanted him to know that it was there when he was ready.  We did not "train" him.   Over the course of about 6 months or so we just talked about it and he had a very natural curiosity about it.  Then one morning he woke up and said "I want to use the potty!"  He did and he never went back.  We never had any accidents, arguments or stress about it.  It was a very natural process that required no work - he has never even wet the bed.  Now, he was almost 3 years old when it happend, but it happened when HE was ready for it to happen and not when it was best for US. 

In response to one of you questions about pull-ups, I don't think any child needs them every day.  They are more expensive than diapers and they aren't very easy to use.  Plus they say that when children are potty training they need to feel the discomfort of having gone in their pants - Pull ups don't allow for that.  My suggestion, if you're really serious about potty training then go straight to underpants.  But, do not get outwardly frustrated or angry with her if she goes through several pairs in a day.  Sometimes that's part of the learning experience.  And, stick with it remain consistent with the way you approach it.  If your traveling or in the car then pull-ups can be helpful so that she doesn't have an accident in the car seat or, at night - we just used diapers at night until we were sure he wasn't going to have any accidents.  Other than that there is no good reason to spend the extra money on pull ups - in my opinion.

Good luck and let us all know how it goes!

Lori

I agree that 15 mos is pretty early for potty-training, especially with a new baby on the way.  If your child is not expressing readiness then you are setting yourself up for more difficulty than having two in diapers.  My older two are three years apart and the younger two are exactly two years apart, and it was MUCH easier to deal with two in diapers than one potty-training and one in diapers (especially since she was totally knocked sideways by the appearance of baby brother and had TONS of accidents those first three months).  It's way easier to be on a schedule with changing the big kid more or less when you change the baby you don't have to interrupt them or yourself so frequently, and you don't have to drop what you're doing to deal with a kid who needs to go RIGHT NOW or else face cleaning up a big mess.  I don't know anyone who found dealing with a newly potty-trained child easier than dealing with diapers, and when your baby is new or you're very pregnant your patience is likely to be at a low point exactly when you most need it.

That said, every family is different and if you want to know more I found Potty Training For Dummies to be a very comprehensive guide to potty-readiness, the different methods out there, discussions about what works for different families, and trouble spots you might hit.  It also has a good resource guide included so if you find a particular method that speaks to you you can get more details about it.  For the kids, we liked the Once Upon A Potty video and book by Alanna Frankel 

http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Potty-Artist-Provided/dp/B0000CBLBB/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1272733066&sr=1-5

as well as the Dr. Sears book, which my kids enjoy revisiting even when potty training is moving along nicely

http://www.amazon.com/You-Potty-Sears-Children-Library/dp/0316788880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272733153&sr=8-1

We only used Pull-ups at night once they were wearing underwear during the day (because they don't make diapers that big), or put Pull-ups on over the underwear when we were travelling (so they didn't get the message that they were wearing a diaper). Don't believe the commercials about using them for training -- it's a diaper without velcro and makes changing accidents a nightmare.

Good luck with whatever direction you decide to go!