by guest contributor
Katie Schweitzer

SUPPLIES

Kid potty
Stickers
Juice, milk, water, popsicles, yogurt, any liquids
4 day potty training chart
Toilet Paper
Wipes
Big Girl Panties (let your kid pick some out!)
T-shirts
Dresses
Three types of candies or treats (it’s going to be a sugar overload for a couple days, but it won’t kill your kid) to use for:

• Sitting on the Potty
• Peeing in the Potty
• Pooping in the Potty

PREPARATION

Pick a long weekend where you don’t have plans for 4 days. We did this over Fourth of July weekend.

Gather your supplies and put the potty in the living room in front of the TV and hunker down. Be prepared to not breathe fresh air or see the sunshine for 4 days!

I know it sounds gross to have the potty in the living room, but this is for your sanity. It helps to be able to just PUT your kid on the potty when he/she says “peepee potty” instead of running to the bathroom. Plus, who really wants to be sitting on the bathroom floor all day? Not this momma.

DAY 1

• Put the kid in a t-shirt only. No panties, no pants, no skirt, no bottoms, just cheeks.
• Start the fluids!
• Try to sit her on the potty (or physically pick her up and put her on it) every 20-25 minutes if she hasn’t gone recently, or every 40 minutes if she has.
• Every time she sits on the potty, she gets one Sitting on the Potty Treat (I really ended up giving her a couple mini M&Ms  slowly, just to keep her sitting down) even if she doesn’t go. And lots of praise!
• Let her put a star on the chart for Sat on Potty.
• Try to be consistent with what you call her actions (Don’t float back and forth between “Peepee” and “tinkle.” Pick something and stick with it for this weekend)
• This day is long, but they think it’s kind of fun to do tricks for treats.
  • We had a LOT of Sat on Potty stickers the first day without many Peed in Potty stickers
  • When she did pee, I would have her follow me to the bathroom to dump the loo and wash hands.
• Diaper/pull up at night time

DAY 2

• Take the diaper off as soon as she wakes up and ask if she has to go pee. Physically put her on the toilet.
• Repeat of yesterday – put the potty in the living room in front of the TV and hunker down. Be prepared to not breathe fresh air or see the sunshine
• Put the kid in a t-shirt only. No panties, no pants, no skirt, no bottoms, just cheeks
• Try to sit her on the potty (physically pick her up and put her on it) every 20-25 minutes if she hasn’t gone recently, or every 40-45 minutes if she has
• This day you should have more and more successful pees and fewer empty trips
• I actually decided she was doing so well, I would venture out!  I told her that if she went peepee  RIGHT NOW, we would go get her a cupcake. She did and off we went! I put an old burp cloth folded up in her car seat and we went to the grocery store. Bought cupcakes and came home. Success! LOTS of praise for this!!
• ABOUT POOP: I noticed that when she needed to poop, my kid asked for her diaper and hid in a corner.
• Diaper/pull up at night time

DAY 3

• Take the diaper off as soon as she wakes up and ask if she has to go pee. Physically put her on the toilet.
• Repeat of yesterday – put the potty in the living room in front of the TV and hunker down.
• Depending on how yesterday went, ask if she wants to put on panties today. Still no pants, no skirt, no bottoms.
• This day you should have very very few sits-without-success.
• You may want to venture out for a longer errand at this point
• Diaper/pull up at night time

DAY 4

• Take the diaper off as soon as she wakes up and ask if she has to go pee. Physically put her on the toilet.
• Repeat of yesterday – put the potty in the living room in front of the TV and hunker down.
• Depending on how yesterday went, you can upgrade to a dress with panties, so she’ll get used to being in real clothes
• This day you should have just a couple sits-without-success
• You may want to venture out for a longer errand at this point
• Diaper/pull up at night time

moving on with your life

• The success of this 4 Day Potty Training is reliant on support and consistency. Make sure that all of your child’s caretakers are on board with NO DAYTIME PULLUPS.
• We brought little baggies full of her Potty Treats to school so the teacher can help reinforce. And LOTS of changes of clothes. Luckily, we have a daycare that is OK with accidents and was supportive of the whole process. There was a regression when a substitute kept putting her in PullUps, and the management backed me up and we were back to business in no time!
• Your outings will be shorter. Your kid will inevitably have to go everywhere. All the time. And investigate every public restroom ever created. But be consistent. And praise your amazing miracle. And save money on diapers. You got this, momma!