"Fully" Potty Trained for AO...Eek!

[AmesFL]

So DH and I have been casually potty training DD for a while now (she'll be 3 in March) and after reading the AO policies, it's time to ramp things up for our April cruise. Today is day 2 in undies and out of pull-ups. I can see that we have a long road ahead of us (and a TON of laundry/carpet cleaning). We've been showing her pictures of AO and the H2O Zone hoping to muster up some motivation. I hope that we will be able to get her from semi-potty trained to self-sufficient in the next 99 days. Any tips for us newbies for the final push to get her on her own?

[hopesicle]

Ahh I'm right with you as DD turns 3 in February. However, I have learned thus far in this process that it is a process; not a task I can check off my to-do list like I thought it would be! (not saying you feel that way but that is really what I thought) We tried the 3-day method by Lora Jensen almost a year ago because it worked for both of my friend's sons. After day 6, we embraced our Pampers once again-though we followed it to a T it didn't work at all! Everyone said "She'll do it when she's ready" and I was always like "but what if she doesn't?!" I was super stressed about it all the time & spent hours reading about it online. Finally I decided to relax. In the past 6 months I've found that she has in fact started doing it herself, and gradually. She's about 50% trained now, but honestly, I don't think the pictures of AO are going to fix this. You can cross your fingers; but you may be better off to plan on springing for the in-room babysitting and planning on it being the 3 of you for this trip. I wish you the best of luck and I hope that she will get it down in time for your cruise!

[twinmommy08]

Our twins are about 3.5 and we just got twin 2 fully done. He was a mess with #2. He just refused on the potty until one day he just got it and hasn't stopped yet. His sister was good from the go and was fully done at 3. I honestly think it happens when they are ready but I was cold Turkey with the underwear a week after their 3rd bday. Sure there was messes but they learned!

My good friends daughter is one month older than our kids and she is no where close. However, her mother puts diapers on her so my guess the child is lazy or confused. I say no diapers and it goes quicker. The twins wear nighttime pull ups still.

[DALSAL]

Hang in there, cause it does happen when you least expect it! My dgd was 2 in November, and she has been potty trained for quite a few months. I bought her a little potty chair that she enjoyed sitting on, and a video or two..we watched them and took her every time we went to the bathroom. I think one thing that really helps, is TAKE them every 20-30 mins. I know this is hard if you work. I know they have a 3 day program where you don't put any clothes on at all, but we always used the panties. If you can take them frequently, this is a big help.My gd seemed to prefer the potty we put right on the toilet, guess she felt like a big girl! We also let her pick out lots of cute panties!

 

My gd loves to sit on the big potty without her seat! I keep telling her she has to hold on or she will fall in, but she thinks its so funny. We go on the Mariner with her in Feb. Still going to take her little pool for our balcony. She will be so upset if she can't get in the pool, as her other grandparents have one at their house and she's been in the pool since day one! I know she would create a lot of stares though.

 

I really think the trick is to not ask if they need to go, just TAKE them. Just make it normal. And, I was amazed that just about every time I took her, she actually went in the potty ! :D Dot

[AmesFL]

Thanks everyone! I know that there is a good possibility that she won't be fully ready in time and we are prepared to do in-cabin babysitting one or two nights if we want to hit Portofino or Chops. I hope, for her sake, that she'll be ready. I know she'd love the Aquanauts program. If not, we're more than happy to spend the entire cruise together. This will be her 3rd cruise and our first with her without the help of grandparents.

 

We'll try the 20-30 min potty sits today. The asking clearly didn't work the past couple days. We'll get there at some point and either way, we'll have a great cruise. :)

[crusinmama06]

Why not just use the Royal Tots nursery on Freedom? Then at least you won't be stressing yourself out about potty training and she will get the feel of AO without actually being in AO.

 

I hear it's great. ;)

[AmesFL]

Why not just use the Royal Tots nursery on Freedom? Then at least you won't be stressing yourself out about potty training and she will get the feel of AO without actually being in AO.

 

I hear it's great. ;)

 

Can we if she's already turned 3? She'll turn 3 March 25th and we sail April 15th.

[ToddlerMom]

We're booked on the Freedom for next December right after DD turns 3. DD is making great progress now in potty training but I'm already stressing about RCCL's strict policies regarding potty training. I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect a 3 year to be 100% potty trained and self sufficient in a strange environment with new people. I don't see how allowing a kid to wear pull-ups (changed by the parents) is a problem for them.

 

I expect that we will probably end up switching to another line for our December cruise because I'll want the ability to see DD to the kids club in a pull-up.

 

Good luck!

[TheCalicoCat]

So DH and I have been casually potty training DD for a while now (she'll be 3 in March) and after reading the AO policies, it's time to ramp things up for our April cruise. Today is day 2 in undies and out of pull-ups. I can see that we have a long road ahead of us (and a TON of laundry/carpet cleaning). We've been showing her pictures of AO and the H2O Zone hoping to muster up some motivation. I hope that we will be able to get her from semi-potty trained to self-sufficient in the next 99 days. Any tips for us newbies for the final push to get her on her own?

 

 

All I can say is luckily we have until June... My 3 year old son "JUST" got over being freakind out by the regular sized toilet.

 

(I've heard that once they "get it" they've "got it.")

[kimmimom]

are ready! Taking a kid to the potty every 20 min is more like training the parents IMO. My last one was 3 weeks short of her 3rd birthday and trained. However, we went on Carnival and she had MULTIPLE accidents during that cruise. Carnival was okay wtih it and after a couple accidents would put her in a Pull Up (after asking my permission) and that was fine with me. When we got home, she was fine using the potty again. I think she was so busy playing and a new environment (never been in any child care except gym for an hour at most), she just had accidents. And for all 3 of mine, they were night time trained fully about 6 months after daytime. My oldest was trained about 2.5 yrs, the second not until 3 yrs 3 months, and the third at 2 yrs 10 months.

[Onessa]

Also be prepared, the toliets on the ship are louder and scarier than toliets at home. If your kid will be going to the bathroom at AO by themselves they might be just fine going but too freaked out by the toliet! (my DD was in dance for years and I remember chaperoning "back stage" where we always had one mom as the potty monitor - we'd block all the toliets autoflush mechanisms and the potty mom would flush because we found that way too many of the preschoolers were so freaked out by the autoflush that they wouldn't use the toliets and have accidents):)

 

Even if they are too accident prone for AO, if you can get them to the point where they are ok with you, they will be able to use the pool because you will be there to remind them and help them.

 

My DD was trained in a day at day care. The Daycare teacher was a whiz -- she determined my DD was ready, told me to bring in 5 changes of clothes, DD came home in daycare clothes that first day, but never had an accident at any point after that first day. Still don't know what Miss Sue did, but she's "retired" from daycare work, but I know people who pay to have her potty train their kid. :)

[AmesFL]

I totally forgot about the sound. Ugh! She was terrified of it on our last cruise, but that will be nearly 1.5 years ago by the time we sail. We'll just have to get her comfortable with them in our cabin first and see if she's ok. My other fear is that they don't have smaller toilets in AO. Her skinny butt will fall straight through a normal toilet. She's a beanpole, only 24.5 pounds but 37.5 inches.

[MnAsMom]

I made sure to make my kiddo go to the bathroom right before I dropped him off at AO and reminded him as he was walking in that if he felt like he had to go to the bathroom to GO, don't wait. I know easier said than done. there is no reason why you couldn't check in on your child after an hour and say hi at the door and tell them to go use the bathroom. Hope your little one "gets it" and is PT'd by the cruise!

[Liltx31]

I potty train children with special needs in my public school pre-school classroom. The biggest tip I give parents is to wait until they are ready.

 

holds/stays dry urine for 90 minutes

awareness of being wet/dirty, not want to be soiled

show interest in potty or other going potty

 

Then you MUST get rid of diapers/pullup except for night.

I give TONS of fluids and really fill them up so that they urinate often. This gives them the feel of needing to go and gives a lot of practice.

I also use lots of reinforcers. My biggest tools is a baby doll that sits on the potty. I pour a cup of water down the doll's back so that it looks like the doll is peeing. Then I "reward" the doll with bubbles, stamps, etc. Whatever I know my student really likes. Then the child knows what to expect. I have them sit on the potty every 30 minutes. Once they go we wait one hour to sit again. Then back to 30 mintue if they do not go after one hour again. When accidents happen I do have the child remove thier own wet (not soiled) clothing and change themselves as much as possible. Using this method I am able to train even children who are cognitively delayed, have autism, etc in 2-4 days in just 3 hours a day.

BUT they must be ready to be trained. If you do not see the signs above it will not work.

[ctfamilyof5]

Doing the same thing here - my daughter turns 3 end of March - just potty trained her 3 weeks ago because we leave for our cruise 2/26/12 and I would like her to be able to go in the pools---

 

We are on the NCL GEM so they do take 2 yr olds not potty trained, but I also have a 6 & 8 year old so didn't think I could keep the 2yr old out of the pool.

 

So far so good - uses pull ups only at night, and during the day she is doing great - she can even go by herself (pull up and down pants)!!

 

So excited as I only have 26 more days until we leave!!

 

Good Luck!

[scrap4girls]

I have a very strong willed child and the usually potty training using pull up didn't work. Either did sticker charts, rewards, ect. I was able to potty train my daughter using the 3 day potty training method. It was the best way for us. You might want to look into it. no pull up allowed. Regular underwear only and she has had very few accidents. Getting her to do poops was a little harder. Within one week of having our Elf on the Shelf Will. She was pooping the toilet. We told her that Will was telling Santa that she was dirtying her undies and Santa wanted her to use the toilet. Maybe you could use the Easter bunny like we used Santa? :rolleyes:

[RCKM43]

I have one strong willed and one very independent one. DD#1 didn't train until 3.5 she just wasn't ready and even though she wanted to everything we tried she would have more and more accidents and until she would give up about day 4. Then one day she told us she was ready. Day 1 she had 4 accidents then has been completely dry from day 2 on. Even got rid of her night time pull ups by day 5. This is what worked for her. One mini m&m or sticker her choice when she went potty. If she stayed dry all day she got to pick out one present per day (went to the dollar store and bought things like coloring books, sticker packs, puzzles, small gifts). Then if she stayed dry for the week she got to go to the store and had $20 to buy anything she wanted.

 

DD#2 we were going on a cruise last August when she was 27 months. She trained in about 2 weeks (about 3-4 weeks before the cruise). We showed her every single day pictures of the pool on the Summit, the fun factory (they did let her in since she was fully trained as long as we stayed with her). Then I repeated the above. Mini m&m or mini marshmellow when she went on the potty. She was and still is - difficult when we go out though - she doesn't want to sit before we leave the house so we were giving a sticker if she at least sat and tried before car rides. She ended up getting a baby doll when she finished day training. She still shows it to people and says she got it for getting rid of her diapers. We are now also night trained. I learned that I told DD that her night pants were NOT pull ups/diapers because she would think she could go in them. I told her they were "night" pants instead.

 

I learned if you push it and they aren't ready it will take a while but if they are ready they train very quickly. You just have to find the right incentive for them. Is there a particular inexpensive toy you could offer as a reward at the end of the road to give them something to work towards? That really helped with both my girls. I have had friends who thought charts were helpful but they didn't work for us. I recommend small inexpensive rewards - for some kids stars or stickers work - others something very tiny. I liked going to the dollar store and picking out a few surprises - it gave them something to work for each day as well without breaking the bank.

 

I also recommend getting a car potty because it is nothing like going somewhere and hearing um I have to go now. We have a great one that folds up small into a little briefcase, and takes zip lock bags. I got it from one step ahead and we leave it in the car.

 

I know some people when they 1st ventured out of the house put a pull up on OVER the underwear but I think that causes regression. Try to stay home for about 3-4 days so that they get the hang of it before trying to take them out. Give them plenty to drink and put them in clothes that are easy to get off - leggings or tee shirt and underpants, or sweats - something without buttons, zippers or snaps.

[alj1208]

I have a very strong-willed boy, and I used M & M's. He wasn't ready at 3, but was more than ready at 3.5. The M & M's helped get him interested and motivated. Easy process. He got a few M & M's when he went to the toilet. Extra for #2. He was in underwear in three weeks with no accidents! We tried stickers as a reward, but the candy was much more effective.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Every child is different and readiness varies so widely that it's hard to set any specific date.

 

One of our granddaughters just wasn't interested at all at almost 3. Her parents wanted her to go to a pre-school that required kids to be trained. For some reason DGD really, really wanted to go to pre-school.

 

All her parents said to her was that she couldn't go to preschool because she wasn't potty trained and she couldn't wear diapers/pull-ups there.

 

You see where this is going; yep, pre-school discussion on Friday, school started on Monday, on Friday afternoon she decided she wanted to go to school and literally trained herself in one day.

 

Dry, day and night Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and forever after. She was obviously ready physically, just not motivated mentally. She never had another accident, ever! (I know this is not the norm.)

 

So, don't give up hope and if physically a child is ready sometimes it just takes the right motivation--like a cruise, maybe? (But don't push it too much or be over-enthusiastic as this just might backfire too).

[dreamr]

I potty train children with special needs in my public school pre-school classroom. The biggest tip I give parents is to wait until they are ready.

 

holds/stays dry urine for 90 minutes

awareness of being wet/dirty, not want to be soiled

show interest in potty or other going potty

 

Then you MUST get rid of diapers/pullup except for night.

I give TONS of fluids and really fill them up so that they urinate often. This gives them the feel of needing to go and gives a lot of practice.

I also use lots of reinforcers. My biggest tools is a baby doll that sits on the potty. I pour a cup of water down the doll's back so that it looks like the doll is peeing. Then I "reward" the doll with bubbles, stamps, etc. Whatever I know my student really likes. Then the child knows what to expect. I have them sit on the potty every 30 minutes. Once they go we wait one hour to sit again. Then back to 30 mintue if they do not go after one hour again. When accidents happen I do have the child remove thier own wet (not soiled) clothing and change themselves as much as possible. Using this method I am able to train even children who are cognitively delayed, have autism, etc in 2-4 days in just 3 hours a day.

BUT they must be ready to be trained. If you do not see the signs above it will not work.

 

I was going to suggest all of the above. *nod*

 

I work with 2 year olds and due to our center's regulations requiring children to be fully potty trained before they can move up to the 3 year old classrooms, we have had to potty train all of the kids in our class. It was a lot easier than I was expecting, given that we were going to have to potty train about twelve kids at one time! I was expecting to be changing clothes all day long. Didn't happen!

 

Pull-ups are a big no-no at our center, since they absorb the urine just like a diaper and don't allow the child to feel the icky feeling of soiled undies. So we cut out the diapers, cold turkey, and go straight to underwear. Yes, there are going to be a few accidents, but this really does seem to be the quickest, most successful way. They don't like that cold wet feeling any more than we do. So once they start realizing what it feels like to pee pee their clothes, they aren't going to want to do it too many times! lol

 

We also offer the child a small reward each time they pee pee in the potty. If you have a child that is a little more hesitant about sitting on the potty, giving them a little reward for just sitting on the potty is okay for the first day or so. After that, only reward them if they actually use the potty. If your child is anything like the kids in our class, they will pick up using the potty very, very quickly when it means that they get a skittle or an m&m if they pee pee.

 

We have had surprisingly few accidents. It has only been a few weeks since we started and I'd say the majority of them are pretty much pros already. Most of them no longer require a diaper at nap time anymore (for the first couple of weeks, we did put a diaper on them at naptime - when they start waking up dry on a regular basis, then we let them sleep without a diaper).

 

Asking them if they need to potty every short while is also very important. They aren't used to automatically sensing the need to pee, so it sometimes takes a little reminder of "hey, do you need to go potty?" At least for the first little bit. Once they've gotten a good grasp of pottying, though, they will get better at being able to tell when they need to go and will start going on their own.

 

Hope that helps! Good luck! :D

[njmomof2]

Ah, the days of potty training. Fortunately, they are now in my hazy past.

 

But I did find that boys are usually more difficult than girls. For some reason, the idea of wearing big girl panties is a motivator for a lot of girls. Boys could care less what they're wearing most of the time.

 

For my oldest, he was in daycare and they started all of them at a particular time, whether they were ready or not. We went along. He was about 3 then and it simply didn't work. He was stressed, we were stressed, it was not the right way. So we stopped for a while. Then as the weather warmed up, we tried again. He didn't seem to "get it" at first, but then, on a particularly warm day when we were going to the pool at my mom's development, she told him to go to the potty before we left. He started arguing, she said "all kids use the potty before the pool". He sat, peed, and all of a sudden the lightbulb went off over his head, as if to say "oh, THAT'S what you wanted me to do." And that was it. Poop training took just a bit longer and required the incentive of a Rescue Heroes fire truck, but that worked too.

 

Younger DS was a summer baby so the year he turned 3 (in July) we put the potty in the living room, took off his clothes and told him to sit down when he had to go and not pee on my carpet. He sat every 5 minutes or so, then older DS starts yelling that there's pee in the potty. And DS2 was done. Much easier than older DS, maybe because he had a role model, maybe just a different kid. But I do know that until they really are ready, no amount of bribing, cajoling, pleading or stripping of clothes is going to do it.

 

I wish you lots of luck and easy potty training vibes.

[AmesFL]

Thanks to everyone for their continued advice. It has all been very helpful. We've been incorporating a lot of it into our training. Bean is doing pretty well, but is still having accidents. We're at the point of an accident a day. We're still having to remind her and she rarely will go without prompting, but we're getting there. I greatly appreciate all the input! :)

[dogsambam]

My understanding is that the Nursaey will take the kids if they are close to 3. My boy will be 36 months and a few days when we board in March. I was told due to the fact he is 36 months, there wont be an issue. They also told me, the nursery is pretty understanding of accepting the youger 3 year old.

[AmesFL]

My understanding is that the Nursaey will take the kids if they are close to 3. My boy will be 36 months and a few days when we board in March. I was told due to the fact he is 36 months, there wont be an issue. They also told me, the nursery is pretty understanding of accepting the youger 3 year old.

Fantastic. Things aren't looking good for AO at this point. That relieves the pressure on all of us to have her completely trained by then. She turns 3 two weeks before we sail. We've tried all the tips and tricks, but she is really still resisting. One of these days she'll get there. Sigh...

[kabrown]

She will absolutely get it one day. We have been going through the same thing with our 3yo dd, as we are also going on a cruise in April with her. Since November, we have been telling her and reminding her that she can't swim in the pools on the "big boat" if she is still wearing diapers/pullups all day. I thought she was NEVER going to get it, but finally about 3 weeks ago, my DCP told me that out of the blue, dd started asking to go potty. This was on a Tuesday. The very next day, Wednesday, dd wore just panties all day and didn't have one single accident. Most days have actually been that way. She will still have a day here and there where she forgets, but for the most part, it's literally like a light bulb went on for her. We're still working on consistently getting her to go #2 on the toilet, so we're starting to bribe her with pennies to do that. For example, today she said she needed to go, so I told her if she went on the potty, that we would give her 2 pennies for her piggy bank. Next thing we knew, she was in the bathroom and had gone on the potty!

 

Long story short - definitely don't give up hope. It can still happen. But, at the same time, if it doesn't happen, don't get too upset. It's amazing how strong willed such a little person can be! Good luck to you!