Email From Customer:

My name is Charlotte. I am a single mom and I have a child going on 5years old and recently she has started to regress when it comes to going to the bath room she was completely potty trained now for the last 2 years and now she has started acting as if she is not a child going on 5 that she is going on one how do I get her to stop peeing and pooping her pant and start getting her to use the potty in stead please help me I feel like a failure to my kids as a parent.

Sincerely,

Charlotte

Our Response:

Charlotte,

First and foremost, this regression does not mean you are a failure as a parent. The reason your child has started doing this is probably because there has been some change in her life. Something has caused her to regress. Have you had a change in your life? Has she had a change in her life? Do you have any idea what the change may be that may be causing her distress?

Young children are unable to articulate their feelings as easily as we can, so sometimes they will communicate their feeling through their actions.

If you can identify the change, talk to her about it. Address the feelings that are resulting from the change and hopefully things will return back to normal.

In the meantime, do not over react to the regression i.e. do not react with anger or punish her for this. Provide lots of positive reinforcement; you may want you use potty charts; we have free printable potty training charts available or you can purchase some potty training charts and potty training stickers as well. Put these in the bathroom; they will provide the visual positive reinforcement.

Also you should check with your child's pediatrician, to make sure that it is not a medical or physiological issue and get confirmation that this is indeed behavioral.

I hope this helps you out. Please let us know how things work out.

Have a great day.

Narmin

Email From Customer:

Dear Narmin,

Well, I found your website quite informative and useful. I am quite excited and a bit anxious to begn potty training (I'm going to read that book twice to make sure I know what I'm doing.) The one thing on my mind that I couldn't find on your website or anywhere else on the web is what does she wear for naptime on the "big day" (I don't want her to get all wet--she has super sensitive skin). Will she be able to not pee at all during naptime once she's trained? (Sometimes she wakes up dry; sometimes she's got a nappy full of pee.) Additionally, I believe I read somewhere that potty training does not involve nightime training....when are you supposed to start that? What does she wear at nightime so she's comfortable and doesn't wake up since your not supposed to use diapers at all once they wear training pants?

Sorry to have bombarded you with queries...I couldn't find info anywhere even at the AAP website...I can't wait to get my package so we can start!

Thank you.

Best regards,

Leslie

Our Response:

Hello Leslie,

There is a section in the book about nap time & nighttime training.

One of the readiness signals is waking up dry from naps and in the morning - so do make sure that your daughter is indeed ready for potty training.

Ideally, you want your child to try using the potty training underwear for naps on the big day; however, if you are concerned about her sensitive skin, I would suggest a pull - up - but in a different brand - because she is all grown up and now only wears underwear - and then the pull up goes on just before nap and comes off right after the nap - most of us urinate within a few minutes of waking up and you don't want to give her the opportunity to go in the pull up because it causes confusion - so try to remove it before she urinates and try and have her urinate in the potty.

I hope that this along with the book makes a little more sense. If not, please feel free to call me at 713-817-1998 or email me and I will try and address all your questions. Sometimes it is a lot easier on the phone.

Have a great day!

Narmin

Email From Customer:

Narmin,

If I am potty training in just one day, should I use the potty chair or potty seat?

Jacki

Las Vegas, NV

Our Response:

Hello Jacki,

Regarding using the potty chair or the potty seat for potty training, my recommendation or preference is to use the potty chair, and I have a couple of reasons for this. The first reason is that the goal of potty training in one day is to create independent potty habits, so the goal is for the child to be able to go potty when he has the urge to go and sometimes the potty seat can create an obstacle in the sense that your child has to find his way to the bathroom and climb up to the seat. Which leads to the second reason, the potty chair is portable, so the "big day" can happen anywhere in your house, you are not tied to the bathroom as you would be if you were using the potty seat.

Having said all this, if the bathroom works well for your "big day" and your son can easily and safely climb up to the potty seat, than there is no reason not to use it.

I hope this answers your questions. You can always call me at 713-817-1998 or email me if you have any more questions or concerns.

Have a great day and I wish you all the success for the "big day".

Narmin Parpia

Email From Customer:

Narmin,

So far love the product and info that comes with it. Just have a few questions that I can not seem to find answers to on your site. Advice section a little hard to find answers to everyone"s questions. If I could find the answers I probably wouldn't be writing this email.

Our "big day" is Sat 8/20 and I'm not sure if I should let my son play with potty scott before this day. Next is my son goes potty on the big toilet as a for fun thing or when he wants to get out of doing something else. We have never officially potty trained its just something he does. My question is can I just use the potty seat on the big potty for our training party or is it best to use the potty chair? My son is a little over 2 1/2 years old. I really think this concept will work for him. I just want to get it right the first time.

Thank You for Your Time,

Jacki

Las Vegas, NV

Our Response:

Hello Jacki,

I know that it is hard to find all the answers on the site and I don't mind the emails at all.

Let your son play with Potty Scotty before the "big day". The answer to this question is that depends on your son's personality. You want your child to be excited about the doll on the "big day" - so if you think that he will loose interest after playing with it for a while; then don't let him have it. If you think that he will bond with the doll and make it his doll, then let him have it. Do save giving the doll water and making it go potty for the "big day".

I hope this answers your questions. You can always call me at 713-817-1998 or email me if you have any more questions or concerns.

Have a great day and I wish you all the success for the "big day".

Narmin Parpia

Email From Customer:

Hello Narmin,

I bought your "Complete System for Boys" to train my 3 year old. We started about a month and a half ago and he seemed to be doing pretty well. However, recently, he's been having an accident every 3-4 days. The problem is not that he doesn't know that he needs to go. The problem is that he holds it until the last moment, then makes a run to the bathroom and often does not make it. We've done the runs 9 times repeatedly for this and he still has this problem. As well, he has a fear of public washrooms so when we're out, he also tends to hold it rather than telling us (until it's too late).

Do you have any suggestions?

There are 5 times during the day in which he is required to go to the potty. I know this is not what the instructions say, but this is what we've been doing. When he wakes up, we tell him to go to the potty before he eats breakfast. His bladder is very full in the morning. After each meal, we have him sit on the potty for 10 mins. for poo poo because his schedule dictates he always poo poo after a meal. Then right before bed, we ask him to pee or sit for a couple of minutes on the potty. The rest of the time he's free.

Sometimes, I don't know if he can tell the difference between "need to go" and "really really need to go".

Anyway, any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

Stanley

Our Response:

Hello Stanley,

It is good to hear from you and I am sorry to hear that you are having some struggles with your little boy.

A couple of thoughts after reading your email:

First, addressing the last item first, I really like your idea of placing your child on the potty at given times, however, I am no sure that I think that this is a good strategy for the long term simply because, as you have said yourself, it may not clarify for the child the real need to go.

My recommendation is that once the child is initiating going to the potty and has done so a couple of times, parents should really back off on the prompts and reminders and let the child go when he wants to. I think that it is okay to prompt before going out (we still do that with our 13 and 10 year old children!!), however, the rest of the time, let them initiate going on their own.

Regarding waiting until the last minute, it seems to be a thing some children do because they do not want to stop to go to the bathroom because it takes away from what they are doing. To correct this behavior I would recommend other consequences besides the practice runs; i.e. losing something that he values (Dr Phil's terms - "know his currency"). He needs to know that you are serious about him not having accidents at home, when all he has to do is take one minute out to go use the bathroom or he will loose something he values, so he will choose to stop and go over loosing this thing he values. I hope this makes sense to you. You can call or email if it doesn't.

Regarding fear of public restrooms, I cannot tell from your description what may be causing this. Is it that he is afraid of the big toilet seat? So, first I would recommend trying to nail down what it is he does not like about public restrooms and then figure out how to work with his fear; i.e. if he is afraid of the big toilet, consider carrying a reducer. There are many portable folding potty seats available on the market. Or consider carrying a portable potty chair so that he can use the chair until he is comfortable with the big toilet seat.

I have had a couple of other parent whose children were afraid of the public restrooms after being potty trained at home. One Mom said that her son was initially fascinated with public restrooms and would love to go in with her, but then after being trained, he did not wan to go anymore. Both sets of children got over their fear once they were totally comfortable with potty training and one of the Moms started out by carrying a portable potty chair so he did not have to use the big toilet.

Stanley, I hope this is helpful to you. You can always call me at 713-817-1998 or email me.

Have a great day.

Narmin Parpia