Toilet Training in Less Than a Day

Oh my gosh, it worked! Wowee!

I was really skeptical of this book, but, oh my gosh, it worked! My daughter was not potty trained in half a day, but she was self-initiating within one week and accident free within two! I still feel a little thrill every time she runs to the potty calling 'Mama, pee pee!' She feels so proud of herself too! The 'big day' was incredibly frustrating for me (expect this)as my daughter was pretty resistent at first and it took a lot of practice runs before she realized what it was she was supposed to do. I think that the expectation that this should be accomplished in one day made me feel a bit of a failure when it wasn't, but I stuck with it and here we are, chucking out our diaper pail! She is even accident free at night, and has actually gotten up in the night to go to the bathroom! I'm a first time mom and had NO IDEA how to begin and this book really helped me to understand that children have to LEARN potty skills. Maybe it works for some kids but it wasn't enough for my little one to watch mom go to the potty, or watch videos and read books. My little girl needed to experience success, learn what it is she needs to do, and feel the confidence that comes from this. We kind of combined methods as we would have her go to the potty when we knew she would most likely have to use the bathroon (i.e. 1/2 hour after breakfast, or a little while after a big drink) and as she had more and more success she started self-intitiating more and more, and if she had an accident we would do practice runs. This was enough to help her understand. However, don't reprimand too harshly with accidents (I think the book said to say that wetting your pants is 'bad'). It's enough to just say 'No. Big girls (boys) don't wet their pants'. Kids will get it. If they don't understand that, then they will understand how awful wet training pants feel. We seriously want to run around shouting 'SHE'S USING THE POTTY EVERYTIME, OH MY GOODNESS!!!!' And this was a kid who would cry if I even mentioned the word potty :)

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Success = 30% book, 70% good judgement

I read this book and the reviews, and decided to try the method with my 29 month old boy. I was excited (and skeptical), and decided to give it a shot and hope for the best but try to keep the experience positive. Now, after 4 days of 'Toilet Training in Less than a Day' I feel like I can add my 2 cents. I think this book did a good job of laying out a plan than you can follow - like a recipe. Though there is so much detail involved, that I don't know how you can remember to do everything they recommend. But with that said, some of the steps they recommend didn't work very well for us, and I think may have been a little damaging. I liked the practice of the child raising and lowering their own pants, dumping their own potty and flushing - don't forget to add washing hands - putting wet clothes in their hamper and helping to clean up accidents. That worked well for us. The positive practice trials did not work well. They invoked immediate tears -of fear, not anger- and ended up with him sobbing and feeling horrible. For us - the yummy beverage and extra snacks tactic didn't really work either - he didn't want any pop, juice or even chocolate milk and didn't want to drink much more than normal, so we didn't have as many opportunities to sit and 'go', so the training took longer than a day, like 2-3 days. So after a full day of really trying to stick to the book , and not being trained, the second day he went into a bit of rebellion, and was demotivated due to 'Wet pants are BAD!' and 'No accidents!'. I realized when grandma and grandpa came to visit, and he told them after an accident 'Mommy said no accidents' and just bawled, that I better back off. After that, and really laying on the encourangement with toys, and prizes, and lots of hugs and kisses from grandma and grandpa and not as much scolding about wet pants, he shaped up and began to tell us when he had to go. Now he's been accident free for 1 full day and off to a good start today in underwear.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent Book!

This is the best handbook I ever received as a young parent. It worked with both of my children and we had a fun time as well. It provides a list that helps you determine if your child has the skills needed to take themselves to the toilet. The book also helps you prepare your child for the training. You must be prepared to devote an entire day to your child, but one day out of a lifetime to give them the confidence and skill to take care of themselves for the first time is more than worth it! It's a short book, but PLEASE read the entire book a few times before starting the day. It will help you prepare yourself and the child for the big day. If you follow the simple guidelines outlined in the book, your child may, as my first born did, walk up to you after breakfast one day, carrying the potty chair and ASKED to be trained!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Unbelievable!!!

A friend gave me this book and the title just seemed to good to be true. I put the book on the shelf and now wish I would have read it sooner...the results on unbelievable. My 2 1/2 year old was actually trained in less than one day! I did exactly what the book suggested and to my surprise it worked. The first day of training was absolutely exhausting, but so worth it. My daughter had two accidents the firts day, and zero the second. She refused to wear diapers on the second night so I let her ware under ware to bed. She woke me up 4 times to go to the bathroom and went accident free all night. Enough said, I highly recommend this book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I couldn't believe it

What an amazing tool! Just because it is 30 years old, doesn't mean that it won't work! It did with our 2 1/2 year old son! He successfully was potty trained by the end of the day. This book delivers all that it promises: NO MORE DIAPERS IN ONE DAY! My husband trained him while I went out and ran a half days of errands. I couldn't believe it. You MUST be willing to follow the directions to the letter! It is a wonderful resource and I highly recommend it! My son's self confidence went up and he started dressing himself and doing more pretend play by himself just because of the methods in this book. What a blessing. I wish I had started it earlier. I am glad I did it now when I am six months pregnant! Now I will only have one set of diapers to change!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very informative

I picked up this book based on some recommendations I read online. I found it very simple to read and informative. My almost 2 year old son is showing some signs of interest in being potty trained and I wanted to read up on what to do so it's not a struggle when the time comes to train. I will definitely read this book a few more times before beginning the training. After reading the book the first time I felt like I could do this with my son and can see the added benefits of teaching independence with the training and not relying on mommy or daddy to know when to go or what to do.

The Title Says It All - Essential for all first time Moms.

Bottom line - It works. To be honest, it took me 2 days to train my firstborn, but we started when he was about 20 months. In two days, he was using the training toilet, emptying and flushing the 'big' toilet, pulling up his training pants, and washing his hands. Ditto for little brother, who came along a few years later. The Grandmas were thrilled - and a bit amazed that we'd pulled it off. That was 25 years ago. Today I buy this book for baby showers, along with something pretty for the new Mom to be. Most are amazed that the book exists - let alone that it's a 30 year classic.

It worked!

After disastrous experiences with my still-not-completely trained four-year-old, I used this book to train my two-year-old (26 months), and it worked beautifully. Some of the references are clearly dated (it's from the 70s after all) and we trained right to the toilet rather than using a potty chair. But the general method is very sound and it worked extremely well for her. She has an occasional accident--always on the bathroom floor, because she didn't get there quite in time. But those are limited to maybe one a week. This book is DEFINITELY worth purchasing, reading, and implementing. The savings in diapers is wonderful.

Don't expect success in their claimed "4 hours"!

I like the method and I believe it works better than anything my friends have tried. However, I almost gave up in despair when my 26 month old daughter took 4 days to get the hang of it. She is on her second week and has only had 2 accidents in the last 7 days. I am able to take her out and she lets me know when she has to go.
Don't be discouraged if it takes you longer than 4 hours!

Disappointing

This book is about a program created to teach mentally challenged adults how to use the toilet, and then modified for how to use it for children. I found it surprisingly harsh and controlling.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

IT WORKS!

I have used this book for each of our 4 boys--and it worked with EVERY ONE OF THEM. I never tried to potty them before using the techniques of the book, and by the end of the day, not one of them used a diaper for bed! IT IS AMAZING, BUT WORTH IT. The book should have a better format than it does for quick referencing. This could be frustrating at times, but don't get discouraged. Read it, make your lists and mark your pages for quick answers to situations that may arise! I have recommended this to several people and to nursery schools--YOU MUST FOLLOW THE BOOK COMPLETELY AND YOU WILL GET THE POSITVE RESULTS!

Old, outdated advice

This book has a promising title, but it was written in the 80s and it shows. The 'toilet train at all costs' approach brings more unhappiness and tantrums than are necessary or desired during the toilet training period. Expecting too much, too fast is a recipe for anger and disappointment.

It works!!

It's old but it works!!!

Getting it for my Granddaughters

Our children are now having children. I used this book for all 4 of our children. I have told other parents about it. I am getting the books for our sons and daughter in laws to use with their daughters. They are 17 months and 14 months old. The training is done in one day but you must stay with it. With our oldest my Dad was on me that he should be trained. What we were doing was not working. After reading this book I realized that he was not ready. We waited until the book said he was ready and they were right.

Marvelous for 1 kid, not for other

This book worked marvelously for my 2yr old son (now 29!) and didn't for his brother. Four hours, calls to everyone we knew to tell, lots of cheerleading, and he never had an accident. It took me a while with my second son to realize that it was a power struggle that I couldn't win.

Good concept

The concept behind this book is great. According to the book my 22 month old daughter should be considered ready so my husband and I set aside a family potty training day. My daughter was so exhausted and frustrated with the whole thing by the end of the day and she had so much liquid in her system that it was a disaster with tinkle all over our floors. I agree very much with the previous review...the book is very dated and very wordy at parts (Ex. in the question and answer chapter one of the questions is what do you do when your child asks about the weather?) We are going to try a less rushed method because I think it will put less pressure on all of us. I did like the whole concept and we will definitely a lot of the methods from the book.

Good ideas, but not for everyone.

I had heard about this book from a few acquaintances and checked out the mostly glowing reviews online, so I bought it. After reading the book, I was thrilled with the idea that it might work. According to all the 'readiness' tests in the book, my 23 month old daughter was certainly ready. So I set aside a day, read the book again and got all the props needed. My daughter was very responsive at first, but seemed to get scared every time some urine would come out into the potty. The book doesn't address how to handle some of these issues and I think it is very unrealistic to expect a toddler to sit on the potty for 10 minutes at a time, without distraction. Needless to say, I followed the book to the letter for the first day, but nothing seemed to be working except that since my daughter spent so much of that first day sitting on the potty, invariably she would start to urinate while there some of the time. After a couple days of trying, I decided to put the whole idea on hold. The book made me feel somewhat of a failure, since the authors made it sound like any child 20 months or older should be able to learn by this method. So, I don't recommend it, simply because of that. Each child is unique and learns in their own way. Some of the methods were helpful (eg. using a doll that wets, only using positive reinforcement), but the overall method just didn't work for me at the time. My daughter is now 26 months and I have toilet-trained her in a week, just by letting her run around naked and encouraging her to use the potty occasionally. It was a much less stressful event than the original attempt of following the book's method to a tee.

Great Book, Awful Day, Happy Day After

I bought this book in 1982, my son was then almost 2 years old. My husband and I spent a grueling day, no make that a horrible day, doing everything that this book said to do. At the end of the day we threw our arms up because it didn't work, at least that is what we thought. The next day my son woke up and he began using the toilet and he never had an accident during the day or at night and we never looked back. This book was fabulous. But, you have to do the work - it ain't easy.

Great Techniques applied

I used some of the methods from this book to train my 32 month old son. I wasn't able to follow all the procedures since he has a 4 year old brother who pees standing up, and uses a big potty. I was able to apply some of the techniques, and he still had great success. However, I was disappointed the importance of handwashing wasn't mentioned or applied. I made sure I added this step into the process. Otherwise...a good book.

This Book Delivers!

I researched a lot of different methods before deciding on this one with my 2 1/2 year old son. Although the initial day was exhausting he was 'trained' by the end of it. It has been over two months and he only had 1 accident within the first couple of days although it took a little longer for him to make it through the night. I trained him to go in the regular toilet because I did not see the point in having to clean up a small potty as the book describes. He has had no problem with this. This method truly does work - the key is for the person who is training to be 100% committed to the training. Read and reread the book before beginning and be determined and patient. In the long run it will pay off. You can't believe how many people are amazed at the fact that my son was trained so quickly and without using pull ups. I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of stuff, put them in a box and let him pick each time he used the potty for the first couple of days. He was ecstatic and he wasn't on a sugar high.