My Personal Potty Training Experience as a Mom

I got my son out of diapers at 20 months old while I was 3 months pregnant with my daughter. It took a little over a week; however, as a stay-at-home-mom, we weren’t up against the clock, and I was determined to get him out of diapers before he turned two. To each her own, but I did not want to deal with two little ones in diapers simultaneously, and autonomy is a trait we highly value in our family, across all facets of life. In regard to my daughter, I have been practicing part-time EC (elimination communication) with her since she was born. I plan to also get her out of diapers prior to two-years-old.

At 21 months old, we night-trained our son. He was on a roll! Yes, he would have the occasional accident, early on, however he was initiating often, and the only time we had to step in to assist was to wipe. We even traveled to Sweden from Florida with him just shy of two-years-old, completely diaper free and going poop and pee in all sorts of situations. We felt on top of the world, and being done with diapers for good felt so gratifying.

Fast forward to shortly after my daughter was born, and boom! We hit our first major regression. One of the most challenging types. Poop withholding. After a six-month-streak of toilet independence, it felt like we were right back at square one but way worse. And I was deep in the fourth trimester. I ate a big slice of humble pie. Without fail, I tried everything to understand the root cause and reverse his regression to no avail. I was reassured by well-intentioned but misinformed individuals that “it would go away on its own” or the cliche “he probably just wasn’t ready to be potty trained so young” even though he already had a proven track record of six consecutive months of using the toilet, drama-free.

It wasn’t until I came across Jamie’s “pooping solutions” course that I was able to completely reverse his poop withholding when we thought there would be no end in sight. Trust me: once you can overcome poop withholding well after being potty trained, you can pretty much do anything. There’s nothing quite like it, and the whole family dynamic feels imbalanced and high-strung. This is why I have a special place in my heart not only for families who want to get a handle on “early” potty training, but also families in which each member is suffering the consequences of a major regression with no end in sight and no viable solution. It’s my mission to spread this wisdom and give you back your sanity and your child’s confidence.