Free The No-cry Potty Training Solution by Elizabeth Pantley Page A

pot and will then relax as soon as a diaper or training pants are in place.
    Remember, too, that your child has been used to eliminating while standing or even while on the go. Sitting still in one place to do his business is a new and unfamiliar concept and will take some getting used to.
    Don’t worry and don’t scold if your child continues to make dry runs. He’s not doing this to annoy you; he just can’t quite read his body signals yet. Give him time.
    He’ll get it all figured out eventually.
    At first, put a few pieces of toilet paper into the bottom of the potty, so that even a few drops of pee can be seen. If your child is using a toilet, put a few drops of blue food coloring into the water. Adding a bit of yel-low urine will turn the water green, which will surely fascinate your child. You can also do this in a potty chair with a tablespoon or two of blue water.
    Give Wiping and Toilet Paper Lessons
    Children seem to have a hard time figuring out how much toilet paper to use. They either use too little, ending up with a messy hand, or use too much and can’t control the wiping process. It will take a number of lessons before they get it right.
    If you can use a tangible way to measure the paper, that works best. Common measuring tools are an arm’s stretch length, counting squares, or unrolling the paper down to the floor.

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    Tristan, thirteen months old
    If the toilet paper tube unrolls too fast and your child ends up with an excess amount, you can squeeze the roll a bit so that it flattens out and slows the unraveling.
    Wiping after a bowel movement is a big job for little ones. It will take time for them to master this task, and 76
    The No-Cry Potty Training Solution
    they likely will not be doing it completely on their own until a year or more after completing their potty training. Be sure to teach your little girl to wipe from front to back to prevent infections.
    Teach your child to wipe while sitting down. Children have a tendency to get up first and then wipe, which often leaves a smear along the toilet seat as they climb off.
    You can start by doing the wiping and then let your child finish up. After a time, your child can start and you can finish up. Teach boys and girls to wipe until the paper is clean, which could take two or three fresh pieces of paper. A great idea is to use flushable diaper wipes for the first wipe and toilet paper for the second.
    Make It a Routine
    It will take quite a while for your little one to remember to even ask to go. She’ll have to learn how to read her body signals, understand what they mean, and act on them by stopping what she’s doing and making the trip to the bathroom. An active toddler who is concentrating on play will often miss the signals or hope they’ll go away so that she can finish her activity. She may also misjudge how long she has before her holding control stops. She may think she can put off going to the potty, but eventually her natural response will be to release, no matter where she is.
    To help your child learn how this all works, have her sit on the potty at regular times at first—for example, when she first wakes up, after meals, before a bath,

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    Mother-Speak
    “Anna does what we call the potty dance. She wiggles and shimmies while holding her crotch and shifting from foot to foot. It’s entirely obvious that she has to go, but when you ask her if she has to use the bathroom, she always says no!”
    —Julie, mother of three-year-old Anna
    before getting in the car, and before bed. In addition, watch your toddler closely, and anytime you think a visit to the potty might be timely, go ahead and take her.
    Don’t ask, “Do you have to go potty?” because the answer from a busy toddler will almost always be no (yet another case in which asking a yes-or-no question of a toddler is ill advised). Instead, make a positive suggestion, such as, “Let’s go sit on the