Potty Training in 3 Days: The Step-by-Step Plan for a Clean Break from Dirty Diapers

I'm don't have a child, but my boyfriend does and we needed to start potty training. As a non-parent, I was 100% clueless on how to go about this process. My boyfriend's daughter is 3 and his only child so it was time, but he was clueless too. I tried consulting with other parents who had tips, but no real strategy or plan to offer. I asked my mom who had the helpful reply of: your babysitter potty trained you! So off to the Amazon book shop I went! I perused a bunch of books and this seemed to be the best fit for me. It was written by someone with expertise in the area, it claimed to be able to do it in a short period of time, and it was relatively short. I thought it would be a good jumping off point. It was a quick read! It bullet points the important stuff and gives all the relevant information without a lot of fluff. I like that. I ended up not purchasing any other books (though I did read through a number of online resources just to see other theories and practices and pick which best suited our situation). I gave the book to the boyfriend and then we were off to the races! Potty training went well! She had just turned 3 about a month earlier and was ready to give it a go. We followed the instructions on talking with her leading up to it and then throwing out the diapers. We also used a reward sticker chart (which she lost interest in after three days) and candy. After five days she had only had 6 accidents, three of which were during nap time so I didn't really count. We have been sticking with it and it has really worked. I think the book provided good practical strategies. The one thing we ended up using that the book discouraged was a potty watch. I thought the potty watch seemed like a gimmick, but it has worked really well for us. The 3 year old is only with us half the time so it provided a certain level of consistency for her. Also, we ended up setting timers on our phones to remind us to take her to the potty every 30 minutes or so and she got accustomed to hearing the alarms. When she'd hear our phones go off, she'd yell: Potty time! And race off to the bathroom herself. So since she took to that, I got the watch and it has worked really well for her. She still hasn't figured out all the signals from her body that she needs to go, but she's getting there. So for now the watch is helpful little reminder. We are only about three weeks into the whole potty training thing, but I am very happy with the results. I highly recommend this book. All the strategies in it may not work for you or your child, but it explains the reasoning well enough that it provides you with the knowledge to make the best decisions for you and your child.

Update of July 2023, it stuck. My granddaughter has since ( after I left florida) went to church and during Sunday school, daddy recieved no call from the nursery. ( win) upon his return to get her from nursery he was informed she went into the bathroom and used the potty all on her own. It’s so nice when places have the children’s toilets ( close to the floor) ….. I never thought I would need a book to tell me how to potty train. I’m in my 60s I potty trained mine ( when he was age 2 seems to be the twilight age) I’ve babysat and helped potty train many children. Again they were at the age of 1 1/2-2….. I honestly don’t know how my granddaughter would have become potty trained without this book popping up in my search for potty training supplies. I am so thankful, it made it happen. So if you missed the perfect window for it ( one and half to 2) or your child is just an early independent, get this book, follow it to a T. You may or may not find the 3 days easy, but it’s worth it in the end…….end of update. My daughter in law was waiting for my granddaughter to decide when she was ready for potty training, yes I laughed as well but there was no convincing her to do it at 2. Young mother. So then the child is almost 4 and the fight began. This child has now developed a mind of her own and learned the word no, and very stubborn about trying new things or anything she doesn’t want to. So I bought the mom this book. And it just laid there until I went to visit and daddy was screaming help( now mommy has left the picture full time) . I tried as I did when mine was age 2. She wasn’t having it. Sure she would humor me and hang out on the potty with me but nothing happened and she would still go hide in a corner and do her little poop dance in her training pants. I had to read this book. It works. But everyone in the household either needs to read the book and abide by the rules or stay out of the process. Consistency, staying on point, everyone on same page was a must. You must be willing to give up 3 whole days without your phone and any distractions. ( even mommy came over to observe and help). Have plenty of activities your child will enjoy. We mostly worked with alphabet letters, reading, she loves to learn to read. Play doh and little animal figures identifying the different animals and their sounds. You can never take your eyes off the child for a minute because she will use that minute to go in her pants I promise you. It’s only 3 days ( keep telling yourself) then no more spending money on diapers, keep thinking what you’re gonna do with all that extra money lol. Your child can’t go off and play or watch tv or anything without you or this won’t be a success in 3 days. At 60 years old this was not easy for me. We never left the house and I love my granddaughter endlessly but this child is quite the talker lol. But it was a win win. We not only never wore a diaper again ( she even stayed dry thru naps) and most nights. We have really bonded, ( I live 900 miles away) she now has a picture of the two of us and her every night routine (her daddy tells me) she has to check to make sure our picture is beside her unicorn night light before she says her prayers and goes to bed. So buy this read it I read it twice and did some highlighting. And plan a fun at home 3 days of undivided attention. If you have other kids if they’re old enough to help great if not maybe a weekend with the grandparents is due. This will work if you follow her directions. And it’s not a boring read, the author has jokes. Lol. Good luck

We are five days in and I’ll call it a success! My 23 month old son made it through the morning this morning going on the potty 5 times with zero accidents. I’ll call this a win. I’d like to share a few indicators of why I felt he was ready and then a few modifications we made to the book to make it work for us. First of all, I really appreciated her pointing out the indicators of when children are ready for potty training and dispelling some myths. I was told that 23 months is too early, I was told boys take longer, I was told not to try yet. I did it anyway. Why? Because I felt he was ready. And because I’m incredibly stubborn. (And so is my strong willed child!). Also because I’m expecting another in about 4 months and wanted to have a good handle on potty training before we have another in diapers. First, we’ve cloth diapered since birth. One of the benefits of cloth diapering is that they do feel wet (even with fleece and wicking materials). I factored this into my decision to cloth diaper and expected to potty train early. Second, my son has been telling us for over a month every time he poops in his diaper (asking to be changed). He also greets me in the morning and after nap times by telling me his diaper is wet. He clearly understands what this means. Third, although he developmentally can not yet dress himself, he follows complicated directions and can communicate with single words and gestures. I planned initially to follow this book to the “T.” I did all the prep, changed his diapers in the bathroom for a month, picked out motivating treats, and cleared our schedule. The first morning went well. So well actually that he successfully went on the toilet twice after several hours of accidents. We went into nap time feeling really good. The afternoon was a disaster. Despite catching every single accident and bringing him to the toilet he WOULD NOT go on the toilet again. Tantrums ensued. I persevered and got through day one. Day two we did break one of the rules… It was the last warm day of the fleeting Michigan summer so we took a car trip to the pool and took the morning off of potty training. I was concerned this was going to ruin everything and considered waiting another week to start but went through with it anyway. This turned out to be a really good decision. On the trip I read a bunch of these reviews to see what I was doing wrong or what other suggestions there were and decided to make a couple modifications: Modification #1: Switch to the little potty. This makes sense if you are potty training a little one younger than the authors preferred starting age of 2.5. My little dude is not afraid of the potty, he LOVES flushing the toilet and dumping out the pee. But learning how to release your pelvic floor on demand to pee is stressful enough without having to climb up steps and sit on that giant toilet with your feet barely touching the step stool. Modification #2: Instead of focusing on getting him to “Tell me when you have to pee” I’m instead watching his cues and catching his accidents before they happen. I noticed he gets antsy, might walk in circles (like a dog) or even start running in circles when he has to go. I get him onto the potty and then we read a book or two until he relaxes and pees. By doing this about once an hour (starting about 1.5 -2 hours after he wakes up) we are taking away the traumatizing accident followed by me rushing him to the potty just to not pee. And then having to keep doing that every 15 minutes until all is out. Again, if you are training an older child, maybe the “tell me when you have to pee” part will work. For us he is happier and tantrum free to go on a schedule. Now that he is peeing regularly and much easier on the potty we will start working on that piece as a next step. Modification #3: I was not successfully “pumping” my child full of fluids. He only drinks water (no milk) and rarely juice. By the end of day one he already connected that the extra beverages were causing this nightmare and started refusing all beverages. We switched back to just water and I did have to use the (take two sips) tell method quite frequently just to get him to drink. Today our sitter set a duck noise timer on her phone and when it goes off they go get water. He loves it and it’s working, so that’s a fun suggestion! Helpful hint: I work from home and we have a sitter that watches him throughout the day. I can’t imagine sending him this young to daycare after 3 days, I don’t think we would be seeing the progress that we are. That’s about it. I would still 100% recommend this book as a great overview and a really good plan to get you started. If you have a young child, do yourself a favor and make some modifications. We are on day 5 and he went on the potty 5 times before nap time, zero accidents and no leakage. Good luck!

My daughter had been showing signs of being ready to potty train for a few months. I was hoping I'd get lucky and she would organically go from telling me she had to go to the potty as soon as she had just went in her diaper to telling me ahead of time. Unfortunately, it wasn't happening so I decided to seek some professional recommendations. I discovered this book and decided to give it a try since it had good ratings. I read it cover to cover before starting the process. For reference, my daughter is 24 months old. On day 1, she had quite a few accidents in her underwear (I did a lot of wash). I followed the author's recommendations as closely as possible and by the end of the day, it seemed like my daughter was starting to make some connections and improve her bladder control. She ended the day with 4 successful pees on the potty. I was exhausted and had some doubts that she would be doing well after 3 days. Much to my surprise, day 2 showed positive progression. I noticed that my daughter was starting to contain her accidents by holding her bladder as soon as she realized she was starting to pee. The day ended with only one accident that needed to be cleaned up off the floor and she more than doubled her successful pees on the potty. Then came day 3... my daughter ended the day without a single pee accident. She seemed to be more and more comfortable on the toilet. I couldn't believe how far she had come in such a short time. It is currently day 4 as I write this review and we had another great day that showed more progression- 1 poop on the potty and my daughter starting to tell me that she needed to go to the potty before I prompted her. I'm truly a believer in this method now and am glad that I found this book. It takes dedication but when followed as described, it works!! Good luck fellow parents!

Really glad I found this book. An easy read and guide to positive outcomes for a happy home. I had an issue on Day 1 so I emailed the author and she responded, as promised. I said to author in email: We started potty training today. She essentially wants to go to the bathroom every 1 minute. When she tells me she has pee, we go into the bathroom together. She takes off underwear, goes on potty and pees a few drops. We get off , wipe, pull up underwear, wash hands, dry hands, treat, sticker. We leave the bathroom and within 1 min or less she tells me she has to pee, and we are back in the bathroom, repeating the process. I was conflicted what to do. I didn’t want to tell her she doesn’t need to pee. But at same time I’m not sure how productive this was, as she was just peeing drops, it seemed, to get a treat. The author responded (I have permission to repost her direct quote): “I would continue letting her do that… this mostly tells me she is figuring things out. She’s only been doing this for a couple of hours. A lot of times the first day of potty training is one of the first times a child realizes they can control something new with their body. Sometimes they figure out that if they squeeze out a few drops they get a reward, and that’s all part of the learning process too. All of this sounds pretty normal from the info you provided. If you feel like she fully emptied her bladder and definitely doesn’t need to go again, there are times I tell the kids that we have to wait for their body to make more pee, so we should go play while we wait, and we can come right back when we need to.” As far as everything else goes, believe the author when she says, you will get nothing done. If you follow this to the T, you will be successful. Well, we are on day 4 and so far so good. I did do this with a 6 mo old at home as well, as a SAHM with no help for the 3 days. It ended up being fine but obviously would have been better with help. Just know, the days are hard but they go quick. Keep your patience and positivity. You will be so full of pride and joy watching the process and your little one learning. I know I was. I had a similar experience as others with pushing juice, choc. Milk, water and the addition of candy, my daughter did throw up. She was fine, but just not used to so much sugar. So just beware of that, as others have mentioned. Thank you again to the author for responding and for taking the time to write all the expertise to potty training!

You think you know… but you have no idea. This is the diary of a first-time potty-training mother. I am writing this review on the seventh day of the first week of potty training. I read this book, prepped my daughter for potty training, and read the book again. I followed everything the book said. We talked about potty training, we talked about treats, we talked about stickers, we talked about where pee and poop belonged, we talked about the diapers going away in the trash truck. On the first day, we were excited; we were ready. I thought, “This isn’t that bad.” On the alleged third magical day of potty training, I was questioning myself as a mother and a human being. I felt I was torturing my daughter. On the fifth day, I needed a bottle of bourbon. Here are a few things I would tell the person who is about to purchase this book. 1. Nothing is magic. 2. This book outlines an intense plan. Trust me, your child will feel this intensity. Be prepared – it’s awful. 3. You are going to learn so much about yourself as a parent and your child. In some ways, this is nice. In other ways, you’re going to wish you never even opened this book. 4. This book tells you nothing about how to help your kid poop. At this point in the game, I just want it to come out. I’m not really interested in having to give my kid an enema. 5. Be prepared for a disruption in sleep; at naptime AND nighttime. I have to say that this method did help my daughter recognize when she has to actually use the bathroom. However, we spent many trips to the bathroom where nothing was accomplished. In general, I would use this book as a guide; a very loose guide. YOU as the parent are going to need support; and I’m not talking about your spouse since they will mostly likely be as exhausted and tortured as you. Make sure you are able to call a friend; better yet your mother. I know the author says don’t give your kid back their diapers, but after my experience and seeing the anxiety this experience gave my kid, I offered them back (see above comment about calling your mother). Right now, she is treating the diapers just like underwear (hasn’t wet them), and we are making successful trips to the bathroom where she empties her bladder. We have had a few successful toilet poops. My daughter gets upset when she doesn’t do it in the toilet because she knows where poop belongs. For the most part, she is actually doing the pooping in the bathroom, just not the toilet. I guess that’s good; I don’t know. Just like this book, I have no advice to offer you when it comes to this. If I ever figure it out, I probably won’t even remember to come back here and update you, so GOOD LUCK. Maybe there is no escaping this debacle and there is no “easy” way. I’m just glad that I’ll be able to try this again with my second child in a different way. Godspeed.

Excellent simple potty training! My 2.5 year old was potty trained in less than a week, day 4 we even left the house for several hours with no accidents! I also think he was just ready for potty training but this book helped us nail it fast! No little potty, no timers, just keep it simple!

Great advise on the potty training, i highly advise!