Potty Training

Potty Training Workshop
November 14, 2011 10:00 - 11:00
Little Blossom Center
1/4 mi South of Bottle Hollow
Ft Duchesne, Utah
435-722-5654

Is My Child Ready?

So what exactly is the right time to begin toilet learning?

Look no further than your toddler for the answer. Letting a child take the lead in toilet learning by waiting for signs of readiness and willingness not only paves the way for swifter success, but can also make the experience an ego-boosting one for your child. Remember, that time at which toilet learning is mastered in no way correlates with intelligence or success in other areas of develpment. Some children are ready for toilet learning before their second birthday, others not until after their third, but most are ready sometime in between.

Look for some of these signs of potty-readiness in your toddler before you start looking for a potty:

• Physiologic readiness: A toddler who stays dry for an hour or two at a stretch during the day and occasionally wakes up dry from naps is physically ready to begin toilet learning.
• Regularity: Has bowel movements at about the same time every day.
• Aware of bodily functions: Lets you know in some way - by grunting, going off to a corner to squat, or even announcing the event - that he or she is having a bowel movement.
• An interest in being clean and dry: A sudden destaste for soggy of soiled diapers and desire to be changed immediately. Toddlers may also become more finicky about smells about the time they're ready for toilet learning.
• Understands potty terms: For, example: wet, dry, pee, poop, potty, BM.
• Ability to communicate needs: Can tell you he/she has to go to the bathroom and can follow simple directions like, "let's go to the potty".
• An interest in wearing underpants
• Ability to do some simple dressing: Pull pants up and down
• Curiosity about the bathroom: Follows others into bathroom or shows interest and asks questions while watching you!

Don't expect your child to show all of the above signs. But, as your child nears potty-training age, be observant and aware of what the signs are so that you will know when it is the right time to start.

Nutrition

Tips on Nutrition

Tip 1 - Provide foods from each food group - Provide a variety of foods from each of the food groups to give your child the nutrients needed for growth and good health.

• Tip 2 - Serve three balanced meals every day - Don't let your child skip meals, as this may result in snacking foods that have little nutritional value.

Tip 3 - Develop menus - Plan nutritious meals and snack in advance rather than relying on convenience foods

Tip 4 - Reduce junk foods in the home/child care setting - (e.g., soft drinks, candy, potato chips). Have foods from each of the food groups available. Use fats, oils, and sweets sparingly.

Tip 5 - Read the nutrition labels on foods - While grocery shopping, choose foods that are nutritious. Calories in the form of sugar provide energy but very little vitamins and minerals.

Tip 6 - Check with a physician about vitamin supplements - Some children may need a multivitamin to supplement their diet.

Remeber: One of the most valuable "gifts" you can give to your child is a "taste" for nutritional foods that will lead to the early formation of good eating habits.

Biting

This Bites!

Biting is a part of almost every little kid's life--either he puts his fangs to someone else or someone sinks her teeth into him. How to handle both:

When your child's the biter:

*Get eye to eye with the nipper. Then, using a stern voice, say, "No. We don't bite." Babies as young as 9 months can understand that, and given that they usually bite because they're teething, a gentle but firm no typically suffices. Older babies and toddlers tend to chomp out of frustration or anger and require further action. Keep reading!

*Immediately remove the biter for a mini-time-out, which will help defuse the intense feelings. For most toddlers, even a 30-second break will feel like an eternity.

*Once he's calmer, have him tell the other child "Sorry." Not talking yet? A gentle pat will do. The goal is to introduce the idea of empathy, says David Schonfeld, M.D., director of developmental pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

*If the tot continues to bite a lot going forward, praise him whenever you see him not doing it during a similar situation. You can say something like: "Harry, I'm proud of you for asking Sally nicely to share the toy." Should the habit continue beyond age 2 or after several weeks of positive reinforcement for not biting, check in with your pediatrician.

When your kid's the bitee:

*Wash the bite with soap and water right away, even if the skin's not broken. If there's even a little bleeding, apply antibiotic ointment and cover with a bandage. Actual deep punture wound? Call the doctor; she may prescribe and antibiotic.

*Keep an eye out for signs of infection, such as redness or swelling at the bite site, or a fever.

Bedtime

No More Bedtime Battles

The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill)

By: Elizabeth Pantley

We parents today have demanding schedules, and we juggle multiple tasks all day long. There’s too much to do, and never enough time to do it. The bedtime routine often gets slotted as one more “thing to do” after which we can get on to yet another task on our never-ending to-do list.

I’d like to present you with a new way of looking at your child’s bedtime routine: as a wonderful opportunity for a nightly ritual of quiet connection and bonding. Sort of like a forced savings account – a daily slice of time out of a busy day, given to you so that you can bask in the joys of parenthood and build the foundation for a close lifetime relationship. Pretty heady stuff, when you look at it this way, isn’t it?

Simply said, you must get your child ready for bed each and every night. The time will be spent, one way or another. Would you like it to be peaceful, nurturing and bonding – or rushed and stressful? You have the power to set the tone of your evenings, so why not choose a pleasant routine? You will enjoy it more, and your child will no longer resist bedtime –won’t that be marvelous!

Begin your routine earlier

If you are starting your child’s bedtime routine fifteen or twenty minutes before you’d like him to be asleep, it will inevitably create problems. This provides barely enough time for the essentials, little time for pleasure, and no time at all for the inevitable dawdles and delays. As a parent, you’re watching the clock move forward, stressing over the time, and trying to rush things along. Your child, who senses your tension and feels pressured, reacts by dawdling, or fashioning new requests that simply must be met, but of course, there’s no time, so a meltdown occurs. Following this pattern, night after night, makes both parent and child dread bedtime, further increasing the stress, and making things even worse. So goes the cycle, from bad to worse, night after night.

The answer is to avoiding all this turmoil is to allow plenty of time for the pre-bed routine. For most families this means allocating at least an hour from the time the process begins to lights out. While an hour or more may seem like a lot to spend on a bedtime routine, most families with struggles end up spending more time than this dealing with a fussy child who won’t cooperate. And said fussy child gets so worked up that once in bed he’s wide awake and takes a long time before nodding off.

Decide in advance on the best bedtime for your child, and then identify a specific time that you will begin the getting ready for bed routine. You may have to work backwards from this time to be sure that dinner and post-dinner activities are completed by the time you wish to start your pre-bed plan.

Once you understand the power of a long-enough routine to ward off the problems, and if you look at this time as an opportunity to spend some peaceful time connecting with your sweet child, then this hour can be something wonderful to look forward to each night.

Excerpted with permission by McGraw-Hill Publishing from The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers & Preschoolers (McGraw-Hill) by Elizabeth Pantley http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth