Below is a link to a great article from the Orlando Parenting Examiner regarding the use of swim diapers. Key points to take away from the article are that a) swim diapers do NOT keep urine out of the pool. The products are designed only to prevent bowel movements from escaping into the swim water (yuck!) AND b)regular pull-ups or diapers will blow up like a balloon when used in a pool, although do serve the same purpose as a swim diaper to prevent a "Caddy-Shack" moment in your pool!

Click the link below to read the entire article:

Orlando Parenting Examiner: The real poop on swim diapers

http://www.examiner.com/x-1022-Orlando-Parenting-Examiner~y2009m3d28-The-real-poop-on-swim-diapers

Tips and Ideas When Dealing with Potty Training Accidents:

Potty training is emotionally exhausting, physically exhausting, and mentally tiring. Try to take a deep breath before you react. Make your mantra "No emotion. No emotion. No emotion." You can always vent to a friend or family member later on.

After an accident, your child is likely to be upset and confused. Take time to calmly review the situation. Say something such as, "Oops, you didn't make it to the potty in time. You peed in your pants and in the floor. That feels very yucky, doesn't it. OK. Now we need to go get cleaned up." Your toddler will feel reassured that you are in control and will make him feel better soon. Try to make him an active participant in the clean up process.

Next, provide the appropriate solution. Ask your child what you should do next. Walk her through each step - moving to a different room, cleaning herself off, selecting new clothing, and getting re-dressed. Actively have her participate in the cleanup of the floor or area of the accident! Making your child responsible for his or her own accident will ultimately make them less likely to want to repeat the process.

Do try to stay positive, but do convey to the child that accidents are undesirable. Do this in a UNEMOTIONAL tone of voice! The child needs to understand that peeing in his pants is not a desired behavior, but that it isn't a behavior that will lead to anger or frustration from Mommy or Daddy. Always try to encourage your child that next time they will be successful - and make it clear that you are the number one fan in their cheering section!

My Wee Friend is a new and exciting yet simple and effective way to potty train.

Developed by a Mother of six and Grandmother of seven ©My Wee Friend™ has been tried and tested By real Children and it REALLY Works!

My Wee Friend is a black sticker that fits into most flat bottomed potties, when your child wee’s into the potty a happy smiley face appears (one of nine designs) encouraging potty use. The smiley face will stay long enough for your child to rise from the potty and be pleased with the result, then it will fade back to black ready for the next use.

When your child uses the potty and realises that he or she has made the happy smiley face appear they just have to tell and show Mum and Dad (so please be close at hand as your child running around your house with a full potty may be a bit messy!)

My Wee Friend is a black sticker that fits into any flat bottomed potty.

When a child wees into the potty a happy, smiley face appears (one of 9 designs).

The smiley face remains long enough for the child to rise from the potty and be pleased with the result.

My Wee Friend then fades back to black ready for the next use.

My Wee Friend is fun and easy to use, and stays in the potty for up to 12 weeks!

(Please Note you do need a flat bottomed potty to use)

My Wee Friend is available from www.PottyTrainingConcepts.com

In the potty training business, I hear back from a lot of parents of toddlers about a variety of behavioral issues that come up on a fairly regular basis. Commonly, toilet training problems aren't a failure of the child to understand the process but rather a failure of the child wanting to cooperate!

A child in a bad mood is a child who isn't going to want to learn to use the potty, or to listen to basic directions, or to want to please his parents. These behaviors carry over into each and every aspect of you and your child's day.

Recently, I've learned about a great new audio course for parents about how to deal with stubborn toddlers. It is put together by a gentleman named Chris Thompson, who is an expert in something called “neuro-linguistic programming” (NLP), which is a method of using words to make people feel differently about things, or to persuade them. He teaches you specific words and phrases to use that magically "connect" with your child.

I'll let Chris's information page tell you more about his program and let you decide for yourself if it might be right for you. I think it's worth a few minutes of your time to check it out. To learn more, visit this link: Dealing with Terrible Twos

Disposable Seat Covers Help Reduce Stresses of Potty Training

Parents who dread the inevitable need to assist their toddlers and young children in public restrooms, now have a new tool that not only fights exposure to germs, but also helps reduce stresses associated with potty training.

Called CootieGuards™, (www.cootieguards.com) these new disposable toilet seat covers completely slip over toilet seats – much like a pillowcase -- protecting kids and parents from germs transmitted by surface-to-skin contact.

The key to CootieGuards’ effectiveness is its patent-pending design, which creates a sanitary, waterproof barrier between children and the toilet seat. CootieGuards completely encapsulate the seat, with side flaps that cover exposed surfaces on the exterior sides of the bowl where children often reach for stability. CootieGuards already come with a center hole designed to support both boys and girls.

One of CootieGuards’ unique design features is that is keeps children weighing up to 60 pounds suspended over the bowl, preventing smaller children from falling through adult-sized toilet seats. When used as directed, CootieGuards will not slip, slide or fall off, and have no adhesive strips that can be bothersome for installation and removal.

The inspiration behind CootieGuards was a classic case of finding a new solution to a common problem facing inventor Jim Martin while potty training his daughter. After more than a year of design, prototype development and patent applications, Martin believes he’s found a better way to help solve what is often a very unpleasant activity.

“Unlike the paper toilet seat covers found in many public restrooms, which are ineffective and difficult to use, CootieGuards give parents peace of mind that their child is not exposed to a plethora of common bacteria and viruses found on public toilets,” Martin said. “Customers who have used CootieGuards particularly like the simple design and the fact that they can be conveniently carried in a purse or diaper bag.”

Single-use CootieGuards are made of FDA-approved food-grade plastic and can discarded or recycled, but should not be flushed.

CootieGuards are available in resealable four-packs for $4.95, and are available online at www.cootieguards.com

Each week I receive numerous emails from parents who are wildly successful in training their children, are encountering some small stumbling blocks, or the occasional few who feel like they just aren't getting anywhere. Sometimes those parents are at their breaking point and just want to give up and go back to diapers. I encourage those folks to just NOT GIVE UP! Think of all that time and energy you have already invested - you don't want it to be for naught. Below is the text of a "question and answer" from one of those emails I received. (Names have been changed to protect privacy.)

QUESTION:

Bad news, I suppose. I'm giving up on potty training for now. Michelle was doing so great before bed last night, and she hasn't peed in the potty even once today. She did, however, poop on the carpet and step in it, tracking it everywhere (she, the hallway, I, and the potty looked like we had been hosed down with poop), and then peed in her pants, on the floor, and all over herself 3 times ALL IN THE SPACE OF 15 MNUTES. I can't do it anymore.

Any tips moving forward? She just has a diaper on right this minute b/c I just can't clean up another mess today. I will say that she did learn to recognize when she pees in the past three days, which she didn't know before. I don't know if I should totally forget about it for now, or take some more small steps.

Thanks again for the advice.

ANSWER:

Oh my gosh! You poor thing. I totally understand where you are coming from.

I'd encourage you not to give up, though. You've come so far and put in so much work. So, here's what I would recommend from here:

Have her wear pull-up style diapers with underwear underneath. Tell her that it is still VERY IMPORTANT to keep her panties dry, and still give rewards for dry panties. Talk about dry panties all the time. Talk about YOUR dry panties, and Daddy's dry underwear, or her big sister's dry panties...etc. Make a big deal about it. Keep using the Potty Watch. She seems to have limited bladder control, so set it on the smallest interval. (30 minutes, I think?) So that you're not having to deal too much with dirty wet panties, stay sane by keeping a garbage bag in the bathroom. Just dump the excess contents in the toilet and throw the underwear in the bag. At the end of the day, plug your nose, dump the entire bag of wet panties in the washer, and take care of it all at once :)

Are you giving potty training rewards right now? I would encourage using some, and if you need some ideas I can give you a few. Reward for both dry panties AND for going in the potty.

Doing it this way, it will probably take a few weeks...but I think you'll hopefully find that each day you are dealing with fewer wet panties. When you're down to only one or two per day, you can again try to wean her off of the pull-up.

This still means a lot of trips to the potty, but it will keep you from going crazy and you'll ultimately achieve the same end result.

QUESTION:

I recently found out about your book online and after much desperation of failing to potty train my 2.5 yr old son over the past few months. I started researching and found that The Potty Boot Camp book seemed inspiring and worth giving a try. So far the book seems like yes it would work, but I don't really know where to start since I have already tried potty training him over the past few months.

He was doing really good at going pee on the potty, but mostly because I think I was just taking him so he wouldn't have accidents. He was telling me when he had to go pee sometimes, though he still has yet to go poo on the potty and runs and hides every time.

I thought we were doing pretty good with the peeing part and then we went on vacation to the lake for a couple weeks. He HATED having to stop playing to come and go potty and just kept having accidents over and over again - so I just put him in pull ups. He is more than willing to go pee on the potty, it is just a matter of getting him to tell me plus he doesn't seem to mind peeing his pants either.

Should I just start your program from the very beginning.. even though he has the concept of the potty and has gone many many times in it??

ANSWER:

After hearing your story, I would recommend starting with day #1....but modify the timing a bit. (More about that in a second.) I would also "give up" on mentioning the potty for a couple of weeks. Take a (well needed and much deserved) break.

When you start, explain to your son that "today is the day" we are going to give up diapers forever. You might want to pick a date on the calendar to start. Let your son help choose. Then have him look at the calendar every day and put a sticker on it to help "count down" to his diaper-free day. This will help build up some excitement on his end and will help motivate him to succeed. On the start day, make a big deal of getting rid of diapers. Have a little ceremony/party to mark this momentous occasion.

On day one, since he's already using the potty, I would not do 10 or 15 minute intervals. Try 35-45 minutes. Do the drills as described in the book - this teaches him that accidents are undesirable. Do make a big deal of having dry pants. Also do the cleanup technique. Kids sometimes like these at the beginning but they get tiresome after a while and do indeed become a deterrent to having accidents. If he has a lot of accidents with the 35 to 45 minute intervals, shorten them a bit.

It think the key for you is to start 'fresh" after a small break.

I know this article is entitled "Soothing themselves to sleep," but there is a great Q&A section about children refusing to poop on the potty.

Soothing themselves to sleep - The Irish Times - Tue, Jul 21, 2009

From author Allison Pennell is a great article about teaching your kids how to do everything from wiping themselves to tying their shoes. It's written in a light-hearted and easy to read manner - you'll thoroughly enjoy the read!

Summary:

“I can do it myself!” Surely, a battle cry for the ages? well, ages 2-18. In the spirit of the DIY revolution, we’ve put together our own home schooling guide, Babble style. Here are 25+ tips and how-to’s for teaching kids lots of useful and, frankly, not-so-useful-but-really-fun new skills, from floating in the pool to curing an ice-cream headache to losing like a winner. — Allison Pennell

Click here to Read Allison's article:

I'm a pretty practical, scientifically-minded type gal. So, when I heard about a new book that help you utilize your child's star signs as a guide to potty training it made me raise an eyebrow. I'm never one to fully discount ANYTHING that might work, however, so if you are of a mindset that might find this information useful, I'd like to pass along the information.

The book is entitiled "Star Parenting: What astrology reveals about your child's personality and potential," by Sherrynne Dalby.

The text is described as a "lively, accessible and detailed guide. Sherrynne explores the sun signs and their relationships to planetary movement and alignment, and how this affects our children; their strengths, vulnerabilities, traits and potential."

"More than just astrology, more than just parenting, this book goes in depth to explain why our children reach their milestones at different ages, why some rebel, why some are good at sports, why some of them are artists, why some dream and why some lead."

"A fresh, approachable and contemporary format, Star Parenting will help parents understand the strengths and levels of their child, how to encourage and nurture them and help them thrive."

"Packed full of practical tips, the book covers a whole range of issues from toilet training and suitable activities for that child, to the best feeding and sleeping routines."

The author is Australian, and it appears the book has limited availablity in the U.S. - but I did find availability on Amazon.com. Click here to learn more: