As of three days ago, I have officially potty-trained SIX children.  Can that go on my resume someday?  :o)

With each child I have used the 1970s book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" with success.  Each child has been different and responded differently, but the longest it ever took was a day and half (and that because I switched with hubby after the first half of the first day and I think not having consistency made it confusing).

My sixth child watched as I taught "Dolly" to use the potty and got hysterical.  "That's funny!" he kept saying.  Then within 45 minutes from the start of training he had independently toileted three times, which the book calls "trained."  Wow.  45 minutes.  That beat his brother's record of 1 hour.  What a blessing, especially as I am 32 weeks pregnant! 

I had determined to NEVER toilet train in my third trimester as the practice trials after each accident totally wear me out (physically and emotionally) but nausea prevented me from training him at the ideal age of 2 1/2 years old, so now at 2 years and 10 months-- DONE.  Just in time for the newest little one to arrive.  We're down to just one in diapers for a few more weeks!  :o)

With the last two children I have given balloons and party-favors after the first success and that has been a great motivator.  The '70s book is very detailed and a lot of work, and it works.  But going forward I would recommend Dr. Phil's Toilet Training in a Day method which is a stripped-down model and works the same way.  You can google and find his official site with an article about it.  Basically, you train a doll to use the potty and then throw a "potty party".  Then throw a "potty party" once the child goes to the potty.  After that, with each accident you do 9 or 10 practice drills of running to the potty and practicing from different parts of the house.  He says it builds "memory muscle" to do the drills.   You never go back to diapers after training day, but we use pull-ups at naps and nighttime until they stay dry.  Two of our children were dry from day one at naps and at night, but a few others needed a pull-up at night until they were four years old.  We don't stress over that part--they'll stay dry when they're ready during sleep.

Training Day and practice drills are definitely NOT FUN, but it totally works -quickly- and that makes it worth it to us!

Nancy Wilson handles these hot topics so well here:

http://femina.reformedblogs.com/2007/09/09/salt-and-sugar/

For seven years we've been buying baby products.  Here's a list of some of our family's favorites:

*Graco Pack-n-Play with bassinet (where our babies spend their first several months sleeping)

*Fisher-Price Infant to Toddler Rocker (bouncy seat that converts to a toddler rocker--my kids love it!)

*Kolcraft Universal Infant Car Seat Carrier (lightweight stroller--great for travel and baby stays asleep in the carseat!)

*Any diaper pail that takes regular trash bags

*Desitin ORIGINAL diaper rash cream (the only thing that keeps diaper rash away for our family)

*Gerber NUK pacifiers and any pacifier clip

*Gerber no-spill sippy cups

*Equate (Walmart brand) Infant Gas Drops

*Pampered Chef timer (you can punch in each number to set the timer instead of holding one button that beeps on and on...and it has a "count-up" feature so I know exactly how long it's been since the last feeding)

*Pampers, Luvs, and White Cloud diapers

*Pampers Sensitive Skin wipes

*Lansinoh disposable nursing pads

*Radio Shack Sleep/sound machines for "white noise"; each kid has one!

*Any baby monitor with battery backup

*Sleep Sacks

*Ear plugs!  (Great for drowning out the other kids while Dad has them downstairs but I can still hear the baby next to my room.)

And my favorite baby gifts . . . personalized bibs and burp cloths from www.burpsbibsandbeyond.com  (Our pastor has given us a burp cloth for each baby that says "Itty Bitty Presbyterian".) 

:o),

Moms4Psalms

Usually between 16 months and 21 months my toddlers have begun to drop their morning nap.  Suddenly they stop sleeping as long as usual in the afternoon or else they don't sleep during their usual morning nap.  My fifth child actually started doing this at 14 months!

When this begins to happen we transition to what we call "roomtime" or if still in a crib, "cribtime".  In place of the normal 2 hour morning nap, we leave the lights on and put toys and books in the child's crib (or room) and sometimes play music and give them an hour to rest and play undistracted.  They are still tired and in need of some downtime.  Sometimes they still fall asleep and if so we wake them after the hour and get them up.

This generally means that they are ready for their afternoon nap earlier in the day so we back up that 2p naptime to 1p or even noon.  And it tends to be a two to four hour nap.

This is the most common question I get from other "Babywise moms" after the first year.

Happy Napping!

Moms4Psalms

We use the potty training method "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day."  Saturday I trained my fourth child who is not yet 2 1/2 years old in just 2 1/2 hours!  No More Diapers!  

When searching for toilet training info for my first child I found this book on Amazon.com and read all of the reviews.  Reading how it worked so quickly for literally hundreds of different families convinced me to try it.  Not only the speed but the fact that this method trains the child to toilet INDEPENDENTLY was a main appeal to us.  We do not have to take our children to the potty.  They learn through this method to go themselves without assistance.  This certainly appeals to us as we usually have three children under the age of three.  We cannot easily drop everything to take a child to the toilet!

My first (daughter) took 4 hours to train.  My second (son) took a day and a half (I was nursing and the training was interrupted--I will not do that again).  My third (son) took ONE hour to train and my fourth (son) after 2 1/2 hours on Saturday has been running around the house in "big boy pants" jumping up and down saying "Yay! I tee-teed in the potty!"  

My husband and I call this method "potty training boot camp" and it is the hardest day of my year each year mentally and emotionally.  It is not easy to focus on "potty" non-stop for an entire day but it is so worth it for our family.  

TRAINING DAY:  My husband takes ALL the other kids away for the day so there will be no distractions.  I do not answer the phone.  The child-in-training gets my full attention and we follow the book's method to the very letter.  I have four pages of typed notes from the book (email me if you want to use them) that I refer to throughout the training.  It is grueling for me, mostly fun for the child (they get so many fun snacks and drinks!), and very rewarding once completed.  The hardest part is the practice trials.  With every accident the child has to do nine practice trials from different areas of the house--run to the potty (fast!), pull down pants (fast!), sit on the potty, pull up pants (fast!), and then run to a new spot and practice again.  Dr. Phil McGraw has a method very similar to the one in this book and he says these trials build "memory muscle" in the child to help them remember what to do . . . and it really works!

Now, this is definitely NOT for everyone.  My friends who prefer more child-centered parenting methods do not like (um, hate!?!) this method.  There is much work involved for parent and child (though for a limited time) and for it to work the parent must be 100% determined to follow through and to never go back to diapers.  The good news is that no matter what method you use, your child WILL eventually be potty trained!  :o) This is not an issue worth stressing over! 

The method was originally developed to train mentally retarded adults how to independently toilet (then made into a book in the 1970s to teach children over 18 months to do so).  The author says a main key to success is to not have any attempts at training prior to the Big Training Day.  I do not let my kids even sit on a potty prior to "training day".  My last two sons at age 2 1/2 began asking me to teach them to use the potty.  So I marked a date on my calendar and told them they must wait until that day when I would teach them.  I have learned that it is best for me to not toilet train in my third trimester of pregnancy or while nursing.  The families I know who use this method say that 2 1/2 is the minimum age they would begin this training.

"Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" can be found at www.amazon.com  Be sure to read all of the reviews!

:o),

Moms4Psalms

I have read and realized that it is wise to limit how many big changes occur in a child's life at any given time.  For example, moving, moving from a crib to a bed, toilet training, and the birth of a new baby are all major changes and potentially stressful events for children.  Sometimes the child regresses in a newly acquired skill . . . maybe the stress shows itself in other ways--like misbehavior.

We try to only have one of the above events occur at a time!  Just as we were about to move, our two year old said "Mom, I want to tee-tee MYSELF!" (He is currently still in diapers.)  Though thrilled to hear him say he is ready, I will NOT be toilet training until the boxes have been unpacked and life settles down in our new home (I will blog about that experience then as well...We have had great success with the method found in the book "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day").  He should also soon be moved from the crib to a toddler bed.  But that too will wait.  We will move him a couple of months before we potty train. 

One change at a time.  :o)

Numerous people have voiced strong opinions about the Ezzos and Babywise.  I appreciate most the honest and humble confessions of those who admit they allowed a man-made method to be equal to biblical truth. 

Such confessions serve as a great warning and reminder that everything said by man is Fish and Bones.  We can chew on the good meat, and must spit out the bones!  Where methods are not contrary to the Word of God we can use them to help our families.  But we must spit out any self-righteousness, pride, or belief that those who use some other method are in sin.

I know wonderful Christian families (with well-behaved children) who demand feed, homeschool at different times each day, and sleep at different times each night.  I also know wonderful Christian families (with well-behaved children) who feed on a schedule, have a strict daily routine, and each of their children are in bed at 8:00 each night.  These are just examples of families choosing different methods . . . none of which are necessarily contrary to the Bible!  

Let us carefully pick out the fish from the bones.  May we always pray for wisdom in our decision making.  And in all things we must remember to love one another!

There is nothing new under the sun.  Women have used different methods for raising children for several thousand years.  My great-grandmother wrote in her journal "there were no books back then to tell me how to raise a baby but all the Old Folks agreed on one thing-you should never let a baby cry!"  When I asked my grandmother (who kept me as an infant) if she demand-fed or schedule-fed she said "Lands, Honey, I don't know.  I fed you when The Price is Right came on every day."  My grandmother, great-grandmother, and each of our ancestors did things differently when it came to caring for babies.  A great difference today is that we have so many books on childrearing. 

Here I share what we found that has helped our family bring "order to our days and sleep to our nights."

The first 8-12 weeks of our babies' lives we closely follow the feeding and sleeping routine outlined in "On Becoming Babywise" by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam, M.D.  There is some crying those first weeks as the baby learns to settle himself to sleep and adjusts to the feeding routine.  After those first few weeks we have babies who sleep and eat on a schedule that makes our family of seven run smoothly.  Once the routine is established we bend it as we want to, but we stick closely to the schedule the first few weeks.

Some benefits for us include everyone sleeping all night and the predictable times each day to homeschool while the baby and toddlers nap.  Also, our children all go to bed early which gives my husband and me time together in the evenings. 

We are very thankful for the friends who shared this method with us.  Some other books friends have recommended to me are "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems."  Applying the methods in Babywise has been a tremendous blessing to our family.