Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Potty Training Update

It's been a week since our visit with the urologist for Daniel's medical update. I have to say that the suggestions the urologist made were right on the money for Daniel.

Are we trained? Not yet.

Have we seen improvement? YES, YES, YES!!!

We were on a 2 to 2 and half hour potty schedule and on day one we discovered that Daniel needed to be moved to a 1 and a ½ hour to 2 hour schedule – he just can't make it any longer. So we spent until Sunday getting a routine down.

Daniel will go potty unprompted when he wakes up, when he "cleans up" for lunch, after nap, before bath, and anytime he needs to do more than pee. He still will not go unprompted any other the time of the day, so we have to remind him.

Beginning Sunday we had to start keeping a chart showing when he urinated, whether prompted or unprompted, whether or not he was wet, and how much he peed. You read that right – we have had to measure every pee pee for the last 4 days – this is our last day thank goodness! He has to pee into a "hat" that we place in the toilet and then we have to pour it into a cup that measures the cc's. The urologist is trying to get a feel for how much Daniel's bladder can hold now without doing any invasive procedures at this time.

To give you an idea, they like to see a child Daniel's age, empty 90 cc's or 3 ounces. Well, this morning Daniel emptied, 150 cc's or 5 ounces. To say his bladder is enlarged would be right and you can understand why Daniel continues to have small wets in between potty breaks.

Having Daniel pee once and then hang out in the bathroom and play, then go again, as the doctor said, has really been the key. We started out with a pirate punch out book and after he went initially we would sit and play and make scenes with the punch outs, then Daniel would go again. This immediately cut down on the in between wets. And while we still see them a few times a day, they are tiny and not noticeable under regular clothes whereas before they were larger wets that showed through his clothes.

We have graduated from playtime in the bathroom to now just standing in front of the toilet a little longer and singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children". While we are singing Daniel lets it all go and we're done. It's such an improvement!!

Also we discovered the great Privilege (or motivator) the doctor said we needed to discover. Two actually. The first – I'll give you 1 guess....

TV.

Yep – TV time is now limited to after a potty pee and no wet pants. It's working. Daniel will do anything for a Thomas video. We limit it to 15-20 minutes of TV after a dry 2 hour spell. He usually does great in the mornings, but the early evenings he sees little TV as he tends to do his little wetting more then.

The other big Privilege? The Library!! Last winter I used to take Daniel to a Chat 'n Play every other Friday and Mother Goose Time on Mondays. Then summer came and we got busy. Well I promised him Chat 'n Play last Friday, if he kept his pants dry after he woke up and let me tell you – dry as a bone. So off we went.

Then Monday rolled around and I promised him Preschooler's Story hour at the library (he's too old for Mother Goose now – and let me tell you this story hour was fantastic with puppets and a craft). Not only did he keep his pants dry after he woke up, but when I told him if they stayed dry during the drive there and the hour of story time, that we would go into the big part of the Library and look for a Thomas book to check out.

Well, let me tell you – for 3 hours he stayed bone dry!!! I was so proud of him!! And yes! He checked out his first book – Thomas of course!

So that's where we are. We're working really hard and Daniel is beginning to see potty time as being more fun and he is relaxing more, hence peeing more.

Hopefully in a couple of months, this will all be history!


Charts we are filling out.

Daniel enjoying some TV time after staying dry.

And just in case you're wondering how to carry your tools to the next job when you don't have on carpenter pants or a tool belt...you just stuff them down the front of your pants (and ignore the chocolate pudding stains on your shirt)!

8 comments:

www.adventureswithaidan.org said...

TV! The great motivator. . .: ) Using that works on Aidan, too. Funny how addicting TV can become so quickly!

Mama Fish said...

Yay for Daniel!! So many good motivators you have in there! I love the library time motivator. I should use the TV one for Small Fry. Seriously, he will pee in that potty no problem, he's just struggling in the other area. That would be a motivator for him I bet!

Kami said...

Wow! I love the motivators that you are using! I know I have said it before, but you are such an awesome mother! I am so proud of Daniel too for his potty progression!

Anonymous said...

Oh, that is great! His doctor really knows his stuff and I am so glad you came up with 2 great motivators and have a routine down!
Those are very cute pictures!
Have a great weekend!

Craig and Phyllis said...

Hey, I am passing an award on to you. You can go to my blog to see what you need to do with it. Hope you don't mind!

findingourdaughter said...

Big Hugs and prayers for all of you as you navigate this area of development. I had major potty training issues with both of my boys and it was very frustrating and tiresome at times--and they did not have a health issue along with it.
I had to keep telling myself.....in time, this too shall pass, but it can feel forever when you are in it.
You are on the right track though and have a fantastic plan of action!

Christine and Stephen said...

That's so great!!! I like the motivators ... and you gave me a great idea to look into for activities for the boys ... the local library!!!

jennifer elaine said...

Make sure that your child is not constipated. This is the most important in getting started. Children’s are afraid of the toilet and the whole process of getting in a cold wet small room. If you are not an expert in knowing about the constipation, get them to a doctor when you see signs of them not eating well or change of mood. Increase the amount of fluid and fiber in their daily diet. Water plays an import role in helping your child staying healthy and helping to digest easily. Give lots of water and encourage with praise when they drink. Fiber enriched food for kids include; Barley, Navy Beans, Baked Beans, Split Peas, Oat Bran, Raspberries, Green Peas, Prunes, Spinach, Broccoli, Raisins, Mixed Vegetables, Strawberries, Carrots, Potatoes, Corn, Rice, Apples, Oranges, Celery.

Read children's story books about potty training to your child. There are lots of books available for you get online on potty training. Reading and imagination helps the child to relate to the interesting characters and behaviors within the story and helps them follow accordingly. Offer lots of praise when your child does make some progress. It is not an easy practice but this will help you see results amazingly when you really put in the effort to make your child proud of their achievement. Avoid physical punishment for not using the potty. Stop all reminders about using the toilet. Replace the reminders with the potty training stories you’ve read to your child. This helps as their mind recalls the story and how will keep it in mind when its time.

source: http://www.childdevelopmenttechniques.com