Quit after 1.5 days with 22 month old after withholding
A long post, not sure if I’m looking for advice, commiseration or just want to scream into the void. Our 22 month old showed lots of signs of readiness so I decided to go for it. We read books about “no more diapers” for a couple of weeks with her, had a little potty out for weeks, told her for over a week we would stop using diapers, bought a sticker chart and I read about 70% of “first time parents guide to potty training.” We opted to do 3 days of bottomless.
We gave her salty foods, smoothies and lots of juice for Day 1 (she normally doesn’t get juice). Lots of accidents the first day, lots of behaviors we never see like more hitting, biting and even at one point shoving me. Panic and hysterical crying when she pooped and toward end of the day when peeing. She was even freaking out if she felt the sensation of pooping which would end up bring a fart. She wanted me to hold her, carry her, etc. I did not prompt to pee as I knew it would turn into a power struggle. She napped only 1 hour and then that night didn’t go to sleep until an hour after a bedtime only to then wake up nearly an hour earlier than normal.
On day 2, she said bathroom a little after waking up and peed in the potty. We praised her and gave her an animal cracker. The rest of the morning went to hell. She was not drinking many fluids, and barely eating, withholding and then hysterical again when peeing. She would ask for the potty but then ask to get picked up or get off. It was like she couldn’t make up her mind and wasn’t sure what to do. After another short nap and continuing to withhold peeing, we called it quits. Even after putting on a pull up, she was withholding and not peeing. By bedtime she had not peed for another 5 hours despite having a pull up on. And then another night of late bedtime and early wake up.
All in all we have some work to do. For now we just want her to get back to peeing and pooping normally and trying again after age 2. We discussed that we also were not on the same page and talking too much while it was happening (eg did she pee/poop), and paying too much attention to it overall. She’s a fiercely independent kid and I think more letting her lead might be a better approach. If anyone has experienced something similar please feel free to chime in.