Hello world,
I just noticed my last post said "tomorrow" I would share the ways we helped get Sabrina on a sleep schedule. Apparently in mother words, tomorrow means "in 7 months." Mainly, we started a calming routine, stopped putting lights on at night, no interaction after 8pm. I think the distinguishing between day and night was one of the most helpful strategies we used. We also did our checklist (burp, bottle, diaper, hugs, etc) prior to putting her down to sleep so we knew she didn't need anything from us. If she cried, we would go in ad hug her and put her back down. Letting her learn to soothe herself and put herself back to sleep was very helpful. I am sure there may have been more strategies that were useful, but I don't even forget what I did yesterday, so remembering so long ago is a blur to me.
The last time I wrote, Jackie had requested to be in underwear at night. This is still very successful and a non-issue at this point. She stays dry every night, regardless of whether we wake her up before we go to bed at 11pm, or if she stays asleep from 8pm to morning. We change some of the things she earns -cookie, juice, sometimes its jellybeans (anything she doesn't get access to other times of the day so it's extra special , but we think she will love). I don't remember the last time she had a bowel accident or a night accident. So, Jackie is completely trained by 2.5 years old both day and night.
Who reading is going to infant toilet train after hearing this?
Well, I am. Sabrina is 8 months now and we just started taking her to the bathroom. We started Jackie much younger, but waited longer with Sabrina. My back is still injured, so I haven't been able to bend to help her sit on the toilet, and I have been postponing it. We rearranged the bathroom to make it easier for me to get in the routine of having her try to go. She was also so small I was worrying about her sitting on the potty, but now she is gaining weight and I am more comfortable having her sit.
Anytime we change her diaper, we have her sit down on the potty seat on the toilet. We moved the wipes, changing pad and diapers into the bathroom, so we had no choice but to start taking her to the bathroom to change her. It was too easy to forget to sit her on the potty when the changing table was in her bedroom. So, we've changed the environment to help us remember. For the most part, she pees each time we sit her down. One day this weekend, she pooped twice in the potty! Like Jackie, we want Sabrina to get used to the routine of going into the bathroom during key points of the day, so it's part of her life now. If we save diapers and wipes, that is a bonus. Right now, Sabrina goes potty when she wakes up, then anytime she gets a diaper change. It is so doable and fun and doesn't take time out of her regular scheduled diaper changes. It take about an extra minute to let her sit and feel the air on her tush.
Rearranging the bathroom was the final step we needed to get us and her back in the routine of sitting on the toilet. I am not sure I am going to go all gung - ho with the data collection, like I did with Jackie for the first TWO years of toileting (we have stacks and stacks of sheets saying when she went, if she voided from daycare and home, etc), but I am going to take Sabrina from now on to make her familiar to it, since it was so successful with Jackie and it doesn't take a lot of time out of my day for me to do it.
Happy Toileting!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Monday, October 1, 2012
Toileting and Sleeping: A New Addition To The Family
Cyber friends,
It has been a while since I have written an entry. In the past few months I have had a baby, started work, and been enrolling in Psychology PHd Programs! The most exciting developments this past few weeks has been Sabrina's sleep and Jackie's toileting. Let's start with our familiar friend, Jackie!
A very exciting and recent development is that Jackie has requested no more diapers at night. Jackie turned 2.5 years/30 months old last week. I wasn't sure when we'd transition her out of a crib or out of diapers, but we knew we would have them happen at the same time. I wasn't rushing it because I had no idea how the changes of the new baby in her life would impact her current functioning, and did not want to rush her into night independence. I also expected a bit of regression when Sabrina was born, as I had no idea how Jackie would be affected by a new little person sharing her parents' attention and I was for one was expecting the worst. Jackie has been day trained for a quite a while, only wearing underwear during the day (avoiding accidents, urinating and pooping successfully in the potty, and initiating). However, she always wore a diaper at night. It is true that it wasn't unusual for her to wake up with a dry diaper, but as a parent I was scared to make the transition from ease of diaper use to potential accidents, etc. Thus, we have been putting diapers on her at night. Until 3 days ago, when we looked in the cabinet and saw the diaper box was empty. It was the gynormous Cotsco box full of diapers and I remember telling my husband when buying it that I wished it would be the last box we ever had to buy for her. Well, I was right. We were forced the first night to have her go to bed without a diaper, because we were fresh out. However, when she woke up in the morning dry she told me she didn't want to wear diapers anymore. She wanted to wear underwear to bed. This is night 3 of not wearing diapers. She has woken up dry so far, so this is totally successful as of right now. Of course, we do have some simple strategies in place to promote her success. She is in a toddler bed (aka big girl bed) now, with her door ajar, so she can walk to the bathroom independently if she needs to go in the middle of the night. We do give her the motivation of a small cookie, which she never gets and absolutely loves, if she wakes up dry in the same underwear she went to bed in! (I actually just got her up to use the bathroom and that's all she talked about when she was sitting on the potty. I didn't even have to remind her.So, it's all very new and very reinforcing to her thus far). We have her in a night gown so she doesn't have to worry about fumbling to pull up or down pants when she's half asleep. We also stop liquids after 6pm, and wake her up before we go to bed to take her to the bathroom. Mostly, though, and I am not biased at all, she is just an amazing young lady.
Now let's move onto the beautiful new love of my life--Sabrina Belle. I have not written about her yet, but I had a beautiful baby girl 10 weeks ago. It was definitely not easy at first. I had some time adjusting to juggling the responsibilities and needs of two children. Jackie has been very helpful with her baby sister, fetching clothes or burp cloths, etc., but the lack of sleep at night made watching both energetic girls all day especially hard. Sabrina was getting up every 2 hours and playing at night, and I was very, very, very tired. Did I mention I was tired? This pregnancy was very hard on me physically, so it took me longer to heal. The lack of sleep was not helping my pain or my healing. After the third week I realized that I had to start using my career training to make my life easier. I spent the remainder of my 8 week maternity leave starting and maintaining Sabrina on a sleep schedule! Operation: "Mommy really needs to function like a normal human being." Sabrina Belle is now 10 weeks old and instead of going to bed at midnight and getting up to eat every 2 hours, she is going to bed at 8pm and sleeping continuously through until 7am. She is 10 lbs, so the weight gain has definitely contributed to her ability to sleep through the night. However she is much smaller in weight than Jackie was when Jackie started sleeping all night long, so I think the strategies we used were definitely helpful as well. It is times likes these where I am especially thankful for my career and my training in behavior modification. I am now back to work and so happy that night-waking has stopped, so I can wake up rested and ready to start the day! I will write more tomorrow about the strategies I used to change her sleeping habits, but wanted to share my little miracle with this blog. She is a very happy and calm little baby and we are blessed to have her. This also means double the parenting dilemmas and double the fun, as I now raise not one but two children from a behavior analyst's perspective.
Colleen Williams, M.Ed, BCBA
It has been a while since I have written an entry. In the past few months I have had a baby, started work, and been enrolling in Psychology PHd Programs! The most exciting developments this past few weeks has been Sabrina's sleep and Jackie's toileting. Let's start with our familiar friend, Jackie!
A very exciting and recent development is that Jackie has requested no more diapers at night. Jackie turned 2.5 years/30 months old last week. I wasn't sure when we'd transition her out of a crib or out of diapers, but we knew we would have them happen at the same time. I wasn't rushing it because I had no idea how the changes of the new baby in her life would impact her current functioning, and did not want to rush her into night independence. I also expected a bit of regression when Sabrina was born, as I had no idea how Jackie would be affected by a new little person sharing her parents' attention and I was for one was expecting the worst. Jackie has been day trained for a quite a while, only wearing underwear during the day (avoiding accidents, urinating and pooping successfully in the potty, and initiating). However, she always wore a diaper at night. It is true that it wasn't unusual for her to wake up with a dry diaper, but as a parent I was scared to make the transition from ease of diaper use to potential accidents, etc. Thus, we have been putting diapers on her at night. Until 3 days ago, when we looked in the cabinet and saw the diaper box was empty. It was the gynormous Cotsco box full of diapers and I remember telling my husband when buying it that I wished it would be the last box we ever had to buy for her. Well, I was right. We were forced the first night to have her go to bed without a diaper, because we were fresh out. However, when she woke up in the morning dry she told me she didn't want to wear diapers anymore. She wanted to wear underwear to bed. This is night 3 of not wearing diapers. She has woken up dry so far, so this is totally successful as of right now. Of course, we do have some simple strategies in place to promote her success. She is in a toddler bed (aka big girl bed) now, with her door ajar, so she can walk to the bathroom independently if she needs to go in the middle of the night. We do give her the motivation of a small cookie, which she never gets and absolutely loves, if she wakes up dry in the same underwear she went to bed in! (I actually just got her up to use the bathroom and that's all she talked about when she was sitting on the potty. I didn't even have to remind her.So, it's all very new and very reinforcing to her thus far). We have her in a night gown so she doesn't have to worry about fumbling to pull up or down pants when she's half asleep. We also stop liquids after 6pm, and wake her up before we go to bed to take her to the bathroom. Mostly, though, and I am not biased at all, she is just an amazing young lady.
Now let's move onto the beautiful new love of my life--Sabrina Belle. I have not written about her yet, but I had a beautiful baby girl 10 weeks ago. It was definitely not easy at first. I had some time adjusting to juggling the responsibilities and needs of two children. Jackie has been very helpful with her baby sister, fetching clothes or burp cloths, etc., but the lack of sleep at night made watching both energetic girls all day especially hard. Sabrina was getting up every 2 hours and playing at night, and I was very, very, very tired. Did I mention I was tired? This pregnancy was very hard on me physically, so it took me longer to heal. The lack of sleep was not helping my pain or my healing. After the third week I realized that I had to start using my career training to make my life easier. I spent the remainder of my 8 week maternity leave starting and maintaining Sabrina on a sleep schedule! Operation: "Mommy really needs to function like a normal human being." Sabrina Belle is now 10 weeks old and instead of going to bed at midnight and getting up to eat every 2 hours, she is going to bed at 8pm and sleeping continuously through until 7am. She is 10 lbs, so the weight gain has definitely contributed to her ability to sleep through the night. However she is much smaller in weight than Jackie was when Jackie started sleeping all night long, so I think the strategies we used were definitely helpful as well. It is times likes these where I am especially thankful for my career and my training in behavior modification. I am now back to work and so happy that night-waking has stopped, so I can wake up rested and ready to start the day! I will write more tomorrow about the strategies I used to change her sleeping habits, but wanted to share my little miracle with this blog. She is a very happy and calm little baby and we are blessed to have her. This also means double the parenting dilemmas and double the fun, as I now raise not one but two children from a behavior analyst's perspective.
Colleen Williams, M.Ed, BCBA
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Accident Free
It has been almost a month since Jackie's second birthday. More specifically, it has been almost a month since Jackie has been allowed to wear underwear at daycare. I am happy to report that Jackie is officially day trained with zero accidents (bowel and urination). During the week or so in underwear, her personal cubby at daycare was decorated with a plastic bag during parent pick up, to indicate she had some sort of toileting accident. Now, it has been over 2 weeks of accident-free days. Not only that, she consistently pees and poops in the potty at home and in school, and is requesting both when needed. She used to have bowel accidents even though she was urination trained at home, but it has only been a month of consistently wearing underwear in all environments and she is accident free from both.
Getting day care on board with the reward system from home may have been key. The day I showed her a lollipop at daycare and told her she'd get it if she pooped for her teacher was the first day she pooped in the potty at daycare instead of having an accident. They did say that they couldn't give lollipops anymore because of the choking hazard, so Jackie now gets a sticker for pooping in the potty at daycare and a lollipop in the car on the way home if she has any stickers. She bought into this reward change immediately and gets really excited to show off her stickers when I pick her up.
Last week I bought Jackie a step stool for each bathroom. She is so excited to use the bathroom independently that she requests it much more often or she goes in by herself without getting me first! She can walk in, pull her pants down and sit on the potty without me. I will hear "Mommy, Look!" or "Mommy, I peed in the toy-yit!" and I'll realize she used the bathroom without me. The only problem is, if she uses the potty without requesting me to help, she can't pull up her pants yet. So when she is finished and gets off the toilet, she just waddles and calls out for me. All I have to hear is "Mommy, you do it pants up Jackie"...or some string of relevant out of order words like that.
As for night training: This is day four of her waking up dry!
Happy Toileting,
Getting day care on board with the reward system from home may have been key. The day I showed her a lollipop at daycare and told her she'd get it if she pooped for her teacher was the first day she pooped in the potty at daycare instead of having an accident. They did say that they couldn't give lollipops anymore because of the choking hazard, so Jackie now gets a sticker for pooping in the potty at daycare and a lollipop in the car on the way home if she has any stickers. She bought into this reward change immediately and gets really excited to show off her stickers when I pick her up.
Last week I bought Jackie a step stool for each bathroom. She is so excited to use the bathroom independently that she requests it much more often or she goes in by herself without getting me first! She can walk in, pull her pants down and sit on the potty without me. I will hear "Mommy, Look!" or "Mommy, I peed in the toy-yit!" and I'll realize she used the bathroom without me. The only problem is, if she uses the potty without requesting me to help, she can't pull up her pants yet. So when she is finished and gets off the toilet, she just waddles and calls out for me. All I have to hear is "Mommy, you do it pants up Jackie"...or some string of relevant out of order words like that.
As for night training: This is day four of her waking up dry!
Happy Toileting,
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Jackie 2 Year Milestones
Things have been so busy since we’ve been expecting our second little girl that I haven’t been able to post about Jackie’s behavior or milestones. Since I originally started this as a toileting blog, I thought I should update this to determine if taking her to the potty so early in life was successful in leading her to independence.
She turned two on March 27th, and has been potty trained and only in underwear for months! She initiates and is also taken on a schedule just in case. She earns a fruit snack for peeing in the potty and a lollipop for pooping in the potty. We are very happy we made it a routine early in life so it’s always been a part of her life. We didn’t have to do much training to teach her to be independent because she has been so accustomed to sitting and going from a young age. Yesterday we went to DC to the zoo all day and went to Dave and Busters for dinner until 9pm. She stayed in the same underwear all day—she peed in the potty each time we took her and pooped twice in the potty! I was so amazed and proud of her. She surprises even me with how good she is getting with toileting successfully. This morning was another time where she requested to poop in the potty without just going on a schedule. We are very happy with our decision to toilet her as an infant and to make sitting in the bathroom part of her regular routine. It made my day to see her so successful with toileting, especially when in public all day. She has generalized beautifully.
On the metro on the way home from DC, Jackie was talking to her relatives on the train, saying hello to everyone, singing, and speaking sentences. The woman next to me asked how old she was and I said she just turned two. The woman continued to tell me that she was a Speech pathologist and very impressed with Jackie’s language! That also made my day yesterday! It’s always nice to hear her accomplishments aren’t all in my head because I am her mom!
2 year appointment: As you know I am a board certified behavior analyst, so I have been working hard to help build communication and independence in Jackie. We went to the 2 year pediatrician appointment on her birthday, and the pediatrician was very excited to hear Jackie talking and laughing in the room. They asked me to get her down to her diaper, and were shocked that she was in underwear. I expected her to be shy and not demonstrate her language skills, but she was talking in full sentences to the doctor during the session. To top it off, in the middle of our appointment, she independently went toward the door and said “I have to go sit down potty, mommy” and started opening the door. When we came back from the bathroom, the pediatrician asked for my business card :)
Milestones by her second birthday: She has a very big vocabulary and usually speaks in 5-8 word sentences. We hardly see any tantrum behavior and I believe her language is a big reason for that, because she has learned using her words is easier. She can count in order from 1-13. She knows basic shapes and she does now know her colors yet. She is potty trained and is only in underwear during the day. She only wears a diaper at night (although she often wakes up dry.) Eventually, wearing underwear at night will be our next step in this process.
Happy Second Birthday, Jackie!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Toileting Jackie
This past week, Jackie is increasing her toileting frequency while remaining dry. Twice this week, Jackie (with a diaper on) has stayed dry, came to me and said she had to "Pee Pee" and then went into the potty and voided immediately on the potty. This is the most she has initiated and actually voided. She often lets me know she just went, especially in waterproof underwear, but this is the first time she seems to be understanding to stay dry and then request. She'll even say "I'm dry" and look for a high five from me. So, she's getting it!
The first time this week that she initiated was after a long trip to my brother's wedding in NY, where we didn't take her to the bathroom the entire busy trip. When we got home, I was afraid she may have to start over or have unlearned something, because she went three whole days just voiding in diapers and not requesting. However, the minute we got home she pointed to her diaper and said potty and she pooped on the potty! A few days later she was dry and said Pee Pee and urinated on the potty.
These aren't the only times she has voided in the toilet. But I mention these because she specifically initiated prior to voiding, which is very exciting! We also changed her reward to fruit snacks, which she has never had before this, so this may be helpful in rewarding her for voiding!
For such a little person, she is learning so quickly!
On a side note, I also have to mention that she is now speaking in 2-3 word sentences, which amazes me. e.g.: Hi daddy, Lets go, I did it etc! This is remarkable to me! She is learning so quickly in every aspect of her teenie tiny beautiful baby life!
Until Next Time,
Colleen
The first time this week that she initiated was after a long trip to my brother's wedding in NY, where we didn't take her to the bathroom the entire busy trip. When we got home, I was afraid she may have to start over or have unlearned something, because she went three whole days just voiding in diapers and not requesting. However, the minute we got home she pointed to her diaper and said potty and she pooped on the potty! A few days later she was dry and said Pee Pee and urinated on the potty.
These aren't the only times she has voided in the toilet. But I mention these because she specifically initiated prior to voiding, which is very exciting! We also changed her reward to fruit snacks, which she has never had before this, so this may be helpful in rewarding her for voiding!
For such a little person, she is learning so quickly!
On a side note, I also have to mention that she is now speaking in 2-3 word sentences, which amazes me. e.g.: Hi daddy, Lets go, I did it etc! This is remarkable to me! She is learning so quickly in every aspect of her teenie tiny beautiful baby life!
Until Next Time,
Colleen
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Toileting Update September 2011
Current Status of our toileting.
Successful Voids: As Jackie gets older, ironically, successful voids are decreasing for now. She is so excited to run and play that she has little interest in sitting still in the bathroom. She does still successfully void in the toilet, but it isn't an everyday occurrence like it used to be. It happens more on the weekend because she's in her waterproof underwear and I am more aware of toilet training (to protect the rug of any accidents) and she is more aware because she can feel it. But, she does void successfully (average last weekend was 66%) and she is almost always lets me know when she's peeing/pooping so I can take her/change her diaper. So that's something!
Waterproof Underwear: She is more successful in days that I have her in waterproof underwear (usually all day any weekend we don't have to go anywhere). She holds her urination longer probably because she feels uncomfortable peeing in the underwear. She usually goes 3 hours dry consistently (so I don't have to trip her every half hour any more!) She also lets me know immediately each time she is about to pee or is peeing in her underwear so I can bring her to the bathroom. Often times, she stops herself peeing when she feels it in her waterproof underwear and I can sit her on the potty and get some success in the toilet!!
Initiation: She has gotten to the point where she announces loudly and clearly that she is either peeing or pooping and she points to her diaper. however, she will continue to run and play. She hasn't quite figured out that if she says she has to go she should run to the bathroom. There are some times when Jackie does initiate and runs straight to the bathroom, but that is not frequent enough. However, it is very frequent that she gains a persons attention and points to her diaper saying "pee Pee' or " poo poo." I just have to get that to mean something for her.
Jackie is more likely to run straight to the bathroom when peeing if she's in waterproof underwear but she will point to herself and announce that she's going even when in diapers like today!!! This is a good sign to me that even in diapers she's becoming more aware!
So she's getting there and she's becoming more aware of toileting, and is successful voiding occasionally still. I don't feel as confident about her success as I did 6 months to a year ago when we first started this toileting experience but I know she's showing more signs of readiness now than she was. Before it was all me taking her, now she's initiating and walking there inconsistently but still! I am proud to have a 17 month old who over half of the time voids successfully in the toilet and who tells me she's peeing or pooping and points to her diaper while doing so!!! Overall toileting our infant has been successful so far!
She's a smart girl, and she'll get there when she gets there.
Happy toileting,
Colleen Williams, BCBA
Successful Voids: As Jackie gets older, ironically, successful voids are decreasing for now. She is so excited to run and play that she has little interest in sitting still in the bathroom. She does still successfully void in the toilet, but it isn't an everyday occurrence like it used to be. It happens more on the weekend because she's in her waterproof underwear and I am more aware of toilet training (to protect the rug of any accidents) and she is more aware because she can feel it. But, she does void successfully (average last weekend was 66%) and she is almost always lets me know when she's peeing/pooping so I can take her/change her diaper. So that's something!
Waterproof Underwear: She is more successful in days that I have her in waterproof underwear (usually all day any weekend we don't have to go anywhere). She holds her urination longer probably because she feels uncomfortable peeing in the underwear. She usually goes 3 hours dry consistently (so I don't have to trip her every half hour any more!) She also lets me know immediately each time she is about to pee or is peeing in her underwear so I can bring her to the bathroom. Often times, she stops herself peeing when she feels it in her waterproof underwear and I can sit her on the potty and get some success in the toilet!!
Initiation: She has gotten to the point where she announces loudly and clearly that she is either peeing or pooping and she points to her diaper. however, she will continue to run and play. She hasn't quite figured out that if she says she has to go she should run to the bathroom. There are some times when Jackie does initiate and runs straight to the bathroom, but that is not frequent enough. However, it is very frequent that she gains a persons attention and points to her diaper saying "pee Pee' or " poo poo." I just have to get that to mean something for her.
Jackie is more likely to run straight to the bathroom when peeing if she's in waterproof underwear but she will point to herself and announce that she's going even when in diapers like today!!! This is a good sign to me that even in diapers she's becoming more aware!
So she's getting there and she's becoming more aware of toileting, and is successful voiding occasionally still. I don't feel as confident about her success as I did 6 months to a year ago when we first started this toileting experience but I know she's showing more signs of readiness now than she was. Before it was all me taking her, now she's initiating and walking there inconsistently but still! I am proud to have a 17 month old who over half of the time voids successfully in the toilet and who tells me she's peeing or pooping and points to her diaper while doing so!!! Overall toileting our infant has been successful so far!
She's a smart girl, and she'll get there when she gets there.
Happy toileting,
Colleen Williams, BCBA
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