Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day: Proven Secrets of the Potty Pro [toilet training]

The title of this book is what got my attention. I was very pregnant and extremely exhausted when I found it and I was not looking forward to potty training my very difficult 3 1/2 year old son. I picked up the book thinking I'd use it after the new baby had arrived and things had settled down, but that was not to be. My MIL called wanting to know how the potty training was going and that was it. We knew she wasn't going to let up.

Soooo, I started planning our potty party, fully expecting to fail miserably. We couldn't find the peeing doll, improvised on the dolly underwear by cutting off the toes of my husband's old socks and snipping each corner off for the dolls legs to fit through and we weren't able to get everyone out of the house during the day, but other than that, we stuck to the book as closely as we could.

The day came for my son's Lightning McQueen party and despite my husband's awesome decorating job that he pulled off BY HIMSELF while the rest of us were sleeping, things didn't start off too great. When it came time to pop the videos in, the first couple bombed and I was ready to give up. However it came time to try a video again, we slipped [[ASIN:B0002B55DO Potty Power - For Boys & Girls]] into the player and even though my son tried to resist, it was futile. He couldn't stop himself from singing along with the various potty songs which just happened to correspond quite nicely with Teri Crane's book.

By the end of the day, my son was throwing away his diapers and putting forth a real effort to get to the potty on time. Within a week or two he was dry all day.

He did continue to have accidents at night, but once we figured out he had a gluten intolerance and cut dairy, wheat, corn and peanut butter out of his diet, he stopped wetting the bed!

I think this book and Potty Power were the perfect combination for my son's needs.

This method is so over the top. I like the idea of a potty party but really, matching undies for the doll and your child, presents, all other children and people out of the house? It just seems over the top and unneccesary. I do like the idea of devoting one full day (or weekend) to potty training which is why I gave it 2 stars vs. 1.

We did tell our daughter that she gets a potty party at Chuck E Cheese when she was potty trained and that really motivated her, she watched Potty Power DVD which she loved and we just did our own reward system (2 skittles for pee, a dum dum for poop)but this was just over the top, in my opinion.

I was very skeptical that my son could be trained in one day. However, my girlfriend swears by Crane's methods, so I got the book, purchased all necessary items, and threw a superhero-themed potty party. It was EXHAUSTING! But, my son had a lot of fun. After 3 days (not one), my son was potty trained and stopped having accidents. In the end, I think the potty party is worth all the fuss because you don't drag out the pull ups, diapers, and training for months and months. It sends a clear message to the child to pee and poop on the potty and not in a diaper anymore.

I think the key to this process working is really making sure that you child meets all of the readiness criteria that Teri lists in the book. My 30 month old son was routinely using a potty when we were at home; but only if he happened to be naked. Therefore, the potty was not a foreign concept to him when we staged the party. I did not do the party perfectly- I took some shortcuts, but I definitely bought a doll, balloons, snacks and presents and did some modest decorating. It was a miserable day- my son definitely grew irritated at the day dragged on and we kept pestering him to pee. By the end, we were exhausted. However, he has only had two accidents over several days. Also, he has decided on his own that he prefers the toilet, which is spectacular. He has been waking up dry from naps and within 4 days of the party woke up dry this morning. I highly recommend this book!

This book gave me a lot of ideas to use for potty training my son. I didn't follow the program exactly as she described it. But, I did use the potty videos, doll and books. I also wrapped up presents to give my son as he met certain milestones - sat on the potty, went potty, told us he had to go potty, etc. So, that was the "party" element that I incorporated, but instead I did it throughout a couple of days instead of at the end of one day. I think it's a good read but as with anything - you take some and you leave some.

My friends swore by this book but I wasn't convinced. I mean, really? Throwing a party?? My husband and I nonetheless followed this book to a T and had the most frustrating weekend of our lives. I was in tears. I felt like it wasn't working. I felt like a failure and I felt like I had poured my body and soul into the potty party to no avail. And then the next day, I sent my son to pre-school convinced he would spend the day having accidents. But he didn't... at all! It actually worked!! Sure, some days were better than others and we often took one step forward to take two back but it's been several months now since the potty party and in hindsight I can say that it really worked!! I don't know how I ever would've potty trained him without this book and I highly recommend it to everyone!

After getting advice from a friend to get this book (she potty trained both of her boys in one day using this book/method), I immediately went out and got Teri's book. I read it once, took the test to see if my daughter was ready (she wasn't), and waited. I have to admit I was skeptical at first - how could anyone possibly potty train a child in one day? Once I believed my daughter was ready (and, honestly, when I had the time off to devote to the potty party), I dove head-first into the potty party suggestions from Teri. Overall, the day was a general disaster! She only had accidents, and even though she went poop twice that evening, I was a total wreck and felt absolutely disappointed. However, the reason was, my daughter wasn't ready. I immediately went to Teri's website and sent her a message; I laid out my failed attempt to potty train my daughter as my friend had done successfully, and sought advice/tips on what to do since the potty party had failed. As much as Teri's book is a FANTASTIC resource (and I whole-heartedly encourage all parents to purchase the book and follow her advice -especially the readiness quiz!) the greatest part of this whole experience for me has been communicating with Teri since I first tried to potty train my daughter. She immediately contacted me about my potty party day, and I recieved astounding encouragement, help, advice, and solid suggestions from her. How many authors make such a tremendous effort to contact their fans/readers? I didn't even believe when I first contacted her via her website that anything would come from it. I just wanted to vent. And even though my potty party wasn't an immediate success, my daughter learned a lot. Just a few months after the potty party, she has essentially gotten to be fully potty trained. She remembered songs we sang, gestures, etc. from the potty party, even though I abandoned potty training during the interim. And the best part is that Teri has stuck with me through it all. She continues to support me and provide assistance, and I will recommend her book/assistance to all of my friends who are working to potty train their kids. I believe her potty party idea is the best one out there, and I will be using it for my future children (when they are ready! Have I mentioned that enough?). Teri is an author with a true purpose, and she won't let you work through this challenging experience alone.

We got this book to start the potty training process. I did not like the book. It is kind of vague on what you are supposed to do and just concentrates on throwing a potty party. ThaT is great if your toddler knows about parties and you can actually have a full conversation with him but useless if you can't. It did not cover in detail what to do during the day or what to do if the child had an accident, etc. There is a MUCH better potty training in a day written in the 1970's that TOTALLY worked for us. This one was useless.

0

This title is so misleading. Maybe some parents can potty train their child in one day, but it wasn't the case for us. I read this and did everything the book outlined and it was still a process of trial and error to find what worked for my almost 3 year old son. It is a good resource but I encourage parents not to be discouraged if her potty party doesn't work for your child. 3 weeks into the process we're having success with an extremly stubborn little boy.

I give this book 3 stars because it's one of the most interesting books on potty training I've read, yet its approach wasn't a "miracle cure" for my child.

I tried Teri's approach with my daughter a week before her 4th birthday. I spent about 6 weeks reading and re-reading Teri's book, taking notes on it, buying items for the party and otherwise preparing for it. I don't think I could have been readier for it than I was.

The morning of the party went fairly well. However, I was slightly disappointed in the Emma Corolle doll (the one most recommended by Teri). The bottle leaked, and getting the bottle in the doll's mouth "just right" was tricky. So when I would try to feed the bottle to the doll, the doll (and its underwear) would get wet. Also, if the doll's belly was pressed even slightly, the doll would pee. So, we had a number of accidents with the doll that I didn't intend to stage! If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a cheaper doll with no wetting function, and I would have just pretended it was peeing into the potty by holding a bottle behind it (as Teri did at the party for her own son).

The afternoon party was a lot of fun, but it didn't work miracles with my daughter. I never did get her to pee on the potty. She did have two accidents, one of which occurred almost immediately after she'd spent a long time sitting on the potty. Even though my daughter is almost 4, I think she just doesn't "get it." She doesn't understand yet how to control her bladder and pee "on demand".

So I am a bit disappointed, but I do think we made some progress today. For one thing, my daughter wore underwear for an 8-hour stretch. She's never worn underwear that long before. For another thing, by dedicating the whole day to potty training, I was able to observe how often my daughter absolutely has to pee. These observations should help me in coming days as I try to time my daughter's sessions on the potty "just right" to try to catch her when she most has to pee.

If I had this experience to do all over again, here is what I would have done differently:

- I would have bought a cheap doll with no drink and wet function so I could have controlled its output better;

- I would have offered only salty treats to my daughter. I offered both sweet and salty and she chose only sweet. If she'd had only salty things to eat, I think she would have been thirstier and been willing to drink more. Maybe this would have resulted in my daughter making a pee on the potty.

- I would have tried to stay within a budget. I think part of my disappointment with the day was spending so much time and money putting together the "perfect" party as outlined in Teri's book. Teri makes it clear you don't have to go "all out" that way, but having a Type A personality, it was my instinct to do that. In retrospect, though, I wish I wouldn't have gotten so carried away.

- I would have been more honest with myself about my daughter's readiness. Conventional wisdom is that, at nearly 4 years old, she should have been trained long ago. But there are a lot of signs of readiness that she is lacking. Above all, she lacks the desire to be thought of as a "big kid." That desire is central to Teri's approach. So, I guess it shouldn't be a surprise to me that the approach didn't work wonders on my daughter who lacks that desire.

-- I would have accepted the fact that potty training isn't going to happen with a flick of the wrist and snap of the fingers. Not that Teri says it will, even with her approach. But I have to admit I was hoping that we could rush the process and "get it over with" in one day and not have to worry about it much after that. Evidently, that's not how things are going to work, at least for my daughter.

So, I do recommend giving Teri's approach a try (with the aforementioned pointers in mind), but I also advocate reading Elizabeth Pantley's "No-Cry Potty Training Solution." It's almost the opposite approach to Teri's, but if you have a child who is a late, reluctant trainer the way mine is, it may be more realistic for your situation. Pantley gives lots of tips for working on potty training gradually over a long period of time.