Potty training is hard!
My daughter was 2-1/2 years old when we decided to potty train her because she showed signs of readiness and I thought that was the right age for her. We had made attempts for a few months, but nothing seemed to stick.
I purchased a potty chair that converted 3 different ways. If you’re looking for a 3-in-one potty chair, this Potty Chair from Amazon is the one we purchased.
After several attempts to get her to use the potty and many days researching potty training, I came across Lora Jensen’s 2001 PDF eBook, 3 Day Potty Training.
Check out how we tackled the 3-Day Potty Training Method.
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What is the 3 Day Potty Training Method?
Lora Jensen’s Three-Day Potty Training Method was created to get children potty trained in, you guessed it, 3 days. While it sounds too good to be true, it can be successful. Although I will be honest with you, it could take longer than 3 days and you may not be able to fully complete night training during the three-day method.
During your 3 days of toilet training, you need to completely take away diapers and encourage your child to sit on the potty instead. It is not meant to scare your child or to cause any sort of panic or embarrassment. I took this method to be relaxing and allowed my daughter to get past her potty fears.
Where can I find the 3 Day Potty Training Method Instructions?
I am not an affiliate, and I am not making money off of Lora Jensen. However, you can find her 2001 PDF eBook here, 3 Day Potty Training.
I found this potty training method to be the best option for my daughter and it was a great way to make my daughter into a potty training queen.
What other Potty Training Methods did you try first?
There were a couple methods I tried before switching gears to potty train my daughter in 3 days.
First thing, I started by switching her to pull ups and attempting to take her to the bathroom when I thought she needed to go. This was great when she was first being introduced to the potty, but overtime, she relied too much on the pull ups and just wouldn’t bother with the little potty chair. She was not bothered by the dirty diapers, so I knew this was not the best method of potty training to go with.
This is when I introduced Potty Sticker Charts. I really did love having a Potty Sticker Chart hanging above my daughter’s Potty Chair. She would get excited when she could add a sticker to the chart. I had a cute colorful chart with fun bubble Princess stickers that she loved to play with. Unfortunately, this still wasn’t enough of a big deal to persuade her to stop going in her pull up.
Although I never went this route, I was told by friends they even tried bribing their children with M&M's and gummy bears to get them to go on the potty. A small treat is not a big deal to give as a reward after, but I don't think it should be done every time your child goes on the potty because they come to expect it.
I knew I needed to take a different approach and get my daughter out of diapers and into training pants.
Why did you decide to go with the 3 Day Potty Training Method?
I was pregnant with my son when we decided to tackle the 3 day potty training method. I knew in a few months; I would be changing a lot of newborn diapers and I did not want my daughter to still be in diapers at 3 years old.
It’s not that I didn’t want to change 2 kids in diapers, but I feared that my daughter would not want to potty train once her brother arrived. I thought our best shot of having her potty train was when she had all my attention.
At the end of the day, my daughter was showing readiness signs and she would have a dry diaper most of the time, so I knew it was time.
How did you tackle the 3 Day Potty Training Method?
My family thought I was crazy. I was suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, or as many people know it as, severe morning sickness.
*If you are struggling with hyperemesis gravidarum, you can check out my post here to see my 10 Best Morning Sickness Remedies. *
The weekend I chose was perfect. It was a long weekend, so I had a series of consecutive days, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off to work on potty training. My husband was going out of town with his parents the first day and I stayed behind with my daughter because I knew I couldn’t handle the long drive while nauseous. My mom came over on Saturday to help me with the 3-day potty training process.
Day 1:
I started by covering the furniture in my living room with GoodNites pads. You can pick up a few packages of GoodNites pads here on Amazon. I also put them on the floor under and around the potty chair, which we put in the living room for easy access. I would change the GoodNites pads out every time they were soiled. I closed the gates, so my daughter had to stay in the living room. This was where we spent lots of time over our weekend.
I took every last diaper, grabbed a plastic bag, and told my daughter we would say bye to her diapers. She threw her diapers into the plastic bag, and I moved them to a different area of the house. I did not want to throw them away in case this did not work. This was a great start to the three-day period, but I was trying not to go into it with unrealistic expectations.
This was when I introduced her to her brand-new potty training underwear. I had purchased and washed 16 pairs of training underwear with cute characters on them. These Training Underwear are thicker and work the best to potty train using this method. You can pick up a few pairs of Training Underwear Here on Amazon. She was so excited to wear her new underwear and to have underwear with her favorite character. I would change her underwear every time she had an accident.
This was when the fun began. She would spend the next 3 days wearing a shirt and training underwear. I was glad I had covered the room in GoodNites Pads. Although the underwear kept mostly everything contained. She did not like wet underwear, which was the point of the training underwear. They held enough so I wouldn’t deal with a mess, but still made her uncomfortable.
I felt bad because she decided that morning that she didn’t like the potty anymore. Thankfully that didn’t last long because my mom arrived, and she loved the potty again once my mom showed it to her and helped with positive reinforcement.
While she did not use the potty much in the morning of day, she was sitting on it much more frequently by the end of day. Most of the time she sat on it once she had started going, but she was grasping the concept for the first time.
My husband came home later that evening and we set up our daughter’s bedroom. We put GoodNites pads on her bed over her sheet, but she peed in her sleep and was very unhappy. We had to change her big kid undies and her GoodNites pads on her bed in the middle of the night a few times because she had a handful of accidents.
Day 2:
We started the second day the same, but she was attempting to sit on the potty when she had to go. She learned that she could hold it, which was a big accomplishment. She made it to the potty a few times after this and was having fewer accidents.
I had been very skeptical of this working, especially after the night we had. She seemed to enjoy running to the potty on the second day. Her fears were gone, and she liked her potty.
That night she slept in her bed in a pull up, which I know the 3-day potty training potty books is against using your child's diaper. We were afraid of going backwards and we knew it was against the method, but we wanted her to get sleep.
Day 3:
After wearing a pull up to bed, we thought she would want to continue wearing pull ups. The next morning, she took her pull up off and put her underwear on. This was a great sign and a huge deal for us.
By the third day, she would make it to the potty almost every time. She could hold it a little longer and was so happy to use the potty.
At this point, we didn’t know if we should count it as a success. If we wanted to leave the house, we knew she couldn’t hold it long to get to public restrooms and would have an accident. She also wore pull ups to bed so could we really say she was potty trained during these training days?
Days 4-7:
We moved the potty to the bathroom and removed the GoodNites pads from the floor. We only left one on her special spot on the couch, but she never had another accident.
She wore a pull up outside of the house for a few more days. She had dance class and went to visit family and we didn’t want an accident while we were out. The good sign was that she would put her “big girl undies” on when we got home. She still did wear pull ups to bed.
Did the 3 Day Potty Training Method work?
Yes! Even though we strayed from the little potty training boot camp program, we feel like we were successful. After a week, she completely stopped wearing pull ups in public. She said she did not want to wear pull ups anymore and she was a potty training expert.
She continued to wear pull ups for a few more months to bed only but was able to ditch the pull ups for good shortly after her brother was born. The trick is to make sure your child uses the bathroom right before they go to bed.
We also decided to purchase a Jool Potty Seat off Amazon for traveling. It folds up and has a little travel bag to store it in. It suction cups to the big toilet seat so your child can sit on their own seat in public. Grab your own Jool Potty Seat here.
I would recommend the 3 Day Potty Training Method to parents. I was skeptical at first because I didn’t think it was possible. The whole experience wasn’t easy, but it was worth it in the end. Next time I will be prepared to potty train my son in 3-days
Did you use the 3 Day Potty Training Method for your big girl or big boy?
Were you successful potty training your child using this process of potty training?
Comment your experience below!
