Potty Training - The Final Chapter?

04 November 2013

It has finally happened. Today my Sugar slept in her big girl undies all night and woke up DRY! That's right people. Approximately
569 days after they first sat on a potty
293 days after I actively started the potty training
I have potty-trained twins!

Night Potty Training Twins: The final Chapter - How it happened.
Time to retire the potty!
Part 1: Spice was the first to become night trained. One night after she had conquered the daytime part of using the potty, she woke up screaming and frantic. I thought she had a nightmare but also notice she seemed fidgety. I took her to the potty and she peed and went back to sleep. That was the last time she needed to sleep in a diaper. She's been dry overnight and diaper-free ever since.
Time to fully potty train? Around 100 days

Part 2: Sugar also had a screaming fidgeting episode overnight and I followed the same formula I used with Spice. She stayed dry for 2 nights and on the third her bed was soaked so I put her back in diapers. She continued to use and soak her nighttime diapers until a few weeks back when she discovered the joy of waking up at night to sneak into mommy's bed. Her winning formula was to go to OUR bathroom, take care of her business and then come snuggle into our bed. Eventually we cured the sneaking into our bed part of things but she's now gotten used to getting up at night to pee and going right back to bed. 
Time to fully potty train? Around 185 days

Lessons learnt
  1. Twins are different, their potty training timelines and milestones will be different too. One twin holds her pee all night to stay dry while the other wakes up at night to use the toilet and stay dry. Same birthdates, same parents, different styles.
  2. Speaking of parents, go with what works for you the parent. I had read all about the 3-day potty-training method which is all the rage on the interwebs and thought I needed to do that to get my mommy laurels. Well 2 hours into trailing naked twins on hardwood floors in a rented apartment, I decided that my blood pressure and sanity could not handle that particular style of potty training. 
  3. Don't sweat it or force it. I wanted to put Sugar in panties when I saw that Spice was staying dry overnight. I put her in panties and used the sheet protectors to get her to night train, but after the third night of soaked sheets and plenty of laundry I decided I was not ready for the additional laundry work required. I made up my mind to leave her in nighttime diapers until she turned 4 if necessary before attempting to actively night-train with sheet protectors
  4. Speaking of laundry, let them have a few consecutive dry nights before you assume they're ready for overnight panties. 
  5. It's going to take me a while to get used to the fact that I have no business in the baby aisles anymore. I'm still clipping diaper coupons y'all! Hard to break a 4 year habit
  6. What am I going to do with the freed up bathroom floor space when I move the diaper genie to the garage?
I can't end this potty training twins saga without giving a shout-out the resources I believe contributed to our success the most!
MandyE's potty training process for her twins which was paced over a few months and gave me a good insight into the emotional aspects of potty-training.
AND
Diaper-Free Before 3 - The first and only book I've read on potty training. I agreed with the author's style of not making a big deal out of what is basically another bodily function and it helped shape my approach.

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