I’ve always thought this sounded like a great method, but have never been able to implement it in its entirety, because all of my children have freaked out at the idea of going without pants of some kind.  Even though they weren’t particularly modest 2 or 3 year olds, the thought of that level of nudity caused them to get practically hysterical.

I have no kids, no experience potty-training, and would not normally dare to be presumptuous enough to comment on a potty-training post, especially with something that resembles advice. But since this is more or less the method my mother used for me, I thought it might be worth mentioning that she actually recommends the long t-shirt/dress, on the theory that it’s more uncomfortable to have a wet dress sticking to you legs than to just get your legs wet.

We are a house of girls and have done the same thing!  With our first, it worked well, b/c she was ready for potty-training just in time for the summer months, so summer dresses worked great!  This winter, we adapted for our most recent potty-goer by turning up the heat, and leaving a long sleeved shirt on.  After a day, we were able to go to underwear and knit pants with the same effect! 
We also don’t use a kid-potty, but stick them right on the potty with a seat or just a stool depending on the kid…

What a timely post this is!  I have a 2 1/2yo boy, a 1 1/2y girl and a 2week old girl… we have been using pull-ups (kind of a money waster in my mind) with our son who is less interested in the potty than he was some months ago. And, our middle girl has gone in the potty a few times yesterday alone.  we’re gonna have to find three day to block our schedule and try this method (preferably when DH is home to help run the show!)

Thanks for the post!

AHHH - I did this with some of the girls who I potty trained in warm weather. It worked great. Not sure I can do with the boy though. First, all the girls are around. Second, he’s ready and it’s cold now. Third, he simply gets himself dressed when he’s naked. I have to respect that.
However, I did have a potty break through the other day that I can share. I’m letting it be. We keep trying. He’s making progress. At some point he’ll catch on.
But I do love your idea. It worked for me a bunch of times. How I miss those two - three day training sessions. I’m in this one for two or three months!

My mom had a version that involved using the backyard for 3 warm summer days. This is especially good if your floors get dangerously slippery when wet. I would also suggest (having potty trained my seven plus some otheres) that you plan your meals, plan DH to give you a sanity break each evening and keep the portable phone away from the toilet—I’m just saying! It might not recover.

A vinyl backed bathroom rug works well when the child is sitting to watch tv, etc. so that it doesn’t ruin the furniture.  I always wanted to try this method in it’s fullness but had a picky husband.  I did try versions of this throughout the day.

I have appreciated John Rosemond since long before I became a mother.  (And I was a WAY better mother back then )  I had expected to do this with my daughter, but it turned out she wanted to wear p@nties and that was pretty much it!  I have found that it works better to take her to the potty every couple of hours rather than wait for her to tell me as she doesn’t do so well with that.

Some of the theories behind Rosemond’s plan is that when they feel things around their bottoms (i.e. diaper, training pants, and undies, to an extent), they feel like they can just “go”.  Removing the clothes helps remove that way of thinking.  If your little one REALLY doesn’t want to go without clothes, try it with clothes!  Worst case scenario is more laundry (and cleaning carpet and possibly furniture, but I digress).

You can get a tiny bjorn potty on Amazon.com for $10 if you want one in a more convenient spot, though it’s pretty tiny.  I have since put mine in the car for emergencies.  I had a bigger potty chair that I liked, but I got tired of dumping the bowl…  We moved on to a potty seat on the big potty pretty quickly.

One thing that I try to remind myself… we can lead them to the potty, but we can’t make them go…

I don’t want to put down your method but I just wanted to offer my experience for those with difficult potty training situations. We have always tried to employ this method. (During the summer primarily.) For my girls, it worked out just fine. We did both potty chairs and big potty inserts. For both boys, potty training was horrific which is why I am so surprised that it has worked with all of your boys, Rachel. Having both genders, I always chalked it up to being a boy thing. My boys were like Susie’s and hated being naked and also terrified of the potty (it didn’t matter if it was a potty chair or a toilet). Terrified of it to the point of screaming instead of sitting on it. Even when one of my sons got comfortable with peeing, he still refused to sit on the potty for “number 2” and started withholding his BMs… 8 DAYS at a time!!! So, best of luck to you if this method works and I do believe that it can, but don’t beat yourself up if it doesn’t. Sometimes, the kid trumps the method.

A similar method was easy for my son. Not so easy for my three daughters. Two of three apparently didn’t care if they peed down their legs, dress or undressed. My son, however, found it to be an inconvenience and got the concept immediately. Go figure. I’ll try again with our baby boy when he gets of age.

As one in the middle of potty training, I say thanks!  My daughter will love the no-pants part (she LOVES taking off her diaper), but I am not sure how much the pee down the legs will bother her.  She has done this several times already.  She knows something is not quite right.  Perhaps trying this, instead of rushing her back into a diaper, will help.  With only hardwood floors and tile through out my house, why not!?

I have a 3 year old who has NO motivation to tell me has to go, at all.  He will be dry all day, for the most part, if I take him constantly.  But I have 6 others to juggle, all but one of whom were trained my 2 1/2, so it is hard to have to constantly be thinking of this.  Does anyone have something to motivate him?  He has won stickers, candy, trucks, lots of praise, etc.  He has undies he picked out.  He just does not care at all.  My first 5 were girls, so this is really new to me

Tried this method on my first kid (but no carpets, so no need for the $75!). It worked for #1s but not #2s. Finally figured out he needs privacy for #2s, so having the potty chair in a central public location was a bad, bad idea for him.

Didn’t have to try it with the second kid, because once I explained to her that she could get rid of the diapers and just put her #1s and #2s right into the toilet, she was so happy, she trained herself in 2 days. She was only 2 and a half! But she hated the feel of diapers, so she’d do anything to get rid of them.

Tried it with the third kid and it didn’t work. Finally figured out that what she really wanted was to be the baby forever so she could have my undivided attention. Stopped changing her diapers (had my husband do it) and gave her attention in other ways, and then she started using the toilet on her own.

Our oldest son had trouble with bedwetting years after his younger sister or even his much younger brother were dry at night.  It was really beginning to bother him and he wanted to do whatever he could do to help make it stop.  We followed Dr. Ray Guarendi’s advice and tried the nighttime alarm.  It basically senses wetness in a reusable pad which is placed in the underwear, and then emits a loud sound.  We felt awful even thinking about using it, and when we finally did, he was really upset about the noise at first.  After finding success by about night two, though, he was eager to have us help him use it and seemed to view “beating” the alarm (i.e., keeping it quiet all night) as a challenge.  He was nearly seven when we used the alarm, and it only took about 3-4 nights for the bedwetting to cease permanently (though we kept it in a few days longer just to be on the safe side).  That was over three years ago, and he’s never had a problem since.  He learned that if he feels the need to go at night, he simply gets himself up and goes—and he’s really proud of himself too. 

We tried this during the summer and my daughter not only withheld #2, but #1 as well. When she came to me and said, “Mama tummy hurt!” we were done. I slapped on a diaper, she went, and it was a relief. She just recently got comfortable doing her #1 in her potty. I had her running around pantless because of a bad diaper rash. She won’t do her #2 there, though. I’m trying not to push because I know she hold it for a long time.

I go with a similar method to Rachel’s, except we don’t do the “nude” thing. I wait until my kids are consistently dry throughout the night, so I know they have control. Then, I make the big announcement that in 2 weeks, they are going to be diaper free. I pump it up like a great thing. I also tell them that since they are big now (usually 3), if they have an accident, they have to get undressed and take care of their wet clothes all by themselves (remember, my kids potty train a bit older than most!).

On the big day, they are congratulated and given a nice pair of new underwear. With the first accident comes shock, followed by “ewwwww.” I calmly take them to the bathroom and talk them through taking all their wet clothes off. Then they take them to the laundry room, get themselves dressed again, and start over.

Like Rachel said, this is one mighty fast method. None of my children have enjoyed the wet feeling, and they are quick to make it to the toilet after that. I am able to give them tons of praise for a job well done, and save myself hours and hours of frantically watching my kids to see if they have to go.

Seven kids so far, and six of them successfully potty trained! (now watch number 7 be the hold out! *grin*)

I was all on board with this method, but could not get my (very sensitive, very stubborn) daughter to agree to try the nakedness. At all. Fortunately she learned to use the potty on her own when she was ready with very little fuss. We might try this with our boy (now 12mos) when he’s closer to potty-training age!

I have 7 children - now all trained.  Didn’t hear about Rosemond’s method until my fifth child.  Always waited for the “readiness” signs.  Having seen it both ways now, I know that I missed the “readiness” signs that came early on, ( but often very briefly)- because I didn’t think I was “ready” - winter, too busy,etc.  The “t-shirt dress” method is the best.  My last three (2 girls, one boy) all learned happily - with no fuss, no drama - before 2years old.  We put the potty seat right out in the main living area so they never had to leave the “action”.  My first four (boys) were a completely different story - lots of frustration all around.  I’m sure it’s a matter of using highly absorbent (and environmentally unfriendly) diapers too long and everyone -moms and kids -getting too comfortable with them.  Nature’s built in cues are a much better teacher.
Nighttime dryness is a different story; have had 2 boys (going on 3) who took many years to finally stay dry.

((hugs)) to all. And just a laughing reminder ... if they’re normal, they’ll eventually get trained, they’ll eventually stop wetting the bed, all will happen in good time.

I have a 14 year old austistic daughter who still isn’t toilet trained. Life gets pretty sucky when you’re trying to clean up adult sized messes on an adult sized person!

(And, hey, if you have any spare prayers for my Meredith’s toilet training, toss them my way, hey? I’m close to getting the 3 year old trained, but after 14 years, I’m losing hope on my girl.)

PS Don’t let a little girl pick Mermaid panties! They don’t remember to keep her dry

Great post and lots of wonderful ideas.  Each of our children (our 6th is not yet ready, but soon) have reacted differently to the idea of potty training.  Some were close to 5 years old by the time they were ready.  An idea that was suggested to us by a developmental clinician was to keep a variety of ‘potty time’ only toys near the potty and to include a bottle of blowing bubbles since the act of blowing helps to relax the necessary muscles.  The other thing that was suggested, if the child was resistant to going naked (or even if not), was to let them wear cotton underwear/panties under a plastic diaper cover.  This allows the child to feel the wetness while containing the mess (it actually keeps the wetness close to their bodies for a while so it has the added effect of making them even more aware).  Good luck!

Hey wow! I did the same, only I was fortunate it was during the summer. I let my son of 18 monthes run around in the yard in his vest while he was playing with water & sand etc. I made it loud and clear that his potty was very near. Within days hefound his way to the potty.

I see that I’m late to the party, but when talking about potties, it’s always time for a party!

I used John Rosemond’s method for our last six kids (I think)....hadn’t heard about it until then.  It worked well for both boys and girls, summer and winter.  I think key for us was waiting until the child was really ready, which for the boys meant around age 3 and the girls 2.25 - 2.5 years.  Loved it that it wasn’t long and drawn out, but rather painless.  Or maybe I just forget because the last one was a couple of years ago!