How I discovered the cause of my potty training issues... — anuncio de Emma's Mom Hacks

My son (26mo) potty trained in 3 days, while his older sister took almost a year. Here's what we did differently... Because when I look back at that year with my daughter, I realize I made it SO much harder than it needed to be. With my first, I was understandably a little arrogant. I thought "how hard can it be?" I'd seen so many moms online do it in a weekend. Heck, there's even a method called "3 day potty training." Oh boy was I wrong.... --- I bought the cute potty. I bought the sticker charts. And I stocked up on disposables because I HATE changing diapers and didn't want pee on my rugs. And that was the decision that wasted nearly a year of our lives. For nearly 11 months, my daughter treated those disposables exactly like diapers. She would look me dead in the eye, pee, and keep playing. I’d ask "Did you just go?" and she’d say "No." And I thought she was lying straight to my face. I spent months begging, bribing, and pleading for her to sit on the potty. I thought she was stubborn. I thought she "wasn't ready." I thought I was failing her. She did eventually get it. One day she just decided she wanted to use the toilet. Like... Excuse me??? All this time just for you to decide?? 🤦🤦🤦 So when my son turned 2, I felt dread. Not excitement. Dread. I looked at my husband and said: "I cannot go through this again with him." -- So I was doom-scrolling Instagram one night, trying to unwind. And I found a Reel from a Pediatric Occupational Therapist explaining the "Sensory Loop." She asked a question that stopped me in my tracks: "How can you teach a child to control a sensation they literally cannot feel?" She explained that modern diapers and disposables are engineering marvels. They absorb moisture so fast that the skin stays perfectly dry. And that's when it hit me. That’s why my daughter said "No" when I asked if she was wet. She wasn't lying. She genuinely didn't feel it. The OT said: "You are trying to teach them to control a bladder they are deaf to." She said the solution is to remove the disposables immediately. BUT... she said do not use regular underwear either. Because while underwear helps them feel wet, it creates huge puddles on your floor. And cleaning up accidents 5 times a day creates stress, which makes the child shut down. So you are stuck: Disposables = No Feeling (No Learning). Underwear = Huge Mess (High Stress). She said you need a hybrid - "Training Pants." She recommended UpAiry training pants. She said they have a specific technology that stays wet against the skin for just long enough to send a "signal" to the brain. It creates a sensory "Cause and Effect." Pee = Wet. Wet = Yuck. But the outer layer locks it in so it doesn't leak everywhere. She also said this is why the last generation (our parents) never had the issues we have. They all used cloth diapers where the toddler COULD feel their mess. She said she'd tried a few other brands out there but the UpAiry ones were the best she'd used. It sounded too simple, but the logic made sense. So I ordered them. I put them on my son (who is only 26 months). I didn't explain anything. I didn't do a sticker chart. I just let him play. -- Day 1: He peed. He stopped playing immediately and walked funny. He looked down with wide eyes. "Wet." He felt it. The connection was instant. With my daughter, it took 6 months for her to even notice she was peeing. Day 2: He started to go, felt the dampness, and ran to the potty to finish. He realized he could STOP the "yuck" feeling by using the potty. Day 3: He was dry all day. He went to the potty every time he felt the urge. THREE. DAYS. I looked at my husband and said, "Are you kidding me? We struggled for a YEAR with his sister, and it was just the underwear the whole time?" My husband said, "Well, at least we figured it out eventually." -- Also!!! My sister-in-law is currently training her 3-year-old and was having the EXACT same struggle I had with my daughter. Accidents, apathy, "I don't care." I sent her the link to the training pants we used and said "let the training pants teach him what the urge feels like." She texted me 5 days later: "He just pooped in the potty for the first time. I am literally crying." It wasn't that our kids were stubborn. It wasn't that they "weren't ready." It was just that they couldn't feel the signal. So if you are struggling with a toddler who just doesn't seem to care. Don't make the same mistake I made with my first. Hope this saves another mom a year of stress (and money on disposables). EDIT: Getting a lot of DMs asking which ones we used for my son. I thought I mentioned it but here is the link: https://www.upairy.com/pages/training-underwear This page explains the everything way better than I can.