My GGB trio will be three in August. I have one girl that is potty trained and has been since last fall. My other two I have been trying to potty train for a long time. I put them in big undies during the day and take them to the potty every hour. They will stay dry if I take them but if I forget or they need to go before the hour they will have an accident. They will not tell me when they have to go. And pooping is a different story, they will rarely poop on the potty. The only time they poop on the potty is when I catch them in the act and take them to the potty but most of the time they poop in their pants. Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do to help them understand that they have to tell me when they need to go potty? I know they can do it because they will do it sometimes but not all of the time.

I struggled with my BBB for a year and a half. They finally "got it" at age 4. Honestly? I would go back to pullups/diapers until they are well past their third birthday. Especially the boy. I thought they were ready, but until they really, really are, nothing you do makes any difference.

We are in the potty training zone too and it really is a frustrating process. We started in the spring and one of them is 100%, even overnight which I didn't expect, the other is doing very well, but will have an accident every few days or so. The third - well he was really, really not ready a few months ago so after a week of cleaning up after him all the time and him not having even one single success on the potty, I gave up and put him back in diapers. After a couple of months we tried again, he did much better than I expected, but only if he is naked from the waist down. Any underwear or pull-ups and he will just go ahead and pee in them. He seems not very aware of his body and doesn't seem to be motivated by peer pressure or rewards, but he is making progress so I think we will keep going.

Neither the 2nd or 3rd boy cares to poop on the potty - I try to pay attention to their behavior and if they look like they are about to go, I rush them to the potty. I do feel like they know what they should do, they just choose not to sit unless I remind them, so if they have an accident I let them know that poop goes in the potty and have them "help" clean up (like getting me the bucket to soak underwear, getting the wipes, flushing the toilet). I try to say as little as possible so that they don't do it to get attention (even negative attention).

I think unless your kids are really in tune with their body and seem willing to make the effort to use the bathroom independently, you just have to be prepared to remind them often, have plenty of little potties available to them, praise successes and try to be as patient as you can! If you can let them be naked around the house or yard, I do think that helps with them understanding their bodies. If you really feel that they aren't making progress and aren't ready, put them back in diapers for a couple weeks and try again. I know how aggravating it is to clean up messes all day long! Good luck!

DS 03/06
BBB 03/09 @ 35 weeks, 1 day
Baby A - 5 lbs 1 oz
Baby B - 6 lbs 8 oz
Baby C - 4 lbs 5 oz

Thank you that does give me encouragement. I do see progress in them some days. Today my little boy went to the bathroom on his own. And my little girl went to the bathroom on her own yesterday. I know they know that they are going potty because they will tell me or stop and watch the pee coming flying out. I don't want to start all over because they are doing really good. If I take them every hour they really don't have much accidents maybe a couple a day plus the pooping accidents. That stuff never hits that potty with the two. Yesterday, my little girl peed in her pants and I told her to change and I was called out of the bathroom because another one needed me. Then the third child went into the bathroom and told me sissy pooped. I went in there and the first child had pooped on the floor and had smeared it all over the floor with her book that she had been reading. Those are the days I want to scream.

Oh my gosh, that sounds exactly like my household over the last couple months! I feel like crying some days when we have a terrible clean-up situation. I just try to make sure we always have plenty of bleach, and WINE (for me, not for the cleaning)! I tell them they better get rich because they owe me a 5 star nursing home one day.

Hang in there!!!

DS 03/06
BBB 03/09 @ 35 weeks, 1 day
Baby A - 5 lbs 1 oz
Baby B - 6 lbs 8 oz
Baby C - 4 lbs 5 oz

My GGB were day-trained pretty young (around 2 years 3-4mo). I just wanted to pipe in and say that when mine were as young as yours are (certainly when they were less than 3), I did not rely on them to tell me they needed to go potty. It was somewhere in the 3-4 year range that they started doing this. Around their 3rd birthday they could probably go 1.5 hours between potty trips, maybe less if they had just drunk a lot. I think it's normal for kids at this age not to be able to hold it very long and for the caregiver to need to initiate.

BUT if you are still dealing with a couple accidents a day I think that's a lot--by their 3rd birthday mine I think only had rare accidents (a few times a month).

You probably know this, sorry, but it helped me to really monitor liquids. I especially noticed that apple juice caused accidents for some reason.

And with pooping, do you notice a certain time of day that each kid usually poops? If so sit him/her on the potty for 5 min and read them a book (say, after lunch). Also, I used major rewards (I mean, a wrapped present from the dollar store, in addition to candy when they successfully poop). I found that rewards were particularly effective because of the dynamic of having triplets--the other two observed the one getting a present and it really motivated them!

Good luck, this will pass soon!

Mary (41) happily married to Case (45) since 7/2000

Stay-at-home mom to Madelyn Anne, born 10/31/04

and GBG triplets: Laura Catherine (4 lb 8 oz), Andrew William (4 lb 9 oz) and Elise Nicole (4 lb 7 oz) born 3/15/07 at 34w 1d