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Does 3 Day Potty Training Really Work?

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Perhaps you remember my desperate scream of frustration that I tried to pass off as humor when I was potty training Samuel (if you don’t, you can find it here). Suffice it to say that it was not a pleasant experience. For either of us. Not even a little bit.

So it should come as no surprise that I haven’t been in any hurry to potty train Annelise. At all. Not even a little bit.

However, she’ll be three in May and talks about school constantly, so I knew that we had to do it soon if we plan to enroll her in preschool in the fall.

3 Day Potty Training

I’d seen advertisements for Potty Train in a Weekend floating around the internet and was always skeptical, as I am about anything that promises amazing results in a short time frame.

But then I had an idea. Why not buy the book, try it out, and write about it? I knew other parents would benefit from a real, honest review, and with school vacation looming before us, it seemed like perfect timing.

How about I try it for you?

I bought the book, read it in less than a hour (It’s short, which is great as far as I’m concerned. Who has time to read a tome on potty training?), bought the necessary supplies, and was ready to start a couple of days later.

Now before you start looking for the part of the post where I say, “This book will absolutely (or absolutely not) potty train your child in three days, 100%, no question about it.”, you should stop because you won’t find it.

If I’ve learned anything in my short time as a parent, it’s that every kid is unique and what works for one may not work for another.

Probably my biggest piece of advice is “Know your kid.” Know what works for them, what motivates them, etc.

That said, I wish I had tried this method out on Samuel instead of using the wait and see approach. If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it may have worked and saved us a lot of headaches.

Anyway, enough of the build up. You want to know if it worked with Annelise or not.

Short answer: It was awesome.

It’s intense, but that’s probably why it works. If you want to be successful, you have to make the commitment to go all in. Here’s what I mean:

  • Make plans to not go anywhere for at least three days.
  • Make sure you have everything you need, not only for potty training, but for groceries and that sort of thing too.
  • Get yourself into a frame of mind that even through the setbacks (because there WILL be setbacks), you’re going to stick with it for all three days come hell or high water (unless it’s real high water, in which case I suggest you evacuate your home for higher ground).

We had an encouraging first day, which helped me stick through the rougher second day. By the third day we were in a routine and things were going great. We hung out at home for a few extra days to practice, which, if you can swing it, certainly doesn’t hurt.

At the time I’m writing this, it’s been a week and a half since we started potty training. I can safely say that Annelise is fully trained (besides night training, which is a different beast). In fact, we were out of the house for several hours yesterday without incident.

Maybe most exciting, though, is how potty training has completely cleared up her constipation issues. I know, I know, in ten years she’s going to see this and be mortified, so I won’t go into detail.

I’ll just say that when she was in diapers she had a really hard time going and it was painful for her. I’d heard that it would probably clear up when she started using the toilet, but I didn’t think it would be an immediate transformation.

It was.

After the very first day of potty training, she’s been having normal, regular bowel movements. Aaaand I’ll say no more (sorry, teenage Annelise!).

So if you have a child you’re thinking of potty training, I absolutely encourage you to try this method.

A couple of last thoughts:

  • I didn’t get into any particulars in this post because the book does that. She tells you what to do each day, what you’ll need, what problems you might run into, etc. I encourage you to follow her method as closely as possible for the best results.
  • This should probably be common sense, but in case it isn’t: Just because you potty train your child in three days doesn’t mean you’ll have a totally independent bathroom user at the end of the three days. You’ll still need to remind them and help them and it’s likely that they’ll still have an occasional accident. This would be the case no matter what method you use. The more they practice, the better they’ll get at it!

Think this method is something you want to try? Click here to view more details or to purchase the book.

does three day potty training really work

Have you tried 3 day potty training? How did it work for you? Tell me in the comments below.

About Lauren

If you enjoy picture-perfect home decor, perfectly prepared recipes, and perfectly behaved children, you've come to the wrong place. Meet Lauren. She isn't perfect, but she's perfectly real.

Comments

  1. Janine Huldie says

    Although, I don’t have to go through this thankfully again as both my girls are fully potty trained, this does sound like it was a successful venture for you guys and glad to hear that 😉

  2. Samantha says

    I have tried to potty train but probably not all in- no giving up. My daughter just turned 2. I have seen this book and have thought about buying it. Maybe I should. This is the thing my daughter will poop on the potty but not pee(apparently I have the only kid that does this). She cries hysterically so I have just decided to wait until she us emotionally ready, but maybe she just needs a little push.

    • Lauren says

      My oldest was the opposite, but once he did it once (went in the potty), he was totally fine with it. I bet if you google it, there are articles with tips on things to try if they’re scared to pee in the potty. Good luck!

  3. Amber says

    Glad it worked for you Lauren! My youngest is quite old enough for potty training yet but I am not looking forward to it when that time comes lol.

    • Lauren says

      Yeah, I don’t think any method would be fun, but training Annelise was definitely the least painful of the three kids!

  4. Tricia the Good Mama says

    I may have to get this book to try out this summer. My son is only 19 months, but I got him a potty just to try out every now and then to get him used to it. Over the past few days he has wanted to go potty in it (about 5x over the past few days), so I’m thinking doing something like the weekend over the summer might work for him. Crossing my fingers it works!! Thanks for the post. Scheduled to share.

  6. becka says

    We did something very similar to this with the youngest. Each kid was a little different. With the first, I got her a pack of panties as one of her 3rd birthday gifts, she was potty trained the moment she seen them so she was long overdue ready. The second took a little longer but he just didn’t want to make the trip to the potty and everyone was working at the time and didn’t have the chance to do this. The 3rd, my mom and I both tackled in a span of 3 days when she was around 18 months and showing interest. She will be 3 in June and has only had 1 accident. So yes I do think it can happen in 3 days and wish I had done it with the other two earlier. 🙂 Great job! 🙂

    • Lauren says

      Our three were really different too. I wish I’d learned about this earlier so I could have done it with all three. Oh well, they’re all potty trained now, so we’re good, right?

  7. Kristen says

    So glad this worked for you! Would this help with our #2 problem? And thank you for not getting into the poop particulars!

  8. Heather says

    The problem is we never have a day where we are just at home. I have to lift hubby to work every day. I did try potty training over a few days like this (putting him in nappies for the car trips) but we had varying degrees of success. Even at 33 months I think he’s not ready. We do go to potty at certain times of the day but at my instigation not his. Sigh.

    • Lauren says

      Yeah, if you’re going to do this method, you really do need to be at home for the entire three days. Maybe if your hubby has a long weekend sometime you can try it. I have found (and my doctor confirmed it) that once they turn three, it’s really up to them to decide when they’re ready. If you do it earlier than that, they’re not as set in their ways.

  9. Bev says

    I have definitely wondered about this method! I’m glad it worked for your daughter. I have a very young toddler who is way off from being ready for being potty-trained, but I will likely look into this method in a year or so when she’s much older and (hopefully) ready for it. Thanks for sharing about your experience, stopping by from Sharefest!

  10. Madaline says

    I need to read this book. The truth is I’m super lazy. I don’t know why. I really wanted my daughter to be potty trained. But. There’s a but. I live in a city and it does seem easier in diapers.

    • Lauren says

      I hear you! People say it’s easier when they’re potty trained, but it’s not at all easier when you’re out in public. I was lazy with my son (and with my daughter too really… she could have started a year ago probably), and I think I waited too long for him. He just didn’t care at all. I think maybe there’s an ideal window of time and then you kinda have to say, “Okay, now it’s up to you.”

  11. Ali says

    I am potty training my little guy come this summer. I am looking for all the tips I can get. Definitely going to check this out and see if it is for us! He is my first so I literally have no idea where to start! Thanks!

    • Lauren says

      I have three kids and did it differently with all three, so I completely understand! This method was definitely the easiest and I’m guessing it was a combination of the method and the child that made it so. I do wish I could go back and try it with my boys to see if it would have worked with them though. Good luck!

    • Lauren says

      Honestly, that was the hardest part, but it worked out well because our oldest was sick so we couldn’t go anywhere anyway (not that I want anyone getting sick, but you know what I mean!) 🙂

  13. Jennifer | The Deliberate Mom says

    Wonderful to hear. I wish I heard about this PRIOR to training my two girls. Oh well.

    Isn’t it amazing how potty training can clear up constipation? I found the exact same results with my youngest. She was actually going poop on the toilet before she started peeing on it.

    Thanks for sharing and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop.

    Wishing you a lovely day.
    xoxo

  14. Betsy @ BPhotoArt.com says

    Glad it worked well for you! We did EC with both our boys,…a little more time commitment up front, but they started to be reliable using the potty early by American standards …so I’d do it again for sure. But if we’d done the traditional wait and see approach…I definitely give this book a shot.

    Pinned to Pinterest, and visiting from #SmallVictoriesSundayLinkup 🙂

    • Lauren says

      Thanks Sharon! (And if you have a secret to looking back with fondness on potty training, please let me know what it is, haha!)

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