Potty Training My Daughter

For a 1st time mom, everyday brings new challenges and everyday we learn new lessons. I fondly remember every milestone my baby reached and also those hard work behind their success. I also remember about potty training my daughter. It took almost 6 months to be patience and train her!

image source: here

It all started when my daughter began to stand up around 12 months of age and took her first step. As she started get going...
it was not possible at all to stop the busy toddler. When she was a baby in bed, crawling and playing, all her pooping activities used to be in bed, in her nappy (in laying position) but now when she realized the enjoyment of walking and moving around, even while pooping, she didn't have the patience of standing in one place and finish off the job! I was so tired running behind her and clearing off the messy poop!!
I brought a portable potty seat for her, but she thought mommy has brought a new toy!! she would play with it, keep her small toys inside it, beat it like a drum etc etc, but when i tried to make her sit on it, she would scream and stand up. Full 1 month it continued! But as doctors say, we should never force our child to do or learn anything, every child is unique and every child learns in his own pace, so i kept waiting and trying...

1. I kept an eye on the signs of readiness for her to use the potty seat.

2. I made a routine to make her sit on the potty seat (with her cloths on) everyday which she supposed to be "her new TOY" and sing songs for her, make her play and mean while at the time of her pooping i used to hold her thighs up in my lap and asked her to poop. In this way she learnt to poop in one place quietly and not running around!

3. Till she was 14 months old, she was able to hold and inform me that she wants to poop. She would say aaa.poti and make facial muscles tight which gave me signals she wants to poop.

4. I started to take her to our washroom along with me and literally demonstrated how mommy use the toilet and how you should too try it.

5. I also started with the exercise of asking her to pee in the potty seat after every an hour, it saved my many cloths dippers and slowly and gradually she learnt that her "New Toy" is basically a place to pee.

6. Then she completed 15 months of age and i started asking her to poop in her potty seat. Yeah she started to poop in the potty seat, but after 30sec she used to get up and say "potty ho gaya" (means potty done) but while wiping off, again she used to poop!! That was another few challenging weeks when i couldn't make her sit for a long duration patiently.

7. I gave her toys to play with while sitting in the potty seat, started to play with her, attracted her attention towards some home video of her in my mobile and this is how by the time she completed 19 months of age i managed to keep her sitting in her potty seat till she completely finished pooping.

Trial and error method, and learning from every experience, finally made by baby potty trained. Raima's potty seat remains in a fixed place and today when feels the urge to poop, takes the  potty seat and sits herself on it ( i just only have to take her pants off which she can't at present). Even some times, after 5-7 minutes when she doesn't gets up and i ask her to get up, she says "potty isn't over yet" !!
Being portable, i take the potty seat along with us in long journey, it is very useful as now my daughter nags she wont poop in dipper even when out of home. Once she completes 3 yrs of age i will slowly start to teach her to use the public toilet as she will be going to her play school then.
so, this is my journey of potty training my baby. What is yours?

Ear piercing experience of my daughter

Recently in our puja vacation i got my 18 month old baby's ears pierced. It was a well thought decision taken in advance, before we left Allahabad for the puja vacation in our hometown Jalpaiguri.  I could have got it done it a few months later also, but then i would have missed the comfort of getting it done at a friends ladies parlour in our hometown !  I had to come back to Allahabad immediately after Durga Puja.

After 2 weeks of ear piercing

IS 18 MONTH AN APPROPRIATE AGE FOR EAR PIERCING ???

In my childhood, my parents got my ear pierced at home when i was around 5-6 years old. It was a painful experience for me at that tender age, i still remember the experience! Elders in my society say ideally it should be done at around 2-3 years age of the child - the more you delay, the more painful is the experience. 

Doctors believe ear piercing is safe any time after the 2nd dose of DPT as the vaccine can fight the signs of tetanus. Somewhere i read that in Spain and Latin america, ear piercing in girls are done right at birth, as its a custom to do so in their culture. So i would say there is no specific age for ear piercing  - it is done in varied age group as per parent's choice, culture and convenience.  

WHERE TO GET IT DONE - AT HOME OR AT BEAUTY PARLOUR ??

Even in today's generation, majority of us relay on at-home-piercing practice usually done by the elders of the family. Most of us prefer it as it is often found a tried & tested method followed by generations after generation. However, many parents are now preferring ear piercing at ladies parlours as there, it is done through gun shots within a fraction-of-second and it is absolutely a pain-free less experience for the child. No matter wherever we do the piercing, we should ensure that the piercing material is sterile.

EAR PIERCING DONE - WHAT NEXT ??

After piercing, one can tie a thread in the earlobe. However, i would personally prefer a thin thread like gold ring or pin shaped ear ring. Actually whatever material we put into the newly pierced ears - we should ensure that it is not removed at least for a month, otherwise the thin whole in the earlobe may again fill up. During this period, antibacterial ointment prescribed by the doctors should be applied twice daily and the earring should be twisted slowly slowly everyday. After bath the earlobe should be wiped properly so the area doesn't remain damp. Any signs of infection like discharge, swelling, redness, bleeding, pain should be checked up regularly. When changing over the earring, try to opt for gold earrings, because gold never react with skin to create allergy.

baby's earrings should be small, round and flat as dangling earrings can hurt the earlobe if it is caught in cloths, mom's jewelry or the baby herself has a habit of pulling her earrings accidentally.

HOW WAS RAIMA's EXPERIENCE...

I preferred late afternoon appointment for Raima's ear piercing season in my friends palour, because this is the time when usually most of the parlours remain quite and calm with a very few persons inside the house. The timing had a beautiful effect on my daughter, she was quite and in playful mind. The expert applied a local anesthesia on Raima's earlobe and let her wait for 3-4 mins. Raima was oblivious to what was going to happen. After the wait period was over, she pointed a dot on each earlobe, placed the piercing gun. A small stone stud was there in the ear-ring adaptar, one trigger and the earring was on Raima's earlobe! I was more nervous than Raima thinking how will she react, will she allow to pierce second earlobe or cry hard... but to my surprise she just got little frightened with the "Thak" sound of the trigger but didn't cry at all !! While piercing the second earlobe, the expert gave a toy to Raima to distract her from the activity and the second piercing too got very well.

A piercing gun

Image source :here

When I came back home, Raima was all smiling and telling her dadaji in her sweet baby voice that in the ears she has worn 'dulu dulu...'. So cute.... Well, her earlobes turned slightly reddish when we returned home, so i applied "neosporin" antibacterial ointment and let her play as usual. She was playing actively, no sign of pain or any discomfort, i was so relieved. I continued with the ointment for the next 2 days. On 3rd day, Raima pulled out and removed one earring from her earlobe while playing, may be due some kind of discomfort. After a thought, i removed the other one too. I feared the rear point of the pin shaped ear ring may hurt her while sleeping. I applied little ointment on the ears and was thinking that i've to find an alternate shaped ear ring for my baby. Finally i chose a small round shaped gold earring for her. Through out the first week i noticed pin-dot sized discharge from each earlobe, on which i continued to apply the ointment after careful cleaning every day. From the second week onward, the pierced area showed signs of healing, but i kept applying the ointment once a day to avoid any possible infections.

Note: Information given here are a collective note of self study and personal experience with my baby. Pediatrician should always be consulted before taking any decision regarding baby and her health related issues.