Toilet Training in Less Than A Day

The Azrin-Foxx toilet-training method really works. For a third of the price of a case of Huggies from Costco, you can get rid of diapers forever.

I used this book's method to potty-train my son three months ago. We spent from 9am to 2pm following the procedures outlined in the book, but he really had it down by noon. He had four accidents in the first week and a half, and none since. If I had been mindful of how long it had been since he last went to the bathroom, a couple of those accidents could have been avoided, but making the switch from changing diapers after the fact to a more proactive approach can take parents a little while too. I was concerned about putting him in Pull-Ups at bedtime, thinking they might feel enough like diapers that he'd revert to pre-training days, but it hasn't been a problem.

This book was written in the 1970's - those troubling times when moms were homemakers instead of fighter-pilots - and the text reflects the sensibilities of the era. The book also makes the suggestion that if bread-winning dad isn't on board with the process that *he* take over the diaper-changing responsibilities and see how quickly he changes his mind. The gender stratification of the day is obvious, but as a dad who trained his son (and *not* as a penalty for not being with the program) I didn't find the cultural anachronisms too off-putting or annoying. The book was written with a very academic tone - not surprising, considering the university research backgrounds of the authors - so it's not a quick and easy read. Because it is primarily a research document, rewriting it to reflect modern sensibilities really wouldn't enhance it.

One caveat: The book is written for training children with well-developed cognitive abilities and motor skills (the book recommends about 2-1/2 for girls, 3 for boys). If you need to train your child at a younger age, this book may not work for you - because children develop at different rates, the book gives has a readiness test to help you evaluate if your child has the skills necessary to successfully complete the training.

When your child is ready for potty-training, start with this book's method. If you provide the recommended followthrough this will likely be the last book on the subject you'll ever need.

I recommend this book to every parent of an infant or toddler I meet. We followed the guidelines to determine if our son was ready to be toilet trained and if he would be a good candidate for this method. Not every child will respond to this method, but the book clearly helps parents to determine if their child will be likely to. My husband took the day off and armed with a bowl of snacks and plenty of drinks began training. Within 5-7 hours our son had the basics down. I'm not saying it was easy and he definately didn't like the practices, but a few hours time compared to months of frustration is worth it. By reminding him to check if he was dry every 10 minutes and to show us where he goes potty throughout the weekend, it was ingrained in him by the time he went back to daycare on Monday. Three years later, he has never had an accident, even at night after that first day. We also saw immediate gains in self-confidence after toilet training. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I love how the authors combine the different learning methods and positive motivation together. So, read the book carefully, follow the directions and you and your child will hopefully have as short and positive a toilet training experience as we did.

I was skeptical about rather this book would work. My mother used it to toilet train me and my sister back in the '70's and recommended it highly. I tried training the traditional way first. Following a suggestion in a magazine, I let my 2 year, 9 month old son run around the house naked so he could get to the potty unencumbered. He kept peeing on the floor and crying. Eventually, when I asked him where he would pee, he said "on the floor." This is when I decided to use the book. I had some trouble getting my son to pay attention to me and follow instructions, because he is very stubborn. He is not trained as well as the boy in book (he needs to be taken to the potty), but he has not had an accident in three days (I trained him six days ago). On reading the book, you may feel that the approach is cruel, as a reviewer I read earlier on the site did. However, you must be aware that everything is done in a positive way, the emphasis is on teaching your child, not humiliating them. Also, because the training process is so rapid, your child is spared the continued humiliation of having accidents, especially in public (and you are too). It took me four hours to train my son. Since then, he has been genuinely more happy and self assured. Our relationship has improved immensely as well. This book taught me that I can be my son's teacher and he can learn from me. It also taught me how to improve my interactions with him by following the suggestions for making sure he listens to and follows through on my instructions. This has significantly decreased the times I get frustrated with him or yell at him for things unrelated to toilet training. This book was written to end the humiliation that most children go through before they are completely toilet trained. It is backed by research. It was originally designed for retarded children, and can be successfully used on children with IQ's as low as 30. I am a licensed master social worker, and I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone, including my clients.

I know it doesn't seem possible, but I have potty trained all five of my kids (now ages 2 to 15) using this book and IT HAS WORKED EVERY TIME. The first 4 of my kids (both boys and girls) were trained under 2 years of age. The fifth was trained at 2 1/2, mainly because it was hard to have private quiet time (becaues of all the other kids) where we could really concentrate on the pottying method. The time it took to train the kids ranged from 1 entire day to 2 hours, depending upon the kid. Here's what you need to know for this method to work: 1. Follow every detail in the book and don't omit any steps; 2. Don't hesitate to give the kids as rewards things they don't usually get, like soda and candy (salty treats like crackers work well because it makes them thirsty, which gives you more opportunities to successfully pee on the potty); 3. If you've used this method before and are ready to train another kid, RE-READ the book so you don't forget little details about what to do. Even read it several times before you use it the first time, just to be sure you know what to do. The method really does work best if it's the first method of potty training you try - if the kid has had bad experiences or has experienced failures at potty training, it takes more like a day to train under this method, rather than a matter of hours, but the method still works. The best part about this method is that its a wonderful and positive parent/child bonding experience and the kids feel so great about themselves when they are able to be BIG KIDS and go on the potty by themselves. Because you can train at under age 2 with this method, they are often potty trained before their friends of the same age and are VERY PROUD of themselves. It is very good for their self esteem and you'll feel pretty good as a parent too!!! I recommend this book to everyone who is ready to potty train their child, though for some reason few people I know have used the book and seem to think that their lengthy and traumatic potty training method is superior. I don't understand their reluctance because this method is all so positive; it works so well, you never have to lose patience or become frustrated with the child. One more tip: If you are a working mother, pick a long weekend to train the child so that he has had a few days of pottying by him/herself before going back to daycare.

This book is for organized and motivated mothers who want to potty train quickly. In a city apartment with no yard, no outdoor play space, and carpet everywhere except the bathroom and small kitchen, and having a low tolerance for mess, I felt I simply could not stand the "let them run around bare for a few weeks until they get it" method. So I tried this one.

It took a couple of months to gather up all the supplies, but even so, the night before training day, as I was reviewing the method, I realized that the Doll-that-Wets did not have two pairs of underpants, as needed, so that she could change into dry ones - so I did some late night sewing.

However all the preparation paid off. After 4 hours my 33-month old son (who had never sat on a potty before), could (and did) pull down his pants by himself, urinate, pull up his pants, dump the pot, flush, wash his hands, and dry his hands.

He was having such a great time with pottying, that that evening he kept excusing himself every 5 minutes to run to the potty, and was sometimes mildly disappointed when no pee came out.

After day three the novely wore off, and he is now (as of day 5) figuring out how long he can wait before going to the potty.
We have had one accident per day - but I think that this is because, after almost 3 years of disposable diapers, he is still learning how to recognize when he needs to go.

A few comments if you plan to try the method yourself.

1) Azrin and Foxx do say that if you child has a problem with general stubborness ("he understands what you have said, but he refuses to carry out your instructions") then "until this general stubbornness is overcome, you should not attempt to toilet train."

2) Azrin and Foxx also say "You may consider your child to be trained when he walks to the potty chair for the first time without a reminder and completes the entire toileting experience without the need for instructions or guidance." And that your child should continue to wear oversized training pants until "he has remained dry for several days". So realistically, even when this method works as advertized, you need to plan for not only one day for intense training, but a few days of staying at home or only going places where your child's potty will be readily available and where accidents will not be hard to handle. (We have visited friends, but have taken the potty with us.)

3) My son loves novelty and loves the idea of being grown up, so as additional motivators I waited until Training Day to (a) get out the potty (b) get out the dolly (c) remove the baby gate from the bathroom door to allow him access to the bathroom and(d) ever let him wash his own hands by himself in the bathroom

4) Azrin and Foxx's method neglects handwashing. By putting a stool at the bathroom sink, I made it possible for my son to wash his hands independently, and added this to the potty routine, right after toilet flushing.

5) I allerted Grandparents and a few good friends in advance, so that when we called them on Training Day, they were ready with lavish praise.

6) When my son's interest flagged partly through training, and I was running out of more positive things to say about pottying, I pulled out a potty book he had never seen before (he loves books) to give him a little break, while not really venturing off the subject of pottying.

7) I waited until after my son had trained the doll to take him out of diapers and put him in training pants, so that he would not have any accidents before he knew what to do.

8) It was very hard to find a simple doll-that-wets. I ended up buying a Potty Dotty. First I clipped the wires to the speaker to get rid of the annoying chatter. Then I put a magnet inside her leg so that she would pee on my son's potty, and not just on her own. With those modifications a fancy electronic doll has been reduced to one that can be filled with water with the switch in the off position, then with the switch in the on position, pees approx 10 seconds after you poke her bottle in her mouth.

HOWEVER: Don't feel you have to potty train this way if you don't want to. My sister-in-law took a look at the book, and her reaction can be summed up as "You gotta be kidding.". She has preferred a much more laid back gradualist approach that would have driven me bonkers.

CAVEAT: I realize even if a method is "guarranteed to work for all children" there will still be some for which it doesn't work. (For us, the issue was sleeping through the night - nothing we tried worked for that - and our son did not sleep through the night until age two.) So if this does not work for you then you have my sympathy, but unfortunately no helpful advice.