Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right (1) (

Product Description

Jamie Glowacki—potty-training expert, Pied Piper of Poop, and author of the popular guide, Oh Crap! Potty Training—shares her proven 6-step plan to help you toilet train your preschooler quickly and successfully.

Worried about potty training? Let Jamie Glowacki, potty-training expert, show you how it’s done. Her 6-step, proven process to get your toddler out of diapers and onto the toilet has already worked for tens of thousands of kids and their parents. Here’s the good news: your child is probably ready to be potty trained EARLIER than you think (ideally, between 20–30 months), and it can be done FASTER than you expect (most kids get the basics in a few days—but Jamie’s got you covered even if it takes a little longer). If you’ve ever said to yourself:

** How do I know if my kid is ready?
** Why won’t my child poop in the potty?
** How do I avoid “potty power struggles”?
** How can I get their daycare provider on board?
** My kid was doing so well—why is he regressing?
** And what about nighttime?!

Oh Crap! Potty Training can solve all of these (and other) common issues. This isn’t theory, you’re not bribing with candy, and there are no gimmicks. This is real-world, from-the-trenches potty training information—all the questions and all the ANSWERS you need to do it once and be done with diapers for good.

Features

• Jamie Glowacki, potty training expert, Pied Piper of Poop, and author of the popular guide, Oh Crap. Potty Training: Shares his proven 6-step plan to help you potty train your preschooler quickly and successfully.
• NARF_US_3675

Top Reviews

... before this but had been told this was the best. Unfortunately
by Ellen Garcia (2 out of 5 stars)
March 13, 2018

I had read a few other guides to potty training before this but had been told this was the best. Unfortunately, reading it stressed me out. I will probably use some of the suggestions (learning to notice subtle cues, telling not asking when it's time to go to the bathroom), but the overall tone felt judgmental and smug. My son is 34 months which is the "danger zone," as she says, because I've already missed the window for training him easily. Huh? What a cruel generalization! Also, based on my son's previous behavior she would classify him as a "kid from hell." Again, not helpful. I was just starting to think "holy crap, we have more dysfunction in our family than I realized!" when I decided to look at the author's qualifications. I can't tell what they are either from the book, from her blog, Google, whatever. She has been a social worker at some point, so what. She's devised a method that is helpful for many parents, so what. I think if she was a real professional counseling families according to real ethical/professional standards, she would know not to talk down to parents.
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Take it all with a grain of salt. Skip the first few humiliating chapters and go right to "Ditching
by Caitlin (3 out of 5 stars)
February 27, 2017

As with any parenting book, this one has its pros and cons. When I first read it, I didn't mind the dismissive, humiliating tone. I had a toddler in the "window" the author deems appropriate and I was reading this book, so I was obviously doing everything right from the start. The problem is the author sets you up for success if you follow the rules, but when you fail at part of the process you a) feel like you've royally messed up and b) don't get a lot of in depth information on how to get back on track. This is a very emotional process on its own, but I feel like the author's tone does not help ease any of the anxieties that come with potty training.

I cannot speak for the nighttime process yet (although from the sounds of it, I think we'll just wing it and ignore the author's advice), but the day-to-day potty training process can and does work. While we had lots of issues crop up, my daughter eventually "got it" after 1 full week of training. The things I liked about this book were the clear and concise plan that was laid out. I also really appreciated the author's stance on not giving up and saying your child isn't ready when things get hard. Your child is not going to magically potty train themselves. It is going to be a frustrating process, but they WILL get it. Going back and forth between diapers and the potty is confusing and not at all helpful. During our process, I had many people tell me that maybe my daughter just wasn't ready and I should try again later. This book helped me combat that idea. First, I was NOT interested in re-living the potty training process over again (did I mention it's HARD?). Second, my child displayed all the signs of readiness before we started and I KNEW she was capable of learning something new. The book helped me put my foot down and stick with it, even when it was miserable. I also really liked the idea of not giving rewards for going potty. My daughter responded wonderfully to praise and we invented our own little celebration song because of it. Even now that she goes regularly she gets very excited about it and is SO proud of herself. I love that she did not need a sticker or a piece of candy to know she was doing a good job.

The things I did not like about this book were the set age window for which to potty train. My 27 month old showed all the signs of readiness, but the author suggests she would have been just as ready as early as 18 month old. My daughter communicates well for her age, but even with that I can't imagine explaining and doing this all at 18 months old. And with the age window ending at 2.5 years, I felt like the odds were stacked against us with every minute that passed and she was not potty trained. Never mind the fact she makes it sound like, if your child isn't getting it, it is 100% your fault. The chapter on daycare is particularly depressing and set me up to believe my daughter's school was going to be difficult to work with. They were not. In fact, they were our biggest cheerleaders during the process and continue to champion my child (as they should.) To suggest to someone that, if their daycare does not comply with all the rules in this book, you should move your child to another daycare is insanity. Your kid is having trouble potty training, so why not uproot their entire day-to-day life and see how that goes? Horrible advice. Basically, the general tone of this book creates so much anxiety that I can see why so many parents are turned off by it.

There were many troubleshooting suggestions that were simply the cliff's notes explanations of how to deal with issues. Some of them state the obvious but give you no real solution. For instance:
-Prompt, but don't OVER prompt your child.
-Your child does not get a choice about sitting on the potty, but don't turn sitting on the potty into a punishment.
-If your child is misbehaving during the potty training process, it is okay to discipline them as you normally would, but don't ever punish them in regards to the potty.

Also, the author mentions a Facebook group to commiserate with experts and fellow parents. There is not one; just a page for the book that posts some teaser blog posts and directs you to the book itself. I suspect if you really want that kind of support, you'll need to pay their consultants to help you.

All and all, this book has some great tactics and can really help you potty train your child. Just be prepared to roll your eyes a lot at the author's tone and her anecdotes about all the amazing things she does for her own child (controlled diet, progressive schooling, etc.) that don't necessarily fit into most people's reality. If she would just stick to the facts, this would be a lot shorter book and I suspect more people would follow through with its teachings.
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Adds way too much unnecessary stress!
by Jay (2 out of 5 stars)
June 16, 2018

This book simply didn't not work for my child. I took an entire week (7 full days) off to dedicate to potty training according to the method and found that it was a complete failure. The author breaks down potty training into 3 block. My child did extremely well in the first block during which the child is naked and keeping a little potty nearby at all times. As soon as we moved on to the second block, the whole thing fell apart. He was having accidents nonstop. I reread the book twice trying to find some specific advice as to why this was happening and found nothing helpful. The only thing the author keeps says is maybe the kid doesn't know how to pull down pants to pee or the parent is not paying enough attention to the signs. Neither of which are true. There were no strategies or specific instructions on how to resolve or troubleshoot even though she entire chapters devoted to these topics.

So after an extremely frustrating 7 days of beating myself up for being inattentive, I decided to start over with a different method of training (Potty Training in 3 Days by Brandi Brucks). Much of her early training techniques are the complete opposite of Jamie Glowacki's instructions. The results are AMAZING! On the first day, I put my child in underwear and my child was TELLING and SIGNALING to me to go to the bathroom. After only 1 accident, my child was successfully using the potty in the bathroom.

I'm sure that this method might work for some children, but just know that it might now work for all. The author's tone and general descriptions of how things work puts way too much burden and stress on the parents when potty training using her method doesn't work out. If it works for you, great. If not, give another method a go. Potty training is hard enough without blaming yourself if the method doesn't work.
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New parents...don't buy this book.
by claudia (1 out of 5 stars)
September 12, 2018

I ordered this book because one of the parents is starting to potty train their 2-year-old, and so I thought I would take a peek at this "new method". I'm a pediatric OT and work closely with the age group the author addresses. I was horrified from the very beginning. The militant, harsh tones she uses towards mothers, daycares, family members, etc... is appalling.

New parents....this is not a book for you. Talk with your pediatrician, call up a few veteran moms and ask for advice, read a few books and find one that feels right. There are so many parents out there, that have stood where you stand. You need grace - not militant shaming.
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You'll Likely Feel Like A Big Fat Failure of A Parent... But The Method Might Work
by LStevenson (3 out of 5 stars)
January 15, 2018

I so wanted to fall in love with this book. Every mom I knew had read it and said amazing things so it may very well be awesome for you-- but my concerns have been echoed in other reviews. I did not love it and I think the reasons why are pretty important to know, in case you do give it a try so that you don't feel like a failure as a parent if it doesn't make sense or seem to be working for you.

First, I want to say that I am a parent coach and therapist by trade. I have almost two decades of experience working with child behavior. I rarely feel cruddy about my parenting. I felt cruddy about my parenting before we even got started. She comes across as very judgmental and condescending. We have taken a parenting approach that doesn't push for independence, but instead follows their lead for a desire for independence and it has worked well. She definitely sends the message that this approach is likely very wrong. I found myself feeling guilty that my 2 year olds were not sitting at the table for dinner (they sit at the table to eat, but they aren't hungry when we are so I don't force them to sit there just because I'm eating-- they are 2!!!!) While everything she said seemed to make perfect sense, I had to do several double takes to remind myself that she has absolutely no research to back up any of her claims. For example, her claim that if you wait until after 3 years old to potty train you've set yourself up for a monster of a power struggle. I have a very hard time reconciling that with the feedback that so many parents give me that they waited until their kid expressed interest and it happened easily. I realize that this has been her experience in coaching parents, but that's not quite the same as having solid research that this is true for parents across the board. Maybe the folks who had a different experience never got coaching, perhaps? Or when she claims that if your child is looking you straight in the eye and peeing on the floor they have "serious anger issues" that require a therapist. I AM A THERAPIST and I absolutely don't agree that this indicates terrible anger problems. It may indicate that your approach has increased resistance and you could use some tools to back off, but I don't think it means your family is in crisis.

Second, the author clearly has never actually attempted to potty train two or more children (with different temperaments) at once. This is fine if you've only got one at home and they are with you all day. But her assertion that daycare get on board is ludicrous. I tried with twins and with my husband and I both there and the degree of attention and intervention needed with this approach for two children with two different temperaments and learning styles was beyond my skill level (that's saying something because I've been in the woods with 8 ADHD kids for weeks at a time). I can't imagine anyone doing it with a 4-1 ratio and making it work. I think that she might want to actually practice some of the things she's so sure will work before writing about them. She, in fact, indicates that some in the book where she tells us what she believed (and coached and wrote in a book) prior to being a parent and after. Like how she didn't know it was a disaster to feed your kids sweets all day or skip a nap for a potty training opportunity. If your experience doesn't fit with hers she's going to be tone def about it.

Third, this approach does not work for strong willed children, as written. For strong willed children, it is far better to do a lot of teaching prior to starting so that they have cognitive motivation to do what you're looking for. For example, talking a lot about how their brother goes as a big boy, watching shows, demonstrating and practicing with the potty first. The learning, somehow, needs to happen without physically leading your strong-willed child. She doesn't give any ideas on that (and I was very interested in that particular thing). My strong willed kiddo got so caught up in resistance when we would carry him or lead him to the potty that we had to do a total re-set. We'll give it a try again in a month, but this approach almost seemed to set us back with him and then I started feeling like I failed-- even though I know this approach has never worked with him. He's always been strong willed, but he's very well behaved most of the time and we rarely face resistance with him.

Fourth, my husband read it first and was in tears at how cruddy he felt as a dad after the way she wrote about how moms are doing all of this work. And, the information was not organized well. So much so that I often got confused at what she was actually saying. It was not clear how to tell if we were out of block one. She says "If they are successfully going pee and poop on the potty". So, what, once each? Most of the day? More success than accidents? Then she indicates not to stay too long on block one lest they be "naked potty trained", but don't move to the next block before they've mastered the first. But how do I know??? My head was spinning!

So, all that to say, my other little boy who is much more of a people pleaser has responded well to the method and it's pretty simple if you take away all the extra stuff. That's why I gave it the stars I did. Going from naked while learning his prompts to commando while helping him learn how to integrate pants has been a good starting point for us and he seems to be getting it (although not nearly as fast as it sounds like she expects). Just don't read this and feel cruddy about yourself!
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The Only Potty Training Book to Read
by Ted M (5 out of 5 stars)
July 3, 2016

This is Ted's wife writing this just FYI. So here goes:

Yes. Just Yes. This book's methods were extremely successful for us with our almost 2 1/2 year old son. I read it over the course of 2 weeks, but I didn't just read it. I took notes, highlighted and made myself practice lists and reminders to put on my fridge on the day we started (I know). It really gives you useable, easy to understand advice to teach your child. I think to be successful with it, as Jamie states several times, you need to commit and have confidence that your child can do this. We ran into the dreaded fear of pooping on the potty on the second day. I looked for guidance and found it on Jamie's website and via email. She has a great series of You Tube videos as well. Her suggestions on the videos and in the book helped us to get over the poop hump and I am happy to say that on day 8 of consistent, committed and calm potty training, we did it! I definitely think that this method could be tricky for parents who don't have the ability to be home for 4 or more days with their child, but if it is at all possible to take an extra day off of work, it is totally worth it to give it a go! Also, wine. The End.
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Author is full of crap
by H&C (1 out of 5 stars)
December 7, 2016

I read this book and followed the instructions to the T. My daughter was at the prime age according to the book, about 24 months old. It backfired terribly. The first day went okay, went pee on the potty once, had a bunch of accidents. The second day was a disaster. She just refused to pee altogether. She held it for about 8 hours and was in pain before we finally gave it up and put a diaper on her. Fast forward 5 months, she decided to use the potty on her own. Potty trained herself and was completely potty trained by the 3rd day. And we let her wear a pull up for a week while she was training, even though she didn't really need it. Basically, the exact OPPOSITE of this book's advise worked for my daughter. The author is full of crap.
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Tortured my child all weekend for nothing
by Gigi Giordano (1 out of 5 stars)
August 24, 2016

My child is officially terrified of the potty chair, being naked, and also cries every time he feels an urge to either pee or poo. Thank you, Jamie, for this three day experiment which will probably lead to years of therapy.

Btw my pediatrician told me all of this 24-28 month window is total nonsense and that kids can easily potty train at three and beyond. He has seen countless cases of chronic constipation, bed wetting, and urinary tract infections as a result of parents forcing their children to train who legimitely aren't ready. So this book is not for me.
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The nighttime training process is BS
by Garrett Jones (1 out of 5 stars)
December 26, 2015

The daytime potty training worked ok, but the nighttime training section was BS (as in, the author wasn't lying, she was just making stuff up without regard to the truth). The author's method of waking up the child multiple times per night is worthless. My own son was day-time potty trained and I decided to try the nighttime training process described in the book when he turned 3. I set alarms for myself to wake up my son and have him go potty. Over the course of several nights, he either wouldn't go potty, or had already peed himself and was happily sleeping in his pee. The method seems to assume that the child will go at the same time every night, but this doesn't really make sense, because it depends on a lot of factors like how much the toddler drank in the evening and when they drank it. My son certainly wasn't consistent.

Since things weren't adding up, I decided to research the matter further. I found a multiple-study analysis by the NIH, which determined that parent-initiated waking of a child at night had no effect on long-term nighttime dryness. ("Nocturnal Enuresis: The Management of Bedwetting in Children and Young People.") Nighttime training seems to depend on a child becoming aware that their bladder has filled, which they won't really learn when it is someone else waking them up.

In the nighttime section, the author claims that "The bladder is being developed at this age, and if it develops fully without the practice of holding and consolidating, those muscles will atrophy, and you will struggle indefinitely with bedwetting." This is complete nonsense because the same muscles are used for daytime and nighttime, so if they are day trained, their muscles aren't going to atrophy for nighttime use. I tried doing a search for any research on this claim, and there is nothing to back it up.

In sum, the author just makes claims because she believes them without actually having research to back it up, which makes her an untrustworthy author.
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Cannot say enough good things!
by mandak1014 (5 out of 5 stars)
September 27, 2017

My son started showing the signs of being ready to potty train at 21 months. To be honest, this was not on my radar that early. Some of the Moms in my FB group recommended this book and after reading the reviews on Amazon I thought I'd at least buy it and read it to decide if now was the right time for us to potty train. I read it (very easy read btw) and decided to fully commit to potty training. We had some bumps in the road with 2 days of resistance and poop withholding for several days but everything I needed to get through it successfully was in the book. I could see how people may not appreciate the tone of the writing or use of bad/inappropriate language but it did not phase me in the least. I also could see how someone outside of the 20-30 month window would be greatly discouraged by this book. This book was my potty training bible. I followed it with complete faith and we have had great success. We decided to hold off on night training and just focus on daytime for now. Within a couple of days he was dry after naps so we took the diapers away at naptime. It has been just over 3 weeks and he is usually dry in the mornings after sleeping 12 hours too. I would say that we made two adjustments to the book. One of them was rewards - it was just something I wanted to do and went against the book advice here. The other was asking him if he had to go potty. The book is pretty adamant about not asking them and giving the the opportunity to say no. That did not work for us. He wanted to be part of the process and did not like to be forced to sit on the potty when he didn't have to go. It ended up being a fight. What I found was when I asked him if he needed to go,he answered me honestly and we were successful going that route. I guess you have to do what works for you and your kid at the end of the day. The book has probably been one of the best purchases I have ever made!

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