Customer Reviews

Potty Training In One Week

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I bought this book when my daughter was 2, and I felt under pressure (from other mums) to start potty training. Using Gina Ford's easy to understand criteria, it was clear that she was no where near ready to potty train. When she was 2 and a quarter we looked at the book again and I gave it a go. In 3 days we were both totally stressed out and I decided it was time to go back to nappies. 6 weeks ago (aged 2yrs 9 months), she fulfilled all the criteria - following the instructions in the book she was completey dry in 4 days (has had two accidents since then) and completely clean in 3 weeks. This book does work BUT it's crucial to follow Gina Ford's guidance on "readiness" (can they tell wet from dry, can they dress and undress themselves without your help, can they follow simple instructions). If your child isn't ready, it will take much longer than a week.... oh, and YOU have to be ready too!!!!!!

I was at my wits end about potty training. My son was 3yrs old and was not at all interested in the potty. I tried all the tips the Health Visitor gave me, leave the potty for him to get used to, don't pressure him, let him do it in his own time. That's all very well, but when your son is about to start Pre-School and they won't accept him unless he is clean, you start to panic. And i did ! Then i happened to spot a book in a leaflet "Potty Training In One Week by Gina Ford". I was sceptical but desperate to try anything that might possibly work. I read the book in the evening when the children were in bed, and then resolved to embark on Stage Two the following day. That was a week ago now. And at the end of day two we had no accidents and he was fully clean during the day. And as from day five he is now dry at night time. I am amazed with this book and would strongly recommend anyone to try it. In fact, I think this book should be given out by all Health Visitors and available on the NHS !!!! Thank You Gina Ford you have made a stressed out mum in Swindon a very happy, proud and contented one.

I found this book too perscriptive - fine if it worked but I found that my daughter "fell off the wagon" on day 1 and there was little advice as to what to do if things didn't go according to Gina's plan. It has some good ideas (like the star chart, guidelines to when they are ready for training) but I feel that it can put too much pressure on you as a parent. She suggests on day 1 to sit your child on the potty every 15 mins for 5 to 10 minutes at a go - you would need a very placid child to go along with this! My daughter just about got the idea at 31 months but it was still hit and miss and it was just before her third birthday when the penny dropped (or her bladder was ready!) and we cracked it. If you need advice - use a search engine - there is plenty of good advice for free on the net so save your money!

DD has just turned 2 and a half and has suffered chronic constipation for the last 9 months so we didn't really know where to start but as nursery is approaching I decided it was time to give it a go. A little sceptical, I decided to give this book a go - couldn't do any harm right?

Well I bought it and read it cover to cover and followed it to the letter as suggested. As she was quite old we went straight into stage 2. Started on the wednesday and she was clean and dry by the friday afternoon and has remained so - amazing. Constipation has also improved dramatically! She tells me when she needs to go - she still likes the stickers as a reward though - I can live with that!

Buy this book and give it a go - it's worth a try.

Being a Gina Ford Phobic I bought this book out of morbid curiosity and I have to say I have changed my thoughts on her. If you are prepared to relax at home for a couple of weeks and do as she says in the book then this really works, my daughter has had no trouble using her potty for pooing and weeing with no issues or tantrums and doesnt need to be asked to use the potty. She tells me when she needs to go! Had very few accidents and all I have done is follow Gina Fords instructions. There isnt a hint of sitting your child on the potty for hours and all of her advice is realistic. The main problem I can see is that parents arent prepared to stay in for a week/or two to do the ground work, it does however tell you what to take with you if you do go out!! A very good book with sound advice that does work ( this is my daughter's first experience of Gina Ford and I can only recommend it as an excellent one!!)

Yes, I tried her method to toilet train my son (nearly three) on the potty. And it ended in tears for both of us. I know many mothers worship Ms Ford but I found her approach inflexible, prescriptive and unrealistic. I did my best to follow her advice to the letter but it involved putting the two of us under house arrest and no amount of bribery, love or encouragement would persuade my son to even sit on that potty. In the end he was running away from it like a scalded cat. What angers me about the Ford approach to this and all other aspects of child care is that she presents her advice as fool-proof: that means that when you fail, naturally, you feel like a fool. What is the point of a parenting manual whose strictness actually works against a mother's intuition, de-skilling her and making her mistrust her own judgement?

I have tried to potty train my son on two occasions before without success,decided i needed alittle help."potty training in one week" seemed the odvious choice,get it all over and done with as quick as possible.This marvellous book showed me exactly where i had been going wrong in the past.Case studies of chidren at different stages and all ages help with all different situations,these are where i found out what i was doing wrong,and within 3 days my son was taking himself to the bathroom,and by day 4 used the "big boys toilet", (which was completly out of the question before).Its early days yet, but without this book i think i would still be struggling.Whether starting from scratch or tried and failed like myself, i feel this little book has all the answers.

I have attempetd to potty train my son on three occassions, the second attempt being the most traumatic and distressing experience of my son's life (and quite possibly mine too !!) During this 2nd attempt my son developed an ear infection and so I stopped the process. His, out of character, aggressive and disruptive behaviour, which began during potty training, continued long after potty training ceased. It turned out that his hearing had become significantly impaired as a result of the ear infection and his behavioural problems were related to this and not, as I had first thought, potty training.

6 months down the line, with gromets in place, I knew I needed to start the dreaded process of potty training all over again and the thought of it brought me out in a cold sweat ! Not knowing how to begin to tackle it, especially with the 'ghosts' of past experiences firmly in mine and my son's mind, I turned to 'Potty Training in One Week' for some guidance.

I have followed the Gina Ford Contented Baby Book for both my children and swear by the routines outlined in it, so I was already aware of and impressed with Gina's approach. I bought the book and followed the guidelines. My three year old son, who had had a horrible experience of potty training and who was vehemently against even looking at, let alone sitting on, a potty was potty trained in 8 days ! I am still in shock at how easy it was once I had the friendly support of the Gina Ford book.

During the 8 days I can honestly say there were NO stressful situations, my son was happy and proud of his daily imrpoving achievements - stress-free potty training - I can still hardly believe it ! Buy it!

My son didn't show any interest in potty training for ages but by the time he reached 3yrs old I decided it was about time to have a go at the potty training 'thing'. Hubby & I had used the 'contented baby book' so already knew of Gina Ford & decided to give this a try.

I was close to giving up by day three - but stuck to it & by the end of the week son was indeed potty trained (to the amazement of friends).

I found anecdotes of 'how it can be got right even when it seems to be all wrong' reassuring & son loved use of sticker chart & showing daddy how well he'd done by the end of each day.

Best advice (along with Gina's other books) - don't get too uptight about following every little detail (or too worried when offspring won't follow every detail!), but Gina's basic principles seem to work very well......

You can't fault her style or clarity, but this book should come with a sanity warning. The programme probably does work but (and this is a big but) your child has to be ready and predisposed to the Gina Ford technique. We had followed a lot of her advice in Contented Baby etc and so were pretty positive about it, but, ended up having to abandon the Gina Ford way of potty training because of the tantrums and tears (and not just the baby's). To be fair, the book makes it clear you can potty-train in one week...but only if your child is ready. And there's lots of good advice on familiarising your child with what will happen and sensible comments on how parents need to prepare themselves too. But nothing really your health visitor couldn't tell you or which you couldn't get off the net. And I think there's another caveat. Your child has to have the "right" personality. My son is very wilful and we abandoned the Gina Ford technique on our third attempt. Her answer would probably be "well, then he isn't ready," but at nearly 3 he should be (our health visitor agrees and, believe me I have devoted weeks to it pretty much full time). All following the Gina Ford method has achieved (apart from making us feel bad)is a power struggle and we are now having to back-track and try to undo some of the damage. No doubt it works well for some, but they're probably the kids who would be easy to potty train in any case.