Oh Crap. Potty Training | Review and Giveaway (Giveaway CLOSED)

When Jordan was a wittle baby, I came across a potty training method... Oh Crap. Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki. It was highly recommended from the source and comments by many. I checked out the blog for the method and it looked great! But cost like $30. Close browser window.

When Jordan started to show signs of potty training readiness, I thought I'd return to the site and check it out again. She had released an updated book, sold in ebook format, for only $15. That's not exactly cheap, but as with most things with Jordan, I wanted to choose a method and stick with it. I just feel like we have more consistency that way! I read through a lot of Jamie's posts, FAQs and some reviews. Decided to go for it. Bought the book, and read it. I was excited, it made sense and I had hope for it working!


We decided on a start date, and right before it, I reviewed the book again, and briefed Josh. We took away the diapers and whew, we had some rough days. Some signs of hope and progress intertwined with a lot of bodily fluids on the floor. We almost gave in with the silly, "Maybe he's just not ready." But we held strong, and read over parts of the book for encouragement. We knew he was ready, so no giving back in to diapers! Then we doubted again, and went to the book and the forum it provides access to, and found strength again. Then {magically? hah!} it clicked, and just over a week after starting, taking him to the potty was not the dominant thoughts on our minds, yay!

Jordan was naked for a day and a half, plus a few extra evenings. Then he was commando until the three week mark. Now he's in underwear. He has accident free days, but he still has accidents, too, mostly when we fail to prompt often enough. He tells us when he needs to poop, but not when he needs to pee. He just started being honest if you ask if he needs to go, instead of saying no (and fighting half the time even when he needed to go) no matter what. He's wearing diapers for naptime and bedtime (except when I forget for nap one day, and he pees and poops in the pack n play ;)). Not giving up paid off, and he just keeps showing improvement! Obviously it's mostly us telling him it's time to go, and manipulating his clothing for him, but I think that's super for his age!

So, here's some more information on the method we chose, to help you decide whether it's right for you!

• First of all, the author, Jamie Glowacki, likes the f-word. I do not promote this, and if it will really bother you, I don't recommend the book to you :) BUT, I highly recommend the book, nonetheless :)
• This is not a magical "potty train in 3 days" method (though they might wow you!). Jamie provides "blocks of learning" to take it by, not days. Because every child learns at a different rate! The blocks totally make sense, and I can see why they work!! Read about her method.
• The suggested age range is 20-30 months. Thanks to the 3.5-yr-old I nanny, Jordan had a nice role model, and showed many signs of readiness earlier than that. {We also did not end up using our little potty chair as much as I anticipated, because he wanted the big potty, like Justin! It's pretty much a necessity in the beginning, though. You have very little warning, and a potty chair as close as possible really helps!!}
• Basically every issue you can think of is addressed in the book. Plus, there's a lot of encouragement and reminders to stick to it, they can and will do it! And it absolutely does not need to take a year!

The rest of the information comes from her site:

"Ocpt isn’t a method. It’s all the information you need to successfully potty train, DRAMA FREE. It marries effective parenting with seamless potty training.

You will learn:

-the optimum time to start (and what to do if you missed that boat)

-how to ditch the diapers, step by step (and I mean the minutia of steps)

-how to handle daycares

-how to effectively deal with resistance

-the common mistakes and more importantly: how to avoid them

-why potty training has become harder than necessary

This is the culmination of YEARS of potty training THOUSANDS of kids.

NO nonsense. NO gimmicks. NO tricks.

Just ALL THE INFORMATION you are looking for.

And if you do find yourself in a potty training pickle, I’m not leaving you out in the cold.  We have a peer support forum. We have consulting options. And we have a weekly call-in radio show.

I want your child potty trained, yes.  More importantly, I want YOU sane and your home, harmonious."

If you haven't visited the site yet via links above, click here and do it now!
Ask any questions if you have them! 

Want to win a copy of Oh Crap. Potty Training? Comment on this post, sharing why you want the book! You can get an extra entry if you share this with a friend, and they leave a comment that you sent them (and why they want the book, too :))
Entries will close Friday, February 15 at 9 pm, and the winner will be contacted and announced by 2 pm, Saturday, February 16.
Make sure your email is connected to your comment, or leave it in your comment (adding spaces so silly internet bots can't catch it). The winner will have one week to respond before I choose another winner!

Giveaway is closed! Congrats to Kimmie Shideler on winning :)

My two cents on potty chairs. We love the Bjorn ones! For the toilet, and the little stand-alone one. For on the go I found the Kalencom 2-in-1 Potette Plus. It is not as small as some portable seats, but it fits just fine in my diaper bag, and is more versatile! The pieces can be folded out to use on a toilet, or you add a walmart sack with something absorbent inside (or the expensive bags they sell to go with it) and fold down the legs to make it stand up, and they can go anywhere! Click on the link to see what I'm talking about :)

I can't resist sharing this joy... managed this capture during a visit to the potty this week. His little dangling legs are adorable, too, but I decided not to post a full potty pic to the world wide web...

*Update:
Since Jordan was so young when potty training, I expected it to be a little more effort than an older toddler. It has been, since I have to be on top of prompting him. I'd love to tell you the timeline of him beginning to hold longer and me having to prompt less, but pottying became such second nature, I didn't really pay that close of attention!
If you're potty training young, expect to keep more than one seven pack of underwear, because they will probably have a few more accidents as they go through some phases, but no biggy! Jordan got to the point quickly where he could go a little and then hold it till I took him potty (wowzers!) so he'd get pee in his underwear, but sometimes it didn't even go through to pants.
We had a few phases of peeing pants: when he was teaching himself to hold it, after being sick when he drank a lot more than he had for a few days, and a couple defiant periods.

*Another update: We ended up with some trouble over time from him not wanting to take himself (not know when to take himself first), which I attribute to me being WAY too on top of taking him from the beginning. Where I nanny two other boys, it was hard to keep helping him notice right away to learn his sign to take himself before any pee came out. Next time I'll keep that in mind! Better to do it right the first time :)