Expert/company advocating this approach (if applicable):
Mom of Eight

Description of method:
Just days before my daughter Sara turned two, she began to develop a skin infection on her hip. The doctor prescribed medication, but the infection worsened. We figured that the skin couldn't air out with a diaper covering it, so we told Sara that she could no longer wear the diaper. She would have to wear regular underwear instead, and use the toilet. She never did have a wetting accident during the day once we put underwear on her.

Sara did have BM accidents periodically for the next five months. Then she went to stay with my mother for two weeks. My mother assumed Sara was potty-trained, since I didn't send any diapers along, so she never questioned her as to when she had to go. Later I found out that Sara never had a BM accident the whole time she was away. She had a BM accident once when she came home. So I told her, "You didn't do this at Grandma's house, and you're not going to do it here, either." She never had another accident.

The first night after we put her in underwear, she wet the bed. She woke us up, wanting us to change her sheets. The next night she woke us up before she wet, wanting to use the toilet. She never, ever wet the bed after that.

My grandma later told me that she used this same matter-of-fact method with my mother. They were taking a trip when my mother was 2 1/2, and told her they were leaving the diapers at home. (This was in the 1930s, and Grandma didn't want to mess with cloth diapers on the train.) She never had an accident.

The reasoning behind this method is that the child is no longer a baby; he/she is big enough to use the toilet and will now be expected to do so. With other children who did not train the first day, I simply showed them where their clean clothes were and had them change their own clothes. (This is easiest if you use elastic-waisted pants/shorts, although my boys soon learned to manage overall buckles themselves.)

Recommended age for this method:
2-3 years, able to dress himself

How long should it take for child to be potty trained by this method?
A day or two