‘OutDaughtered’: Adam and Danielle Busby Said Potty Training the Quints Was a Nightmare

The Busby family has been featured on TLC via OutDaughtered for years, and they’re proving to be one fan favorites on the network. Adam and Danielle Busby attained fame for having the only set of all-female quintuplets in the U.S. And since they also have their older daughter, Blayke, they’re caring for six daughters total.

That’s a lot of little girls in one household — and parenting can certainly be tough for Adam and Danielle. In fact, back when the couple was potty training the quints, they noted it was a truly horrifying experience. Here’s what they said about it.

The Busby quints are 4 years old and growing up fast

Kids sure do grow up fast, and that’s certainly true for the Busby quintuplets. Fans may remember when the quints were crawling around as toddlers — and when they were that young, they were nearly impossible to tell apart. Now, they’re 4 years old and individually recognizable by their personalities, likes and dislikes, and looks.

While the quints are thriving now, carrying and delivering five babies was no easy task for Danielle. She and Adam struggled with infertility for both of Danielle’s pregnancies. And Danielle even told news outlets that when doctors learned she was having five babies, they wanted her to reduce.

Danielle and Adam chose not to do that, of course — and they’re thrilled they didn’t follow the doctor’s suggestion. The quints were born via C-section at 28 weeks, and they were just 2 pounds at birth. While Adam and Danielle had concerns the quints may experience some developmental delays because they were preemies, they’ve proven via their school testing that they’re right on track for where 4-year-olds should be.

Adam and Danielle have had to make seriously difficult parenting decisions

Parenting one child is hard enough, but Adam and Danielle have had to make major decisions for all six of their kids since the quints were born. And now that the quints are all starting to learn at their own pace, the couple’s biggest hurdle is knowing what to do with their schooling.

Riley keeps proving she’s ready to take a giant leap ahead of her sisters, as she’s scoring very high on her tests. For this reason, Adam and Danielle chose to put her in kindergarten while her four sisters remained in upper-rotation pre-K, though this means Riley may be one step ahead of her sisters for the rest of her schooling. Even if that’s the case, Adam and Danielle want to do what’s best for their kids as individuals.

Many OutDaughtered viewers have dared to judge Adam and Danielle for their parenting, too. To that, Adam told People, “It’s crazy. And I don’t know what it is. Is it just to mask one’s own insecurities so they can have this persona online that they have everything together if they shame another mom? It’s really bizarre.”

They explained just how hard potty training the quints was

Potty training one or two kids is bad enough, but five proved disastrous for Adam and Danielle. “Oh boy … potty training. It’s probably every parent’s nightmare phase,” Danielle told OutDaughtered cameras.

She and Adam then went on to explain that while potty training Blayke was a breeze, the quints didn’t take to it as easily. The couple tried everything from giving the quints juice to awarding them with ringing a bell to get the quints to use the toilet, but to no avail.

“They got to that phase where they understood pooping on the potty but they would still go to bed with a diaper, so the second they pooped, they just pulled it off,” Danielle explained. “And then poop is everywhere.”

Finally, Adam and Danielle found some success when the quints changed over to kid underwear instead of diapers. “If they peed, it went down their legs and they felt that, and they were like ‘woah, I’m not doing this,'” Danielle explained. “It was all based on timing and maturity that really made it kick in their little brains that actually it does feel better to pee and poop on the toilet.”

While Adam and Danielle had a tough time with this, they got through it. We’re excited to see the next big milestone for the quints!

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