Help My Child Wont Potty Train!!

With my son, who is also three, what we did was put him in underwear, and then set a timer. Every 20 minutes it went off, and we stopped whatever we were doing to make him go potty. If he had an accident I'd move it to 15mins for a little while. If he was doing really well I'd move it 30mins. It only took about a week once we tried this. We had been trying for MONTHS, and then I had two people tell me to do it this way. We also used rewards, and he started going just to get the reward. I think they both worked together. Good Luck

Use those thingies that turn your toilet water blue and tell your daughter that it is 'magic water' and that whenever she goes potty that it will turn green. It worked with my daughter who is now 15, and it worked for my best friend when training her little boy.

You have a lot on your hands!! Your 3 yr old may not be ready to potty train yet. Some think it a shame to wait, but my twins (now 7) did not use the potty completely until they were 4. My sister-in-law had all 3 of her kids trained before they were 3. Every child is different, and I believe in allowing kids as much time as they need to develop.

Also she may be responding to the fact that she is not the baby anymore. Giving up the diapers may be a "last ditch" effort at retaining that place.

Relax, she will get it!

J.

My daughter was 18-months and ready to potty train before I was ready to deal with it (she would tell me she had to pee-pee, so I knew I had to do something) For the most part she did good going #1 in the potty, but for some reason she was affraid to do #2 in there so she would poop on the floor in front of it, or wait until I put a pull-up on her. we tried everything under the sun...sing, dance, praise, sticker chart, musical potty, etc. Nothing seemed to work. My friend told me that she potty trained her daughter in 4 days!!! she gave her dum-dum suckers. I was hesitant about all the sugar but i was despirate. I decided to give my daughter jelly beans instead.(they're small, not real messy, and can be eaten fast) She would get 1 for peeing and 2 for pooping in the potty. I also took some to her daycare. I kept them in a clear plastic jar in the bathroom(for motivation)Believe it or not she was trained in 1 week. And winging her off the candy was not that hard either. somethimes she didnt ask for it, so I didn't give it to her. Until it was completely out of her mind (i also put it on a higher shelf, out of sight out of mind)
I hope this helps, good luck

Does your 3 year old daughter look up to her old brother if so my mom had my borther take me and my sister to the bathroom. Because she told me that when we were about 2 2 1/2 we looked up to my brother and so we would want to be like him and go on the potty. If you have tryed this i hope you find some thing that works if not i hope this could help

Hi,
I had the same problem with both of my kids the boy and the girl bribery worked real well for me. my son was older by 16 months I tried to potty train them together but that did not work he was to big to sit on the kid potty and to small to sit on the big potty so he had to stand and pee. so my daughter thought she could stand and pee. so that method did not work. candy did not work either so I put money back and used McDonalds if they used the potty all day we went and got some french fries from McD's and played then once they got to the point of making it all day I made it for once a week if they went the whole week we went and got a whole happy meal and played. it only took about to weeks had no problems with bed wetting or anything. I know it sounds horrible but it was the only thing that worked for me with both of them.

L., Here are a few things that worked for me.
This may sound silly but it works.
Get her a baby doll and have her teach and tell baby when to go potty. This does two things make her feel like the big girl and helps her to identify when she has to go. Also it helps your child know that potty is ok and every one does it.
Lots and Lots of positve incouragement. make sure she know that accidents are ok and sometimes happen.
Get her out of the diapers and pullups, use them only at nigh or long car rides. You can also take her shopping to pick her own big girl panties ots of them at lease 12 pair (the normal kind). I dont like using the trainers they are just like diapers. Expect her to wet her pants atleast 2-3 times a day, once she realizes that she is wetting herself she'll figure out clean dry panties are much more comfortable.
If you are have problems with her not wanting to go b/c of what she is doing, reasure her that it will be there when she gets back from the potty.
Jenn... remember keep it fun and positive I also made up a potty train song

10-26-06
It must be something in the wind, the generation of 2-5 year olds are not the topical kid from our mothers era. I have a 3 yr old girl also. She didn't potty train until I literally gave up. Sounds crazy I know. I was pregnant with my Mary Katherine (Katie, now 7 months) when I started to really focus on potty trainig Allison (then 2.5). She literally didn't do it just because I wanted her to. So I put her in a daycare that had apotty program, mini toliets and all. With in 2 weeks we had only 2 accidents and she was in front of the toliet. Just couldn't hold anymore

Well, SOMEONE'S in control!!
You should read Nanny Jo's book "Supernanny".
It really works.
I think it is basically a control issue. Most 3 year old girls are already potty trained, but some kids take longer and that is OK. Is this the way she gets your attention? Does she go to pre-school?

I have 4 kids. 12, 7, 2, and 1. I KNOW how stressful a household can be. Sometimes my kids get my attention in negative ways because that's the only way they'll get it with all these distractions.

I'm going to look at other responses.
Try Nanny Jo. She's excellent!

L....you could create a chart and everytime she tries to use the potty you can give her a star, maybe two for actually doing it, and when the chart is filled you can reward her with something special. Not all children are ready to use the potty at the same age, some just take longer than others. Good luck to you.

Out of curiousity does your child attend daycare with other children? I have a 19 mth old who we have yet to start potty training. But she recently joined a daycare since I had to start a full time job. And the other night right before and after bath time, she went and sat on her potty. She tee teed and then stood up a clapped for herself. I have never attempted to potty train. My husband bought the chair a while back knowing that we would need it sooner or later. And I asked her daycare teacher if they had tried and she said "no, but other children are and they are getting candy each time they go potty." I'm assuming since she saw them do it, that she wants to too. It's a kid to kid thing. Wanting to be a big kid, I guess.

I know this will sound gross but my sister had the same problem with her oldest son. What she did was when tommy pooped his pants she made him wash his own undies in the toliet. He hated putting his hands in the toliet so after a couple times he learned to go in the toilet. I know its sounds so gross but it worked and she never had a problem with him again. So i guess thats one way. And i know my brother bribed his daughter. Everytime she pooped in the toilet she got a doll. Then after that started working he waited til like every 5 times.

Our pediatrician told us to put our three year-old in underwear all day and he would learn. I was skeptical, but it worked. One thing I did after the first week or so was to buy underwear he really liked and then if he went #2 without telling us, we'd throw them away (you can buy several pairs that are the same and "throw them away" in front of her and then retrieve them later to wash if you're worried about the expense). Within 2-3 weeks, he was fully trained to do #1 and #2.