Help with Potty Training! Please!

I know a young lady who used to teach a potty training class for kids in a hospital. Her fee is quite reasonable and she is excellent. Please send me a message directly if you would like her contact information.

take a weekend, no pants, no undies and ask him every 1/2 if he has to go, and if he says no all the time, sit himon the potty for 5 minutes every 1/2 hour. if he goes, treat, if he doesnt nothing. but dont plan to go any were, dont give in to diapers or pull ups. pull ups just teach its ok to go in your underwear. my daughter is day trained completely at 3 and has night time panties (pullups). you might even want to wait a month and let it go for a while. its now such an issue for the two of you its a power struggle. good luck.

Hi K.
How about going to walmart and getting a large piece of poster board, and pin it to the wall in all 4 corners, create a chart, and also buy some stickers, whether it's stars or whatever he likes. Now, put the days of the week across the top. On the left column down, put DRY PANTS or USED POTTY. Each time he asks to use the potty and actually shows you that he used it (Evidence) and he has dry pants, he gets a star or sticker put on the chart. At the end of the week if he has 7 or more for the week, he gets to go to the park or to walmart and pick out a toy or rent a movie or something. But you must stuck to it and be consistent. It may take more than a week to get him into a rhythm. and when he messes, don't change him for as long as he can stand it. and make him stay in his room alone and quiet, no tv or music. that way he's wonder what he's missing. But make sure you REWARD by hugging and clapping when he does a great job. He wants attention and he's getting the negative attention. So let's get him some positive attention. good luck
T.

My son is 2.5 - im new at this too, but this is what I did. At 2 he started telling me when he needed to go - but wouldnt necessarily go on the potty. I didnt want to push it, I didnt really think he was ready, then one day the girls at daycare told me he should be in pull ups because hes been going at school with all the other kids. SO, I got pull ups and had a go at it one weekend. It totally worked and for like 2 weeks solid he didnt even have any accidents (except at night) then all of a sudden he stopped - so this is what I ended up doing. I waited till the weekend and took all snacks and treats away from him and only gave him one treat when he went potty. I followed through the whole next week and kept telling him what a good boy he was and by the end of the next week he was all trained again and didnt need any treats. (I gave him like one m&m each time) - Its now been a couple months and hes been bascially potty trained (except at night)... I hope this helps, I know the treat thing didnt work for my friend, so I guess each kid is different as this may work for you ??!! J.

K.,

Isn't potty training one of the developmental stages that are affected by PDD? Have you tried asking his doctor?

Good luck!

-T. Q

Potty training can be very difficult and I've watched a lot of my friends struggle with this issue. Thankfully I have not had any issues with mine. Granted they have accidents once in a while, but my daughter was using the toilet at 15 months and my son at 17 months, will see what my 9 month does. One thing that I tell everyone is to RELAX. The more you stress about this the more it stress out your child. This is something that they can control, you cannot make them pee or poop on the toilet. You have to understand that first, and then the potty training will fall into place. Take a deep breathe and try to RELAX.

I know he's 4 and that is old to not be potty trained, most children are trained between 3-4. I also know you are worried about K next year and a lot of PreK will not take children if they are not potty trained. But I promise you that if you stop fighting with him about it and RELAX he will start doing it on his own.

Try this. Tell him, you are a big boy and I know that you can use the potty. So when you need to go pee or poop you can go on your own. Mommy is not going to ask you if you need to go at all today. I'm going to let you show me when you need to go. Remember you are a big boy and you can do this! Try it for a few days. If he has an accident, pick him up and put him on the toilet. RELAX, don't get mad. The more you make it a big deal the harder he will fight. This is a power control issue most likely at this age.

Now if you feel like he really can't tell that he needs to go then maybe you should talk to your doctor about it. There are medical reasons why some children cannot toilet train, but I first would just take a deep breathe, RELAX, and hand over the control completely to him.

I never pressured my kids about potty training. They were always allowed in the bathroom with us when we peed or pooped. We just let them be about the whole thing. My friends started struggling and I told them the same thing I told you....well, at 3 1/2 years old my best friends twin boys were potty trained (they did it on their own), my other friend is having success with her son who just turned 2 last Sunday, and another friend had success with her daughter when she turned 3. I've had success with my 2 children as well. Granted mine are still sleeping in their diapers at night, but that is just because they are not ready.

Good luck, I know this can be overwhelming and stressful, but just try to relax!

We had a similar problem and we finally had to start "punishing" instead of rewarding. We knew she knew how to go and was just being stubborn and at one point said - when Mommy is mad at me I just pee on the floor! So, she started getting time outs and things taken away, losing movie or TV privileges - that really helped. I stayed calm about it - not frustrated (which is what she wanted). She eventually realized it was worse for her then me. Good luck!

Hi K.,
My Mom did that torture with me when I was a kid too! Sit on the potty all weekend! Yes they took photos of me asleep on the potty!!!

Well, my son is 3 and as soon as he turned 3 I started with the potty training and went cold turkey on the pull ups. My son was just like yours, he would sit in his own filth and not mind it at all. What I think helped was having his buddies come over, and they would pee in the potty and he would see how excited we would get when his buddy went potty and how much of a big boy they were. My friend's son is 2 and went to the potty in front of my son and we made it out to be the coolest thing ever. Also what would help is having him clean his own soiled clothes by hand. He hated it, also whenever he went poop on himself I "hosed" him off in the shower...he REALLY hated that. Also my son absolutely loves tictacs so even if he just sat on the potty I would give him a tic tac. If he went peepee he would get 2 tictacs, if he pooped in the potty he gets 3 tictacs and a smiley face stamp. It took him about 2 "challenging" weeks to get 100% potty trained!

He will do it! Make sure you do not waver no matter what!

Good Luck!

Maybe you could try putting him in daycare. It's amazing how our two and three year old go potty without hesitation and stay dry during the day when they are at school. Even if it's for a short while to show him that other kids are doing it. Good luck and be PATIENCE, it won't last forver and you'll be a better mom for it.

I think your mistake is too over emphasis. Making him sit on the potty all day is making him view the point as punishment, of course he wont want to go then. Rewards are the best way. Get extra excited when he goes, take him to his favorite place, buy him something etc. Ditch the pull ups they don't teach them anything and be patient. Stop overemphasizing it. Tell him what he will get or ask him what he wants. Say ok you can get or do that if you go to the potty all morning etc. Don't drill him or yell at him just let him follow the lead. Turning this into a punishment or bad experience would make any child not want to use the potty. Use patience. Good luck!

Hi, my name is C.. My son is now 12 almost 13. We went through the same thing with him. He was almost 5 and we tried everything also. His doctor kept telling us when he's ready he'll stop. My son liked to watch t.v alot and wouldn't get up to go to the bathroom so we put the potty chair in the living room or whatever room he was spending the most time in. Once he started to use it regularly we would move it closer to the door and finally we made it down the hall to the bathroom. Hope this helps, goodluck:)

I had the same problem with my daughter -now 4.5 and finally trained. I took making her sit there, when I knew that she had to go, until she went. At that age, she knew when she had to go. She just went around the corner, then came back and asked to have her panties changed. She was afraid of the potty. After I forced the issue, she sat until she went - she screamed and cried about it, but she did go. We haven't had any accidents since (4 months!). It really isn't torture.