How Old Was Your Son When He Became Potty Trained??

Hi there!
My oldest son was 27 months when he was fully trained. He had started telling me when he was wet and so I knew it was time. He trained ina week and never looked back. Easy!

My youngest son took forEVER. I started him around 29 months but could see he wasn't ready and then around 33 months pushed it again and persisted. It took over a month for him to get the hang of it (he is very strong willed!). Truly could not have been two more different experiences.

With both I read a lot of potty books and set a timer to go off and took them every 30 minutes or so at first. I had to definitely maintain my patience and limit my level of frustration I showed with my second. That is what finally helped :)

N.,
My little guy was done by 2, but I was home with him so I didn't have to depend on anyone else. He really like to go outside and pee on bugs, and sometimes still does. It really does depend on the child. Yes, boys usually train later than girls, but that is because of control of the sphincter muscle. I gave M&M"s as a reward also. I have helped potty train 3 boys in my in-home childcare. The had all turned 3 and it took only a week for each boy. Just remember he may regress when the new baby come along.
Good luck...they look so cute in their "big boys"
L.

I'm kind of embarassed to say it, but mine had just turned 4 when he finally got the hang of it. However, I did work full-time and it was hard to be consistent about training him. My girls (3 of them) all learned by the time they were about 2 1/2. I tried really hard to get him to train after he turned 3 and sometimes he would be good about it and sometimes not. Before he finally got the hang of it, he actually told me he was ready to be a big boy and go potty, and that's exactly what he did. We've had no accidents except for 2-3 overnight but that's been in the last 9 months. I think boys are just this way. They will do it on their own time and not any sooner.

My sister-in-law got her little boy trained by the time he was 2. She bought him underwear with Spiderman (his fave) and told him Spiderman would be very upset if he got wet, and he took it seriously. This worked for her, but not for me.

It totally depends on the kid. I wasn't planning on even broaching the subject until 2 1/2, but my little guy started telling me every time he was wet or messy and saying he needed a new diaper. So when he was 22 months I tried the potty a couple times, then put him in training pants and there was no going back once he put those undies on. It was a TOUGH week (luckily during the summer when the kids I take care of were home with their teacher mamas), but he was fully potty trained in that amount of time. I say fully potty-trained, but he still uses pull-ups at night and stays dry 90% of the time- totally normal for a 25 month old. It's really great to only have one in diapers again, but I wasn't expecting that so soon. Your little guy will let you know when he is ready- try not to push. Tip: my little guy just got mad when I'd ask him 500 times if he needed to go, and then he'd wet his undies. I started watching his body language instead and hurrying him to the potty when I knew he needed to go, and we were way more successful, and happier too...

Boys are generally potty trained later than girls. But, there are exceptions - my oldest son was completely potty trained by the time his younger brother when he was 2.5. However, my second son was not ready for potty training when I tried when was over 2 and he was not potty trained until he was 3, which I hear is very, very normal for boys. You really don't want to make this a battleground and you need to follow his cue and support him being the leader in this activity - offer the potty, but don't force it. In general, boys do mature more slowly than girls. If you doubt this just take a look at any group of 6th, 7th or 8th graders and see how much more mature the girls are physically and mentally than the boys.

Hey, N.!

My oldest (who is 16 now) wanted to potty train sooo badly by the time he was 27 months old, but just *couldn't*, because of a situation that ended up requiring major surgery.

So I had to wait until after he had the surgery, and then allow some additional "healing" time. His surgery was in early November that year, and he was completely potty trained by the middle of February. He turned 3 that April.

If your son is showing signs of being "ready", go ahead and let him start training. We are doing that with our little one who is 2 1/2 now. But don't be surprised if he "regresses" a little with the arrival of your new baby. It happens a LOT. Let him give you the cues, like he has been, PRAISE him and MAKE a BIG DEAL of him using his potty (we just say YAY and clap our hands), but don't punish him if he forgets to tell you, or you don't make it in time.

We are also finding his pull-ups in boxes of 88 at Sam's club for about $25, give or take. We can't find that size box anywhere else, including Babies R Us.

Warm fuzzies to you and your family!
~J.~

Hi N.,

My daughter was also potty trained right when she turned 2 (we started with her 1 month before she turned 2 and she was completely trained in 2 months). I tried that with my son, but found myself going nowhere fast! So, I backed off and waited until he was 2 1/2 to start again. It took about 3 months for him to be fully trained.

I have heard (and believe after training my kiddos and watching their friends not get potty trained) that there is a window for girls: If you don't get them potty trained before 2 1/2, it will not happen until 3 or 3 1/2. I feel the same is for boys...only the window is about 6 months later. If you don't get boys potty trained by 3, they could be 4 before fully trained.

Hope that helps!

My son was 2 1/2 when he made the transition. He was the youngest in his peer group (boys and girls) to do so. When he was two, he showed interest in one of those potty books for boys. It had a flush on it. He wanted us to read it over and over. Then we got him one of those insert seats and let him see it. He's sit on it with his clothes on, etc. Basically, if he showed interest we encouraged it. We never pushed or forced him and just left it at that. If he wasn't interested, it wasn't a big deal. We also let him come in with us whenever we used the bathroom.

By the time summer rolled around, he became interested in pooing in the potty. He thought that was pretty neat and liked to give running commentary. Since he also began to talk that helped him make the transition I think. He got prickly heat really bad so I got him some underpants that I would put on after he pooed. I didn't care if he peed in them or not. He just needed to air his butt off. He also started to wake up with a dry diaper around this time. After a while, when he was inside he'd actually start to pee in the potty.

It was all pretty quick with my son and he basically potty trained himself. He's not smarter because he did this when he did, he was just physically ready. Using the potty and intelligence are not related but I think some parents believe this in some way. One thing I have noticed is that parents who start too early or push their kids, get frustrated with them, etc have the hardest time pottty training. I thought my son wouldn't potty train until he was closer to four due to his speech delay so I never pushed him.

As a friend of mine said, they all potty train eventually. None of them go to kindergarten in diapers. When it happens, it happens pretty quickly in my experience. Kind of like speech.

I started introducing it at 2 yrs old to my son...but I could see he wasn't ready...so i'd back off for a month and try again. and again. [at 2, he felt no remorse if he had accidents...it didn't phase him at all. he didn't feel uncomfortable at all with wet pants!]
UPDATE: edited below....

actually, looking back and remembering timeframes...it was AFTER he turned 3 that he was reliable.
Your son may get know what to do on a potty at 2 but he may not be completely reliable at 2. So bring TWO changes of pants, underwear and socks with you wherever you go.
I remember many accidents when he was 2. After his 3rd bday, the accidents were less often. But he was completely reliable at about 3 1/2 yr old.

Mine was 3 1/2 and I did stay home. I have a friend who has a son who is almost 4 and she is still working with him. My sisters son was also over 3 when he became trained. Every kid is different, so just try it so often and one day it will kick in. Don't worry about your son being late if you are comparing him to other kids. It will come!