Potty Help!!

J.,

Potty training is (in my opinion) the hardest task a Mommy has to do when your children are toddlers. I potty trained boy/girl twins and told my pediatrician that it took me a year and a half to potty train them so my 2 year old would have to potty train herself! I was kidding, of course, but I was a frustrated mom during those years. My, then, 2 year old is now 5 and happily potty trained. There is hope!!!

Here are a couple of things I found successful: 1. I bought a candy dispenser and filled it with skittles. Every time my daughter went potty she got 2 skittles and everyone else (company included)received 1 skittle. She soon liked going potty. When the Skittles ran out - I told her that she was now potty trained. She still had a few accidents but pretty much it was true. 2. I had the kids watch Veggie Tales in the living room while sitting on the potty chairs. 3. I put them on the potty and then spent the next 15 minutes reading to them. 4. I set them on the potty with Magna doodles to draw with. 5. I set the timer for every 30-60 minutes for a potty break. When there was a success we had a party!

Never punish a child for going poopy in their pants but I would definitely tell them that playing with it is yucky and gross!

Also, remember you are not alone and don't let other mom's, grandparents, etc who didn't struggle with this critise your efforts. Shake off any guilt/shame/other's expectations/etc. Potty training takes a lot more time than you think it will.

He sounds like he is more than ready to be potty trained. You have to get to the root of why he freaks. Is he afraid of the toilet (falling in, the noise of the flush, etc.)? Does he have a little potty chair of his own? Try moving the potty chair out of the bathroom and into the living room or his bedroom--you might have to experiment with locations.

As far as playing with his poop, you just can't give him the chance to do so. If you can tell that he is pooping, put him on the potty chair... Maybe you have to check his diaper every hour, whatever it takes. I don't think I would punish him for it, because I could see how he could think he's getting punished just for pooping, and that could really screw up potty training. Just my 2 cents.

If he's getting into his diaper while he naps or sleeps at night, put a one-piece, zip-up, sleeper on him--BACKWARDS--so that the zipper is in the back. There is no way he will be able to undress himself or access his diaper.

punish him for playing with his poop

duct tape his dipers on

if he freaks out everytime you say the word potty he's probaly not ready to be trained yet

2 1/2 is a little young for a boy to train. If he freaks he is not ready. When he's ready he will let you know. My oldest was 3 1/2 before he was ready. He would freak out as well anytime I mentioned the potty. I took that as a sign that we needed to wait.

He would also play with his willy when he slept and would point it up and pee all over. We used a safety pin to keep the zipper up.

As far as him playing with the poop: him in clothes that he can't get at it. onesies, jumpers, overalls.... Hopefully he'll forget about it at some point. I would like to tell you to have him clean it up, but he may be too young for that.

Good Luck, I understand your frustration.

My son is 3 1/2 and he also used to play in his diaper at naptime/night. Using one piece pjs helped. I also made him help me clean it up. Getting mad(although it's hard not to) does not help.
My son also freaked out every time we put him on the potty. We had to find something that motivated him. I printed a free chart off the web and made a prize bowl with small toys from the dollar store (I think I spent $10) Every time he used the potty we let him pick a prize and put a sticker on his chart. When the prizes were all gone, we used gummi bears for a little while.
When the chart was all full, he got a special suprise(under $10). Hope it helps!!