Hi, mamas. I have a 27 month old boy and a 10 year old girl. I honestly don't remember there being any potty training with my daughter..she just kind of did it right around age 2. She started telling me when she had to go, and that was it. So though I have an older child, I don't actually have much experience with potty training.
My little boy is very advanced verbally--talks a lot more than she did by this point. Because of that, I sort of expected him to be ready to potty train around age 2. So I bought a potty a week after he turned 2.
He is very interested in it. He will sit on it when asked, but he never pees or poops. He sits on it for about two seconds, stands up, and proclaims, "I'm done!" and washes his hands (it is pretty cute). But he never goes. He never tells us when he has to go, either. He also never tells us when his diaper is wet or dirty (something I remember my daughter doing before she started with the potty).
Last weekend, we tried putting him in underpants for two days. We explained to him that in his undies he had to go pee and poop in the potty. Well, he didn't. He peed and pooped his pants for two days and cried every single time. I felt terrible. He'd pee his pants, then cry and say he'd sit on the potty, and nothing would happen.
I'm thinking he is just not ready, but my husband thinks that we need to just keep him in the undies for a longer period of time. He is in daycare, and they say he does the same thing there (sits on it for a couple seconds, then jumps up and says he's done). My concern is that he doesn't seem to be able to tell me when he needs to go, and I do not want to force it. Advice appreciated!
ETA: Should have mentioned that we have tried to put him on the potty when it's obvious he's going poop. But this FREAKS HIM OUT. As soon as he's on the potty he wants to get up so he can go in his diaper. I don't want to make him afraid of the potty so I've stopped doing that.
It sounds like he's not ready. If you wait, he will likely be very easy to potty train, just like your daughter was, but you need to wait until he is ready. My boys weren't ready until they were 32 and 34 months old, but then it only took 2 days each time for them to be day and night trained. I just had to do it on their time-frame, not mine. :)
*Both of my boys were very verbal, too. It was a long time ago, though. They're 8 and almost 15 now, and no one ever asks them when they were potty trained. ;)
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M.O.
answers from
New York
on
He sounds super-cute and smart. But, not ready to potty train. Just because he's verbal doesn't mean he can translate the "potty feeling" into potty action. 27 mos. is very young for a boy to train. If you wait six months, he'll likely train easily and painlessly, and it'll save you no end of exhaustion and stinky laundry because he'll never get it into his head that pooping and peeing in one's underwear are normal and natural. Believe me, you don't want to go there.
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S.B.
answers from
Houston
on
Little man is not ready to train. He is interested but not ready to make the complete transition. I would give him another few months. Boys take a little longer than girls.
I started training at 2 1/2. The issue I had with my boy was his aim. He was still a little too short to get the pee over the edge of the toilet. He had to step up on the scale to get it over. I had started training him to sit and he was like "this isn't how daddy does it". Finally, I just gave up and started training him standing up. It wasn't too bad. I just kept a mop in the bathroom!! Yuck!! We put Cheerios in the toliet and had him "aim" at them.
I will say one thing. I did NOT use pull ups. It felt too much like a diaper. I bought training pants. I also bought boy undies with superman, batman on them. I told him he could wear the "big boy undies" when he didn't potty in the pants. All in all, it took roughly a couple of weeks. Poop was alittle longer. He would DIE if he knew I was talking about this to other people. He is 20 now!!! =)
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T.S.
answers from
San Francisco
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A lot of people will say he's just not ready, but unless he has a medical issue he probably is.
I started training my son at 22 months. I didn't ask him if/when he needed to go, I just took him to the potty. We went every half hour or so over the first few days, then gradually stretched it out to every hour, then two.
Sometimes he would go, sometimes he wouldn't. When he went I made a big deal out of it and gave him lots of praise, when he didn't go, it was no big deal, I just said that's okay maybe you'll go next time.
I did the same thing with both my girls, at about the same age.
It's called potty "training" for a reason, you really do TRAIN them to use the potty, and just like a puppy, practice eventually makes perfect!
ETA: I also followed his cues, I could tell when he was about to poop because of his face and stance. When I saw that I would scoop him up and put him on the potty right away!
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J.M.
answers from
Cleveland
on
He's not ready. He may be physically ready to do so, but his mind isn't in it yet. And yes, you are able to "train" some children, but others will have none of that and need to go on their own schedule. I tried to "train" my daughter with the frequent trips to the bathroom two different times when she was around two. It didn't work and in fact, I think it delayed her wanting to do it. Around 2 1/2, she just decided one day she wanted to do it herself and we never looked back. Do not use Pull-Ups either - just another form of a diaper. Also, most boys don't potty train until at least three, so no worries! My son is 28 months old and has no interest and I'm fine with that for now. Good luck!
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B.C.
answers from
Norfolk
on
My son was day trained at 3 1/2 but I let daycare take the lead on it.
Boys tend to train a little later than girls (but there are exceptions).
