Potty Training 3 Year Old Boy - Torrance,CA

We were lucky, it took about a month for us to train our 3-year old.

I attempted twice, the first time he was 3.5, he understood the concept but held his pee in for hours and hours so I stopped, 6 weeks later I tried again and he got it within a month, night as well. It was one of the hardest things I had to do. Good luck and keep your cool because they can sense it when you don't.

My son was trained at 2 years 11 months. We left pull ups on at night for awhile until he could get through the night dry. During the day he wore underwear. There were some accidents for a few months but they were mostly because he was too busy playing and didn't stop in time to go to the bathroom. We used a behavior chart to stop that. The only time he's had an accident since then was when he had a bad stomach virus.

If he is ready it will only be a short time. Make it fun as well as challenging. Take him to the potty about every hour. He will catch on really quick if that is what he wants. I had a little boy who could have gone to kindergarten in diapers, I think. He is still not very motivated. I also had one that was using the potty at two so you have to go with their personality.

I can't see potty training without expecting the child to do it. I trained my two older kids with no books or DVD's or doctor's advice, my little guy I listened to the talk of readiness and such and stretched out the time it took him to train needlessly.

A child typically potty trains, from start to finish, including peeing and pooping, for three to six months. Some train from start to finish in a matter of days (one of my grandsons in 4 days) and if it takes longer than six months parents need to rethink how they're doing it.

I allowed myself to go very easy at first with my little guy, started at 22 months and stopped three times in 4 months before I said, "This is it." The third time we started he was peeing in the potty regularly within a few days, getting up at night on his own to use the potty. Poop training took longer because he was holding it, so I sought help on the web,
http://www.rogerknapp.com/medical/pottytrainingrefusals.htm

He was completely trained by 27 months, has had a handful of pee accidents, no pooping ones, stays dry throughout the night, has since he was 26 months, and the accidents he had were because he didn't want to stop playing ; ) I say keep your expectations high, he's going to do it, just like walking, talking, every milestone he's mastered.

I trained my son when he was 25 months old. We just put him in underwear. He had frequent accidents for 3-4 days, several more over the remainder of that week, maybe two pee accidents over the next month and two more over the next 6 months. The later 4 accidents were all times when he just couldn't be bothered to stop playing and ran for the bathroom too late. All urine.

I do not believe my son had any actual motivation and he had zero signs of 'potty readiness'. What he had were rational parental expectations that two years of diaper changes were WAY MORE THAN ENOUGH. We did not do rewards, sticker charts or excessive praise. We calmly expressed that pee and poop go in the toilet and took him whenever he woke up, after every meal and if we noticed he had not gone in a couple of hours. We did NOT ask if he needed to go - we just stated that it was time to go. Just like it was time to brush teeth, etc.