Potty Training - Am I on the Right Track?

I have all girls, so my situation was alittle different... But, I do have a friend, who told her son that they only had 20 diapers left, and she wasn't going to buy anymore... so they counted down each one as they went, and by the time they were gone, he was using the bathroom regularly... she did say she threw a few extra in at times were the convenience was necessary, but it seemed to work. hope that's helpful!

if he's interested go with it. take him every so often and let him practice.. if he's ready and willing he'll do it.
ask him if he needs to poop on the toilet, just ask him and see his responce... sometimes at 19mo.. they're all psyched.. so go with it!! it's great!!!

I think pull-ups only prolong potty training.. you gotta just go with the big boy under pants and clean up the messes.. get yourself some gloves if you cannot handle cleaning the poop..

good luck

Hello!
I potty trained my oldest daughter around 21 months which seemed young to me. I almost cried seeing her in the big girl underwear, but it was time. We used the training pants in the day and a diaper for naps and at night. THey sell some training pants that have built-in waterproof covers to help protect clothes, but my daughter hated them. Just be prepared for a ton of accidents, so always have an extra pair of underwear or diapers and extra pair of pants. I have heard that boys take longer to potty train, so I'm surprised that he seems ready so early. THe pooping is hard, that's another reason you might want to wait a little longer, so he can really tell you that he needs to go. If you do have a pooping accident, just try your best to get the underwear off without dropping it on the floor, put him on the potty, flush the poop (either after he's done or in a different potty) and clean up as best you can. We use the kids potty seats that go on regular potties so we don't have to clean up the little cups in the kids potties. It's just easier for us. Our daughter is 3 now and still has accidents from time to time- it just happens, I guess. And my youngest is 15 months. I think I'll just wait until she's 2 and maybe prevent future accidents? I don't know yet... Hope some of this helps!

I've just gone through this with our oldest daughter who will be 3 in a week. She started just like your little guy, going on the potty before she turned 2. Two nights ago was her first full night in underwear and it was successful! We haven't had any accidents in months, so she's been ready for the all-nighter longer than we have.

Each kid is different, but what you're doing worked well for us. We got her interested in going on the potty but kept her in diapers for a little while. Just the praise was enough to keep her interested, we didn't give her treats or anything. Once she had shown that she was consistent for a month or two, we moved her to pull-ups. Then we moved her to training underwear and pull-ups for nighttime. Then on to regular underwear (the training underwear is a little thicker, but no more absorbent than regular underwear so you can skip that step if you want). Now we're into only regular underwear all the time!

As far as pooping goes, some kids absolutely hate going on the potty chair or toilet. We just didn't give our daughter much of a choice. If she went in her diaper, we didn't scold her but we told her how "big girls" go on the potty chair. She was into anything that would make her a "big girl", so it didn't take any time before she would only go on the potty chair or toilet. Again, lots of praise and encouragement will help immensely in getting there. Just be prepared for your little man to holler "Yay mommy!" if you take him into a public restroom with you when you need to go!

Ok number one Dont push him or you will undo everything. Now is a good time to introduce the potty, I would wait a little bit to be putting him in big boy underwear. My son started showing signs of being ready to potty train at about two years old, and the Dr. was impressed because he said boys usually arent ready until about 2 1/2 to 3. Put him in pull ups, about every hour or hour and a half see if he wants to go potty on the toilet. Let daddy take him potty so he sees he pees standing up. Another thing is you can try putting cherios in the toilet so he can target practice. (this also helps teach them to aim). My son finally just got complety potty trained. I finally got to the point where I was tired of changing him, because he knew where he was supposed to go potty but he didnt want to stop long enough to do it. So I told him ok Mommy's done potty training your Potty trained now. So now he is. One other thing is dont make a big deal if he has an accident, but do make a big deal when he goes in the potty. We used to have everyone in the house get excited when he went and then he would try again later cuz he loved having everyone tell him good job and stuff like that. Good Luck

hey T.!

i agree with sara's response. if your son is showing all the signs, go for it! he'll let you know if he's not ready. with both my son and daughter, once i started the training process i didn't let them use diapers or disposable trainers at all. if you take them out of the diaper they are more aware and tend to adjust quicker. my son was accident free from peeing within four days and sleeping dry through the night. pooping took a bit of work because he was a private pooper. i had to really pay attention to when he was playing behind the couch or wanting to be alone in his room. that took about 2 months before he was completely accident free. he was 2 1/2 when we started.

my daughter came to me on her 2nd birthday and said she wanted to start using the "potty" and never had an accident. (i know, rare case!) we had been getting her used to the idea for about 3 months before her birthday. she'd sit on the fisher-price potty that talks to you and makes flushing sounds and she thought it was so funny. she never really used it other than to play with because she wanted to use the real toilet like us right away.

also, this is a great time of year to start training because the weather is (usually) so warm. if you are comfortable with this, you could let your little guy run around bottomless for part of the day especially if you are playing in the yard.

there might be other moms who were successful with the disposable trainers but both of my kids treated them just like diapers. i think the clerk had a good suggestion in using them at night just to make sure your son doesn't wet the bed. if you see that he is staying dry all night, take them off.

hope this helps. good luck!

K.

Hi, my son is 26 months now, and right about 18 months he started to show potty readiness signs, so I rushed out and bought a potty. Since then his interest has waxed and waned many times. We are just trying to keep it positive and follow his lead. I think one of the problems for little ones when you try to train them too soon is that they are not physically ready...they don't really know they have to go before they go, only after they went. Also it makes it really difficult when they can't pull their own clothes down to go potty. My son is just now being able to do that, and he can tell us when he is peeing, but hasn't made the connection that when it feels like it is time to pee he should say something, or go to the potty.

For your 19 month old, I would say, get some potty books for him from the library, and get a potty book for you too. Develop an idea of how you want to train but be respectful of your son's abilities.

T.,

My daughter is 18 months old and she has shown signs of wanting to use the potty fot the last 6 months, such as being uncomfortable and trying to take her diaper off. I have put a potty in the bathroom and she often tells me if she has to go or if she has already gone. I change her at night because she knows she gone too.

I recommend doing what ever you feel comfortable with and telling yourself you will work on potty training for say two weeks and see what happens. If you feel he is ready and you want to get serious then get him cloth diapers and nylon or plastic pants to cover them so you can go places. When you have the time and it's hot outside, take him in the yard and let him play with just the cloth diaper on and see what he does. This way he will feel it, but not destroy the house. Also, don't stress out because your just letting him tell you where he is at with the whole thing.

You could also use pull ups to save the washing and cleaning of the diaper mess. There are also potty tapes, but at this point, really he's young and it's what ever you feel comfortable with. We still have our daughter in diapers because she feels it when she goes and tells us sometimes before she goes, but it's not all the time. I will work with her when I feel she's really ready for the training LOL.

Have fun, hey that's really cool to see them grow huh :)
G.

Children respond to toilet training in different ways. If your little guy is ready, more power to you. The urinating is always the easiest to predict and train, but bowel movements can be tricky. If he is very private about bowel movements you will need to gently convince him that doing them in his potty or in the toilet is ok. Believe it or not, waving "bye, bye" to eliminations often assures your tike that body waste, leaving the body, is ok. Pull-ups are great. You have the protection and the convenience of being able to remove them without mess if necessary. The potty training thing is a big deal and if you keep on the right track you and your boy will remain happy. Don't feel badly if he loses interest and reverts. At this time in his life novelty is a big deal. Keep it simple. If this little guy wants to control his body, go for it and take the time to get it accomplished. You won't be missing out on the baby stuff...there is plenty of that left over! Good luck and the best to you.