Potty Training Boys - Anna,TX

Updated on August 17, 2008
T.M. asks from Anna, TX
4 answers

I am trying to potty train my almost 3-year-old son and it is not working. My mom used to tell me that kids needed to be potty trained by the time they were two. My daughter was easy it to me a week to potty train her. My son however, keeps going back and forth. I thought about doing it the same way I did my daughter and putting my son in regular underwear. However, he is two small to wear regular underwear. (the smallest I can find is 2T and it is way to big on him). I have him in pull-ups right now but it is way to easy for him to go in his pants. I thought he was close to being ready and he went almost a whole day without pottying in his pull-up however the next few days he would not even go near the potty. It seems that every time I push him, he regresses further. So I don't push anymore. However, I don't want him to be behind. Most of my friends that have boys around the same age aren't potty trained either, but my mom keeps telling me that he should be potty trained. Is it normal for an almost 3-year-old to still be wearing training pants? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to speed this up? Does anyone know of any smaller under wear out there? He only weighs 23 lbs. He eats all the time, but doesn't gain weight fast. I wish I was like that! LOL

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So What Happened?

So I finally gave up on potty training my son. I learned that everytime I pushed him to use the potty he would regress and protest. He turned 3 in October and about 3 weeks after his birthday something clicked. We bought him some really cute underwear (some glowed in the dark)at Gymboree that actually fit and he really wanted to wear them. I told him that he could not wear them until he used the potty (so he did). I was so excited. The first day he wore the underwear he only had 1 accident. He still wanted to wear pull-ups at night so we let him for the first 2 weeks. However, he still held it til morning. We decided it was time to wear underwear at night too (I did not want to have to buy pull-ups for just night time if possible). We started with the glow-in-the-dark pair first. This made it fun to wear them at night and helped him not be so dependent of the pull-ups. It has now been over two months and since that first accident he has only had 2 more accidents. Both of those were at night time (and it was because he fell asleep in the car and my husband did not want to wake him up to use the potty). We now try to make sure that he uses the potty before he goes to bed. If he falls asleep in the car then I sit him on the potty while he is asleep. He has done awesome, but in his own time. Thanks for all the advice!

More Answers

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A.J.

answers from Dallas on

No offense, but your mom is wrong.:o)

kids are all different and they potty train at different ages.. they have to be mature enough and they all mature at different rates. MOST boys are not potty trained until the age of 4 (and by 5 for night time) I have 3 boys and my oldest was 4 for day time and 4.5 for night time.

My 3.5 year old just went poo poo in the potty for the first time this week (YEA!) :o)

My 23 month old has not even begun to know what potty training is and that is fine with me!!! dont stress it will happen when it happens and you will KNOW when they are ready.

A. J :o)

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H.L.

answers from Dallas on

I don't have any advice on the small underwear (maybe try the new feel and learn pull-ups), but I can tell you that my one nephew was 3 when he potty-trained and my other nephew is over 3 and still not potty-trained so I don't think your son is behind in potty-training.

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L.S.

answers from Dallas on

Hi T.! My son didn't start really having any success with potty training until he was 3, so don't worry...it takes boys longer to pick up on these things than girls. I don't know what you could do about the underwear being too small, but I can tell you how we got my little guy potty trained.

We put him in "underoos," and every hour we put him on the potty. You probably already know this, but it's best to have them straddle the potty instead of having their feet in front...that way they don't feel like they're going to fall in. So we would just have him sit there until he went. We made it fun by singing a silly song (Tee tee in the potty!). And we would just sing it until he went. He went at least a little bit every time, and he always got to high five us after washing his hands. We did that for about a week, and by Friday, he was good to go. His babysitter taught us how to do it, and it was so easy and effective.

As for your mom, you may want to just accept that she's going to have her opinion, but that doesn't mean she's right. Every kid is different, so don't feel like you're doing this wrong. As long as you're positive with him about it and make it fun, he'll get the hang of it. Good luck!

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P.L.

answers from Dallas on

T. - I have 2 boys (7 1/2 and 4). Both were almost 4 before they were fully potty trained. Girls are always faster than boys and my boys were pretty much in line with all the other boys their age. My mom told me mine should be potty trained earlier, too. However, I found that if I waited until they were ready that it literally would happen overnight. It stressed me out, too, but it's more stressful trying to get them to potty when they aren't ready. Just wait a couple of months and then try again. You can do it. I promise he won't be going to kindergarten in pullups. :-)

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