Potty Training for Boys - Dallas,TX

My son trained himself at age 2 1/2 and it only took a week. By himself I mean he was ready and told us when he needed to go, he has also had a big vocabulary from a very early age so that helped. Your son will give you the signs or ask when he really is ready. We tried the potty seat in the living room so we can get used to it, that didnt work. We tried the potty in our bathroom so he could go when we went, that didnt help. One day he decided he was ready and he did great with very few accidents. We are also forunate to have him in a great school that helped a ton with this while he was there during the day. Good Luck

My opinion: Take it or leave it. :)

It only takes a couple days if you wait until HE is ready. I have potty trained more kids than I care to count (I have been an infant/toddler childcare provider for years...)

Boys tend to be trained at a later age than girls. Some people swear that they had their little ones trained at an ungodly young age, but who was training who? Setting your little one on the potty every 30 minutes is NOT potty training.

I think the little one needs to meet the following milestones BEFORE being trained:
~Have strong enough communication skills to tell you when they have to go. This may be verbal or a signal/sign of some sort.
~Be able to dress and undress themself
~Enter bathroom and get on potty or toilet by themself
~Understand and process the praise they will receive when using the Big Boy/Girl potty.

Having some kind of motivation helps. My son was 3 1/2 before he was ready. I told him that he could write a letter to Santa after he wore Big Boy pants. He was trained in 2 days. My daughter was motivated by the fact that only babies wore diapers and she wanted to be a Big Girl. She was trained before she was 2. (also only took 2-3 days)

If your little man is strong willed be careful it doesnt turn into a power struggle because YOU are the one that has to clean up the mess and do the laundry. I have never seen someone go off to kindergarten in diapers...dont stress out. It will happen. :)

It took a long while for my son. He's now 5 but when he was 3 we started potty training. Going tinkle was not that bad but did take a couple of months; however, going poop in the potty was a long process.

We would give him an M&M or jelly bean every time he went to the potty for tinkle but finally had to start a poopie chart to really get him going with poop. His big problem was, he just plain didn't want to stop playing or doing whatever it was he was doing to go to the bathroom (he's very active as well).

For his poopie chart, he got a sticker every time he did poop in the potty and he got to put the sticker on himself; when he got so many stickers, on the weekend he would get a lego toy from the store (he loves legos!). It was a long process, believe me, but it did work eventually. I had so many people tell me "how easy it is" and get this book or that book and just stick with it, but honestly, i think it depends on the child and every one is different. You just need to kind of take all the information you're given, sift through it in your mind and use what you think will work best for your child.

Good luck! It can be pretty frustrating at times, but we used a LOT of positive reinforcement (never called him a baby or belittled him for having accidents) and finally got there!

My son showed no interest in using the potty for a long time. We kept asking him now and then if he wanted to tee-tee on the potty like a big boy, and he'd always say "no." Since other moms on this site said to wait until he was ready, we never made him sit on the potty to try or anything--we simply told him to tell us when he wanted to try. We passed his third birthday, and he still showed no interest. Finally, at around 3 years and 3 months, we were at Target one evening and my son saw a big boy bike and asked if he could have it. We told him only big boys who wear big boy underwear and potty on the potty are allowed to ride bikes. He said, "I'll go on the potty . . . I'll wear underwear!" We got the bike, figuring he'd go once on the potty and that was it. NOPE!!! Since that night, he tee-tees on the potty EVERY TIME (pull-ups at night still). He has had 3 accidents in 3 months. He simply decided he was ready. Yippee!!

Now, if we could just get him to figure out (ahead of time) the difference between a toot and a poop, we'll be golden!!!!

Good luck to you and have faith that it will happen--IMO it's up to you how difficult it will be. :)

Don't rush it if he is not ready. My son is 4 and we are finally potty trained all the way. He did great during the day but it was night time I was having trouble with. So I told him that every morning he woke up dry I would give him a quarter and that seem to work. we are now going on a month with waking up dry and after 2 weeks I stop giving him a quarter. Just find something he is really into and make that a reward for doing good with potty training. good luck

Hiya,
I am not really sure. My son is 21 months and I'm potty training - not faithfully (anymore)...It's more of here and there. However, he does tell me potty or pee pee and then will go to the potty in the bathroom as he strips himself of his clothes. If he doesn't tell me he has to go I know after he's gone because he strips off his pamper or pull-up.

We have the potty book (http://www.beekabeeka.com/2010/05/friday-finds-zoo-poop.html) and the Elmo Goes to the potty DVD which I think helps some. Otherwise, I think I originally just wanted to train him and to be over it when I saw my niece at 2.5 get a poopy diaper changed! I've kind of resorted to the fact that I won't stress over it. I think he's a smart kid...when he's ready to go full fledged he will.

Best of luck!

I'm in the process of potty training my third little boy. With my oldest son he was potty trained at 2yrs 7mos. I think one of the best tips I cangive is don't get frustrated when nothing happens. In the beginning you put them on the toilet and they play, and talk, and point to everything. Try putting your son on the toilet at the same time everyday. Maybe after each meal. My doctor had told me to give my son apple juice about 10-15 minutes before using the potty because it's a natural diuretic, and makes them have to go. When he finally does go to the bathroom on the toilet, be sure to celebrate. Sing, dance, clap. Make it a production and your son will want to use the potty again. The first time my son went I spun him around, clapped, and told him how proud I was. He got down and wanted to use the potty again...immediately:) he will let you know when he's ready. Good luck.

I'm with Janis L. If you want until they are ready it will be so much easier. If you try too early, it will be too much work, it will be frustrating for both of you and could turn into a power struggle so he will resist using the potty. When they get to the point where they are interested in being "big boys" they'll do it almost on their own. So don't sweat it, all you have to do is provide the opportunity and a little encouragement and it'll happen. Good luck!

I don't recall how old my grandson was – a little shy of three, I think. He decided he was ready, after a few months of positive "pre-training" messages from the adults in his life – books and videos, a set of big-boy pants, the how-to's modeled by adults, toys and puppets, the occasional inquiry about whether he wanted to try, but NO pressure, ever. He had been waking dry most mornings. When he decided he was ready, he was motivated to work it out, and he did in a matter of days, mostly on his own initiative. His parents used a sticker chart that earned him rewards, but it seemed unneccesary after the first few days and he lost interest in it.

Every young family I've talked to who have had "quick trainers" waited until the child clearly indicated interest and enthusiasm. Seems to be as natural a developmental urge as walking and talking. It is worth noting that poop training and night training are sometimes a later stage of development, as the body and nervous system mature enough. I've known several parents who allowed their kids to use diapers for pooping (which the kids asked for). This never seemed to cause confusion or backsliding on the pee training.

I don't know the right age for boys but I know the expectation is for them to be all trained by 3 years. Some things I've seen worik: Have a children's potty book near the toilet and let them sit, you read the book, you do some chores or talking about anything else, wash your hands, and reward him for sitting and waiting to see if he can go. Boys might like drowing Cheerios in the toilet. My girl loved music so I got her a potty that chimed music if she went in it. That did it for her. No sad or bad faces. Mostly rewards for just about any kind of trying. Even bragging to others about how they went into the bathroom to try and that he's becoming a big boy. Maybe big boys that finish pottying get a big boy advantage of some kind that they'd look forward to when that's done and they go a week without missing. Maybe gold stars in the bathroom on a chart for trying and red ones for actually going. Otherwise, don't talk about it and put undo pressure on.

Hi! That's hooey that it takes longer for boys than girls. Well, maybe on the WHOLE that may be true but dont' use that as a guideline. I had one boy who took a long time and my other boy was the quickest (and earliest) learner of all 5 of my children.

I think it's better to have your son sit more frequently than sit for a longer time. Just sitting for 1-2 minutes is enough, but do it every 10 minutes or so when trying to train him.

Yes you can do it in 1-3 days but you have to have no interruptions whatsoever. There is a book called "Potty training in less than a day" and I used it and it did work.

I think it's just best to watch your child for signs. For my most recent daughter, she was taking her diaper off and leaving it off after she'd pooped. That created a huge mess. So, obviously, it was time. You'll know it when the time comes. Good Luck!

I think you have to decide how much time you want to spend doing it and how much patience you have. I didn't want to drag it out for months and I don't have a ton of patience with cleaning up urine and poop. So, I chose to wait until my son was more than ready. He had just turned four when I told him he would wear underware during the day and sit on the potty every 30 minutes until he could tell me when he had to go on his own. I told him the pedi said we had to do this, so I could let him blame someone else for the inconvenience. I never forced, just rewarded with an M&M for sitting on the potty and gave him 2 for using it. It took a little longer to poop than to pee pee in it. I used training undies and put him in sweat pants because they soak up a lot of urine. He was potty trained in less than a week with a few accidents which he helped me clean up. Good luck!

Hi there, totally agree with Janis on the potty training. My oldest was 3 years and 3 months when he was able to wear underwear with no accidents. But it took until he was a little past 4 to get the other part down, but there was an underlying condition there. I was lucky, he never had accidents and asked me for pull-ups for that part.

Now on to my next two kids, my daughter has been my easiest to this day. She is now 3 yrs 8 months and has been potty trained since April (second time). I had her PT before her 3rd birthday, but we moved and it set her back a couple of months. My other son, almost 5, was the hardest to potty train out of all of them. He was born at 25 weeks, 5 days and has had some delays and health problems, but over all really lucky with him. We just had to wait until HE was ready, which seemed to take having his little sister (they are only 14 mths apart in age) to potty train with him. I never thought I'd get him to train before starting Pre-K/Kindergarten, lol. But he is and is starting Pre-K in a couple of weeks.

So if your son is active and strong willed, it may take longer, it did with mine. I read the books, online articles, ideas and tried so many things. Then one night my dad and I decided to offer them money and I had them help me "throw" away their pull-ups. We offered them a quarter for each time they pooped in the potty. I also, in the beginning, offered them the quarter when they peed in the potty and not their underwear. It did work, but it did took a few days to get it down with them, but by the end of two weeks, we were good to go. Now the only time we use Pull-ups is at night and that will take more time to get them to adjust to that part. Positive reinforcement and cheers for when they did a great job. We did the poop dance for them when they did their business. :-) Staying positive, even with accidents, is the best way to go. Makes them want to keep doing it.

I have one more to go and then no more diapers in this house. I think with him, I will not be buying pull-ups. Just go from diapers to underwear. I honestly think that pull-ups can delay the process and makes it too easy for us parents to do it sooner.

Best of luck and don't get frustrated, I did, and took mommy time out from training, but came back to it. :)

First of all, if he's only 2, don't worry about it. Let him show interest in the potty first. By forcing potty training before they are ready will only make it worse, and they could have a relapse later.

Right now what you can do is buy a little separate potty that sits on the floor so that he could easily walk up to and sit down on. It wasn't until the last quarter of my son's 2nd year where we asked him to join us and pretend to sit on the potty just like Mommy and Daddy. About a month after he turned 3, all of the sudden and totally by himself, he went to his potty, pulled down his pants, sat down and peed in his potty. We had a huge celebration and gave him a toy car. I don't remember, but it seems that going poopy in his little potty was only natural. Sometimes he did it together. Of course when he pooped in his potty for the first time we made a huge deal about it too.

It wasn't until a month later we really got serious about the potty training. He wasn't progressing like he should have been so we took it up a huge notch and did the 3 day program one weekend. Actually we did it 4 days. We started full force on a Thursday with hubby taking the last two days off from work. My son would wear no pull-ups or underwear in the day time. He was trained in 3 days, but it was nice to have Sunday as a buffer just in case. My son went back to school on Monday (with no underwear still and for a while) and had only one accident the first week at school after been trained. After that it wasn't until a month later that he had his second accident at school. But I don't think he's had one since. Now at home he would have one here and there just because he was so into playing with his toys that he wasn't listening to his body. But overall, he did extremely well! Of course at night he continued wearing pull-ups until he showed signs that he didn't need them anymore.

The biggest transfer we had was having him poop in the big potty. He peed but not pooped. So we had to take drastic measures again and remove the potty part from inside his footstool. Now before you do this, go right now and buy one of those special potty seats that have both kid and adult sizes for the big potty. Anyway, after we took out his little potty from his stool, we showed him now that his stool can be used to help you get up onto the big potty and go poopy just like Mommy and Daddy with his own special seat. He loved it! The best part he loved about it and still does to this day is watching the potty flush. (My son just turned 4 this past June.)

Now, I don't know if this is true for some kids or boys, but my son for months had a fear of going poopy in all public toilets, including school. He would go to school and hold it literally all day. Everyday when he would come home, the first thing he would do is go potty. I'm happy to report that only after a month of turning 4 years old (10 months after his 3-day training), he finally went poopy in a public toilet! At first he was a little scared, but he conquered his fears quickly. At first he asked where's the little seat. I explained to him that there's no such thing on public toilets...that you have to use what you've got. I told him to sit on the very front part where it wasn't so wide, put his hands down on the side of the bowl, hang on, and go! After he was done, I made a huge deal about it, and we gave him a nice toy the next day for such a huge accomplishment. I said, "Now we can go do stuff like go ride choo-choo trains!" He's so excited!

So yeah, we couldn't go out and do things all day away from home as a family until he got over that hurdle. Besides, he was never a happy camper when he held it all day either. At most we could be away from the house was 5 hours. After that, he would complain that his bottom hurt.

As far as night pull-ups are concerned, let that happen naturally as well. After checking each morning to see if his pull-up was dry and if he was dry for 30 days straight, I annouced to my son, "Guess what? No more pull-ups! You're a big boy now!" That too only happened 2 weeks after his 4th birthday.

So Mom...don't sweat it. Just go with his flow, and I think things will be a whole lot better in the end (no pun intended).

My twins are 38 months and I have been training them for four months and they still are not there yet although we are making progress. We ditched the pull-ups for outings and school and that made a big difference! S is dry all day and T still has a couple of accidents a day. I haven't really started to night-train yet.