Potty Training Techniques!!!!!!

I actually had three babies in diapers for a little while. Ugh! I listened to all the advice about waiting for the child to decide she wants to start using the potty and it took for-ev-er to train my first daughter (she was almost 4!). For the past year and a half I have had two kids in diapers, and finally I decided enough is enough... the middle child is already 3 1/2, and I know she can use the potty! I had her in pullups for a long while, and we would talk about the potty but always her reaction would be, "Don't wanna use the potty!" So, I would drop the subject for a little while and bring it up again in a couple weeks or so, and her answer was still the same. Then, my friend potty trained her 20-month-old in 3 days. Yes, 3 days! Here's the method she used: http://www.easypottytraining.com/. I am using it too with my stubborn 3 1/2 year old, and it is working! Yay!!!! She loved going to the store to pick out her big-girl panties, and we said goodbye to all the pullups (she watched me take them away). I'm not saying she's accident-free, but she is really trying, and I can see progress each day (we're on day 4 without pullups now). I think an important aspect of this method is to make a really big deal about the transition from diapers/pullups to big kid underwear. Good luck!

I just wanted to echo what several other moms have said. You are causing yourself and your son a lot of stress by forcing this when he isn't ready. If you wait until he really is ready, potty training will come easily and naturally. I had tried for months unsuccessfully to train my son when he was 2 1/2 or so, and I finally let it go because it was just too hard on both of us. Then one day, about a month after he turned 3, he started to pee in the bathtub, so I said, "Hey, let's do that in the potty!" And I pulled him out of the tub, sat him on his little potty where he peed, and that was all it took! He hardly ever had any accidents after finally going that one time. (I remember being worried the next morning because we were going to a movie, but he made it all the way through!) He was a little more difficult for going poo on the potty (he would ask for a diaper!), but using sticker charts (and rewards for a certain number of stickers) helped him with that part. So try to relax about it, and rest assured it really will happen eventually!

I'm sure you've heard this until you're ready to scream, but you're trying too hard. Making your son sit on the potty "for hours" is a recipe for having him fight you on potty training. Everything that you've been through is so stressful that it's totally understandable you just want the potty training over and done with, but your kids have been through the hurricane stress, too, and this is all likely a reaction to it and your eagerness to get them to just do it. I would try to pull back, not push it at all and, even though this is really tough to hear, give it some more time. The most helpful book for me on this subject was Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care (8th Edition). It's tried and true and, to my mind, very sensible. Have you talked with your pediatrician about this, too? I really wish you the best!

Hi A.. The changes in his life are what's causing him to regress. My advice is to just let it go until things have been "normal" for several months. We went through something similar with our son and we didn't end up trying again until a few months after his 3rd birthday. This is when it finally worked. He pee-pee trained through bribary but poo-poo trained by just taking the diapers away. He went in his undies for weeks and then he just stopped. It was a pain because I had a 5 month old at the time. It was tough when you are out in public with two kids and dirty undies. Just keep lots of wipes and change of clothes in your car. Good luck. He'll get there! Don't stress yourself out right now. :)

Whew!! You and your family have dealt with alot over the last year. You already have gotten some great advice. The only thing I can add is what ended up working for me and my youngest was giving him "permission" to be a baby for awhile longer.

I was so frustrated with the power struggle. I got to thinking about all the advice I'd heard and read. What it came down to was 2 & 3 year olds are STUBBORN!! Plus they don't have much control over their lives, and they want their independence. How would you like it if big people were always telling you when to eat, sleep, play, behave, don't touch this or that, etc? When all you really wanted to do was explore your world, to see how things work, to laugh in that wonderful way only small children can? And all around you Mommy/Daddy are fenceing you in!! Or in your case a cute little baby taking his attention away from him?!

So what can a child that age have control over? You got it!! Whether they tinkle or poop in their pants or on a potty!

This is what I did. I sat down and talked with him after a potty attempt and let him know it is ok if he wants to be a baby for awhile longer. I let him know that babies (stressed but not over dramatized) messed their pants, and that when he decided to be a big boy we would go to the store and buy his choice of underwear and GET RID OF ALL OF HIS YUCKY OLD BABY DIAPERS! For about two weeks we would gently remind/encourage potty use, but didn't push it. Every time he messed his diaper we would be certain to remind him about how much quicker and cleaner it was to potty. How awful it is to stop playing so we could lay him down, pull off pants, undiaper, wipe down, rediaper, put pants back on, etc! Also, wouldn't it be fun to be like Daddy and big brothers and wear big boy pants and go to the potty?

After a couple of weeks of letting him be a baby...it worked. He started telling me he had to potty, and once he was having less accidents we went to Target, chose undies, and vinyl pants. The vinyl pants seemed to help make the point in a way that words, and diapers never did. When he wet himself it got all over HIM, and of course leaked on floor. The vinyl pants created an awareness that diapers (because they are so moisture resistant these days) or pull ups ever could. In my opinion pullups are a huge waste of time and money.

Sorry for the LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG message. Good luck to you. Remember all of us Moms are with you in spirit!! God bless you and your family!!

It sounds like it has become a power struggle, and the best thing to do at this point would probably be to back off for a couple months and then gently introduce the potty without pressure. Good luck!

Relax! He is dealing with losing his home, having a new brother moving around alot. That is alot for a child to handle.

Back off it a few more months.

Good Luck!

We used a product called a Wee-minder with my son. It looks like a watch your child wears on their wrist. It has a timer that is set to go off every hour, 1.5 hours, or two hours. When it is time, the Wee-minder sings a song called "hop, hop, hop, to the potty place" and the child is supposed to take a potty break to see if they have to go. The product comes with a story book about a Walaby from Australia and how he "hops to the potty place" and seems like a great approach. We bought it at Walmart.
Our son knew what to do and that we wanted him to go potty like a big boy. He would go at times and then not go. We figured having the reminder to go potty on him would help. I tried setting a clock timer and telling him to go once and hour but that turned into a power struggle. With the Wee-minder, it is telling him it is time to go, not me so it isn't a power issue for him.
We have had great success. He is now completely pull-up free and using the potty for both day and night and has had no accidents for over a month. He is now at the point where he isn't even using the Wee-minder and just goes on his own. It has been such a blessing to see this success.

Try putting the potty in front of the TV and let him watch his favorite show. He should relax and use it.

Have her husband take him every time he goes. When you're there with him during the day, take him when you go. Let him stand outside the door, and when you're done, let him go. Nothin to drink at least 2 hours prior to bedtime. And take him as soon as his feet hit the floor in the morning. Ask him every 30 minutes if he has to go 'potty'

I know that 2 in diapers is hard, but his actions are screaming that he doesn't want to do this. He's had a lot of change in his little life: your pregnancy, the hurricane, displacement - more than once - and now the new baby. This is one tiny area of his life he can control. You can not force him. Just because he was physically ready before doesn't mean he is emotionally/mentally ready for this.

I know you're looking for tricks and techniques, but I am going to say what I think is the best idea: give it up for right now and wait until he is showing you he's ready. He's really showing you right now that he doesn't want to do it. Stop buying Pull Ups (they're expensive, from what I've heard, and really just diapers anyway) and put him back in diapers if that's what he seems to need.

It was about this age that I switched to cloth diapers. My first was 2.5 and my little one was not quite 4 months old. Cloth diapers made it not feel like I was "still buying diapers" plus the fact that they feel wetter in cloth helped him to know when he went and how uncomfortable it is. My daughter has been in cloth since almost 4 months and she (at not quite 2) seems to know more about when she urinates than he ever did, and I think potty training will come earlier for her. I have a third, 4 months old, that is also in cloth. Not being frustrated by the cost of diapers certainly helps me allow our children to train when they're ready.

Good luck in whatever you do!

Two is young. He may show some interest and then loose interest many times, before he is really ready. Each time encourage him, but if he looses interest, no problem.

My daughter was the same way. She would want to potty on the chair or the big potty for a few days and then just want diapers. We never made a big deal out of it. Daycare helped a lot cause they had the potties lined up and kids would use them and eventually, our daughter wanted to sit and go poo with all of them too.

So many moms will tell you, they can bribe, force, and beg, but in the end, the child will set the pace on this. Just let him go at his own speed. This is not where you want to put your energy, especially since when he is ready, it will just happen.

The smartest thing I ever did as a mom (2b 1g) was use cloth diapers. All three of my kids were potty trained before they were two. It was so easy with a diaper service and saved big bucks.

I have a 2 1/2 yr old son as well and we've been working on this for quite some time. I plan to try to keep the expectations and frustration to a minimum this time around. I drove my self crazy with my 4 yr old daughter during potty training and all the frustation and anger did no good at all. She finally just did it on her own when she was ready..at 3 1/2. This summer we are putting my son in cloth training pants full time and taking him to the potty at regular intervals as a matter of routine. He already goes potty before getting in the bathtub. We're adding 1st thing in the morning, right after breakfast (trying to get him to poop on that one because that's when he usually goes) before nap, after nap, before bed etc. We have already established that he gets a treat (sticker or whatever) for being successful. We do praise a lot when he does well but try to be very pan faced when he has set backs. We typically ask him "Where does poo poo belong?" "In the toilet, not in your pants." We may also say, next time if you need to go you can use the potty all by yourself. And leave it at that.

I don't know if any of that helps but you're not alone in this challenge for sure.

Best of luck.
D.

A.,

You are definitely not alone. My first son expressed interest in using the potty around 2 yo. He even did #2 on it w/in the first wk, then it all stopped. We did everything from bribing him w/ mini oreos cookies, going every hour, making a big fuss about it etc. Then almost overnite, (2.5 - 3 yo), he decided he wants to wear underwear during the day. At night he still prefered his diaper. After a couple of wks of having a dry diaper in the morning, I persuaded him to wear his underwear at night time (a wk of "persuading"). At 3.5 yo his is fully potty train. It was hard until I let him set the pace.

My second also express interest early (18 months) for about one wk. Now at 22 months, he has no desire at all! I am telling myself everyday that every child developmental is different. And that although diapers are expensive, the time to clean, change, wash clothes & sheets can be timely and expensive.

Good luck w/ your son.