Potty Trainning Help!

I heard of a method you might want to try. A lady I know had wood floors, and when she was potty training, she would leave the child without anything on all day. The child could only stay on the wood floor, so that clean up was easy. The child didn't like the pee running down his legs, so wanted to go to the bathroom, it only took a day or 2 just a suggestion. Sometimes I do think though, that it is better to just back off of it for a while, if they are refusing to cooperate. I hope it all works out soon for you!! Keep doing a great job Mom!

We used a "prize bucket." I filled it with small, individually wrapped candy (like kisses, candy canes, etc.) Worked like a charm! My sister just used the same technique for her little boy (he'll be three in a couple days).

You don't want to hear it, Im sure, but he's just not ready! Is there a reason he needs to go to preschool at 3? I fear that if you start out his little life pushing him so hard, he'll never get a chance to just be himself, and meet his goals in his own time...he'll be meeting goals for YOU and it will never be enough. Let him reach milestones a little slower and let him enjoy the satisfaction of his own success!

Just a thought...
~L.

Sounds like he's just not ready. The average age for potty training with boys is 3.5. My oldest was just like yours at 3.5 he just decided he was done with diapers and that was it.

My 2nd son will be 4 next month and just in the last month has been interested in potty learning.

I'd just wait on preschool this semester, he can start in the 2nd semester after he's potty trained.

If he has a favorite song, change up the words to include he did it on the potty. For example, all 3 of my girls were in love with Dora and for all 3 I came up with a song that Dora sings in the end of the show, We Did It. But instead, its you did it, you did pee-pee on the toilet, you did it, hooray! Each time, the one I was training did it, all my children and I would gather in the bathroom and start singing and cheering for the one that was training. Get your 6 year old into it too, your 3 year old looks up to him and will most likely listen to him and look up to him as his role model. I know it can be very frustrating, (I potty trained 2 year old twins, believe me I know) but try not to let him see your frustration. Be consistent. If you give up for a week, it is going to be like starting over from day 1. Best advice is take off diapers and pull-ups, even if you have to let him be naked from the waist down at home (have him wear a long tee shirt). Keep in mind, for 3 years, all he has known is "the diaper is where I poop and pee" then all of a sudden, big bad wolf comes along and says, no more, this is harder to do but too bad. It takes time, patience, and when it is finally all done, it is just a distant memory. Good luck to you and to him because remember, this is hard for him too.

R.,

Encourage him by explaining to him all of the disadvantages of being a "baby" versus being a "big boy". Your older son can be a great help as the younger ones usually want to do everything the older children do.

My daughter was very hard to train (three and a half) and we tried everything anyone suggested.

Ideas
1) We purchased a special toy that she could only play with when she sat on the potty. She got to pick it out and we put it where she could see it but not touch it except when she sat on the potty.

2) The long t-shirt, plenty of liquids and playtime outside really got her attention.

3) We had a reward system that if she didn't have an accident at daycare the previous day she got to wear a dress the following day. If there was an accident she had to wear pants. (This got her attention because she's such a girly girl). I know this one won't work in your case but maybe he has a favorite shirt that he likes to wear - or a costume.

4) My son (a few months before turning three) was easy to train but was afraid to poop on the potty. One day when I could tell he was getting ready to poop I encouraged him to sit on the potty. He was scared and didn't want to (thinking I was going to make him poop) so I told him he didn't have to poop but he had to sit on the potty while I read him his favorite story. He, of course, relaxed while I was reading and pooped. Once he realized it didn't "hurt" to poop on the potty he was trained. We continued to have accidents occasionally but that's perfectly normal.

Remember it isn't you or how you're training it's the differences in your children and their personalities. The more laid back he is the harder he will be to train - because they don't care or it isn't any big deal to them. Hang in there and don't give up - it will happen.

C.

so try staying at home for a week and being viligant about it. let him run around naked, or in his underwear, everytime he goes in his pants dump it in the toilet. when you notice his "i gotta go" cues, grunting, or hideing, put him on the potty. put him on every hour and if he goes give him a m&m.
I am not above bribery either, my daughter will be three in two weeks, thats how she was pee trained. for poo, It took a while, I told her if she went poo in the potty she could have a new barbie, I bought a barbie with a barbie dog, and sat it on the bathroom counter, she was alowed to look at it, but she was not allowed to open it until she went poo in the potty. it did take a few days. She's been trained now for several months. but will not start pre-school until next year, I think she is too young to send her to someone else for a few hours a day, I will never get that year back.
I have a friend whos son will be three next week, he goes in the potty occasionally, but is not close to being fully trained. She wanted him to start pre-school, but is just going to wait until next year... Good luck

I would say definately do not stop trying, you have to be consistent. It is not because he is not ready, he just doesn't want to yet. I think pre-school is very important and maybe you coud use that. Hype up the pre-school to him and tell him he needs to do this so he can enjoy all the fun there. Make a huge fuss of him when he uses the potty, we had a potty song for my little boy. Also put him on regularly so you can make the huge fuss of him when he does go, that may encourage him to ask to use the potty. My eldest was harder to train than my younger son, but he was still trained by two years, the younger son was like your older son, woke up one morning when he was 21 months old and wanted out of diapers. If your sons bladder holds through the night there is no reason for him not to be able to potty train in the day. He may have realised this is a situation where he has power. That's why I say do not back off because you're giving him more power. He may also like the attention he gets when he poops in his diaper. I found that with my oldest son so I would give lots of attention when he went on the potty and no attention when having to change a poopy or wet diaper. Hope this helps, and keep trying, it will come soon.

I wouldn't worry about it, my son will be four in Oct. and he just started potty training. My pediatrician told me not to push it, every child is different and trying to rush them before they're ready will just delay it even longer. Just put him in pull-ups for preschool, that's what I plan on doing with my son. BTW, my son has never pooped in the potty either, he asks for a diaper so he can poop in his diaper and not the potty. He's my fourth child, and none of my others were like this, but I know he'll do it in his own time, when he's ready, and I don't stress about it!

S.

R.
children will not potty train untill it's right for them preschool might half to waite a few month but if you are set on potty training you can go with the evert 30 min pottty set someyhing to go off ever 30 min and then he trys to potty at that time ir worked for all five of my girls well good luck

This is what I did to get my boys potty trained very quickly. Pick a 3-4 day block that you don't go anywhere. Have him wear a long tee shirt down to his knees and no underpants. I know it sounds weird but when you remove the "safety net" of underpant they actually start to focus on the feeling better because if not he is going to go on himself. I always kept a little potty near (it moved room to room and outside with us). There will be a few accidents that are easy enough to clean up. I think my boys had about 3-4 accidents before they got it. Once they got it I kept the same long tee and noo underpants on for a few more days so they could practice and really get it before I added underpants (I didn't and any regression).

Good Luck

Your son sounds like mine. We were really lucky that he has a January birthday. We finally potty trained him at 3 1/2. What worked for us was letting him walk around naked (yes naked) and kept the potty in the room that we were in. We also let him drink kool-aid (something we never give him) and if he went in the potty he got to drink more. As for poop, we bought thomas the train engines and when he pooped he got to pick a new engine. It worked for us...good luck and don't give up!!!!

Why does he insist that he is still a baby? My son is know known as a "medium" boy. He was afraid that mommy wouldn't love him if he wasn't a baby (from what I can figure out). We also use "baby" as a term of endearment between mom and dad. Remind him and INSIST that being a "medium" boy with more freedom is great but that Mommy and Daddy will always love him; even if he isn't a "baby" anymore.

Unfortunately you pushing your son to go potty will make things worse. It's a shame preschool is usually a factor in this problem. And it's unfortunate that more preschools like the one my son will attend don't have a problem with partly trained children. I wish you the best of luck. My son is now 3.5 and after pooping once in the potty 6 months or so ago He decided to go poop twice tonight in the potty, so there is hope.

Hi, R.

Children certainly won't potty train until they are ready. My daughter has went on occassion but nothing steady for pooping. I have tried everything and nothing seems to work so far. From what I can see they will do it at their own calling. She does great peeing. Keep in mind every child is different and at different levels of thinking. It will come in time but no faster than you wish!

Good luck! M. H.

Been there! My son wouldn't potty train until HE wanted to. A wise woman told me at the time not to stress about it. Plan on him being done by Kindergarten. No one goes to Kindergarten in diapers!

In the meantime, can he do a pull up for preschool? It's usually only a couple of hours and he can manage. That's how we started.

Good luck!

S.

I got my daughter interesting in going poop on the pottyseat by pushing the fact that it made a plop sound. She was so intrigued by the noise that it encouraged her to use the potty seat rather than her diaper. She was really stubborn until we got into the noise thing. Within a month she wasn't so interested in the sound, she just didn't want to wear diapers anymore. Of course she still wants to check the bowl to see how many doo-doo's she has produced (hopefully she will grow out of that soon). She is almost 3 and we were able to stop the daytime diapers about three months ago.

Good luck.

Sounds like he's feeling pressured about preschool and growing up in general. Normal. I'd say to do the best you can, send a couple of changes of clothes, and hope he follows through in preschool. Why do they have to have these rules? If you're lucky, they'll assume he's just having accidents and work with him. He may do better if he decides he likes it there. Some kids - maybe boys especially - are not able to be trained until sometime beyond their 3rd birthday.

I`ve done daycare for years and also have 2 little boys of my own-boys are harder to potty train and they all seem to "get it" right after they turn 3! No accidents at all with mine! About 2 - 3 weeks after their third birthday they just did it! As for the boys in my daycare! I always do what their parents tell me to do-but they never seem to get it until after turning 3!

R., I completely feel you're pain!! I have a daughter who will be 3 in November and she's starting (supposed to start) preschool in September. They told me she had to be independently potty trained, able to wipe herself and put her pants back on. I'm have a HELL of a time with all 3 of those things. She has been so advanced in every other aspect, crawling, walking at 10 months, talking full sentences by by 2 years old. But I just can't get her to use the potty. Every once in a while she'll do it. It's like she senses my frustration and every time I decide "forget it" I'm going to hold off, she goes on the potty!! Then I get all gung-ho again and then she'll refuse. She's playing a game with me and I don't know what to do.

As much as I just want to hold off, I feel like the progress that we have made will just be a waste. I have resorted to buying diapers again and then she gets upset because she's not a baby and only baby's wear diapers. We have had talk after talk after talk with no luck.

Just yesterday, my MIL brought over a cute litte bubble gum machine and we went over the rules with her. She will not be able to put a penny in the machine unless she GOES on the potty, not just tries. We tried the "trying" thing before and she'll try 100 times a day if she can get a piece of candy.

She did go on it last night, we jumped around, sang and danced and allowed her to have a piece of gum. I thought this was a success!! Then, not 15 minutes later, she peed in her underwear. Then 5 minutes after that, she peed in her underwear again!! I have tried all day today and she refuses to sit on the potty.

My dad always says that my Grandma sent all of her 4 kids to her MIL house and she potty trained them in 1 day. What the hell did they do back then??? Scare the pee and poop out of them??? Gosh, I wish she was still alive!!

Good luck!! I'm going to keep trying to give it a shot until the end of August and if I don't have any luck, I'll have to cancel preschool. What a bummer!

As suggested by another mom, I used with great success the 'Potty Training in Less than a Day' book. You can try to work your way up to the big boy pants day by talking it up for a few days, keeping distractions out of the way (find someone else to watch other kids for the morning, etc.) - I have just been amazed with the success. I just borrowed the book from the library, and it's a quick read too. Good luck.