Advice on Potty Training My 2 Year Old Son...

Hi C., I'm the mother of four boys, and boys take longer than girls to potty train, which in my case was true. My pedie told me to wait till they're close to four. However, a friend of mine trained her son when he was almost three. I asked how she did it. She told me she was at the library and saw a book titled "How to Potty Train in One Day." Of course, she laughed, but she read it and, low and behold, it worked. I tried it when I trained my youngest and it worked for me. The book says to set a day aside and feed your child liquid all day, (milk, juice, jello, popscicles, sorbets, soups, salads, etc.) put the child on the toilet every half hour and in between, like every 10 to 15 minutes, asked if he/she has to go. Explain to the child that they'll get a feeling in their tummy that will tell he/she that they need to go. The bonus is the child begins to listen to his/her body. I hope this helps.
---H. J.

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Hi Coleen,

I am wondering about beginning the process of potty training too with my 20 month old. Every one says it is too early but he shows so much interest so why not. I have traveled quite a bit in my life and spent time in many other cultures and it seems that in lots of places around the world children are potty trained by this age. Our culture values independnce so much so our late potty training patterns are interesting. Just an observation.

Have fun!
M.

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2 years is way too old to start potty training n(unless the child wants it), especially since he is a boy. Boys tend to be delayed in things like sitting, walking, talking, potty training, etc. Most kids potty train around 3 years old. Having said that you need to read the cues from Aidan. When he is ready that is when you should do it.

i have a friend who "forced" the potty training on her 2 year old son and she regretted for the whole next year because he was not ready and had accidents all over the place.

You will find, if you wait until they are ready to do it the process will most likely be quickly and mostly painless. My daughter did it right before her 3rd birthday, I waitied until she was truly ready and we have had very few accidents since.

Also, when you do it, focus on doing it during the day, you will drive yourself (and him crazy if you try to do night time too.) I kept a pull up on her at night and when I finally noticed that she was usually dry in the morning we put underwear on her at night.

This can be an easy thing if you do not try to force it on your child.

Get a potty, I had one of each, the stand alone kind and the kind that went on the potty. But like I said I had a girl so it may be different for boys. Also, one thing other friends have tried when their child was ready was to keep potty's where the child is, playroom, etc. thatw ay it is there in front of them so they can see it and say "Oh, I have to go potty".

Good luck, and really, 2 years old is too soon to try unless your child is REALLY showing signsd that he is ready.

Hi C.,
I am a day care provider and a mom and what we do is at the age of 2 we introduce the children to the potty, but do not make them use it. I do suggest you get a portable potty (some children are afraid of the big potty). I suggest you change his diaper every hour and ask him if he would like to sit on the potty (perhaps change his diaper in the bathroom near the potty) if he does let him sit there as long as he wants, if not try again next time. When he does gone on the potty praise him for it. Other good times to encourage him to sit on the potty would be after waking up in the morning and after nap (he'll most likely go at those times) then he'll see what it is like to go pee or poop on the potty and will be so proud and see how proud you are of him that he'll want to go on the potty again. Good luck!

C.,

I just asked a very similar question about potty training my 20.5 month old daughter and received a variety of responses... (you can try to look up my question on here, it was titled "potty training questions")

I personally say that if he is showing interest, then certainly encourage him! I think potty seats all pretty much serve the same purpose. I've been told that the little potties are good for starting on, one that I like (easy to clean!) is the Baby Bjorn one. We have a little one and a seat that goes on the toilet as well, and when we go to the potty, we ask, "Big potty or little?" and our daughter gets to choose. We also use a sticker chart. With Ella, we had the seats available and talked about big girl panties and we ask every 45 minutes to an hour. She also loves to go "commando" and run around naked, and it's much easier to get her to the potty in time that way!! We have also found that the Hanna Andersson training pants are FANTASTIC and so thick! Even when there is an accident, there isn't much floor cleanup, which is key!

Yeah, maybe it's taking "longer" than it would for a 3 year old, but I like having her aware and interested. I certainly don't plan on putting it off until she's 3 or 4!!! (Even if it "only takes a week.") I've been criticized for pushing her too early, but I don't think that 2 years is too young. Especially if you are staying home with your son and are able to work closely with him.

Good luck! The best advice I got was to follow my daughter's lead, and she is essentially trained now, although we still use Pull-Ups for naps, trips out, and bedtime, all of which she generally stays dry for, so it's more of a comfort thing for us! :)

We sat our kids on the regular toilet backwards. Then for our boys there was much less mess and they felt safer. For my older son, who is a serious kiddo with a long attention span I would read him books or blow bubbles while he tried. With my younger son we tried the bathtub crayons on the tiolet seat to keep him in one place long enough to try. But I learned with both boys that I couldn't rush them. They were ready when they were ready. My younger son and I battled about the potty. he would hide when he had to go. So I plan to let my daughter take the lead this time. When she is ready, she'll be ready. Until then I will give her opportunities to try and congratulate her when she does.

C.,
I think he's too young for potty training unless he is showing interest. I waited until my son's 3rd birthday, and then within a month he was trained. He will be 4 in Feb. and my youngest will be 2 in march and he is showing no interest at all. With all that being said, train him on the regular toilet. When you use a potty chair,he'll get used to the small potty and you'll have to train him all over again on the big boy toilet. Also when using a potty seat, if you go out anywhere, it's difficult to get them to go to the bathroom in a restaurant or anyplace that doesn't have his potty seat. Hope this helps...

Two is probably a little early for a little-man, even if he is the first born. Boys tend to start training later than girls -- my son was about 2 1/2 before he was ready.

Reading books about going potty, watching shows about going potty, and having a training potty in the bathroom will get him thinking about it -- these items can get him to start paying attention to when he dirties his diaper, and eventually he'll show interest in trying the potty.

Good luck!

Good Morning C.,
Read your question about potty training and I may have a few helpful hints for you. We started trying to train our son Dylan at the age of 2 and we bought him a padded seat potty chair with a cover as our toilet seats are padded. It resembled our own bathrooms but at the age of 2, he wasn't interested in trying to go on the potty. We didn't push the issue in fear of delaying his natural curiousity and development, but at the age of 3, he showed interest in going on it as long as it was in front of the TV and he could play with a toy. Within a month of his 3rd birthday, he was completely potty trained for both day and night. I used pull-ups for bedtime with a waterproof mattress pad for 2 weeks and within the month, switched him over to "big boy" underwear. As expected, he had his "accident" moments, but learned to control his bladder at night fairly quickly. Putting cheerios in the "big boy" toilet and encouraging him to "sink" them also helped in his transition from the potty chair to the toilet. Not sure if this helps you at all but don't fret about the situation; he'll eventually be ready and he's still young. I have found most kids don't train till almost 3 yrs. old or so. Good Luck! Liz

Hi! Potty training was the hardest thing for me the first time. The biggest advice I have is WAIT UNTIL HE IS 3! It seems like forever, but I tried at 2 and my son was O.K. for a few days, but it never seemed to work and went on for weeks and weeks. I finally stopped and started again when he was three and it only took three days and we never used pull-ups or anything, just underware. He was just ready at three, but not a day before! Good luck.

C.:

I have a 3 and 5 year old. We had a portable potty. I had gotten just a simple, plain one for my son about 4 years ago. Now they have Dora and Elmo ones too. Everytime I would sit on the potty, she would sit on hers. The portable potty had a removable cup so she can see what she produced and it can easily be cleaned after. This got her used to the idea before she was really able to tell me in advance when she needed to go. What they say about letting your child dictate when he/she is ready is so true. Once your child is ready the process is very easy. My daughter (3 yo) was fully trained when she was 2.6 yo and my son (5yo) was fully trained at 2.11 yo. My daughter was a lot easier. I am not sure how much having an older brother affected that. From what I hear, training girls is easier than training boys. I am not sure why. With my son, he is our 1st child, so we were pretty clueless. I just followed the lead of his teachers at school. They told me when he was ready for big boy undies and assured me that having accidents would be a normal process. Good luck with your son.

Hi C.,
This is my first post also. I am a mother of soon to be 17 yr. old boy/girl twins. When I potty trained my kids they were closer to 2 1/2 - 3 yrs old, I did use a potty seat that fit over the regular toilet seat. It was attached very securely. I did not want this to be a scarey experience for them. I removed the "spash cup" that could be detached from the seat so that my son would not "hurt" himself as he sat down on it. I instructed my son to make sure that he was "aiming down". Then I gave them each their own sticker book where they would have to match up stickers to the pictures in the book. I got them from the Disney Store. I told them that if they sat on the potty seat, they could pick out a sticker, while they were on the seat. This would relax them and keep them occupied while they waited. If they actually "used" the seat, they would get to stick it in the book. This procedure worked well for me. Good luck!

hi C. i'm a 24 year old mom of 3 1 5yr old boy 1 2 year old boy and a 9 1/2 month girl. both my boys took to potty training very well. my kids where big all in the 90% so i would just say when i took the diaper off oh did you do pee pee? or poops since they where tiny tiny (habbit lol) then around a year and a half i started introducing the potty. When they sit on the potty the little part that comes up (for a boy so there isn't splasing would press too hard against them so i just put them on the toilet. and said okay go pee pee. give them a little car to drive on there legs and just let them sit there, first couple of times they where a little frightened but they took right too it. my first was compelty day toilet trained by 2 1/2 My second is awfully close to beein day pee toilet trained he's 26months poop takes a little longer. but instead of waiting for him to tell you at first i just went with every time i had to go i would bring him in go said yay mommy did her pee pee flush say yay againand through my self the most outlandish sillyy yay woo hoo mommmy did it toilet party i could do lol. then i would say okay zach's turn ( now evan's) to do pee pee . Evan LOVES it.. he can even get him self on the toilet without a step stool lol (biiiiiiiiiiiiig boy) he'll get on look down at himself go, and then slowly looks up with this hhhhhuuuuuuge grin on his face and say I PEEEEEEEEEEEEE then we throw the toilet party. And the other day he actually did poops too

it always depends on the child. but just starting getting him used to the idea and just go slow and don't expect the world and you'll do fine. oh... and pullups with special characters makes a world of difference. i put evan in a reg. diaper at night. and then during the day he has pull ups and right now on his pullups is deigo and he lovesss his deigo pullups, so i make sure i tell him you have to put the pee in the toilet you can pee on diego. and he'll say I no pee diego good luck and good luck aiden (love the name by the way)

It's been a while since I had a 2 year old but I know with boys it's pretty easy. I was a stay at home mom with my son. I initially got a floor model toddler potty. I would put Kyle on the potty about every hour until I figured out when he usually had used his pullup... another big thing with kids. They think that they are big now that they can take them off and put them on but you have to watch them close so they do not take them off and go well... anywhere! I used a pamper at night though. They work better over night. It is a lot easier than you may think. Kids are pretty smart and catch on quickly. Good luck to you.

My only advice is to wait until he's ready. My son was completely trained in less then one week with no accidents after that. Of coarse he was 3 1/2, but he was ready. We had tried when he was almost 3 & he did ok, but it was really just me putting him on the potty every 30 minutes. He had no idea when he went or when he had to go. Then he got sick & I gave up. So we waited until he wanted to do it & it was the easiest thing in the world. Good luck.

C.,

I'm in the same boat you are. What I have been doing is. I went out and got him a toddler seat for the "big boy potty" (real toilet) and I showed him how to sit on it and when he did I of course praised him. Then I started asking him about every hour if needs to sit on the potty? He is usually so excited that he says yes and goes running to the potty. I'm hoping this will form pattern and he will realize what he is doing and start to tell me when he has to go. He has done both #1 and #2 on the potty and has started to go potty at daycare as well. I'm very proud of him. Well, good luck and I hope this helps.

A.

Hi! I have a son as well who turned 2 in October. He's my first so I'm new to the whole potty training thing, too! I'm actually looking for advice myself. My son is just now really becoming somewhat interested in the potty. He'll go in and sit on the toilet (with lid down) and say it's his turn to go potty and then he gets down and flushes. He loves Elmo and we've seen an Elmo "big boy" potty so we've been talking about getting that for him. He gets excited when we talk about it but then when ask him if he wants to get it he says no. He isn't good about telling me when he goes to the bathroom. I'm not so sure he's ready to start yet but my plan is to buy the potty seat and put it in the bathroom and then just let him show us when he's ready to start using it. My goal is to have him trained by age 3. If you get any other good tips on how to potty train please pass them along to me! I'm new to Mamasource, too and I can use all the advice I can get!