Advice Potty Train

We are starting potty training next week when we get back from vacation. As this is our first child, we don't have much experience ... but here is what we have decided to do, training for potty training, if you will: Three times a day (after waking up in the morning, waking up from nap, and before bathtime) we set Rori on her potty - no pressure to use it or anything, just letting her get used to sitting on it (which is a big deal to her b/c she's at the phase where she loves to sit in her own chair). Also, I let her follow me into the restroom when I go, just so she can see what's going on and that it's not scary. I've read in magazines that you know your child is ready for full-on potty training when they can:
1. use their "own" words for having to potty
2. wake up from nap time with a dry diaper
3. can usually tell if they have to potty
I was told by our doctor that every child has their time, and they'll be ready when they are ready, and some learn quicker than others ... good luck with your son!

1 mom found this helpful

the best advice I got in training mine who is now 4 1/2.....was to 1st let him pick out some cool underware.......then to put fruit loops in the toilet and let him target practice and talk about what to do when he poops. The I got some toys.........at the dollar store and for every day he didn't wet his underware he gets to pick a toy or gets some time alone with mommy doing something he likes.....the good old reward system. It worked for mine. I trained him in one week.....and he never again had accidents. Mine never wanted to use the potty seats.....he wanted the big boy seat - so I purchased an elmo insert and away we went. Good luck!!!

I lead parenting seminars and one is called Potty 101 so this is one of the areas I do happen to know a lot about. I will tell you that I like best what one expert says when she writes, "You wouldn't expect your child to learn to read in one day would you? No! It's a process... and so it is with potty learning." Boys typically are not completely day "trained" until they are 3 or after 3 on average. You are right at the point of the process of encouraging him, modeling for him, enticing him with fun books and little toys that are only to be played with while on the potty (a potty basket to be brought down off the shelf for sitting and relaxing on the potty). Potty learning should never be an event that evokes anger or overt frustration but rather should be approached with the realization that once they are physically ready, then it's their choice. You can entice, encourage, cajole all you want but ultimately it must be his choice and this is a good thing. There are only two things children truly have control over in their little lives as they are realizing developmentally they are their own entities separate from Mom....What they put IN their bodies and what comes OUT of their bodies. So, give him lots of "important jobs" at home so he feels powerful and needed, (that are age appropriate like folding wash cloths, sorting forks and spoons, stacking books, etc) and always give him choices with limited options: "Which do you choose? The blue shirt or the green shirt?" Allow him an opportunity to do as many things independently as possible. Get a little stool in the kitchen and put the plastic cups within his reach. Provide his own little shelf with his name on a piece of tape marking it as his in the pantry and the fridge with snacks and drinks he can open himself. Believe it or not, all these independence tricks will help with pottying. And remember, accidents and mistakes are how we all learn, so when he wets his pants, smile and have him help you do the laundry and clean himself up in a positive manner. I am a counselor for parents in Marietta and Kennesaw as well as for young children ages 2-5. If I can be of further help, just drop me a line! good luck!

Hi M.,

I have a 2 year old also. She is learning to use the potty but a couple of suggestions I have is 1)Elmo Potty Time. 2) Use a timer with a beeper on it. Set the timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off take him to the potty. That way, he will start associating the beep sound for the potty.

Wish You Luck!

Hi M..
i have a 2 1/2 year old little boy and im a first time mom too so i completely understand the "what do i do now" thing.
My son began potty traing at 2 years old. i bought him the seat that sits on the big toilet and i let him pick out his stepping stool. He used pull ups. It was full on resistance at first but then i decided to get creative. i bought some poster board and i made a banner accross it that says "Michaels Super Star Potty Chart" and i taped it to the back of the door. Then i bought a mega pack of stickers that he liked (Cars, Stars, Happy Faces, etc.) Different sizes Big and Small. I took him to the bathroom and said "Michael, these are big boy potty stickers if you use the toilet you get to put one on the chart and you get one on your hand" Oh my gosh he ate it up. He loved putting the stickers on the chart and hearing me clap and say Yay! Once he got the hang of that i broke out the big stickers. He knows he gets a little sticker for #1 and a jumbo sticker for #2.
He did get a little smart and would tell me he needed to go so he could get a sticker and he would just sit on the toilet. So i made it clear that if he doesnt use it no sticker.
He was so proud of himself and ran around the house yelling "i got a sticker! Dada i got a sticker"
It took us about 2 weeks to get the hang of that, now im working on night time potty traing which is a little harder.
You dont have to use stickers, ive heard of people using matchbox cars, or small toys you get from the dollar store but that just adds to the endless mound of toys. Ive also heard of people rewarding with M & Ms or food, but i didnt want him to use food as a reward and have health issues later.
I say make it fun for the both of you and hell come around. Dont stress he wont be in diapers when hes 20! (even though it seems like it ;)LOL

Hi M.. Yes, you can train your child in less than a week, it took four days to train my son. He was three at the time and we had been talking about going potty like a 'big boy' for about six months before that. The only way to do a 'quick' training is to wait until he is READY. Not just kinda ready or almost ready, but he really wants it!! You'll want to give up after the first two days, but keep with it and be consistant. Good luck!

We didn't train my son till he was close to three years old. He was already familiar with the potty and had used it on occasion, so he knew what to do. We pretty much went cold turkey and put him in big boy underwear and after a few accidents he was pretty much trained. I found with my daughter, using pull-ups was no help. She didn't hesitate to dirty them. I think he was on the easy end to train, and we waited unil almost 3 years old... but I would suggest getting a potty and getting him used to it... then maybe trying no diapers and see what happens! It might mean putting towels on the furniture and doing some extra laundry... but it worked for us. Good luck. They are all so different...

Oh... and let me add this... with our boy we had to work out our technique a little bit! We experimented with sitting (both on big and little potty) and standing at both. In the end it was easiest and least messy for him to stand at the big potty even though he was just BARELY tall enough and that's what he did pretty much from the beginning.

M.,

i have a three year old little boy who was potty trianed by 12 months.. First thing to do is by a nice starter potty that makes noise or sings a song.. When he goes. I started my little boy off sitting down since i am a single mother and had no guy to show him different, but you have to stay on him every 30 min to potty. And go in there with him act like you are. Or you may use one of his faviorte stuff animals. I also gave my son a treat everytime he went starting out and that worked great. U bascially just have to stay on them and done give up!!!!! Good luck

I bought the DVD "once upon a potty " at Toys R us. Someone recommended it to me. It comes gender specific, explains body parts and functions in a very simplistic way. My two girls watch it over and over- they love the song. Anyway if he is not into it, wait a couple of days and reintroduce. Don't worry about what everybody else says.

First let me tell you that even when you start introducing it he may not catch on as fast as u may hope. I thought with my first that once I started that if I just got him to do it once then he would continue to do it, but it took me a little over a yr to get him fully trained..meaning he would tell me when he had to go on both and stop having accidents. It was a very hard struggle but I realized that I rushed myself and him and just made it harder on myself. Start off slow and introduce it often but not so much that he feels pressure from you. When my son would see me get frustrated when he would sit on the potty for what seemed like forever and never do anything but whine to get down...he began to hate even trying. I tried the pull-ups but all that did was waste my money b/c it was a glorified diaper...my son couldn't tell any different...it just pulls down like underware. So one day I put him in real kids underware and let him have a few accidents in them so he could actually feel if he was wet or stinky. He didn't like the feel and that combined with buying him a potty seat that goes on the big potty he started to understand WHY you have to do your business in the potty and not on yourself. But it took him till sometime after 3 to fully master it. I now realized that at 2 he just wasnt able to understand that concept. So take it easy on him and just introduce it for now...don't really try and train him just yet.I know the feeling of wanting to be out of the diaper phase.

Hi M.~
As a Mom of 2 boys, ages 11 and 6, I can tell you that it doesn't matter what you do to potty train your little one; he simply won't use the potty routinely until he's ready.
My oldest son was fully trained at the age of 4. I started to potty train him at 2 1/2 because the preschool program wanted it, he wasn't ready at all. The day he accepted that he wanted to be free of pull ups and diapers was the last day we ever had "an accident" be it day or night. He turned 4 a month before. My youngest son was fully trained 4 months before his 3rd birthday. He asked to use the potty and that was it, no accidents at all. We went to the store that day, he chose his "big boy underwear" and we never had to use anything else.
I do suggest that you avoid pull ups, they are too much like diapers and won't allow him to "know" he's wet. It'll increase the laundry volume at first but I have yet to witness a child accept potty training without being able to feel if they are wet.
Allow your little boy to make the decision is the best advice I have. Charmin puts out a potty training kit that got my youngest interested. The day that package came in the mail is the day he wanted to be a "big boy." I've heard that putting cheerios into the potty to give them a target assists with their aim as well.
Good Luck!
HTH~
Shellbie

Make sure he is ready. If he knows all the words (keep consistent on what you call each) and shows interest then you can try. Yes the three day thing is possible. The tips i can give you that worked with my son (havent tried 2 1/2 daughter yet) are 1. Potty train (draw a train track on a poster board, make every pee one sticker, a poop two and the make every bend in the track a small prize, make a big prize at the top) (my son loved trains so it worked well - he made it to the second bend was totally potty trained and stopped asking for stickers)(it saves feeding them candy everytime- i eventually gave him a big prize like a month later) 2. Take him to buy big boy underwear. 3. Throw away diapers or pull ups except for maybe night time. Good luck! Oh yeah my son had three explainable accidents...1. Waiting at door for someone to come out (i explained that he had to knock to try to speed them up or to come tell me- no more accident) 2. In car (he never told me to stop and pull over- i explained to him and no more accidents) 3. In yard (he saw the dog pee so he hiked his leg and went - i explained to him that he was not a dog it was not appropriate and at least to take his pants down next time) he actually never even had accidents at night...after a month we took him out of pullups. By the way he was three - we started the day after he turned 3. He showed signs of ready when he was two but i was pregnant and then it was winter with a new baby...i just put it off. I would try in summer.