Finish Potty Training a Boy

J., Your husband has to get over the fact that he doesn't want a mess and just let your son be in underwear. I personally let my children run around the house naked until they were completely potty trained. The pull ups are great for a little time but anything over a month and they should be gone. If your son knows to go when he is placed in the bathroom, you just have to sound like a parrot and ask him every 15 mins if he needs to go. I did this with my 3 children and all were potty trained in about a month. Pull ups are just big diapers to kids. It sounds like your at the finish line just don't give up and good luck

2 moms found this helpful

J.-

My 2 1/2 yo daughter was taking forever to potty train... all bcause i was keeping her in pullups/diapers. She knew how to go both pee and poop on the potty, or if she had an accident -- so i struggled with taking the leap of faith and putting her in big girl panties. We went to the store and she picked out her own underware and i never bought any more diapers or pullups. She did have a couple accidents since then, due to her playing and not paying attention. But that was few and far inbetween. Good luck, and take the leap of faith. It wont be as bad as you think.

1 mom found this helpful

hi, i understand totally, my oldest son was the same way. and your right, he needs to wear underwear. but what finally worked for me, and it only took about 2 weeks, is i got every family member and friend to remind my son of how important it is to go to the potty independantly. i believe that my son thought that this was just something that i alone got a kick out of. serioulsly. but when he saw that grandma and grandpa, aunti and uncle got a kick out of it to , he started to go all on his own. oh and dont forget he is four and very smart he understands.

Keep him in underwear all day. Pull ups are the same as diapers. There will be a few accidents. He will not like the feeling of wet or dirty underwear. When the accidents do happen, make the child responsible for it as much as possible. Have HIM change his pants and get his own new ones to put on. (Of course you will have to help with the messy ones.) He will realize that it is a lot of work and takes a lot of time for all of this and that it is just easier to go on the potty. Don't forget a little reward when he makes it to the potty.

take Him to the store and let Him pick out his own underwear that what i did with my son Hie was potty trained at 2 and the feel and learn pulll up are good too then He has to feel wet and they dont like that that helps alot thats what i did with my son it took my son about 2 months to be doen with doing all of that

stay at home mom of a 3 year old who will be 4 in dec

My son who is 4 doesn't like us to tell him when to go to the bathroom, so I just said "OK, you are a big boy and know when you have to pee, so I won't ask anymore. You be sure to tell me when you have to go." You'd be surprised how long he can go without peeing but he never has accidents. The exception to that is that we always have him pee before bed/nap and before leaving the house. They want their independence, and this is a great one to give them because it makes it easier on both of you. Oh and I agree that he'll probably do better without the pull ups.

I kindof went through this with my daughter. The first thing I did was get rid of pull-ups totally during the day,(and I think at night shortly after) because I think she was forgetting when she had one on and when she didn't. When she had one on if she didn't want to stop what she was doing she would go in her pull up. If she had underwear on and remembered she had underwear on she would go on the potty. Sometimes she would forget she had underwear on and pee on the floor. So once I took the pull-ups away and I knew she knew what the potty was for by telling me she had to go to the potty or she would go to the bathroom by herself to go potty, I knew she knew what she was doing and needed to stop being too lazy to use the bathroom. So, if she had an "accident" she would get something taken away, that she loved to play with, for the DAY. For us taking Dora movies away worked well. She did not watch very much tv at this time and Dora was her favorite. I only had to take Dora away 2 or three times and that was it. She got the idea and was done with the accidents. I know you are not suppposed to use negative reinforcement. But positive reinforcement was good to get her started so she got the idea. But enough was enough it was time to get punished if you pee'd on my floor because you were too lazy to go the bathroom. Of course, she would get positive reinforcment when she used the potty correcly. I did not how ever punish her if she had an accident while we were away from home, which only happened once that I can remember.

Little about me
SAHM of a 2 1/2 yr old daughter and 5 mos old twin sons

Neither one of my boys would consistently use the potty on their own until we took away the pull-ups and put them in underwear. Kids know that it's "safe" to go when they are wearing pull-up, but you can't expect them to remember not to go in their pants if they are switching back and forth between underwear and pull-ups. If you consistently put him in underwear and tell him that it is his responsibility to make his pee and poop in the potty, he will eventually catch on. Yes, you will have messes, but it's more important to be consistent. We also used a sticker chart as incentive to help my older son learn to be dry at night when he was 3 and for my younger son to learn to poop in the potty. I gave a sticker if they acheived the goal for the day and drew a sad face if they didn't. They each earned only a few sad faces before catching on, but I was pretty confident that they were ready before we started the chart.

I was in the exact same situation that you are currently in. I put gerber training pants (cloth type). I got them at Walmart. But, he did have some accidents. It was the feel that made him want to go. My husband also went the the bathroom with him when he had to go. He learned with positive reinforcement as well. We had a potty chart that I found on the huggies website. We have been diaper free now for 7 months and just a few accidents because of not wanting to stop what he was doing.
But the combination of the above three things worked. Good luck to you

It is very important 2 stay on a schedule. yes, going back and forward 2 underwear and pull ups will only make him not potty trained. just remember everytime he eats he should go potty. I have a son so I know! my daughter was very easy...... good luck!