H.T. asks from Tonopah, AZ on April 12, 2008
HELP !! Potty Training Problems
Hello, I have been trying for such a long time to get my son potty trained but he just will not do it! I was able to get him to sit on the toilet for a while but that didnt last very long. I have an older boy and older girl and I never had problems training them to use the toilet. He will be 4 years old in June! My Doctor told me not to push him into it. Does anyone has any tricks or ideas. I want to get him out of the pull ups!! Please help a desperate mom. Thanks
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H.B. answers from Phoenix on April 14, 2008
I have an aunt that would put fruit loops in the toilet and tell him to aim for the cereal and if he hit one then he got a prize out of the prize box/bag. She also had her older son show the younger one what "aiming" was. Sometimes she would have them do it together-which I guess could be dangerous. ;)
My Sister-in-law would throw potty/poopey parties everytime her daughter would go to the bathroom,. Shw went all out, party hats, noisy party favors, and everyone that was and the house would join in.
I hope that some of that helped. I am going to be potty trining my 2 1/2 year old soon. Good Luck!
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H.B. answers from Phoenix on April 14, 2008
I have an aunt that would put fruit loops in the toilet and tell him to aim for the cereal and if he hit one then he got a prize out of the prize box/bag. She also had her older son show the younger one what "aiming" was. Sometimes she would have them do it together-which I guess could be dangerous. ;)
My Sister-in-law would throw potty/poopey parties everytime her daughter would go to the bathroom,. Shw went all out, party hats, noisy party favors, and everyone that was and the house would join in.
I hope that some of that helped. I am going to be potty trining my 2 1/2 year old soon. Good Luck!
1 mom found this helpful
C.D. answers from Phoenix on April 13, 2008
Hi H.,
I'm just starting to potty train my son (he's 2). He will use the potty at grandma's house, or my sister's house, but not so much at home unless other kids are around using the potty. I'm "going with the flow" just so that he gets used to actually going on the potty.
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P.L. answers from Albuquerque on April 14, 2008
Hi H. i just read your post. About a weak ago i saw this new potty just for boys. I do not have a boy but my friend does and she to was having problems potty training. I told her about the "peter potty flushing toddler urinal". Her son wants to go potty all the time now. You can go to the wal-mart website and look at it. It is a little high priced. Hope this helps.
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C.L. answers from Phoenix on April 12, 2008
How old is he, although you've had both a boy and a girl before, some boys take longer. I am the oldest of 8 children (the youngest is now 12). Even though my step-mother never really had a problem with any of the other 3 boys, the youngest did NOT want to use the toilet for the longest time. He was 4 years old before he FINALLY potty trained. You can try putting small things in the toilet for him to "aim" at and stuff like that (I think there are even some things in the store now that are for this). Beyond that, all I can suggest is to be patient.
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M.B. answers from Tucson on April 13, 2008
I know it is hard and frustrating to try to get a little one to do something you think is important and he doesn't think it is as important. The reality is, when he is ready, he will take to the training. My own son had no desire to use the toliet and wear big boy pants until one day he decided that it was enough and he wanted the big boy pants. After that, it took one afternoon to get him trained. He never had any problems wetting the bed or anything else after that. I also had a friend at that time whose son was fighting the potty training. One day he realized that the Ninga Turtles did not wear diapers and he was out of diapers in a day. Again he never had any problems after that.
Hang in there and he will be out of diapers soon enough.
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D.A. answers from Phoenix on April 13, 2008
The best advise is exactly what your dr said. Relax and stop pushing him. When he is ready he will train himself in less time than if you struggle to force him.
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A.J. answers from Phoenix on April 13, 2008
It is kind of a silly solution, impractical as it may be for every day use for most moms it worked for me. I let my little boy go around without a diaper on or underwear on. It seemed like he could feel the sensation more and of course if there was an accident he knew it... there wasn't any unsurity because of pull- ups or underwear. It didn't take him long at all to understand. We used all the other basics like reminding him every 30 minutes and praising him when he succeeds and when he has an accident you know it too and can take him right then to sit on the potty to make sure he's all finished. Now the hardest part is getting him to wear underwear, but he's a pro at the potty.
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T.D. answers from Phoenix on April 12, 2008
Unfortunately, you can't MAKE someone use the potty before they are ready. I don't know how old he is, but my older children didn't really get interested in using the potty until they were at least 2 1/2, but I didn't push it since frankly it is easier to change diapers :-D.
That being said, here are some tricks that worked for us.
First, my kids love the Elmo Potty Time video. I played that over and over again and that got them excited to want to go.
Second, I let them watch us use the potty. And if your older kids wouldn't mind, let him watch them...kids want to be like the big kids!
Third, we got a "potty watch" from Potty Time inc. This is basically a timer they put on their wrist that YOU set to go off in 30, 60, or 90 min. intervals. My kids loved that it lit up and played music when it was time to go and this really moved the process along for them...until I got this, I had a hard time getting them to stop playing with their toys to go. They also loved showing everyone their potty watch. And it helped me not forget to take them and made going peepee a regular thing.
For going poopie, one thing that helped my son was getting him a special book to read while he tries to go poopie. I put him on for 10-15 minutes every day after lunch and dinner with the special book that he only gets to read while he is trying to go poopie. The combination of having something to distract him and doing it at the same time everyday helped to get him to go regularly.
Finally, I let them choose their own "big kid" underwear and have them wear it all day except for bedtime. If they have an accident, I make them wear the generic underwear (the ones that they didn't pick out). They are so proud of the underwear they picked out that they hate having accidents.
And I'm sure you are doing this, but EVERY TIME he goes potty...PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE!!! (a sticker or special treat doesn't hurt either! :-D)
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