I Need Help with Potty Training Twin Boys

My Boys will be 3 at the beginning of November and one has gone in the potty (pee-pee) 3 times 2 times on his own and the other one has not. I just got some of the cotton training pants ( I refuse to buy pull ups they are just like diapers) and I am going to try next week with the every 30 min routine. let me know what works for you as I think its going to take us a while. Good Luck D.

HI C....
I've got a little suggestion.. My friend has twin boys & they turn 3 in Oct. She tried to get them to use the potty when they turned 2 but no luck. They had no interest in it. Then one day it dawned on her that 2 at a time is kind of tough.... so, she worked with 1. She took "james" & began with 30 min intervals & took him in there EVERY 30 minutes ALL DAY until he went... on the second day she did the same thing. She had accidents because he would "go" on the potty the first day. The second it got easier & he went every other time. By day 3 he would tell her when he had to go. "pete" wanted to be like James so he was easier.... But within a week she had them BOTH trained.... She did this when they were about 30 months. She gave out stickers for EVERY success & nothing for "false alarms"
When they did have accidents she took them & sat them on the potty where she took the training pants off & explained that pee & poop goes in the potty.
NO Training pants in the house They're just like diapers. POTTY POWER is a GREAT video to watch & its on "on demand" on cox cable for FREE!!!

Good luck...

HI C.,

I just finished training my 34 month old twins (boy/girl). Here's my advice.

Wait until they are ready.

I know you've heard it before and it sounds terrible when you feel like they should be trained already, but the truth is, as long as they are introduced to it, it will happen when they're ready. For example. I used the potty training boot camp method. First we tried at 30 months. I stayed home for two days straight and cleaned up accident after accident. They simply weren't ready. Then at 33 months we did the same thing. Again, accident after accident and they weren't ready.

We started a bedtime ritual at that point. We let them "practice" on the potty just before bath time. That was the only time we asked them to sit on the potty (I have the baby bjorn potty seat on the big potty, training twins was hard enough, I wasn't going to train them on tiny baby potties and then re-train them for big potties!) That's why I wanted to get a potty seat and not a potty chair. Anyway, we asked them to sit on the potty before bath time. My son picked up on it very quickly and usually peed right away. We rejoyced and sang and danced. But it was a no go for my daughter. She liked to sit on the potty but nothing happened. That's OK!

Doing this once every night with no pressure or even mention on the potty during the day helped us. The twins were less stressed out and so were mom and dad. Then at 34 months I decided to try it again. (about six weeks after this "bath time" potty practice ritual began) I bought construction paper and made some potty charts. I bought a couple sheets of tiny stickers (smiley faces and stars) and I let them know when they peed on the potty they got one sticker for their chart. So I buckled down one thursday in July (the twins were 34.5 months old) and we just wore underwear and t-shirts. I think this step was important because they didn't have a lot of clothing to get in the way and they were easily reminded it was potty day! I sat them on the potty every 30 minutes. I had two timers, one for my son, one for my daughter. I actually set my son's on the hour (say 9AM, 9:30AM etc) and set my daughter's on the quarter hour (say 9:15AM, 9:45AM) So personally, I WAS IN THE BATHROOM ALL DAY! I shelved all responsibility for about 4 days. By the second day I was able to see their queues and the timer wasn't needed. I just put them on the potty when they showed signs of needing to go. They LOVED the sticker method too. Finally! Something they were (and still are) excited about.

I guess my point it, wait until they are ready. If you do the boot camp method like I did, and it doesn't work after a day or two (large commitment, I know!) shelve it all together and start again in another month. That's what I did, and they were finally ready on the third try.

OH, and my favorite carpet cleaner is this white bottle at Target (and other places I'm sure) called Folex. No mixing or setting etc. It's awesome stuff!

Hang in there. It's frustrating but eventually they will get it. Oh, and we did a lot of reading on the potty. Book after book after book. My son took to peeing right away. When he had to go, he had to go. But my daughter would get the urge to pee, but then stage fright. So I spent many a hour in the bathroom reading library books. Patience is key. There is such a great feeling of accomplishment when they do get it. So keep trying every month or so. Hang in there!

I only have one child but I found it really helpful to make a reward system an for everytime my son went I gave him his favorite characters sticker. We kept it on fridge and when it was full he got to go to toy store and pick out favorite toy.. ( he picked a snake) He insisted on a really one no way..LOL
But it was very trying so I am sure i will be more trying as you begin your training with 2. What ever age you decide to start them be persistant. We also used a timer. I set it at 1st for 35 mins, put them on everytime... Then extended time to 1 hr.. We really had a lot of accidents the 1st week but after that we went on vacation for a week to my mother in laws.. I had him stricly in underware no pull ups. He continued to go... Then I came home from dinner with friends and my son wanted to stand up like daddy.. at that moment I new he was truely ready..We then did the Cherrio shooting thing and from that day on he has not had an accident.. When they are ready they will progress very fast. In a matter of 2 weeks he was trained. When we returned home he got to show his dad and got the largest fake snake out there.LOL
FYI we tried for month or two whe he was 2,Just not ready.. once again when he was almost 3.. nope not again.. then at about 37 months the light came on and he wanted to be big boy..
So the best advice anyone ever gave me was to be patient, stick with it and treat them like they are doing great no matter how many accidents.. just console them don't scold them and they will want to do it.. Boy are easier they say.. DO NOT FORCE THEM JUST ENCOURAGE THEM.. Good Luck!!!!

Dear C.,

I don't have any good suggestions, it seems that you have done it all already. Maybe the doctor is right - your guys aren't ready to be potty trained.

I would suggest that you stop for a while and let things simmer before going full force again. They may just be a bit immature and, you know, that the mind cannot do it if the body isn't ready.

Just be cool for a while, it will work out. And then you can tell them when they are potty training their own children that they were late bloomers too.

C. N.

I don't have twin boys, but i do have a boy. I let him pee standing up and on trees at first (it was the only way I could get him to even consider going). I threw in some goldfish crackers (2 or 3) in the potty and told him to aim for them. When he was ready, he did it all by himself. My mother told me, and I quote, "He won't walk down the aisle in diapers!" Good luck and stay creative.

Hi C., I didn't have twins but I had our four kids very close together. I used thick pull ups and made sure they went into the bathroom and sat on the little potty every 30 minutes. I know that's alot, but they need to know the 'feeling' of staying dry and the 'feeling' of going potty in their little toilet. I had them sit, not stand. When they get to be a little older, they'll stand to pee. But at this stage in the game, I kept them ultra dry. If they wet or messed their pants, just change them without making them feel ridiculed or like their 'bad' for not doing it in the potty. But really pull out the celebration on them when they do it right. They love to dance around and clap their hands and sing a little tune with their name in it about what a big boy they are. The other one will want that too. It will end up to be more fun than not. Consistency is everything for potty training. You want to stay close to the nearest potty when you go places. Waiting too long to put them on again only makes it difficult for them to grasp what they're expected to do. Blessings, M. G

Hi-

While I don't have twins, I have potty-trained before. Based on all the accidents you've mentioned, I'd say your guys just aren't ready yet. I'm sure you're soooo ready for them to be out of diapers but you might want to hold off a little bit. If you try too hard w/the potty-training & they're not ready, it could backfire on you & may take even longer to get them trained. Also, they're aware of the excitement over their older sister going to K this year & it will be a transition for them, too, so you might want to wait until your daughter is settled into K & you have the routine down before you start training the boys. Encourage them to use the potty throughout the day & at bath & bed times. I'd also suggest skipping the pull-ups. They're expensive, not very absorbant & a lot of kids still treat them like diapers. I only used them at night or when we were out & about & our son hadn't pooped yet. Most mornings, he woke up dry so I was able to use the pull-up a second night. As far as the sitting/standing, since I sit, my son sat. In the beginning, I think it's hard for them to stand & be sure they're pants/shorts are clear of the pee stream, especially when they're in a hurry! I left it up to my hubby to teach the standing. When you do start w/the training, try offering them small rewards. I gave our son stickers which he happily decided put all over his potty. Then when Daddy came home, he could show him all the new stickers. Hope this helps & good luck!

Hi! I had my boys stand and aim for the hole/tunnel. Sometimes we'd throw a Cheerio or two in to aim for....like a squirt gun (fun!), and sometimes we'd pretend that a dragon (in particular, Smaug, from The Hobbit!)lived down the hole and my son would put out the fire and scare him away.....we'd make up funny scary (not really scary at all) voices that said, "No! Don't do it! Ha! Ha! (reverse psychology works, sometimes!). Anyway, I'd try to make it fun and interesting.

As far as pooping on the toilet, we'd read books, have a tiny candy (like a chocolate chip), get a sticker, play chase, etc.....to celebrate, if it happened. We would talk excitedly about our "potty party," and potential "celebrations" (the tiny things I mentioned above). Also, talk about how good it feels to go on the toilet, how your belly feels better, and how nice the clean underwear and clothes feel (even though it can be hard, I really recommend cloth diapers, cloth training pants or underwear, so that they can feel the contrast between being clean and wet/dirty. You can get plastic pants to go over them). Try not to get stressed or upset, and try to keep it all positive. In the long run, it won't really take that long!

Blessings! - J. Hoffman (My dear boys are 3 1/2 yrs. and 10yrs., and I have two sweet girls, 6 and 8 yrs. old)

Hi C.,
I am a Mom of 27 mos old twins, a girl and a boy. I started training them by letting them choose their own fav. character potty seat. They love Dora the exploreer. So now when they want to poop they most of the time let me that they need to go. However I am on the lookout for their signs too. My daughter loves the Princess pullups and my son loves his Spiderman ones. So they dont want to get them dirty.
All i can say that keep trying and they will get the hang of the concept of making potty in the pot and not in their diapers.
Let them flush the toilet, wash their hands and Lol, watch u when u r using the toilet.
It worked for me.
I hope this helps U.

E. Yaseen,
Stay at home mother of 27 mos old twins, A girl and a boy.

Hi C.,

when my younger brother was being ppotty trained, my mother had an uphill battle with him. We had frist triied to get him to sit.. (that didn't last too long!)Since my mother was always around for my brother it was kinda duifficult to teach a young boy how to use the potty!!. umm.. we eventually were able top make a game out of it. We had purchased some things called piddlers (?!?) they are like potty training targets for little boys. just place one in the toilet and tell them to basically hit the target. if you make it kinda like a game they may adjust better that way. good luck with that!