Potty Training a 2 Year Old?

I LOVE sharing my potty training ideas because it worked wonderfully with all 4 of my children.
1. Put the potty chair in the bathroom a week or more before you begin training so its nothing new when you start.
2. Your child is ready when he wakes up dry most mornings. For my kids, it was right around age 2.
3. Begin when you know you will be home conistently for at least a few days.
4. Buy a few cloth diapers and plastic pants for over them. (breathe...yes, I said cloth. I found ones with velcro closures)
5. Hide every disposable diaper you have in the house. You don't want him to see them. I'd be tempted to say don't buy any so you don't give in when frustrated. That's what I did but you may need one or two in case of an emergency outing.
6. The morning you choose to begin, nicely show and tell your son that the potty chair is his special place to go potty. No more potty or poop in his diapers. In your "isn't this fun" voice, help him sit on the potty chair, read the shortest story to him that you own (2-3 min) and then give him one M&M (or another special treat) and help him up. Look in the potty chair together. "Any potty in there? No? OK." Then lay him down as if to put on his diaper but instead, put on the cloth diaper. Don't call it a diaper. Call it a cloth or something else. No doubt, he'll ask about it. "We don't have anymore diapers because you get to go potty in the potty chair not diapers."
7. Off to play. In 30-60 minutes, bring him back to the bathroom to repeat step 6.
8. If his "cloth" is wet, say "oh, that's so sad that your cloth is wet." Put it in the sink, and repeat step #6.
9. This time, instead of off to play, help him onto the stool by the sink, push up his sleeves and help him wash the diaper and then hang it in the tub. Only make him help for a few moments (you can finish the job after he leaves). "We need to wash the potty out of your cloth."
10. Now here's the hard part: stay consistent! If you give in even once, he'll know there's an out to this process.
11. Do not use disposable diapers even at bedtime. Here's a trick: over the mattress pad, put on a plastic sheet, cover that with a large towel, then a regular sheet, then another plastic sheet, another large towel, and another regular sheet. If he wets during the night, you can pull off the top set and not have to make the bed.
12. This process only took each of my kids a matter of days. Yes, its a lot of work for those days but SO much easier than weeks/months of frustration for both of you.

If you're wondering "why cloth diapers?" Because disposables do the job WAY too well. Kids never know they're wet. Cloth with plastic pants over them are not comfortable to wear and really not comfortable when wet. They get the idea VERY quickly. Those new "training diapers" still feel too much like diapers.

It should be mentioned that I understand that there are some kids that have a physical problem that doesn't allow them to stay dry like other children do. But I would imagine you won't know that until you've tried training.

Just stay positive. And most of all, stay consistent!!

K.

1 mom found this helpful

i feel you my son was the same way then one day he decided that he did not want to wear pull ups or diapers any more and we havent looked back since. I would say for sure stop the diapers all the way, the back and forth thing is no good, chocolate worked for me as treats cuz he really likes it, I would say find something he really likes and reward him with it for going potty. Good luck with this as well as the move:)

My boyfriend told me about a really cool thing that worked like a charm when he was potty training his son and it was putting cheerios in the toilet and telling him to try to sink them..lol.. target practice so to speak.. lol.. anyways.. hope this helps.. wish I could have done something like that with my girl but we know that would probably have been a disaster in the making.. lol. good luck..

While I have not personally experienced it yet (my stepson was 4 when I met him, so already potty trained) I have heard of a "game" to make it fun and more interesting for them. ut a couple of cherios into the toilet bowl and have them aim for them, see if they can sink them... I wish you the best of luck!!!

I am a daycare teacher and I was the 2 year old teacher for 3 years and have seen all the tricks. All I can say is to be very consistant with him. One thing I have seen work is to offer him a sticker with hotwheels cars on it and at the end of the week if he has all of his stickers for he week he gets to pick out a car for going potty all week. It ahs worked for quite a few kids in my class. You could use something else if you don't want to use cars. Also let him pick out his own underwear at the store. Hope this helps. I have a 6 month old little boy and am not looking forward to potty training him!!

Pullup and Diapers make it so amazingly comfortable for them that they donot mind going in their pants. I understand the need of a diaper though until they're ready but pullups are rediculous I will never use pullup with any future children I may have.

It us ultimately up to the child to be trained. You cannot make them. All you can do is when they're ready guide them. Potty training is the hardest obstacle I have dealt with, as a parent. My daughter is 5 and has been potty trained for few years but that was the hardest thing I've had to endure so far.

This is what worked for me. I knew my daughter was ready and also 2 other boys at the home daycare I worked at. Somehow is turned into a competition and the three of them would fight, and run to the bathroom. They each wanted to be the first to get to go like after naps etc. I just sat back and monitored they're behavior but let them be competative.

I also had a potty chair outside on our patio so when we were outside it wasn't a long trip to the nearest potty. I did that for a few months I'm sure my neighbors thought I was weird but it worked.

I know if you push to hard they will not potty train and if you potty train to early sometimes they regress and a few months or even a year later you may have a child that needs to be trained all over.

I wish you good luck!

hello S.,

my son who is now 5 had that problem. we tried to potty train him at 2 also but it was didnt work. so my husband and i started with the whole "rewards" thing. anytime anyone would go to the bathroom we made a big deal about it and gave them something for going to the bathroom. so of our friends thought it was funny but it worked for us. so i would try that.

ok, well here goes, Pamper's kandoo, collection is fun for kids and if you sign up online, they will send free books, and potty sticker charts that are fun. (coupons too) He can get the hang of it and feel rewarded for his good job. Also, let him pick out a pack of his favorite underwear, and let him set a goal, like a week with only 2 or less accidents (day time) and then he gets to wear the new underpants. I would also suggest using the diapers up and swithching to just pull-up's and underwear. Phase it out. "You only have 10 diapers left..."

Also, it will become very uncomfortable for him to have accidents, once he gets used to underwear.

The other thing is cheerios. Put one in the potty, and let him aim, like a game... It makes that part more fun. But really, if has gone on the potty when he wants to, then you know he can, but just doesn't want too...

Good luck, and hopefully some of my rambling will make sense to you!

Diapers and Pull ups can be a pain. My son was the same way! One day he was interested and the next day he wasn't. My only advice is that all kids potty train in their own time. My son was nearly three and a half, because he was simply not ready! Once he was ready, he was potty trained in three days and has only had maybe 5 accidents in the last 5 months! It is amazing! I would just let your son use the potty on the days that he wants and don't make a big deal of it on the days that he doesn't! Good Luck to you!

When my mom potty trained my brother she had a hard time till her husband went in and showed my brother how to go potty. Ever since then she never had a problem. So I say have your husband help as much as possible.

The best advice I can give is to wait until you think your son is really ready and then just go full steam ahead, no pullups...at least during the day. My experience with pull-ups has been that if a child has one on, she'll pee in it because she can and the whole potty training thing will take a lot longer. When you're sure that your son is really ready to potty train, my advice is to just suck it up, pack a lot of changes of clothes and have him in underpants during the day. It can help to move the little potty somewhere really convenient for awhile so that he doesn't have to go far if he really has to go (we had ours in the family room for about a month). If it turns in to a big, horrible ordeal, then just go back to diapers completely and wait a while longer.

i just got done training my daughter. i started when she was 2 1/2. she picked out her big girl potty seat (its sponge bob). she got to pick out her big girl underware. i was very frustrated. it took what seemed to me to be a long time. one day she was interested others she wasnt. i was putting her on the toilet every two hours no matter where we were. i was so happy if she had a dry diaper between that time. finally we made the switch from diaper to underware. she did really good only had two slip ups. and she still needs help cleaning after she has a bowl movement. i didnt see much use in pullups. she didnt notice a difference in the cool alerts from the regular diapers.
now, shes just three and we have made her "hold it" if we are in a car or not by a bathroom. she now has a habit of putting her hand down there to hold it if she's doing something more interesting. we have to yell at her to go. its kind of annoying.
keep with it. keep it fun for him. from what i hear the sinking the frootloops works well with boys. it was a lot of work, but he will get it. dont give up.

Hello S.,

I am potty training my 3 year old son. I started last week and it seems to be going well this week. I did it the lazy way. I took all of is cloth diapers (except his night time dipes) and replaced all of it with training pants because I figure he will learn on his own when he wets himself he will be aware. He does not like getting himself wet so he is now learning to hold on to his pee til we tell him to go to his potty. He is kind of starting to tell us he needs to go potty.

We decided to go cold turkey with him but we had to make sure we would be consistent with him. We rewarded him with stickers when he peed in the potty and when he went without wetting himself for a couple of hours we rewarded him with a tiny toy cars. We didnt want him to develop a habit of counting on the rewards after pooping or peeing so after a few days of rewards we would praise him for peeing in the pot then excitely tell him its time to go down stairs and play or whatever he was doing before coming up to the potty. That seems to work well considering his age because distraction gets old when they get older.

The first few days were frustrating for me because he kept going in his pants. At one point he asked for his diapers back!! Another time he sat on the potty with is training pants still up and peed. It made me think about his thinking process and what he is used to. So with that understanding I was able to explain the difference between a diaper and training pants. I also explained that big people used undies and baby used diapers, I told him we is a big boy now. I asked him if wanted to be a big boy, He said he wanted to be a baby. So sweet and cute. His dad also worked with him....He knows he can go mommy's way or daddy's way.

Just this morning he said he is a big boy and can stand up pee (cute). He even showed me how to shake after peeing (hope not too much info). It helped to go cold turkey with him because it who he is.

Good luck...stay strong and dont obsess (sp?) over every little pee!!

Boys take longer to potty train. They will let you knon when they are ready. My son showed interest when he was about three months past his 2nd BD. I bought the potty chair, underwear etc. He really wasn't ready though and our training failed the first time. He went back to pullups and about six months later he was finally ready. It took a week or so and he was fully trained, at 3. It was really very easy because I didn't try to force it on him. My advice, be patient. I know diapers are a pain but let nature takes it's course and it will be much easier. Good luck!

I used the book "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" and it worked AMAZING for my son! I got it from a recommendation on here. The first step is to get a doll that pees and have them help you teach the doll to do it (everything from pulling underwear up and down to emptying the potty chair), and if the doll stays dry, they get a treat. Show them how it works with the doll first. I got a boy doll called Gotz Aquini, and gave it to my son for christmas. I got it on Ebay, but saw it at TJ Maxx this week for about $12. It includes a potty chair, underwear, and a bottle to feed it.
That part can be skipped if you want... we actually didn't really end up doing it. But it also says to give them salty snacks instead of sugar... makes them more thirsty. And anything they will drink. For the only time in his life my son got pop and kool-aid. I gave him a full weekend at home, with my full attention. I didn't worry too much about eating his meals for that weekend, I worried more about what would help make it less stressfull. He had Frito's, every few minutes if he was dry, he would get one. If he went potty (he prefers standing, and the toild over the potty chair. he is short... so he needs a foot stool.) he gets a handfull of frito's. If he was wet, he had to change his underwear himself and learned it was easier to just go potty. If he had an accident and then used the toilet, he would only get one frito. He filled himself up on frito's that weekend and didn't eat much else, but it was only for about a day. Every time he would try, I would tell him how happy mommy is that he is a big boy (because diapers are for babies and underwear is for big boys), and I would list off everyone else he cares about and how happy it makes them, and he got really excited. He will still say "Mommy's so happy!" sometimes after going potty, and is so proud that he can do something that makes mommy happy. I did not use pull ups at all... not even for sleeping. He has always had dry diapers in the mornings though, so i wasn't too worried. His first day went really bad... he seemed to have no control and I was ready to give up. I kept it positive the whole time and didn't show my frustration... but I was going to give up. The 2nd day he woke up, went potty right away, and did great the whole day. He had once accident right before bed, but that was it for the whole day. And he has done great ever since. That was the first weekend in January. He has accidents sometimes at daycare, but never at home. I think part of the reason, is that at home I have taught him to go completely independantly, I don't even go in the bathroom half the time. He does it all himself. At daycare, he has to wait for them to take him, and I think that is why he has accidents there.

I would recommend getting and reading that book.... I didn't follow everything, but got a lot of good ideas. They tested it on 200 children between 21 months and 4 years, and almost every one of them got it. The longest one was 2 days (7 hours each day). Only 2 were not successful, and both of their fathers did not think they were ready to potty train and were not supportive.

Also, the best advice I have heard is no pull-ups. Just put him in underwear, and let him learn it isn't comfortable. Pull-ups don't teach anything, and can delay the potty training months because they are still comfortable if they have an accident. I put my son in underwear on Jan 7th, and haven't put him back at all. Every once in a while if we have a late night and he is asleep before we get home, I put a diaper on him at bedtime if he doesn't wake up to go potty. But other than that... he has been in underwear, and very proud of it. I bought all of his favorite cartoon characters (spider man, jojo's circus, wiggles, and mostly elmo... and he gets very excited getting to choose which ones he wants to wear.

Good luck!

My son was knocking on 3 years old when I was potty training him. It took forever. But the one thing that I did at the near end (just before he got it) was during the day, when we weren't going anywhere, I'd have him wear boy briefs. Then when he peed in them I'd have him wear them for rest of the day. WET. He didn't like that. And eventually tried to keep them dry. He only wore training pants when we were out and about. Hope that helps!!!

I am going through the same thing right now, but my son is 2 1/2. He will go for a few days going on the potty but then nothing! It drives me nuts! I just keep telling him when he goes how much of a big boy he is and he seems to like that, but otherwise Im in the dark! If you get any good ideas you should let me know! Good luck!!

I don't have a lot of advice, as I'm struggling with the same issue. I just know that I've been trying for months with the same results... some times he's interested and sometimes not... mostly not, especially at home. Good luck!

A friend told me that his little boy was fanatical about cowboys so he told him one day that cowboys don't wear diapers and that was it. Completely potty trained in approximately one day... so if your little one likes anything in particular, give it a try. Unfortunately, my little boy is fanatical about Scooby Doo...

Well my son was just over 3 when he became pullup free but we started right at 2 with him also. With boys ive heard they will not do it until they are ready so we tried not to push him to much but what i did that really worked for him was setting an egg timer for 45 min and everytime it rang he would go try the potty and if he went #1 he would get a sticker to put on a peice of paper that hung in our bathroom. if he went #2 he would get 2 stickers. after about a week if he had a dry pullup all day(except naptime)then we would go to the store for him to pick out a new pack of stickers. when i pushed the underwear on him and he had an accident he refued to wear them for weeks so i tried to let him go at his own pace. GOOD LUCK

I'm in the same boat you're in. About a month ago, my 2 year old son showed interest in the potty, so I bought a bunch of training pants and started to take him to the potty chair. But since then, he's had days where he stubbornly refused to go to the potty (he'd wet his pants two feet from his potty chair).

We took a couple of days off from potty training (we were all getting frustrated), and then I bought some Thomas the Train underwear and an Elmo Goes to the Potty toy. So far, it seems to be working. My son is more reluctant to wet his Thomas underwear because he only gets one Thomas underwear a day (we keep the rest hidden). And the Potty Elmo stays next to my son's potty. It's only been a couple of days, but the change in my son has been remarkable. I just hope it lasts! Good luck.

Well I would suggest using a sticker chart. It worked really well for my daughter. She was potty trained in no time. I made a sticker chart for her, so every time she went to the potty and actually went!, than i would let her pick out a sticker to put on her sticker chart. Once she got 10 stickers, she get to pick out something - whatever she wanted from the dollar store. And of course I gave her a lot of praise and praised her up to other people so she knew it was very good.
This worked very well, I had my daughter potty trained at 2yrs.
good luck and have fun with it. - Also the pullups I would reccomend using definitely to make easy for him.
K.

put a cheerio in the potty and have him sink it. Going potty will be a game at first, but he will get used to the feeling and it will stick long after the cheerios are gone.

Also...not every 2 year old is ready to be potty trained. I used to do daycare for twins that REFUSED to use the potty, until shortly after they turned 4. Big boy and big girl panties didn't work, rewards didn't work. we would sit them on the potty (home and daycare) and they would just sit there, holding it, then pee (or worse) next to the toilet. I don't say that to discourage you, but your son will potty train when he is ready.

I have two boys. I was pressured by my mom to start training the first one at 2 years old. It stressed me out and my first child. Soon I realized that it wasn't worth stressing about it. I have found that they did not potty train until they were ready. I made a potty chair available to them when I was ready and supported their efforts whenever they felt ready. I had a potty chart for them and would give them a sticker to put on the chart when they went. We would also do a "pee pee in the potty" song and dance. I didn't stress if they didn't go or had a set back. Kids will not do it unless they are ready. They both were trained at three. I knew one woman that was very militant and stood over her child and made her sit on the toilet all day everyday until she got it. That must have been very tramatic for that child.

The best advice I have received included this:

* You are NOT training the child. They will go when they are ready, they are in control.
* Make underwear fun, and a reward for going in the potty. This was what made my child go. When she was ready, it was easy to get her to use the potty. Note: when SHE was ready.
* Potty training comes in three steps: #1, #2 and Night-time.

Did you ever meet a Kindergartner that wasn't trained? Likely not...in time, he will make the transition. But, it will be on HIS timeline, not yours! (diapers ARE expensive......)

After seeing this post and another one similar, I decided to go cold turkey and put my 3yr old in underwear. We have been putting him on the potty for almost a year, but he still would pee in his diaper too. I wasn't about to force him to be potty trained, he just wasn't ready yet.

On Saturday I put him in underwear. He was fine until my husband had him out in the garage with him and he pooped in the underwear. We cleaned him up and put underwear on again. We have been doing this everyday, and he had another accident on Monday while playing downstairs with my daughter. Since than he has been going on the potty. We cheer him on and give him high 5's. He is so excited. I try to put him on the potty about every hour or so, however both yesterday and today he told me when he had to go "poppy". I hope things keep going this good...

Oh and my daughter was trained at 2yrs old. From my experience with family and friends & even my doctors own boys, they are a litte more difficult to train....You CAN'T rush a child.