Potty Training Advice

IF you can allow him to be w/o underwear or a diaper - that's the easiest start.

My son is now potty trained - he is 2 years and 8 months old. He doesnt wet his underwear at night either. I am sooo excited about his success.

We started by letting him be diaper/underwear free pretty much all day. We would ask him throughout the day if he had to go "pee-pee" (use whatever word you prefer) or "poopie" and he'd say yes or no. If my husband or I had to use the toilet we'd take him along with us and tell him what we were doing.

First thing's first: get him acquainted with either a potty or your toilet. Don't force him to sit on it because he'll get scared. My son thought it was funny when he'd sit on the potty and I'd be using the toilet and I'd make the #1 or #2 noises. He liked to see me become animated and this made him less afraid and anxious of his "duty" in the bathroom.

If he'd do #2 in his diaper, I'd put it in the toilet and wave bye bye to it saying "no more poopie in the diaper, poopie goes in the toilet now".

When he would take initiative to try and make it to the toilet in time, we'd praise him with High-Fives and kisses and hugs. He liked the praise. If he went a day without doing #1 on the floor or in his diaper, I'd tell him at the end of the day how great he did trying to use the toilet like a big boy.

There's a book, Potty Time (sold at Target, for sure) and it has a button that sounds like a flushing toilet - he likes it a lot (still). You can substitute your own words to make the story personal. Its simple and its for boys or girls - you choose the book.

Now, when he does #1, he gets onto the toilet seat - facing it and this is how he makes sure he doesnt wet the floor. He announces it and we say "hurry, quickly, let's go!" and he likes to go alone but he likes us to notice. As he's progressed we've given him stickers which he sticks to a piece of paper (he likes trains and Dora - so he chooses which one he wants) that I made for him to put onto his bedroom door. He has lots of stickers now and he enjoys seeing them as a sign of his accomplishments.

Good luck, I hope I did not write too much.

My neighbor told me that when she was training her three sons she would have them sit on the toilet backwards and give them a squirt gun to squirt into the toilet, it started as a game and this eased them into it and made them cooperate. She said a few days of that and they would connect the two and want to pee into the toilet. It sounds worth a try. Good Luck.

I just read a great way to start boys to go....have dad (or another male roll model) show him how to sink a "battle ship". Roll up a little bit of toilet paper and put it in the bowl. Then have dad sink the battle ship and talk about how much fun it is. Then have your son try. Good luck...

N.

Hi,

I just finished potty training my 3 year old son. :-)

What worked for me was:

Putting my son on big boy underwear (real underwear) during the day.

I set a potty chair in the living room where he watches tv, so that he would sit on it and eventually started peeing on it.

it is summer, the best time to potty train. how about letting him go naked while in the house. that will help him understand more where the pee pee comes from.

in the beginning your son might have some accidents on the floor, but after a while he will get better.

give him praise for even trying.

and relax. he will eventually learn, but do not put too much pressure on him, because it might scare him. and he will lose interest.

good luck!

I highly recommend "Early-Start Potty Training" by Linda Sonna,Ph.D.