Potty Training Help - Mesa,AZ

Hi H.!
We had some friends recommend the "3 Day Potty Training" method and we have LOVED it! It's all about using love and postive reinforcement to help them recognize when they need to go, and to tell you. It takes 3 days of mega focus and dedication from the trainee. But man, it's amazing the results! I highly recommend it! We had our daughter train a little earlier than the author suggested, so it took us a couple extra days, but by a week she was telling me every time she needed to go the bathroom. It was awesome. Let me know if you want any further details. Best wishes!

He is old enough to get him actively imvolved. Do a reward chart that way he can feel good about it too. I used to set a timer and told my son when the timer went off he needed to try to go to the potty (helps eliminate some of those accidents.) Make a big deal about going to the potty and how he is such a big boy. It seemed to work for my boys hope this helps

I tried early on, quickly gave up as I value my sanity (or perhaps I'm just lazy, cuz I dont like cleaning up messes in the house) and tried again later when he was about 4.

Giving him new underwear (pull ups never worked for me, even the "feel wet" kinds) with his favorite character on it, and stressing to him that "Scooby Doo (or who/whatever is on it) does NOT like to be wet! Dont get him wet!!" This was one suggestion that seemed to work (sometimes with mine - it worked beautifully with my sister's 2nd boy but her first still doesnt care - he does not seem to have complete control though)

I have seen (and intitially was a bit awed and jealous) little boys pottytrained early (before 3) but came to realize that they were potty trained for pee, but NOT for poop till later. Well, I dont know about you but I much much rather change a poopy diaper than pull off & clean dirty underpants.

Be patient. It'll happen soon enough.

I agree that it sounds like he is not ready. I have twin boys who were just over 4 when they got it. We did try several times as you are and the first few times it was stressful (probably more for me becasue I was frustrated and they didn't care if they had accidents!)until I realized they just weren't ready. So we stopped and would try again a couple months later.
Eventually they were ready and when they were we were trained in about a weekend. So my feeling is it pays to keep trying but not to force it and wait till he is ready. Once he is he will catch on quick and everyone is less stressed!

Good luck!

Hi, H.--I completely share in your frustration until a little over a month ago, my daughter still in pull ups, and did not care whether she peed or pooped in them. The best advice I ever got was just to put her in underwear and let her fgiiure it out--it will bother them in underwear, and you just have to deal with accidents for a little while. My daughter never said she had to go, never cared whether she was wet or dirty. She got underwear for her 3rd birthday, and was exicted about it, so we just went with it as advised, and now have her fully potty trained. Maybe Santa can bring him some big boy underwear? Hope it helps. Good luck.

At 3 my son started going to a pre-school that didn't allow diapers and he learned pretty quick to pee in the potty (it only took a couple of days). Don't even waste your money on pull-ups during the day it is too much like a diaper and they don't really have a reason to make it to the bathroom (maybe just at night if he has trouble waking up to pee like my son still does). Get a lot of underwear and always carry changes of clothes. You might be surprised that he is more willing to use the toilet after that. It is always harder with boys. My son is 5 and doesn't pee in his pants anymore but pooping is still an issue. Have patience!!! I was way too hard on my son and I fear it may have hindered rather than helped. He will figure it out I promise.

Do not worry! It is common for boys not to be completely interested in potty training until they are closer to 4 yrs old. I have two boys one was trained at 3 1/2 the other fully trained at 4 1/2. Your son is completely in the normal range for boys.

I am no expert but I would say he is just not ready! My son was a little over 3 when he "got it" and it was a matter of days till we had no accidents! Now night time is a whole other issue, but I an happy he is in his big boy underpants all day! Maybe take a break and back off for a month or so... Maybe Santa could bring him some cool underpants, since its all about that at times!

Good luck!

we are in the end stage of potty training. We used dum dum suckers. Everytime he put pee in the potty, he got one. I kept them in the bathroom. He soon would try to go so that he could get a sucker. Good luck to you! Be patiant.

Hi H.-

I just finished potty training my little one, too, so I understand your frustration.

Unfortunately, until he's interested in it (and he will be, don't worry!), he won't really truly be ready to potty train completely. A friend of mine (preschool teacher) said a lot of boys aren't really ready for it until they're nearly 4 years old!

With my daughter, we put a little potty chair in the living room so she could sit on it while watching TV. We praised any and all efforts (even when she was just hanging out on there) when she "used" the potty. Eventually, she started wanting to go sit on it even when she didn't need to actually go, but we praised her just the same. That way, the potty was always a good thing. We also have never made a big deal out of accidents. Kids use the bathroom as a control thing if they know it bothers you. And of course, every time she actually peed in it, we were super excited for her and told her how proud we were of her. Even now, we let her know. In all, I think potty training took us about 3-4 months before she was in panties all day (still a diaper at night, she doesn't wake up when she has to go yet), even out of the house. We tried potty training a couple times, but it wasn't until she decided she was ready (showing interest by herself in using the toilet) that things really took off.

Good luck!
T.

It sounds like he is not ready. I'd wait a bit...he may be more impressed by a fully "trained" friend and and want to follow an example set by the friend...but that is just something to try...not a sure thing.
Do you use cloth diapers?...they feel ickier when wet...as do some training pants. This is not to be mean...it is the natural consequence of wetting yourself in real clothes.
Just for future reference...or for anyone with a new baby, other cultures that do not use diapers don't have to train or wait for their kids to recognize "the need to go" Diapers, unfortunately, teach kids to ignore the need to to go. Kids in these cultures retain the ability to feel the need to go. And adults retain their ability to see the attempts to communicate that need.
Check out "" or "natural infant Hygiene" or elimination communication" on the web to avoid or just use a lot fewer diapers.
Good Luck!