Potty Training My 3 Year Old Son - Littleton,CO

I started Potty Training my daughter at 2 and then when I had my son she started doing the same except she was wearing panties and peeing on the carpet. I stopped giving her juice in her cup and made her sit on her potty until she almost fell asleep....she changed back quick..b/c she loves to watch Noggin, which she was missing sitting on that potty. I made sure understood the reason her brother was wearing a pamper was b/c he could not controll what he do, and can't walk to the potty, and that she needs to big sister. It worked!

Hi C.,

I had the same issue...my 33 month old was doing very well, then I had his little brother. It took several months to get him back on track, but we just decided one whole weekend we were not going to put diapers or pullups on him, just big boy underwear. They don't like the feeling and he actually had just two accidents over the weekend. He just turned five and has never had an accident, not even at night (I know 7-yr olds that still have to wear pullups at night). I think I might try the Elmo DVD for my 2 year old now. Good luck!

Hello C.,
Try to put your son on the toilet every 30 minutes. And tell him he is a big boy and when he does go tell him when his sibilings get older he will be the big brother that helps them out.Leave him on the toilet for a few minutes, and try letting him have a little book or something like that to help him to sit there.

At about 18 month my son wanted to go potty on the toilet I thought we were almost done then he stopped alltogether, a few months later same thing finally at 25 months 3rd time he did it but this time I woke up one morning and decided today was the day no pullups no diapers big boy underware only, he peed himself once thats all it took, pullups are handy but they ARE still dipers just in a diffrent style, I think kids know that they wont get messy.

All kids are different, maybe he is just not ready, maybe he just wants that time for himself with you.

Hi C.,

I am currently potty training my nearly 3 year old son as well. I bought Elmo's Potty Time DVD and my son loves it!! We watched it for a week straight (it is a very cute video). I put him on the potty and when he is successful, he gets a sticker to put on his reward sheet. He picks the sticker, peels it off and puts it on his sheet. We have it hanging on the bathroom mirror. My son loves Toy Story, so I bought Buzz and Woody and put them where he could see them, but could not touch them. I told him that when he can go potty all the time, like Elmo, he can have Buzz and Woody. He has been successful peeing in the potty for a short time but no success with pooping. Yesterday, he wanted to go in the garage very badly, so I told him that if he pooped in the potty he could go in the garage. He wanted to go in the garage so bad that he did it, pooped in the potty. My yougest son and I made a huge deal of it too!! This morning he woke up saying, "I poopy in the potty, I go garage". I said yes. He pooped again in the potty today. I think it is just finding the right trigger for you child. What does he want badly? Think about it and make that the reward. I sure hope this helps.

S.

Hi C.,
I had a hard time potty training my son also. He was 3 1/2 and had to be forced to potty train, but I just didn't know what to do. THEN, my mom saw a special on tv w/ Dr. Phil that gave us some tips. One of them (that worked like a charm) was a Potty Party!! That day it was just the two of us...we of course woke up and put on underwear right away and he was told that every time he went potty he got a prize because it was a party! (i bought little party gift toys at the dollar store, put them into a a bag and he got to pick a surprise after potty)We baked a caked, played games and of course had frequent trips to the bathroom just to check if we needed to go...and when we were successful, I made the biggest deal about it and he would just glow when I would tell him how proud I was of him....

It could also be that he's just not ready yet. My daughter was almost potty trained a couple of times between 2 1/2 and 3, but she never quite got there until she was 3 yrs and 4 months (and of course it was as we were driving from Oregon back to Phoenix that she decided that she didn't want to go in her diaper anymore!!!) And some kids are potty trained by the time they turn two... so you never know. Just keep trying to reward him and encourage him to go on the potty.

We had similar problems with my oldest son. He started wanting to go potty around 2 1/2 and we were doing well then had our second baby when he turned 3. We finally had him potty trained at close about 3 months after he turned 3.

My best advice is throw away the diapers/pullups (during the day at least). That was when we began to make progress, when we put him in underwear. It was a very messy first day by the second and third days he was going potty really well with minimal accidents.

Hope that helps - good luck!
M.

i'm sorry i have no ideas for you! my 2 1/2 yr old daughter was doing really well wanting to use the potty and telling me right away when she peed or pooped in her diaper, but now (after my 2nd daughter was born 4 mo. ago) she never really wants to use the potty and doesn't even like to have her diaper changed! at this point, i'm just waiting until she actually WANTS to use the potty more

It sounds to me like your son is having some uncertaninty about whether or not he's still your "baby" now that the twins are here. He is acting out on those fears by doing a "baby-ish" thing (using his diaper instead of the potty). I think alot of these ideas are really good and I have heard that all of them work. If I were you I would include elememts of all of them (elmo video, potty party, all weekend just "big boy" underpants, rewards for going in the potty), but in addition, make sure you take some time out every day just for him. Hold him, hug him, rock him, and remind him that no matter how old he gets or how many "babies" are around he will always be special to you. Good luck.
-J.

The same thing happened to me when my son was 2 1/2 and then had a baby. I tried the things you've tried also with no luck and gave up completely for a few months then finally did a sticker chart which actually worked. We hung it on the fridge and he would get to put a sticker on everytime he went. He was trained in a few days. Once he was out of pull ups I would remind him to go (or even better, say something we were about to do like, we can go play outside after you go potty) Good luck

U sound alot like me...I also have a 3y/o, he's a stubborn lil' booger. I've tried million times to potty train him, at first he looks like he might get the hang of it. And that's not always the case, he usually has his accidents. I think with me and dh, is we constantly have to force him to go, regardless if he doesn't need to go. He knows we will stand there, till he can at least give a try. But I hate having to take him and plus I have a 3.5month to attend too. It's alot of wk. since I also work f/t too.Uggghhh!

Dear C.,
I am having the same problem with my 3 year old son. when he was 2 and a half he started potty training on his own, now he refuses except for very rare occassions. Maybe we could figure something out together. My email address is ____@____.com feel free to email me if you would like. hope to hear from you soon B.