22 Month Old on Potty Training Strike??

If he's having that many accidents a day, chances are despite his interest he's just not ready yet. This is completely normal btw. He's not even 2 for goodness sake so he's doing great (better than any I know) if he shows so much interest. Don't lose hope -- they all potty train eventually. By the same token, I wouldn't push it too much if I were you. My son potty trained (or learned rather since we didn't do jack) at about 30 months which is about 6 months sooner than a lot of his peers if that gives you some perspective. Boys typically catch on later and take longer; however, my son never had more than 1 or 2 accidents a week. This isn't because he's smarter or we're better parents -- he was just ready. We've noticed that he's been waking up dry for the past 3 months also indicating that he's physically ready (this is due to a biological change and not a maturity/intelligence thing btw).

Look at this as a potty learning / discovery period for him. My advice is to not push it and not bribe him either. You could be setting yourself up for some unnecessary pain down the road. That's a lot of apples, suckers and cookies for a day you might have to give him. Apples can and often will constipate btw. ;) He will get it as long as he's interested. You can bribe them all you want, but if they don't want to do it or are still developmentally not there yet they won't.

It's okay! Sometimes they 'fall back'. My daughter started potty training at 2 and stopped. Now she's 3 and out of the blue....we said Good Bye to diapers and Hello to Panties! You can try to reward him a sticker chart or give him a small piece of candy (like a m n m) Anyway GOOD LUCK!

Hi M.,

My daughter will offically be 2 this month. She has loved her potty since she turned 1 when I first introduced it to her. Like your son, she takes off her diaper and tells me she needs to potty. She has used her potty twice at home and that was about four weeks ago. She started school at that same week as well, and now she uses the little toilets at school but she won't use her potty at home! I'm proud enough that she uses the potty at school though. She still strips off her shorts and diaper at home and tells me she needs a new diaper or to go potty. But when I take her to the potty, she sits there for a second and then she's ready to move on to other things. So I've been thinking the same as you, she's been on "strike" at home but does fine at school.

I suppose it's just a small phase they go through, going in and out of things like this and I'm sure in no time our two little ones will be back on track at home. Like Lisa said, we can't rush it, they're doing good to be where they are right now as it and I agree with her!

But it sure would have been nice to have them completely out of diapers before our new babies come, huh?! :-) Mine is due in October and we're having a boy too.

-Char

My 26 mo old trained early, like at 20 months or so. She had been doing great and then all of a sudden was having several accidents a day. I asked the dr about it her 2 yr well check and they said there is nothing to worry about. So for now I'm just leaving her in pull-ups (since cleaning up all the accidents was not fun). I still take her potty several times a day but she is usually not staying dry between and I have quit making an issue out of it. I figure she's still young and when she is ready she will begin staying dry again.

I'm long out of potty training; as my kids are 7, 13, and 16 1/2; but I can say that each of mine started at different times with different responses. One consistant thing with all 3 of them, though, was the "one step forward, two steps back" problem. They would be doing great for awhile, then it seemed as if they had forgotten everything and we'd have to start all over again.

Oh, and don't be supprised if he regresses a little when the new baby arrives.