My son is just about 23 months old. He just went into size 6 diapers. He is not fat in the least; he's a total beanpole, but my problem is this: it is simply becoming ridiculously pricey to keep this kid in diapers!! We bought him a potty when he was still in 5s; he loves to sit on it, and we let him play with it and get used to it for weeks before trying it for real. He has peed in it once, but I suspect that may have been more of an accident than an intentional thing.
I think he may not be ready yet. What are REAL readiness signs? I've read all the books and such, but I want to hear from real people who have been there. Is there anything I can do to encourage him without forcing the issue to the point where he is turned off to it? He is just growing so quickly!! I know the pull-ups go bigger, but I really don't want to use those until he's potty-training for real as I have heard that if you use them before thn, then they are "just diapers" when you really need them and not an effective learning tool.
Advice, anyone?
Since it will be summer soon,let him go w/o a diaper, if you have a backyard or a friend with one, camp out side for the day(s) with a potty seat, lunch, snacks, drinks, toys and games. If the pee runs down his leg, you don't have to clean the grass at least. This helps them associate the feeling with needing to use the potty. It is worth a try anyway.
First of all J. NO PULL-UPS they are just fancy diapers and obviously prolong any training. Honestly, it is simple..it worked with BOTH my sons before they were 14 months.
Buy the cloth training pants and tell him he is a big boy and NO MORE DIAPERS (not even at night)only BIG boy underwear and HE IS TO USE THE TOILET! Everytime he wets his pants and it runs down his legs, he won't like it, he will learn how it feels and he will want to go to the restroom. You will have to wash alot of training pants but mine were trained in less than a week. I believe it was about two-three days! Trust me...give it a try!
My boy trained early-boys are harder-Every time he went on the potty I sang a POTTY SONG
IT would go "James went Potty James went Potty James went Potty in his chair"-and I made up other funny things but my son loved it and that was the ticket! a lot of praise and have him sit whenever you go!
YOU CAN get through this! Good Luck!
Hi
I had the same issue with my son. He just got too big for the diapers. I think he was about 2.5 years though. Some signs that he is ready are that:
he can tell you before or right after he has peed in the diaper
he wants to be changed out of the diaper when it is dirty
he goes of into a corner or hides to poop
he shows some interest in sitting on the potty for a short time
You could try sitting him on the potty with books, or in front of the tc to keep him there a little longer. Try it about 15-20 mins after a big drink. If he pees in the potty then lots of praise, singing, dancing, rewards etc.
I wouldnt use pull-ups at all. I tried it and my son knew they were just diapers and it didnt work. We went straight to underwear and never went back, despite a few accidents.
Good luck
I had best luck when my little girl was bare bottom. Repetition is also good. sit him on the toilet every hour and try to occupy him there. Read to him or what ever activity he enjoys. I started potty training at 18 month, but did not have the support of school until 2 years. She is now 2 1/2 and has about 1 accident at school per day. She is still in pullups. She wore pull ups (big girl pants) at 18 months and at school they required diapers until 2. A LOT of praise to him, for trying, and for success.
Best of luck.
J.,
From what I've learned, Potty Training should never be a battle of will. We all need to remember that going pee is not a new concept to our children. The only thing changing is that we are now asking them to take away from their valuable play time to sit and try to go potty. I don't know about you but I'm the type of person who needs to go pee in the middle of a road trip. Yeah everyone else went two exists ago, but I didn't need to go then. Children are the same, we can't sit them down and tell them to pee.
The biggest readiness sign is when you can chart his pee and poo times. Usually if your child is on a regular eating schedule these times will be close in range every day. Once you figure out the times, make those the times you concentrate on sitting him on the toilet. The less stressed you are about the whole event the easier it will be for him to feel comfortable doing what he's been doing since birth.
Let me know how it goes. I'm about ready to potty train my own.
My "real" readiness sign for my son was when we would put him in shorts or something non-constricting (cuz anything even slightly diaper like he would just "go" in) -and he would say he had to go potty rather than just going. We tried to PT at 23 months and he would just pee on the ground or in his little boxers unless we caught him at the exact right time. I don't think that potty training should be about putting your kid on the potty every half and hour just in case - you will be much less stressed if they can communicate to tell you that they have to go. So we totally abandoned training and tried again when he was 29 months - we put him in his boxers, told him he would go pee on the potty now and that going in his shorts was not allowed - and he did! In fact he never even had an accident. My daughter was way earlier - like 18-19 months but she could also speak in 3-4 word sentences by this point, unlike my son who didn't do sentences til about 2 and a half. Good luck to you - I understand your pain about diapers - I was so glad to be rid of them and now I am prego again - lol.
Hi J., i have learned over the years, that potty training is mre about the parents, than the child, how can he not be ready? Before my husband and I got pregnant we sat down and talked and we decided on , no Pacifires, no babysitters, and no 2 year olds in diapers, well our first son was completly potty trainned at 21 months, our second one, our second born son was 19 months all potty training, and our daughter was 22 months, all using the toilet at those ages. I bet your son knows where to go to get a cookie, or someother treat in the kitchen, if so he knows where to go to go potty. J.
