Potty Training 2 1/2 Yr Old

My 3 1/2 year old is FINALLy getting it (boy) and he started using the potty of his own volition at 19 months. so! I understand being frustrated with the process. It took a variety of 'carrots' to get "O" interested again in the potty after his brother was born (1 1/2) but to get him to go consistently required a few things: a scaled back schedule for a while (more time at home), a true change of attitude from mom and dad (we were both trying very hard not to exude any sort of urgency, but can not hide feelings from this kid very well. WE had to actually change. NOT feel frustrated and urgent because he just wasn't buying the act! THis is the hardest thing to do), a little time in the nude. Ok, we are not crazy bohemians here. we just found out that letting him hang out in the buff helped him to connect with when he had to go.
The big thing too was realizing that we could tell him 'It's time to go sit on the potty'. WE were thinking too that forcing was counter productive, but found with our boy that he needed to have us help him establish the routine. WE still give him little treats (his gummy vitamins or extra time up at night) for going #2 (the big hurdle for him) but now he seems very happy with himself when he goes #1 on the potty and doesn't ask, except occasionally, for any kind of reward.

A couple of things you can invest in that might help. THe little potty. SOme kids hate this. My son will NoT go #2 on the big potty, even with a stool to prop up his feet. Potty books from the library- once upon a potty (our fave), no more diapers for ducky, you can go potty too!

I know this is a lot of info- I hope it helps. good luck. hang in there!

J. - I tried to potty train my son on and off while he was two. Just not interested. We tried every trick that people told us including:

a sticker chart
candy treats
tattoos after he went
cool stickers
he got to pick out fun underwear
a neat potty chair that makes sounds
several different models of seats that go on the toilet
we went diaper free - no clothes on
went with cloth diapers
went with just wearing underwear
more bribes
more treats
we read books
and watched videos
sat with him
had him sit with us
had other people sit with him (on the toilet)
went to friends homes and had our son sit with their kids while going potty
special toys to play with only while on the potty
toys that he would get AFTER he went potty
and on and on and on

Then, the day after his third birthday - I told our son he was now a big boy and there would be NO MORE DIAPERS. We quit cold turkey. I had enough. That was 6 months ago and we have had no poop accidents, several pee incidents, and a handful of overnight accidents. But I needed to be firm and just DO IT - no gimmicks.

Also, not only did my son have to be ready - I HAD TO BE READY! With the accidents, the overnight problems, the laundry, the clean up. When we were all ready - he was trained in a day. No pull up, no begging, no compromise. If there was an accident, my son had to help clean it up. He was responsible to toss the clothes into the laundry, wipe up the floor and it became OUR jobs. Well, that helped train him quickly, too - no one wants to do the clean up. But it worked!

Good Luck!

D. in milwaukee

J.,

It may help if you get a child's potty and take him in the bathroom with you and your husband whenever you use the toilet. Then he sees what to do and that it is a normal thing. Also, to get him to sit on the toilet for a while, you can put some books or small toys beside the toilet to give him something to do while sitting there. Rewards for going potty or poopy is another good incentive. Try to come up with incentives other than food, especially junk food; sometimes it's as simple as stickers! Hope this helps!

A. B.

I hate to be the bearer of somewhat bad news, but I doubt there's anything more you can do. I understand wanting to get him out of diapers, but this is one thing where the kid has the control. He'll only do it when HE'S ready. Don't force him. Neither of my boys were potty trained til they were 3 1/2. I hope your little man trains sooner than that =) Good luck

We went through something similar with our son. But in our case, he would pee ok on the potty, in fact he was peeing perfectly for a while and then reverted a little, but he refused to poo in the potty. It wasn't entirely his fault, he's on medication for constipation, but we never thought we'd get this kid potty trained.

I finally, (when I was home w/ him - he's in daycare 5 days/wk), made him go with NO pants. I put a long T-shirt or robe on him so he was covered, but no pants, shorts, pull-ups, nothing on his bottom. He never had a single accident and by the grace of the Man above, he poo'd on the potty! Now he's been diaper free for over a month with NO accidents, not even at night. I didn't expect perfection, as I was sure he'd have the occaisional accident, but that seemed to do it for us.

I thought people were crazy when they'd tell me to make him go bare bottom, and never saw myself doing it, but it was my last resort and boy were they right!

Good luck to you, I know how frustrating it can be.

Your son is more then ready to be potty trained, as few moms said before, get him his own potty, a few of mine would not use the regular one, and then let him run naked I discovered this with my 3rd child, by accident I might add, and have done it w/ each of the ones after, and have had them potty trained by 2 even the boy, and here soon I'll start introducing it to my 16 month old (the pottychair) and around 20 months will start letting him use it, and at 22 months I will focus on it, you so have to make sure you are home for a few days when you do it but it is well worth it, I did it the traditional way with my older 2 and it took longer that way, although they were trained by 2 1/2, good luck.

I'm sorry to say that if he's not interested, he probably isn't ready and you'll just aggrevate him and yourself by pushing it. I would back off for a couple of months - not even bring it up. Then try again. And when he is ready, you've got to find something that will really motivate him. For my son, it was preschool. He had every sign of readiness except for the willingness/interest and once he knew he couldn't go to school without using the potty, that was it. It took about a week of using the Dr. Phil "Potty train your child in one day" (you can find the info on his website) and he was potty trained. He was also over 3-years old. I know it's hard and expensive to have two kids in diapers (I did it for a year) but if he's not interested, it's not going to happen. But don't worry, someday he WILL use the potty!

Your son is pretty young yet to worry about potty training but I can understand why you would want to get the ball rolling. He may be afraid of the "big potty" so you might consider buying a small one that sits on the floor in his favorite character and start out by letting him sit on it and read a book and then when he gets more comfortable then try putting him on it to actually try and go every hour for about a week and see how he responds. Once he gets comfortable with that then move onto the big potty again. Hope this helps. (I am a childcare provider and this is how I start out with my little ones.)

When my son was potty trainning I would let him run around naked and when i seen him starting to go or it looked like he was gonna go i would take him and put him on the potty. I know what helped alot for me was getting my son a stool to stand up on so he could go standing up .. i think that interested him. also i bought stickers and m&m's so that when he went he would get 2 m&m's and sticker on his potty chart.. when he finished his potty chart we took him to the store and he got to pick out a gift. You can find printable potty charts on the internet just go ask. jeeves or google.. and when he did go i would get way over excited and praised him.. have fun its a very stressful yet satisfying job!! Just make it as fun as you can