Potty Training.

When I started with my son, I had him sit on the potty after I did. And taught him how to hold "himself" down so pee didn't get everywhere. After a while I had him watch Daddy so he learned to stand and pee. You have to teach him how to aim too. You can try the cheerios in the toilet, to have him shoot them or just tell him to make bubbles.

I've been training my 2yr3mo old daughter by having her go every time I do. We got a little potty seat (that transitions up to the big potty and finally a step stool). There are great surveys on th web to see if your little one is even ready to potty train. Good luck! It can be very trying at times! :o)

My second son was 2 and 4 months (April 22)when I whimsically tried to train him after the older two went to school and before our fourth was born in November. Granted, he had inspiration from his two older siblings, but he was so accommodating, he trained in about 2 or 3 weeks. I just rolled up the rugs, took off his pants and put out the potty. The first day was a mess, but by the end of it, he seemed to become more aware of his body signals and what they meant and got the hang of getting to the potty in time. He still would have an occasional miss, but he did pretty well. I had a jar of m&ms with a picture of his potty on it and used those as prizes. The second week, I put training pants on - the thick cloth ones. The first day was a step back as he wanted to pee in his pants or had trouble getting them down, but the truth was, he hated wetting himself and so he figured it out quickly. We truly stayed home for these two weeks and I let all tv rules go out the window so that he wouldn't mind staying on the floor in the den. The third week was our venturing out - we pottied before we left the house, found the potty first right when we got to the store, and I just constantly asked him if he needed to go.

I do feel I was lucky with him, but if your son is able, I say go for it. Good luck!

Hi D.,
You take me back a few years! :o) My children were 22 months apart with my son being the older one too. They are now 21 & 19. My 21-year-old just had his first baby 2 months ago. He is the cutest thing ever! Proud grandma. Any who, I found a great book when I was potty training. I got it at the library. It's called, Toilet Training in Less than a Day. It really worked. Basically you have the potty where ever you are. You teach the child the difference between wet pants and dry pants first. Then you get a doll that wets and have them practice with that. I forget exactly how it all goes but, both of my kids were trained in a day with being dry through the night!! It was amazing. I hope this book is still out there and you can find it.
Good luck,
L.

I just started potty training my 3rd girl.... I hear boys are harder... but that is not always the case. One thing I do is explaing the whole toilet thing. Then when you are ready to devote at least a week to it, I set the timer.... every 15 or 30 min. we go in & sit on the potty. My 3rd girl started asking to pee on the potty when she was about 20 months so she has been easy in that part.... the poop part has been a little difficult. I've only been working on her for 2 days now & haven't gotten any poop in the potty.... so we'll see what today brings. Give incentive for peeing & pooping... ours are 1 chocolate chip for pee in the potty & 2 chocolate chips for poop in the potty. Also my girl loves to whip by herself. She doesn't get to wipe if she doesn't go. :) Hope these ideas help.... blessings!

Both of my boys were potty trained 4 months after they turned 2 but my girls were 3 and 4 when they were potty trained and I did it the same with them all, go figure. :) With my youngest, I took him to the potty every hour or two and I gave him 1 penny for number one and 2 pennies for number 2. (I used stickers with my three older ones and pennies with my youngest) Take him potty whenever it works for you. Be consistent and patient and give him lots of praise. Good luck!

Hi D.,
You've gotten a lot of great advice so far! Here's my two cents :)

My first was 2yrs. 9mo. when I decided to potty train; and my second was 6mo. at the time. My son does not go in for rewards like stickers or m&m's, and he's not into talking stuff through ahead of time.

I did what one other Mom said she did: going "commando" (no pants or underpants) until he got the "feel," and scheduled potty-no-matter-what times throughout the day.

What I have to add is: potty training is a big job, but only for a short time (my son was 95% trained after 3 weeks). The stronger your commitment to keeping the schedule and reminding your son what the expectations are (in simple language), the more successful you will be. If you're not really comitted to training, you're likely to have problems. Also, realizing that "accidents" are not the same as a "set-back" was very helpful to me. Even if my sweetie had an accident every day (which he did, for a while) it just helped me learn to be even *more* consistent with him.

Now he's 3, and a potty-training success. I'm not saying he doesn't still have the occasional "accident," but I can always figure out why it happened, and it always seems to turn out to be us slipping up, not him :)

When you're really-really "ready," you'll do fine (and so will he!) Good luck!
T
PS: Stay home as much as you can during potty-training; keep a portable potty seat in the trunk of your car; go play "naked" outside whenever possible; make sure whoever helps you take care of him is in line with your schedule and technique. Schedule potty times around nursing times so you have the attention to put into it you will need.

I have 3.5 yers old son...and he was so hard to train for i start to teach him potty training when he was almost 3 actually. HE was really difficult i try everything in the book said it sisn't work for him even i made him watch the dvd all the dvd i can think off then read the book while his is the potty still not happen. And we had friends and family visited and they had a young children and they already potty train. and i guess he saw them that they went to the potty so the next day suddenly he ask me he want to go to the potty i was so suck So i guess you can try everything but when the kids ready they will tell u.
before that i was so desperate, but after that happen a little by little he star comes around and i put a cherios in the toilet to make it more fun and that one work now hehhehe. and now he telling me all the time everytime he wants to go.
So When the kids ready they will tell,...you can try everything that anyone tell you too that would be help to see if that work your child...again everychild is different and you will find the trick that it's work your son. Goodluck and be patient he would come around adventually. Have fun with it. Just be consistent with it too.

M.

D.,

I just read a lot of stuff out there and decided what I could do and what I felt my daughter could do. But really, I think it is all about the parent and how much time they have to decide on what "method" you do. I just did the 3 Day Potty Training method by Lora Jensen (http://www.3daypottytraining.com/) on Aug. 15th-17th with my daughter who turned 2 on July 29. It was a rough couple of days after the initial 3 day training because I was nervous and kept her close to home and we were both had a little "cabin fever" by then. Since then we have been to 3 people's homes, out to stores and to the splash park. She has only had 1 accident since last Tuesday, the 19th. So, for not even being at the 2 week mark yet I think she's doing great.

Another book I read that helped me was "Potty Training 1-2-3: What Works, How it Works, and Why it Works." by Gary Ezzo. It had a lot of the same strategies and I really liked it a lot.

Hope some of this helps.
~L.