Potty Training - Yankton,SD

Updated on October 13, 2009
M.G. asks from Yankton, SD
14 answers

My son will be 3 on the 12th of October and is still in diapers. I have been trying to potty train for months with no success. He has no real interest in doing it and really could care less if he's wet or messy. I have tried stickers and jelly beans as rewards for going but he losses interest in thase things fast and gives up.
If you have nay suggestions please let me know I would like to get him out of diapers before he moves into the next size of diapers.

What can I do next?

  • Add yourAnswer own comment
  • Ask your own question Add Question
  • Join the Mamapedia community Mamapedia
  • as inappropriate
  • this with your friends

Featured Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.L.

answers from Minneapolis on

I know it's hard, but just wait. When you push, the in-between time when he's half-trained will be so much longer, and that's much less fun than diapers.

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

E.I.

answers from Duluth on

you know, the harder we moms push for potty training the harder it seems the kids resist.

so though its frustrating for you to have to buy diapers at this point, you have to let this be something he decides to do on his own. my son will be 3 in november and i have left him completely alone and just the past few days he has totally taken the interest all on his own. though, today, he hasnt cared one hoot :P

its really about him making the decision to do so. it SUCKS.
if you can catch him before he poops, or if he tells you that much, cloth diapers are always an easy and great solution. i dont do the whole bucket thing, i just throw it in the wash, and put a little bleach in the whole load to get rid of any smell and to help me feel more comfortable about it getting clean. if you feel like you can deal with poop in a cloth diaper, thats fine too, but its not really for me :P

anyway, patience. he might surprise you and start doing it the minute you stop trying. :P

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.S.

answers from Omaha on

My son is 3 years and 7 months old and has just started to be interested in potty training. We tried all the tricks in the books as well and it comes down to he will do it when he is ready. We bought underwear for our son and just asked him on occasion if he wanted to wear it. If he did not we just said "ok" and did not push him. We put cheerios in the toilet recently and told him to "sink them". He thought that was really exciting. So far he is going in the toilet very well. Don't get frustrated. It will come.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.L.

answers from Minneapolis on

'

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.S.

answers from Omaha on

try cheerios or fruit loops in the potty-gives him something to aim at. Honestly, I couldn't potty train my son either so I sent him to my step daughters house( who was raising 4 boys) and told her I would give her 20.00 is she brought him home potty trained- and she did. she said she used the cheerios method :)

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.N.

answers from Omaha on

I had a very tough boy to potty train. What finally worked was I went to the dollar tree and wrapped about ten presents. He loved the idea of opening the presents (which were all only a dollar). Finally after awhile he just got so used to using the potty he didnt ask about the presents and just went like a big boy!! I hope this helps!!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.R.

answers from Sioux City on

My suggestion is get him out of the diapers starting the next day you are off work (saturday maybe?)and don;t look back! This sounds scary & messy & gross but it worked for my 2-1/2 one month ago. We went out & bought underwear, which honestly he wasnt too excited about, but on the designated day when he woke up in the morning I sat him on the potty (yes, I trained him to sit to pee & it worked marvelously) and then I put the underwear on him & didnt look back. I made him sit on the potty every 1-2 hours to avoid accidents & also monitored his liquid consumption to kind of gauge when he would have to go (after a big cup of water). We would read book until he went & sometimes we would sit for 15 mintues but he got the hang of it & eventually the excitement of "big boy underwear" caught on. AT that point we went out & bought more underwear which he was now very excited about. The first few days we stayed close to home most of the day, or if we had to leave he would sit on the potty right before we left & as soon as we got home to avoid accidents while in public.He had a couple accident at home the first week but you clean them up & move forward. I do put him in a pull up overnight, just in case, but 5 nights out of 7 he wakes up dry. Good luck!!

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

G.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

our son is the same age as your lil guy and to get him to potty train we bribed him with match box cars. Stickers, candy etc didn't work, so wE would put the cars on a shelf where he could see them every day. He knew that if he wanted one he would have to pee on the potty. those 97 cent cars did the trick! We only had to bribe him with those for about a week then we moved just gave him a chocolate chip. Its been about a month now and he requires no bribing. good luck

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

R.S.

answers from Des Moines on

You have a goal--before the next size of diapers, and it sounds like you are looking at the birthday as a mile-marker, too. The problem is, he has no idea what size of diaper he is in or if he is about to move into another size, and he probably doesn't grasp the year-marker of turning 3, either. So he can't share your goal, but he's the one who has to make the big transition. BUMMER! I would say decide just how important this goal is to you, because if you want to try to potty train him before he makes it his personal goal, you may have to work pretty hard at it. On the other hand, I potty-trained several boys after their 3rd birthday (and I bet lots of moms would attest to the same thing) and it's really no big deal. The advantage of just waiting it out is that it is SO easy once he decides he wants to do it. And that WILL happen. But I can't tell you when.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.B.

answers from Des Moines on

Many boys don't potty train until they are 3 or even 4. My advice is to not stress out about it and try again when he is showing more interest/readiness. At this point you have probably made it too much of a power struggle, so he will resist.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

T.M.

answers from Madison on

I potty trained my son 3 months ago, we had tried it before but it just never took and he always refused, very dramatically, to sit on the potty. So I finally decided that this time was the time and there would be no turning back no matter what. He turned 3 in May. He did surprisingly well.

The day started out with 4 accidents in 20 minutes then someone suggested putting him on the potty every 5 minutes and making him (forcing if need be) sit for 5 minutes and eventually he would figure out it is much easier to just go when they have to rather then wasting the day on the potty. I think that makes a lot of sense. My son got it on the second time and hasn’t had an accident since. I still put pull-ups on him at naptime and bedtime for now (I call them nighttime underwear so as to not refer to them as diapers), but so far he has been dry after nap, still wets at night. But we can work on that after he gets the rest of the time down pat.

We also give rewards – he loves m&m’s, so he gets 1 for sitting on the potty, 2 for peeing, and 3 for pooping. He also gets to put a sticker on his chart. We also make a huge deal EVERY time he goes pee or poo on the potty; he has gotten lots of surprises. He enjoys the praise and had wanted to sit on the potty every five minutes that first week (I’m guessing it was more for the m&m’s, but that’s ok, its helped him get used to it.) Oh, and we also put a cheerio in the toilet and told him to try to sink it, he gets a big kick out of that.

You might want to try talking to a child behaviorist also; they may be able to give you some insight on his behavior towards it. We did that about trying to get our son to sleep in his own bed and we also asked about potty training, she was the one who suggested that we would just have to do it one day and not turn back (but she did suggest waiting until he was 3-1/2).

Good luck and I hope you get some answers that work.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

K.B.

answers from Rochester on

Was just at the Dr. today for my 2 year olds well visit. Dr said that even by 3 years old only 50% of kids are potty trained. My advice is if HE isn't ready, there really isn't anything you can do - let it go and let him decide when he is ready. Of course easier said than done, but you can still give him options. If he doesn't take them, he will soon.
Good luck... I've not been through it yet, but thought the info from the Dr. was interesting and might be helpful.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

C.O.

answers from Minneapolis on

Some kids just take longer. There's nothing you can do to force it. Sometimes, pushing the issue just makes it worse.
Potty training with my middle one was finally successful a few weeks ago. He KNEW how to do it, he just didn't want to, and I was sick of having to change his diapers because he was too lazy to stop what he was doing and walk himself to the bathroom. We finally just put him in underwear and told him he could choose the potty or his pants. After a day or two of LOTS of accidents (Thank goodness for our awesome carpet cleaner!), it finally clicked and he started using the potty every time. He regressed for a couple days when he spent a week at my mom's house, but then got back on track. When he came home after that week, he told me he wanted to sleep in underwear (we had been putting a diaper on at bedtime). We made sure there was a waterproof mattress pad on his bed and told him to go for it. He's only had one night-time accident since.

SO, you can do the same thing -all or nothing- or just wait until he is motivated to do it himself. Keep in mind that it is not uncommon for children of either gender to be closer to four-years-old before they are potty-trained. I believe it is a myth that boys take longer, as my boys and many of their male friends potty-trained before they were 3, and I know girls that took much longer. It can go either way.

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

H.N.

answers from Cedar Rapids on

Don't be so h*** o* yourself, it just takes a while for some children. I have read articles that say many children really can not control the potty muscles until at least three. And may take some time after turning three to figure out this new muscle control.
Have you tried just taking a couple of days, (maybe a weekend) and putting big boy undies on. If you find the characters you can say, they will be sad if they get pee on them. Diapers really soak up a lot. Putting real undies on will get him to feel the wetness when he doesn't make it to the potty.

Also maybe try a different reward. If he has a favortie movie or tv show maybe make that the special treat for going on the potty. (A friedn tried that with her son and it helped for number twos)

My daughter also turns 3 on October 12, we are not 100% potty trained but we are getting close. we are maybe 75%. Still need to work on the number twos.

Hang in there and soon he will be a potty pro.

For Updates and Special Promotions
Follow Us

Related Questions

Related Searches