Potty Training - Bradford,PA

hi T..

I have a 2 year old daughter, and I started potty training when she was 1. She doesn't wear diaper for the most of the day, unless she goes to nap or sleep at night.

If i were you, i would let him have his favorite toy or snack if he sit to the potty. It is like give him a reward if he goes to pee or poop on the toliet seat. Once he use to it, it will gets better and esaier. Good Luck

E. Tomb

My little guy is 3 and we're going thru potty-training now. I would allow him to accompany to the bathroom, both my husband and I did, so he could see what was going on when going to the bathroom. We'd often just allow him to sit on his potty when we went to the bathroom, maybe read a book, or talk. I went the Pull-Up route too until it was suggested that I just buy lots of underwear and drop the pull-ups. I did and for awhile there was lots of hand-washing and laundry to be done but he got the hang of it. My little guy treated a pull-up like a diaper and like, your little one, was fine was sitting in the mess all day, without a care in the world. :)

I would also suggest that you allow your little guy to walk around bottom-less for awhile. and then ask him to go with you to the bathroom every 15-30 minutes. Do not ask if he has to go -- the answer is always no, and two minutes later there's a puddle on the floor. Just tell him to keep you company in the bathroom and ask him to have a seat while you sit down.

Much patience and luck to you -- just know he won't go to kindergarten like this :)

I had the best luck when I decided to take the pull ups off. We put the underwear on and I made him sit on the potty every 1/2 hour. (every 5 mins might be a little much). You will have accidents but that is a good thing. If he never feels wet b/c he has the pull up on he's never going to understand that he has to go to the potty when he feels it coming. I did it in the summer when we could be outside so maybe you can hang on until then. That way if he pees it's on the grass - not your nice carpet! Good luck! I am about to start again with my younger son so I'll be back in the game soon too!

I had a hard time with potty training too. After the fact, I found out about techniques in Positive Discipline. Check out the website: positivediscipline.com
Dr. Jane Nelson is the founder - and I think she has marvelous ideas for how to tackle most everything regarding child rearing. There is a good amount of information on potty training.

have you tried letting him stand to pee? my son hates to sit on the potty too, but loves to stand. we're still working on getting him to poop in the potty too. i'm hoping that he'll just do it one day, just like he did with the peeing. good luck, i know how frustrating it is.

Put him on the toilet every hour, period. Make him sit there for 5 minutes then tell him he is a good boy and let him up. Set your timer and repeat. Dont scold or fuss when he makes in his diaper, he will be getting the attention that he wants. When he finally goes in the toilet praise him and call his dad. I wouldnt recommend a toy or food as a reward. He is doing something you told him to do and praise should be enough reward.

I feel your pain, but don't worry. When he is ready he will go in the potty. I have 8 children and they all trained when they were ready. I always figured that as long as they trained before they started school then all was good, and they all did before they started school. That does not go withoout saying that I tried everything, bribeing, rewarding,threating and punishing. It all came down to the fact that when they got sick of sitting in poo and pee they started going on the potty.

Dear T.: I am having the same problem with my almost three year old daughter. She actually laughs and tells me she went. She's a bit of a devil. Well, this might not be the best of advise, but now that she does this, I make her sit on the potty for a few minutes a couple of times a day. She carries on a little, but since she knows she's going to bathroom in her pull up I don't feel that bad. Good luck.

I used pull-ups too but I think they ended up confusing my daughter. She didn't seem to have a problem walking around in a wet pull-up. So, following my mother and mother-in-law's advice, I ditched the pull-ups and just put her in underwear. There was a noticeable difference in her behavior immediately. She knew that she was making a mess and it was uncomfortable. Unfortunately, you'll have to deal with cleaning up a mess before your son's "holding" skills improve. Just remember to take him to the bathroom regularly (every hour or so) and eventually, he'll make the connection. If he doesn't want to go the bathroom, use a reward system. I allowed my daughter 1 episode of Blue's Clues every time she successfully did her business in the bathroom. Good luck!

Pull ups were just like diapers for my son. I eventually bought the padded training pants and plastic pants for cloth diapers. When he peed he knew he was wet. After 3 days he was trained. Try putting him on the potty every 30 min and doing a reward system of stickers to encourage him. Good luck. Boys are tough!

I would use a reward type system....go poop/pee in the potty and he gets a reward (something he really loves) For my little boy, it was computer game time. I also would recommend that you don't get stressed over it. He will do it eventually....sometimes babies, especially toddlers, see that something stresses you and they become stressed and all is for nothing. Hang in there and do worry, all kids get potty trained.

Hi T.,
I would ditch the pullups. If he is using them as a diaper, it would be cheaper just to diaper him. Calling them underwear sends the wrong message - that it's okay to pee and poop in your underwear. He won't suddenly decide one day not to do that anymore.
First, I'll tell you that neither of my kids ever peed or pooped on a potty. We owned one, but they never made a deposit til we used the real toilet.
He doesn't care that his pullup or disposable diaper is wet because they pull moisture away from his skin. I would switch to cloth. Cloth diapering teaches kids what happens when they pee - they get very wet! And then they learn what it feels like just before that happens. With my son, I put him in the triple heavy cloth training pants with the waterproof outer layer and took him to the bathroom every hour and a half. The first 2-3 weeks, we went through 8 pairs of training pants in a day. After that, he figured out that to avoid being wet or dirty, he needed to wait until I took him to the toilet and that was it. It was still at least a month after that before he would tell me he had to use the toilet or take himself there - telling you is often the LAST step but many parents mistakenly think it will be the first step (I made this mistake with my first, waiting for that magical day when she'd tell me she needed to use the bathroom and it never happened!). Dont' ask him if he wants to or has to use the toilet, don't give him an option, simply take him and let him know that it's expected behavior. I never did any rewards, charts, etc - because it was just expected behavior and not something they could choose to do or not do, and not something they were doing to please me. At 3, he's capable of just doing it and is choosing not to.
Good luck!!!!

Take a look at The Potty Train book www.toysofdiscovery.com
It makes potty training fun for kids.

Hi T.
I have a three year old also who did not want to sit on the potty. He would go in a corner and poop in his pull up and then come tell me he needs to be changed by pointing to his buttucks. I would put underwear on him thinking maybe he would't like the wet feeling but nothing helped. One day He just went to the potty and pooped. Of course I made a big deal of it. We clapped and sang a song about him using the potty. This just happend about 2 months ago and he will be 4 in Sept. I say all of this to say he will go when he is ready you just stay consistant with putting him on the potty a few times a day everyday. Good luck

Hi Terry,
I think it's important to realize that all kids learn at their own pace. Though I understand your frustration. It does seem that boys take a little longer to master new skills than girls. I found that the DVD from Huggies helped. If you go to Huggies.com, they have a free dvd about potty training that is a lot of fun. Check it out, and GOOD LUCK!