Potty Training - Berwick,ME

His interest is the biggest indicator of success. I would suggest that if he wants to use the potty you go for it and don't give up. If you put him off now he may decide to make it a long battle of wills later. The potty train in a day book worked miracles for a friend whose son was actually asking for the potty. It didn't work for our son, but he was only interested because he saw his sister get M&Ms for going. It took him a couple months. After three weeks of hard work he finally got it, and was dry through the night just 2 weeks later because he wakes himself up to go.

You live with him so you certainly know better if he's ready than your doc! If he shows interest and wants to pee or poop on the potty, that is a cue and, by all means, let him! My son was 3. But my daughter was 2 1/2. If he's not interested, no need to push it, but if he wants to try, encourage it. Even if it means one less wet diaper a day, it's a great thing!

I found that my kids were ready when they started waking with a dry diaper. I would take them in the morning right away, and they would be thrilled with a giant pee. I found that boys can be more difficult when it comes to poop, so take deep breaths.

Pull ups are convenient, but just another diaper, so potty training goes a lot faster if you go straight to undies (can wear pullups in the car or at night) and deal with any accidents. With my son, I'd give him sweatpants and undies, and if he had an accident, the sweatpants would absorb most of the pee before it hit the floor!

Summer is also a great time to train a boy to stand-pee. My son and nephew would "water" my mom's bushes on the side of her yard and by the end of summer, they had perfect aim!

Good luck and don't forget to stock up n M&Ms (reward for him) and wine (reward for you)!

I'm in shock a doctor told you to wait. Don't ignore the signs your child is giving you that he is ready - past ready probably - go for it! Find a good technique and then stick with it long term - committment!

My son was fully trained by about 2.5 years. If your son shows an interest, set up a chart reward system and go for it! Your doctor may have been simply trying to dissuade you from "pushing" him into training. Which CAN backfire in some instances. But if your son is interested, then he is WAY plenty old enough. Don't hold him back for some arbitrary age 'requirement'!

Celebrate (loudly and crazily - poopy and pee dances and parades, etc) for every success, and ignore and downplay any mistakes. He'll do great!
Enjoy!

J.,

I imagine your son's doctor told you to wait because many children (especially boys) are not physically ready to potty train until after 3. They may not have the control, or they may not be able to tell when they need to use the bathroom. If your son is showing signs of readiness, then it is possible that he is physically ready. You won't know until you try.

I really only have my personal experience to draw on here, but my daughter is a good example of a child who showed interest in potty training but wasn't physically ready to train. At three, she understood what the potty was for and wanted to try to pee, but when she sat on the potty, nothing happened. Five minutes later, she would be wet. Rather than frustrate her and us, we let it go for a while. After a few months, something clicked, and she finally truly understood. It seemed like she trained in a couple of days. Now she has excellent control and stays dry through the night. However, without reminders throughout the day to use the bathroom, she will have three or four accidents. She rarely goes on her own. When we ask her why she didn't use the potty, she says, "Because I didn't know that I had to go." So even though she is wearing underwear and staying dry through the night, I don't feel like she is completely trained. Now my daughter is almost 3.5, and she is very independent. She doesn't want to be reminded to use the bathroom. In fact, she HATES it. We've built using the potty into our routine (pee when you get up, pee after breakfast, pee before snack, etc.), but this doesn't really feel like she is "completely potty trained" to me.

So I guess what it boils down to is what you consider potty training to be. Is it that your son is able to know on his own when to use the potty and stay dry throughout the day, or is it that your son understands what the potty is for and will use it when asked. For some children (like my daughter and my 5 year old son), the reminders feel like nagging and it turns into a battle of wills. But for others, possibly your son, since he is younger, reminders are fine.

I'm not sure if this is helpful, just another perspective. Good luck!

I took a week off of work to potty train my son at 2.5 years. I had the then latest technique - buy a doll that can "pee" and teach your child to potty train the doll and the child will be potty trained too. Total fail. 2 months later my son just decided he was done with diapers and that was it! I am not sure you can/should try to push it before they are ready...But Good Luck!

Hello, My son is 26 months now and we are potty training him this weekend. We are using the Lora Jensen-3 day potty training method and after day 1, we have not had any real accidents including naps and sleeping through night. Let's see how today goes but he seems to have the idea and be grossed out by wet underwear.
To be honest, it seems to me at this early stage that it has everything to do with us as parents being commitment to the cause and consistent with the process. (just got interrupted for a pee run, haha.)
As far as readiness goes, we talked about the potty off and on and would put him on every so often but that was about it. I kept saying he wasn't ready because he had a speech delay so he wouldn't be able to communicate he needed to go but that was not true. What I learned is that the little ones give so many body language visual cues and they let you know. Also, some treats as rewards don't hurt! There are no rules about readiness, each child is different.
Again, at my very early stage of potty training......I would say wait until you can commit to 3 days of potty training, check out this method and give it a try. I am in shock how well my son did yesterday and is already doing today. Good luck!!!

Follow your son's lead. If he's interested, encourage him and allow him to try. He is showing you that he's ready to start training, so it makes sense to go ahead with it. I'm starting potty training with my youngest girl right now because she is interested and wants to try (sometimes). I just encourage her, read her lots of potty books, and offer to take her to the potty several times during the day. Sometimes she wants to try, other times she doesn't. I'm not pushing. Clearly she is interested, and it is all still new. She will get it in time, and so will he. Good luck!

Well with my daughter I started about 18 months & I had no idea what method to use. I flip flopped back & forth. She was finally fully trained 2 months prior to her 3rd birthday & she had begun getting into force of wills at the end there. My son started around 2 and was fully trained about 6 months later. Here are tricks i found that helped me the most. Most of it involved training me not them. LOL first I used pull ups cuz I just couldn't handle all the messes and neither of my kids cared if they were wet. they would continue to play & say nothing. So, I bought a watch & set timer to go off every 45 minutes and then take them in and have them sit for a few minutes, if nothing happens, just say maybe next time. If they go do a high five or something like that. After meals, 20 minute wait. Learn your kids poop time & be near a bathroom during that time. Keep eyes out for clues in the face or the way they act then get them in there. At night, I hated laundry & like i said, my kids both would sleep in their pee. that is just disgusting. So I had them go at 8:00 pm before bed. then I would get them up with lights off & have them go before i went to bed usually around 10. Then I set alarm & did it again at 1:00. then they usually made it till 6. which was when we got up & started our day. Pull up usually stayed dry & I would reuse over & over to save money unless it got used of course. Now for out & about. I went to garage sales I bought outfits in different sizes & for different occaisons. I packed a bag that had socks, shorts, pants, short, long sleeve shirts, & one nice dress for daughter. underwear & panties. I think my whole bag packed was a $5.00 investment. I put it in the back of my car for emergency. In car seats, I used puppy pads. If accident happened, I wadded it up & threw it out. I did pack a box of zip bags to store nasty clothes or pads till I could wash or throw it out since I'm in texas, the heat & wet pee or pooped clothes get to stinking really bad! Get in the habit of going to the bathroom when yu go into a store & when you leave if you stay any length of time. what I found with my kids when I tried to wait for them to tell me, then they had waited too long & we wouldn't be near a bathroom. If I went often, we had less problems & they got really good at washing their hands which is really good when your out 7 about anyway & we seemed to miss getting all the flu bugs etc.. that went around. I found they wipe themselves better after a poo if you provide wipes. I just taught them that they go in the trash not the potty. My son was my second to train & by then I knew what did & didn't work. his was a quicker & less frustrating process. he never had an accident in public & he has never had a night time accident. eventtuallly both my kids told me not to wake them that they would do it themselves. My kids are 3 & 4 & they go at night on their own and go back to bed without disturbing anyone else. that is pretty cool in my book! Best of luck to you it is definately a journey & I hope this helps you on yours.

I can't imagine why your doctor would tell you not to bother until he's three. I have 4 kids (2 boys & 2 girls) and all but one was potty trained well before their third birthday. I'll add that it had little to do with my prowess as a mother/potty trainer. They did most of the work themselves! :)

I started them off a little after 2 with the introductions to the potty & we have an open door bathroom policy around here (it's unusual to get any time alone with 4 kids in the house...even in the bathroom LOL). As soon as they showed interest, I'd let them sit on the potty when they wanted to, but never forced them to. They'd sit on it & watch Blue's Clues, or read a book, or just play. When they finally happened to go in the potty at all, I made a huge deal about it...clapping & cheering & calling everyone we knew to share the good news & letting them pick out big kid underpants. They'd get excited & pretty much take over from there. It took a few months, but it was never a struggle.

If your son is showing interest, put him on the potty! Forget what the doctor said. He's not the one buying diapers!! :) Oh, and skip the pull-ups except at bedtime or nap time. They just treat them like diapers. Go for the heavy cotton training pants.

I would try if he is interested. My first daughter was trained at 22months and within a week and my second daughter wanted to start at 16months so I let her. We went straight to undies and I would have to remind her to go now at 22months she goes in on her own without the constant reminders. My thought was that I didnt care about accidents and we rather clean pee off my floor ( i have wood only rugs in bedrooms) then buy diapers. my friend bought a cheap bath mat and it was her daughters magic carpet to take around with her and sit on while playing so she wouldnt pee on the rugs. I thought that was a really cute idea and saves your rugs. I would also go straight to undies, stay home if possible for a week so you can be very consistent, set a time to remind yourself and him to go in and try and give a little reward (m&m my older daughter like money so she got a coin for her piggy bank whatever works). When I did have to run to stores I had them try before we left, put a towel on the carseat and would ask once we got to the store or if its a quick trip as soon as I got home put then on the toilet. my kids had most of there accidents at home not the stores. Good luck!

If he is showing signs of readiness (interest, can pull up/down his pants, can sit on the potty for a few minutes, etc), then by all means get him a potty seat. I started training my kids with sticker rewards (sticker for just sitting, and then eventually for going). Books or a little tv keep them occupied. Get set to be excited about poo and pee!

I actually had fun training my kids - the trickiest part was when they were half way trained and they want to wear underwear and you have to go to the store..... suddenly you will know where ALL the bathrooms are everywhere you go - LOL. Of course and you'll travel with 2+ spare outfits.