Potty Training a Little Boy - Rochester,NY

Updated on July 19, 2010
R.T. asks from Rochester, NY
11 answers

I am in the process of potty training my son, he's 27 months old. We have small bathroom and his potty chair is adjacent to the toilet. We've had the potty chair out for a few months now. Sometimes he show interest and sometimes not. Lately he is interested and is also taking off his diaper when he's wet (he pulls it down like he's wearing underwear, doesn't try to rip it off or anything). Thankfully it's only wet diapers, and I've had to clean up his crib/floor. He tends to take his diaper off while he's down for his nap, and after he wakes up - so we're trying to catch him doing it and keep it on or put a new one on him if he's wet.

Today I sat on the toilet while he sat on his but didn't go to show him you can sit there for a little bit before you have to go. After he tried sitting on the potty for a minute, he got up and walked to the other side of the bathroom and stood behind the sink (I couldn't see him) and proceeded to pee (standing up).

My question is...how do I convince him to pee on the potty? Does he not want to go in front of me (or anyone else for that matter)? Normally when he poops he hides - behind a chair, in the corner and if we see him, he says "no no" and covers his eyes with his hands. But then he'll tell us afterwards so we can change him. So that's making me think he doesn't want to pee in front of us either?

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D.N.

answers from Rochester on

Rewards are great to get them going!My Daughter-in -law tried 5 M&M's for peeing and 7 for pooping.They need the ego thing,even at that age.Another trick is draw a little bulls-eye on a plastic lid and cut it out.Put a little water in his potty and float the bulls-eye.Each time he hits the bulls-eye,he gets a penny for his bank.

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C.K.

answers from New York on

I think people are misinterpreting your question. It sounds like your son is showing interest in potty trainging and you would just like to encourage him to use the potty instead of the floor. Sounds fair!

With my son, we taught him what a potty was for by sitting him on it with me sitting in front of him doing activities with him. We sang songs, read his favorite books, played with his toys, until he peed on his own. Then it was party time! Singing, Yay! Peepees in the potty, peepees in the potty! Then he got m&ms and we did it again a bit later. Made it fun for him. After he "got it" we backed off entirely and waited until he started showing interest again. every once in a while I'd ask if he wanted to do peepees in the potty, he'd say no, and I'd cheerfully say ok and let it go. Just so that he'd remember what it's for. Boys seem to go through cycles of interest in potty training.

Anyway, he just turned two and on occassion asks for the potty. He'll walk into the bathroom and say peepees. We have a potty chair and a Bjorn training seat that we can pop onto the toilet, and he will watch himself pee and ask for a chocolate. Afterwards we put a sticker onto his potty chair.

Your husband should let him in the bathroom when've goes (both 1&2) and there is nothing wrong with him seeing you use the toilet too. My son asked to use the potty when he heard me say that mommie was going peepees on the toilet. It's perfectly fine, you are doing a great job, keep it up!

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S.H.

answers from Dallas on

you can buy pee pee targets at babies r us. you place one or two targets in the potty and he can aim his stream to try and hit them. This would make it a fun game instead of a chore.

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C.S.

answers from Milwaukee on

I'm in the same boat right now. My son is 30 months. We've been batting potty training around for about 6 months-but we also have a newborn at home and we've decided to table it a bit. I've read and many of my friends have told me that waiting until the boys are closer to three makes it easier. I'm leaning towards that. For one they definately understand things more as they get older. Right now we just talk about it a lot and encourage him if he does show interest.

Hope that helps a bit.

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M.T.

answers from New York on

Hi R.,
No, it's not that he doesn't want to pee in front of you, a two year old doesn't understand that concept. Toddlers do not pee on command and he is still only a little past two - he simply may not understand that when you're on the potty, it's time to go. However, maybe show him to pee standing up, throw a cheerio in the toilet or potty (never used a potty for my kids).

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L.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

I am not sure where the rush is for everyone? Yes diapers are messy and frustrating, But did u ever hear good things come tot hose who wait? I never pressured any one of my kids -now 4 1/2 and a bit over 3 yrs old. They did it on their own-YES I encouraged, BUT NEVER DISCOURAGED or punished-the transtion was SOOOOO easy-my daughter did it in a day-both #1 AND # 2 YES I was LUCKY! One accident in a year! My son the same he did #1 in a day-YEAH! When he was READY! And #2 took a bit, BUT he did it when he wanted to ! NO STRESS NO FUSS EASY!!!!!!!!!!!! TRY IT!!!!!!!!!!!

K.D.

answers from Dallas on

I have a sweet and well adjusted boy and it took him forever to decide that HE wanted to be potty trained.

If he isn't into it, perhaps you should give him a little more time. I rushed things for school issues and if I had it to do all over again, I would back off. I caused him and myself so much unneeded stress.

As for pee, we set our dude free in the backyard naked often and once he figured out how it was all working, he couldn't get enough of it. Thought it was a blast. Then it didn't take too long to convince him that the potty was fun too.

Good Luck!! Take it easy on yourself and him. I know it gets old and frustrating.

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N.B.

answers from Jamestown on

First off...boys pee standing up. You sitting down is not showing him the right way to achieve the potty training goal. Have his father pee with him. Even have his father pee in his potty to show him that's where he's supposed to go.

Next, if he's taking off his diaper, get him into pull-ups. I know a lot of people are "against" pull-ups but they do work if you use them correctly.

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L.H.

answers from New York on

Somepeople use cherrios or small wades of toilet paper and have the child aim at the objects to try and sink them, so if seems more like a fun game. With us, we didn't have much of a problem...It might be, because we made going potty seem very natural and showed our son that everybody does it. Even my hubby went potty in front of our son to show him how to be a big boy. We let him choose real underwear, so he never wore rubber pants or pullups. This way he would be very uncomfortable if he went in his pants. Pullups and diapers soak everything up, so they can't feel when they've gone in their pants. We also gave out special potty treats for deposits only. One gummy shark for #1 deposit in the potty and two gummy sharks for #2 deposit in the potty. Our son was fully potty trained and kept dry even in the night withint 2 weeks.

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B.J.

answers from Los Angeles on

He's still kinda young for Pt for a boy, boys seem to be late pt's.. He prob just doesn't get the concep yet, not that he's shy or doesn't want to.. Try looking into the Potty train your child in one day by Dr. Phil.. You can look it up online or buy the book, but I think its a great method, works every time for us! Just don't expect him to actually be potty trained in a day.. LoL It mentions when they pee on the floor/not in potty, take him back to the potty like 15 more times or something in a half hour... It builds those muscles & helps him remember this is where we go potty. If he even goes a dot on the potty try giving him a jelly bean or small treat. Hope it goes well & he gets it soon!

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K.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

Try giving him underwear time each day. It sounds like he's fully aware of when he's going. So, may as well show him that it's more convenient to go in the potty. Gerber makes cotton training pants that are thicker than plain underwear, and paired w/ a pair of sweat pants, most pee is soaked up by the two leaving little mess.

For the poop thing, I found that my son poops a lot easier when we eat less gluten. If he has a lot of difficulty pooping, an allergy or intolerance may be making it more difficult.

Make sure you don't give him the idea that pooping is dirty or gross. Sometimes we forget that children are listening to everything we say and all the faces we make. It can be difficult to restrain reactions to poop, though. I started commenting rather on how much better his belly much feel now that all the poop was out of there, etc. Make pooping a positive experience, if at all possible!

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