Potty Training Help - Niagara Falls,NY

L.,
I had a pretty hard time getting my oldest potty trained. I finally took him to the store and had him pick out underwear he really liked and told him that I would not buy him any more diapers or pullups. Pullups are just glorified diapers in my opinion. I will NOT be using them at all with my younger son. Anyhow, Clayton found out that messing in regular underwear was really uncomfortable. Within a couple days, he was using the potty all the time. Good Luck!!

Hi L.,
Have you tried to completely take away the pull-up?

Put him in underwear and make him clean up his own poop.

My son got a sticker everytime he used the potty. I also put him on automatically first thing in the morning and right before bed. Also have you tried leaving him bare with access of some sort of potty? Or tried putting a few cheerios is the potty water and asking hime to shoot them? Someone else told me about the cheerios. Goodluck.
K.

we went out and bought special underpants - he chose which bathroom and which potty - then we said no more diapers - he wet himself three times and then got the concept- we have a chart I bought at Beckers and he put a sticker on evrytime he went. After a week we did not need the stickers Hope it helps - good luck

WEll i have two girls which they both gave me a time to potty train was terrible but at the age of 3 they were both first off i would say DONT put him in pullups and first thing in the am i would put underware on him period i would tell him big boys dont wear diapers and reward him when he goes in the potty like a big boy and use the sticker method then by the end of the week if he has a good amouth of stickers for using the potty reward him but if his stickers get taken away then he gets nothing i would not say let him run naked hes almost 5 yrs old now alittle old to be doing that ..he knows when he has to go potty i have a dd who just turned 5 and she new and he does too ..Unless he has a medical problem have you talked to your ped about this ....i would tell him no more pull ups also if hes going to pre school or school he dont want to be teased there tell him big boys dont wear diapers ...but i was told with my kids Dont use pull ups there like diapers better off just putting right in underwear maybe u can bring him and have him pick out special undies for big boys also .....that works sometimes maybe he will see a couple packs he would like and tell him he gets the first one he picks and if he does good then you will bring him back to get the others he picked just some suggestions for ya be stern with it though cause i feel hes playing ya if he dont have a medical problem he knows momma will change him hes too big for momma to be changin unless like someone else said theres been a big change somewhere ya know good luck

hi,
i purchased a dvd called "Potty Power".... it is excellent! It really helped my daughter with potty training.
Good Luck

I put my daughters potty in the living room and when her two favorite shows were on she would sit on it and watch them...also i left her completely naked the whole time. It helped and she was potty trained in 2 weeks. My friend just started doing this with her 2 1/2 yr old and its worked. The only other tip is to keep the routine the same ever day. Thats why I made my daughters potty training time during teletubbies and Noddy :) Hope this helps. I can see why your worried 4 and a half is old enough for him to be using a potty. I hear it much harder with boys. I really really hope this idea helps. GOOD LUCK!

My son was 4yrs old once we got him potty trained.At school they used a timer set it for every 15 minutes and each week increased it.It worked there at school but didn't want to use it at home said it was a school thing.So I made a graph then each time he went pee he got a happy face and if he went poo he got 2 happy faces.He got some presents every twenty days now we've mastered it.Good luck and hope this was helpful.Also don't use pull ups they use them like diapers I just went for it with undies I mean a few accidents but nothin like he was in the pull ups.

Hi L.,
I have a 6 y/o son who I thought for sure would be going to College in a pullup, so I can relate to your frustration. I started potty training around 2 and he just wasn't ready. Finally I decided we would go ahead and give it another whirl. I took him out and had him pick out it own big boy pants, something with his favorite characters on it. While we still continued to have accidents I just kept encouraging him and had him go often and espically with Dad. You can also try rewarding him, put up a chart with stickers. Everytime he goes, he get a sticker on the chart. You can tell him when he gets 5 stickers he'll get a prize. Just something small. Or you can do it where he has to get stickers across the chart for 3 days and then you'll take him for a special treat, lunch at McDonald's, the newest DVD he wants, There are also tragets for the potty, which he may find fun. Cherrieo's in the potty for him to aim at. Good luck.

If you have ruled out any physical problems with your physician and there are no huge changes in your child's life (new baby, house, divorce etc) it is totally a control thing at this age. What has your pediatrician recommended? Put on underwear and be done with it. Yes, he will have to clean himself up. At nearly 5 he should be able to dress himself, and sure as heck can go potty. I had to have my 3 yr old trained for dycare and I just had to grin and bear it. we had plenty of accidents, but he is now trained at 3 1/2. You have to be strong. Rest assured as soon as he gets to school he will train b/c the other kids will make fun of him. Good luck!

Here is advice from my daughter in law, Shantel, on her son - my baby is 19 and Lord knows it was not fun.

Well when i was potty training Terry I would just make him sit on the little potty every half hour or so. I would ask him if he had to pee and every time that he told me no I would make him sit on the potty. And he would go a couple hours (still making him sit every half hour) with out peeing. I knew
that he would go eventually. So I would just sit the potty in the living room in front of the tv and he would watch Dora and Blues clues. And eventually he started doing it. And then he was able to do it during the day time but at night I still had to put a diaper on him. So after a little bit of accidents at night we just made it that after a certain time he was not
allowed to drink anything (still to this day and he is 4) and make him go potty right before he goes to bed.

Hope that helps!

Because it's the summer, try letting him run around naked. Granted, you'll feel like you have a puppy instead of a son but you won't get frustrated checking wet pullups. I have 3 boys -- 2 of which are potty trained. My boys would frantically search for some place to go when they were naked....just enough time for me to grab them and run to the bathroom. After a while (read: months!) they got the idea. Boys do take a long time to potty train so hang in there.