Potty Training Ideas? - Topanga,CA

Hi B.,
I have a great on-line potty training book if you would like me to forward it to you. (or anyone else who might need it) I didn't read a whole lot of it because my daughter basically potty trained herself...I know.....I'm blessed! Anyway my email address is ____@____.com.
I hope to hear from you soon!
M.

Hi B.,
Most boys aren't really ready until close to their 3rd birthday even though they show interested before then. My son was the same way. A month before his 3rd birthday we went on vacation and took the potty with him. We said, "No more diapers - you have to use the potty". We let him walk around with no diapers or underwear for the first couple of days. By the 3nd day we got him to pee in the potty. He said, "That wasn't hard, that wasn't scary". My the 3rd day we got him to poop in the potty and he said the same thing. We put pullups on at night until we were sure he could make it through the night dry.

So that's what we did. You can try to force your son into it but it may be too early. If you make it a battle he'll win so you have to ease him into it and know when he's really ready so you can sort of force the issue.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

We just finished potty training our 2 1/2 year old daughter. We used the "3 day potty training" method. It worked great. It only took us one day (mostly me not husband). I was really amazed that it worked as well as it did and that our daughter did as good as she did.

This method comes as a ebook. When you buy it the lady who wrote it will help you out. (I didn't get to utilize that service because I was give the ebook by a friend.) I have problem sending the ebook link. Email me at ____@____.com if you want me to send you the ebook. If you decide to use this method and think you are going to need her extra help then just go to the website and buy the book. We didn't actually need her help our daughter made the experience pretty easy for us (well me).

Good luck.

He's probably not ready. If he's using it occasionally you are getting there. Most kids I know did not start using the toilet consistently until 3 years or older.

I agree with Shannon R. and took a similar approach. The whole process seems to click more quickly if you just go for it.

I didn't go commando, but went straight to undies. No training pants or pullups. For the first few days, it was exceptionally difficult with a lot of cleanup (and I had a newborn at the same time) and so I would switch back to diapers in the afternoon to keep my sanity.

When an accident happened, I would just treat it matter-of-factly and we would change together. I also found m&m's to be a big motivator.

I'm about to take the plunge for the second time with my younger one, so I'm with ya!

I only have a girl so I don't know if it is different for boys. But I lingered in this "in between" zone for months like you are talking about. What finally made it happen was just going for it- no more diapers, not even underwear (I found that she thought that was the same as diapers and would just pee in them) and be ready to clean up the accidents. Sometimes she had no pants on, sometimes just a dress or little shorts or pants (no underwear). I was prepared to go all week and be a slave to the house. Within 2 days she was accident-free and I started taking her around town and she even used some public restrooms, no problem.

Of course every time he has an accident rush him over to the potty and have him sit on it, even if there is nothing more to come. And I was also willing to give a little treat (very small, couple m&ms or chocolate chips) if there was success. I think that was also a big motivator. And don't worry, after a couple days she stopped asking for the treat every time and potty just became a part of life.

The way I finally looked at it was, there is no "want to use the potty" or "she's not interested enough" or "how do we know she's really ready?"... I started to take the attitude that diapers are just no longer an option, they are out of our lives (except at night). She followed suit.

Hope this helps, every kid is different but my daughter is the same age and we just had this breakthrough a few weeks ago, after what sounds like your current experience of a long period of inconsistency. Good luck!

PS We still haven't made the jump to underwear, she is going commando. I haven't decided yet but I want to make sure the whole potty thing is really ingrained and diapers are a far distant memory before we re-introduce them...

Go to the library and get Toilet Training in Less Than a Day. It works!!!

I just trained my son, who is almost 3, using 3 Day Potty Training (www.3daypottytraining.com). Using that method and also an elmo potty training chart I bought at Toys R Us worked great for us.

My son started potty training at 20 months and was done at 23 months. We did elimination communication from 6 months on (wish I would've discovered it sooner) and because I did it so late, I had accepted the fact that I'd be changing diapers until at least three. I've read that we (people) train them to go in the diapers and then it's not uncommon for it to take that long for them to have all the necessary skills to understand potty training. However I think the fact that we did do the "ec" (even though we were late) really helped. Here's the website where I discovered "ec" http://www.tribalbaby.org/ECindex.html . I also think it helped that I never pressured my son, or made an "issue" of it.

So at 20 months, my son watched Elmo's "Potty Time" and that very day he sat on his potty for the FIRST time. He peed in it from that day on and he had never even sat on it before. Over the next week we had to be attentive and teach him how to sit and wait for poop to come out. We had a few accidents as he learned to hold his pee, so he could make it to the toilet. BEING NAKED WAS KEY FOR THIS TIME. For the next 2 months, he was perfectly potty trained as long as he was naked and awake. We carried a potty everywhere we went (as I had watched my girlfriends do this) and had almost no accidents AS LONG AS HE WAS NAKED FROM THE WAIST DOWN. This part may be embarrassing to parents but my son is small and we just put unbuttoned onsies or long shirts on him so you couldn't "see". We live in a laid back small town and no one cared. Honestly if I didn't do this, we'd still be in diapers. Over this 2 month period, if I put pants on him, he'd forget and go potty in his pants. If he was awake, I didn't put a diaper on him, and I only put the diaper on at night after he'd fallen asleep. Mostly because he wouldn't let me... he was a "big boy" after all :).

So during the last month we started to grow into wearing pants (he's too skinny for the smallest undies they make) and reminding him that it wasn't a diaper. We had a few mistakes, but then at 23 months, he was totally done and potty trained. Even at night, that just kind of came as I would accidentally fall asleep before I could put the diaper on him and I think his muscles developed with the training. I put a tupperware container next to the bed and a couple of times he's woken me up to go. I could walk him to the bathroom, but I'm afraid it will wake him to the point of not wanting to go back to sleep, so this is easier and works for us. Oh yes, and from the beginning until now we cheer every time he goes... it's part of the fun for him. If others are around they have to cheer too :). He never tires of it... loves the kudos.

That's my story, good luck to you!

I recommend that you go to www.pottytots.com and check out the parent's page where you can read all about the signs of readiness and make sure he is really ready.

Then you can have your son play some online games with the Potty Tots. If he likes them,he may want to learn all about potty training from them in their new kit. You can order the potty training kit online. There is a book, animated DVD, a potty chart (that shows the 6 steps of potty training) and a fun little football game with clings for keeping track of progress and rewards.

The program is geared toward children and helps them to be motivated to want to be just like their new little friends, the Potty Tots. The best part is it makes potty training fun with music, singing and dancing about the 6 steps of potty training and a song that says "I can do it all by myself!" It also builds confidence and self esteem!
Good Luck!

Keep the potty out and encourage him to use it, but don't pressure him to or punish him when he doesn't. Remind him once in a while that soon he will no longer wear diapers and he'll use the potty all the time- like you do. I believe that using the potty is it's own reward so I didin't give give treats or make a big deal out of it. When he does use the toilet, ask him if he feels proud of himself-that way he owns the experience and will be more likely to do it because he wants to. Be sure to get lots elastic waist pants that are really easy for him to pull down. If he hasn't gotten by this summer, then consider going cold-turkey with diapers and plan on staying home for a couple weeks. It's alot of cleaning uo to have to do for a while but it works. I did this with my son at the beginning of the summer and he got it down so well that we were able to go visitng for the rest of the summer with no diapers. Nice! Good luck!

Well what worked for me was bribery. Every time someone used the potty, they got a M&M. Mom, dad, guests (might want to limit who comes over) and of course your son. Now we only reward actually going and not just sitting there. I also cloth diapered so that helped a bunch.