Potty Training Ideas

I trained my 3 year old in one weekend. I waited until I felt he was ready. The every 15 minutes to the bathroom training didn't appeal to me. When He started telling me he was going potty, I started taking him into the bathroom to go and praised him for being a big boy. We read the "potty chair book a few weeks prior and talked about his special potty chair. We went to the store and bought brand new big boy underwear that he picked out him self. I used plastic pants over the regular underpants when we were out of the home so it would help him train faster. The overnight training took a little bit longer so I used pullups for a couple of months before switching to the plastic pant covers.

You may want to try instituting the use of his very own Pee Pee Bottle. Get an empty platic single serving, wide mouthed juice bottle. Get him to help decorate it. Make it a big deal with army guy stickers or whatever he's into. Teach him (or have your husband show him how to) go into the bottle at the toilet and then dump and flush it. This is such a different way to go potty, the novelty lasts into the completed training. It also gives him a fun visual to understand where everything is coming from and where it is going. It's also a gift of control for him.

Start with daytime, then move into first morning visits, etc. Obviously make it a big deal with you and the family. It is a rite of passage and your girls didn't get their own Pee Pee Bottle (or whatever you decide to call it.) Take it with you in the car, diaper bag, it works everywhere. Also, make a really big deal about all of this including his new big boy underpants. Keep them next to his skin and avoid using diapers/pull ups at home. Then only use those when away from home, but on top of his underpants. That way he is uncomfortable enough to remember, yet, no huge mess for you.
Good luck and I hope that helps.
B. L

A friend of mine was just telling me she just got her son potty trained (3 1/2 also) by giving him the incentive of getting a goldfish. It didn't work right away, but when they went to Walmart and picked out the tank and saw the food and fish, etc. he was motivated enough to be trained in the next few days. She was thrilled after months and months of frustration.

I am in the same boat but with a 6 yr old girl. She doesnt seem to mind being wet or messy. I do find her without her pull up on sometimes.
I take her every morning and she goes pee but she doenst initiate it on her own...

A.

I have also been there and done that with my girls. My son? He refuses. I have tried bargaining, pleading, cheerleading to him, bribing...everything. I even backed off over the holidays and started again a few weeks ago. No success. He starts pre-school this Fall so I'm starting to get a bit anxious. I know boys take longer so all I can offer is to let you know you're not alone and just try to hang in there. Eventually it will happen!

D.,
If you find something that works, PLEASE TELL ME!!! I too have been there done that with my girls (ages 11 & 8). They were a breeze compared to this little booger! My son is also 3 1/2 and truly doesn't care if he is wet or messy. We have tried rewards, bribing, timers, books, videos. I don't know what to do either. I do know that it will happen in time.....I just wish it was sooner rather than later! Good luck and know you are not alone!
T.

D.,

I'm not an expert, but from the many nephews that I have, the moms have tried the cherrios trick. Throw cherrios in the commode and see if he can sink it. Each time he needs to go, just throw one in and see if he can sink it by peeing on it. Then the reward of each successful time of going to the potty is whatever you decide. I know that his siblings cheering him on might work or might not work. I wish you the best in this timely but rewarding time. God bless you!

P.

Hey D.,

My mother had a really interesting idea for girls. She always had blue water and she would tell us to go change the color of the water by going potty. It was really fun for my sister and me. I was planning on doing this with my little girl, but using food coloring. For my son, I was told that teaching them to shoot at cheerios or fruit loops has worked very well. Have fun in whatever you do.

I have two boys, ages 4 and 6 and both of them didn't potty train until they were 3 3/4 yrs. old. They both resisted. I can tell you to try not to make it a power struggle or he'll end of winning this one. You may just want to wait a little longer and/or just try a basic sticker chart where he earns a sticker for just trying. After 10 stickers (or whatever you deem appropriate) he earns a small prize. But in the end, my success for both of them came from stripping them naked on a weekend when I knew we had nowhere to be for two days. Believe it or not, they do not want to pee on the floor. Yes, there were some accidents. But they really want the positive reinforcement from you that they can do it! My second son threw a tantrum, screaming "I want a diaper" when he was naked and had to pee so badly but after 5-10 minutes, he finally relieved himself in the potty. I gave him a lot of praise and he was almost completely potty trained just from that one time. We practiced for a couple of days, eventually with big boy underwear, and he was good to go. (BTW - The pooping and nighttime training usually take longer with most kids.) I would also take him to the store to pick out his favorite character big boy underwear. And if you decide to try the going naked tactic, give him lots of juice so he really feels like he has to pee. Good luck! Oh, and I also found that I had more success with them standing up, than sitting down. Hope this helps, M.

Hi D.,

We only have one child experience with potty training and it is with a boy. So unfortunately I don't know the difference between training boys and girls. I can just tell you what did and did not work for us. He would sit on his potty and a toilet insert since about age 2. And sit is all he would do. He loved to watch his potty training videos (one Elmo, another was a little girl helping her little brother) and read his potty books. Still nothing. We tried stickers on a pad of paper, stickers and tattoos on his hand (was told to find his "currency" for a reward) with no results. My husband came across this book at the library called, "The Idiot's Guide to Potty Training" (yes, seriously) which talked about a potty training weekend where you do nothing but concentrate on the task at hand. No leaving the house and expect lots of messes. First weekend....nothing but a lot of messes. Than we found a website called www.tootntinkle.com. Kaden loved to watched the video and "paint" the pictures on the website. They use a stamp chart and a special sticker for training. Great idea, but most of the items were out of stock. So, we created our own sticker chart where he got to choose the sticker and put it on (a whiteboard poster that sticks onto your wall), re-did the potty weekend on a 3-day weekend and incorporated a timer so he would know when it was time to sit the potty and try. For an extra incentive he could "spend" the stickers for activities such as a video, finger painting, play-doh, tattoos, candy, etc.. It seemed hopeless again until Sunday night (2-full days into the training) he finally went pee in the potty instead of saying "I have to go potty" while he was already peeing in his pants. By Monday he was a pro and we even went grocery shopping and he peed in the potty at the store!

Now pooping was another story. He kept doing that in his pants for what seemed like weeks until he finally got it right on the potty. We also started putting FiberSure in his milk to help that process along since he would hold it for days and than it would be painful. I think he didn't even want to try and sit for poo (would jump right off the toilet and wouldn't even consider sitting there for at least 2 minutes to help his body relax) because he equated it with pain. He would even run to the bathroom saying "I have to go potty", would get on and than would just jump right off. Talk about aggravating!! We haven't had any problems with it after we started the FiberSure.

Ok, I know this is a long entry but our trials of potty training was anything but easy. I hope you can take some of what we did to make it easier for your boy!

M.

My son is almost 4 1/2 now and he was trained right before his 3rd birthday, which totally amazed me because he didn't seem to be very interested in losing his diapers! Luckily for us, his birthday is in August and it was warm enough for me to let him run around naked from the waist down (we have wood floors!). He hated the feeling of wetting himself and it didn't take long for him to get to the toilet in time! He was pretty much potty-trained in one week. After that, we started rewarding him with M&M's every time he used the toilet successfully (he loves chocolate, but small dollar store prizes could work, also). I DID NOT use pull-ups or diapers during the day, because I felt like that was taking major steps backwards. I bought a portable potty from One Step Ahead that has been one of the very best purchases I ever made!!! It folds up like a briefcase and can easily be stored in your car and I actually used to use it instead of public restrooms because it was much cleaner! Having a little potty in the car made for very few accidents because he never had to wait very long to get to a toilet. The Cheerios in the toilet idea is also a good one. Hope this helps!!

i made a sticker chart for my son william. i taped it over the potty and everytime he went he got to put on a sticker.

we also used to put the potty next to ours and he would sit on it and read tractor magazines...even if he didn't have to go.

also - every time he went we use to sing a potty song. willy made it up..and i just went along.

just be over encouraging about it. hang in there...when he wants to let go of the control he will:)

i also had dad help on this one (since i don't have the same parts as him.

i also let him help me flush and get the toilet paper (feel like he was helping)..anyting to make him feel like he was important.

not to mention, at times we bribed him with m&m's (each time he went to the potty he would get 1 just to practice sitting, 2 for peeing ...3 for poop). That really worked.

hope this helps.

It may seem a little stange but i would place a cheerio in the potty and make a game out of it and tell him if he pees on it he will win the game and maybe even reward him with a favorite sticker. good luck now i am fighting with my little girl who just turned 2 she is the hard one for me. My son was suprisingly easy.