Potty Training Question for Moms of 3-Year-old Boy Trainees!

My oldest son was 2 1/2 when he potty trained. It only took me a week and he was completely trained, even at night.
My youngest is a totally different story! He will be 3 in two weeks and wants absolutely nothing to do with the potty. Everyone tells me they will do it when they are ready......I will give him some more time.
I am interested to see some of the posts :)

My daughter potty-trained at 3, so I figured my son would be ready/willing to train around that same age. Not! When we would try to put him on the potty last summer (when he turned 3) he would scream and cry. After a few days of this, we gave up. We tried again over Christmas (so he was 3 years, 5 months), and everything was MUCH better. He was calm, and willing, and got the hang of it pretty quickly. He is now 2 months shy of turning 4, and he has not had an accident in quite a while, and he's been staying dry at night.

I suppose I could have forced him to continue with the potty over the summer, but we were all so miserable. I think waiting the extra 5 months or so was a great decision for us and made the process much more pleasant.

So to answer your Q, my son was almost 3 and a half. :)

My son was finally trained at 3 yrs, 3 mos. He was not at all interested although he was able to do when he was so inclined. My mom called me at work one day to tell me Dr Phil's show that day was going to include a guaranteed 3 day potty training technique. I rushed home, watched the show, and over that next weekend - columbus Day weekend - which in the NY area is a 3 day weekend, that child got trained!!!

The whole idea behind it is that kids are best trained by positive reinforcement (think pavlovs dogs) not by negative when they don't do it. First you tell you child what the plan is - you need short term, middle term and long term rewards. And remember at 3 yrs old short term goal means instant (mom cheers YAY! I'm so proud of your, throws some confetti in the air and give them a few m&ms), middle term goals (after using the toilet all day we're going to have a special treat - if he loves Diego or Power Rangers then call "Diego" or his favorite "power ranger" (your DH, uncle or another family friend who can take the call with a decent impression) after he uses the toilet in exaggerated expression tell them excitedly "Guess what? 'Timmy' just used the potty!!! - it's so amazing because he did it all on his own - he told me what he was doing and he just went & used the toilet like a grown up boy! Do you wnat to talk to him?" Then hand the phone to your DS. Make sure the imposter on the other side of the phone is equally excited - "WOW that is so awesome - you used the potty all by yourself? You must be so proud of yourself - how cool is that?" etc. At the end of the weekend have a party - invite special important people - grandparents, favorite cousins, best buddy from next door. Have soda, cupcakes, more confetti. Sing "for he's a jolly good fellow" - include a few cancels - why not hey love blowin out candles at this age...

Lay it all out ofr him before the weekend (or another 3 days that you'll be home) begins. Make sure it's going to be a quiet weekend where you'll be around the whole time and won't have special company. Tell him what you expect of him - that you know he can do this becuase he's getting to be a big boy now. Tell him when he uses the potty he gets some m&ms. Make a huge deal of it (YAY!!! hugs, "I knew you could to it - I'm so proud of you"). Remind him that if he uses the potty all day we're going to call the red power ranger (or whomever) - make sure to make that call if he stays dry. If he makes a mistake don't make a big deal - almost ignore it - change him into dry stuff, no negative response - just tell him "OK - now you're dry - I know you can do this next time - you know what it feels like when you have to go. Remember you get m&ms when you use the potty." Chances are the first day he won't stay dry - not a big deal just reinforce what you already told him.

Finally when he finishes the 3 days (allow a mistake or two in the first day or two as long as he doesn't completely ignore it and shows that he tried - and the 3rd day is dry) have that promised party.

i swear it worked liek a charm for my son.

One note - some kids can not stay dry at night until they're older. My DD was in late 1st grade before she could stay dry through the night. There's a hormone that's secreted that makes the kidneys hold fluid through the night and then release it into the bladder in the morning. For some kids enough isn't secreted until puberty when all the hormones are in overdrive! So if you kid is able to be dry all during the day with out a problem but jsut cannot stay dry at night don't be rough on him - something like 10% of kids are 6 or 7 before they can stay dry all night, and about 2% it can take until puberty.

Good luck mama. This is still the easy stuff - it gets more tough as the years go by - but the rewards increase too. ;o)

Among the many young families I've known there have been a few boys and at least one girl who didn't show any real interest in using the potty until at least 3.5. But when they decided they wanted to go for it, they were almost instantly successful, sometimes in one day. (Some of those parents were beginning to feel real despair that their child would ever be ready.)

In a couple of cases it was because friends of theirs in preschool got to wear big boy/girl pants, and they wanted those, too. In other cases, all the positive "pre-training" messages they had received in their homes over previous months just clicked.

Here's a wonderful, informative website you might find helpful. It gives a few variations on "readiness" checklists, plus tips on various training strategies, the best ages to start them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

We started introducing the potty to my son when he was about 15 months old. He would sit on the potty and sometimes go, but it was never consistent. At 2 I started trying to "train" him, using all the old stand bys--- books on the potty, stickers for going, m&ms for going, putting the potty near the tv..... you name it, we tried it! He would wear underwear for a day or two (and have alot of accidents) and then lose all interest in going in the potty and wear pull ups for another month. This went on and on. I kept trying but his desire wasn't there.
Then one day, it just clicked. It was 2 months before he turned 3 years old. He basically told me that he needed to pee (which he had NEVER done before) and that he wanted to go in the potty. He kept it up for three days--- had a few accidents but all in underwear--- and after the first week was accident free. He totally lead it, btw. I had stopped trying cause I figured he wasn't ready. After about a month of wearing underwear during the day and pullups at night I ran out of pull ups. He has only had 2 accidents at night time since... He's had alot of accidents during the daytime, though--- although I've noticed it always happens during something exciting (disneyland, a fun day with friends, a new adventure etc). My son definitely taught me a lesson that when HE is ready, he will do it in his own time :) Good luck!

btw. there is potty book my son LOVES called Potty by leslie patricelli. Something about the pictures and the simplicity...

my son is 3 (will be 4 in July), but I had him potty trained, day time only, after 2 months of turning 3. He was starting preschool 2 half days per week and he had to be potty trained to go there. Now that he is almost 4, he is doing a great job! We are still working on night time though. I think that might take a while for us. Good luck!

My son was 3 yrs 4 months when we started. We waited for the "signs" that he was interested, seemed to have less diapers and could vocalize when he "knew" he had to go potty. We also knew we had a long trip for Christmas and didn't want to get into a 9 1/2 hour drive during potty training so waited until we had time focus. Santa got him big boy underwear and we made a BIG deal out of it. We also rewarded for going potty - had a jar of items he could pick from (stickers, gummies, etc...) I think it took about 3 months where we had undies during the day and still had diapers on at night (until there were a number of mornings when he woke up with dry diaper).

We NEVER went to the pull-ups, which I know some people like. It was either "big boy" underwear or he went "back into his baby diaper." He definitely wanted to be a "big boy" so he did not like the thought of going back to a "baby diaper." I had heard all sorts of stories how much harder it was for boys - maybe we were lucky. I think he had a total of 4 or 5 accidents - and he did not enjoy that sensation of the wet underwear and pants, so I think that helped "cement the deal" ;o)

Good Luck!

My son was potty trained at 38 months. However, he still needs help sometimes with pulling down & up pants, and sitting to poop. We tried starting at 35 months and then he just wanted to do it. Pee was actually trained about a month before poop. But now that he does both, he's had a few accidents with pee, never with poop. And at night he still wears a pull-up. Half the week he wakes up wet, half dry. Don't push anything. They'll be ready when they are.

My son showed interested going #1 at 18 mos but never got it/aimed well until he was about 2.

We started #2 at 2, 2.5, 3 and he finally got it 2 months before his 4th bday.

I have 2 boys. Older son trained 2 weeks before his 3 year old birthday. My younger son 2 years 4 months is not yet trained. But, I am planning on doing the big potty push with him (switching to undies) at the end of the month.

My approach to potty training was very laid back. For 6 months, talk about the potty, sit them on the potty, do a big song and dance about the potty, encourage them to go, sit on the potty with them, talk about pee in the potty, do stickers, lol etc! But, NEVER force them. By doing this with my boys, they never minded sitting on the potty, and eventually they started going.

Then.....when I was ready....and I felt that they were ready. I switched them to undies, and didn't look back. Yep, you have to stay home for a few days. And be prepared to have accidents for a few days, but if you stick with it, and you enocourage them, they will get it. My older son had 2-3 accidents a day for a week or so, but then......no problems. My younger son is much more motivitated to use the potty....so I think he will be sucessful when I switch to undies at the end of this month.

YOU WILL know when THEY ARE READY! AND BE sure YOU ARE READY! Do the switch to UNDIES and DON"T GO BACK!!! It works!!!!