Potty Training....

[Guest j_mommy]

My little guy is 2 1/2.....we've been working alittle...not pushing hard. He sits on the potty every few hours while at daycare and if it's warm he runs around the house naked and gets on the potty occassionally. The only problem is...as soon as he gets off, he goes into the living room and pees on the floor. As I said we aren't hitting this too hard. He does occasionally pee on teh toilet.

If anyone has any tricks or tips...that would be great....i'm going throught carpet cleaner like mad!

[CarlaB]

You want this book.

Open Original Shared Link .com/Toilet-Training-Less...y/dp/0671693808

I can't say it will work completely in one day, but the ideas are a huge help.

The biggest trick is waiting till they're ready. If you try too soon, it's impossible. If you wait long enough, you can almost do it in a day like the book says.

[gfmolly]

My little guy is 2 1/2.....we've been working alittle...not pushing hard. He sits on the potty every few hours while at daycare and if it's warm he runs around the house naked and gets on the potty occassionally. The only problem is...as soon as he gets off, he goes into the living room and pees on the floor. As I said we aren't hitting this too hard. He does occasionally pee on teh toilet.

If anyone has any tricks or tips...that would be great....i'm going throught carpet cleaner like mad!

Hi there,

I have a three year old and we are now officially potty-trained. I have an older son as well, and he too was into 3 and then was potty-trained. I do think it takes a little more time with boys. Don't push it is great advice and keep it very positive. My son was really motivated by a cool sticker chart taped to the bathroom door AND potty stickers on the backseat of the little potty. If you can find a motivator for when he does well, that may help. Oh, and have him gsit on the potty every hour and after he drinks is a way to catch him before he has an accident or goes in the pull-up. We also went and bought new big-boy underwear for him to have with cute characters and made a HUGE deal of it.

Terri

[CarlaB]

Oh, and have him gsit on the potty every hour and after he drinks

Congratulations on the potty training!!

The concept of the book is to not do this ... the idea is to get the child to anticipate when he needs to go so he goes to the toilet himself ... you train him, rather than have him wait for you to put him there and maybe go by accident.

You'd love the book, too, if you have any more to train.

I think when they're ready, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort.

Fun underwear, like you said, is a big help, too.

[Guhlia]

Is your son gluten free also? I was just wondering because I've slowly been noticing that my daughter (not tested for Celiac, but 100% gluten free by principle) has accidents left and right after being glutened. We noticed the trend with going out to eat, but this week she started having accidents shortly after her one class where I drop her off. They gets snacks in this class, hers are gluten free, but it's possible she got gluten somehow. Anyway, just wondering if perhaps this could be a sign that your little one has Celiac or is getting gluten from somewhere.

Also, it could just be completely normal, especially since you're not pushing the potty issue. My daughter took a while to potty train. I guess she wasn't ready. All it took for her was her pediatrician telling her it was time to start trying to use the potty. She never went back in diapers after that conversation. We had been trying to potty train her for about 6 months prior, though we never pushed it really hard. We never pushed it hard after that either, she just decided it was time and did it on her own. It was literally an over night thing for her. Hopefully yours will be that easy once he makes up his mind to try.

[tiredofdoctors]

I bought my kids regular underwear -- but the fun stuff: Papa Smurf for Brandon, Minnie Mouse for Ashley. My caveat to them: "You don't want to pee-pee on . . . . . . " Plus, wet underwear are NOT comfortable. They didn't like having them wet!

The other thing that I did -- we bought an M & M's machine, and put it on a shelf in the bathroom. Each time they went to the bathroom without having an accident, (after they washed their hands, of course) they got to get M & M's out of the machine. Talk about incentive! My kids were STRAINING to go to the bathroom! My aunt was asking about tips for my cousin's little boy, he was 3 1/2 at the time -- they were getting desperate. The M & M's machine worked for them, too.

I agree about the ready moment. I have a fantastic article written by Eda LeShan more than 25 years ago that addresses that very thing. I was lucky -- both of mine were ready and potty-trained (or at least they trained me) by age 2.

[jerseyangel]

We waited until they showed interest--when they're ready, it goes very quickly. That's the key--if the child isn't ready, it will be much more of a hassle.

One of my boys was about 3 and the other was a little over 3.

[CarlaB]

In addition to the candy incentive, I had them wearing the undies and drinking a lot. I didn't let them on the carpet. If they wet, they had to clean it up!!! Including rinsing out the undies in the toilet!

The idea is, you're passing on the responsibility to them, so they are responsible for the mess as well. This won't work if they're not ready.

It's from the book.

[amybeth]

My friend's mom was getting aggravated after months of trying....A square of toilet paper floating in the toilet inspired her to make going in the potty like target practice - aim for the square. He was trained in a week.

It's amazing what works sometimes.

At the same time, my neighbor was wrapping small presents and leaving them in a basket next to the potty as incentive - and that took months. She should have gone the target practice route, too!

[Guest j_mommy]

Thanks everyone....I think it may just not be time yet. We'll keep working but not pushing...thank you for all your help.

CarlaB...

I think I'm going to pick teh book up! Thanks

[tiredofdoctors]

My friend's mom was getting aggravated after months of trying....A square of toilet paper floating in the toilet inspired her to make going in the potty like target practice - aim for the square. He was trained in a week.

It's amazing what works sometimes.

They actually MAKE floating targets for boys!! Seriously. They are bust-a-gut funny, but I've heard they work . . . . .

[eveelady]

My friend's mom was getting aggravated after months of trying....A square of toilet paper floating in the toilet inspired her to make going in the potty like target practice - aim for the square. He was trained in a week.

Just putting my few cents worth in here, having been a qual early childhood teacher for about 10 years now

Definitely wait till he is ready - if he can follow simple instructions, understand words about toileting, is coming and telling you (when in nappies) that he is wet/dirty, can pull own pants down, then should be good time to start. reminding every hour is good, but make sure that it is not you being trained to take him to the toilet in time - happens a lot.

You are lucky he seems to be ready now, as summer can be the easiest time to train, as toilet seat isnt as cold, kids more willing to take clothes off when warm, and often have opportunity to run around with no pants on at home.

Yes, in my experience (with about 200 children) boys in general do take longer to train. But a ping pong ball in the toilet is good to aim at, and doesn't flush away. Also having a special 'Toilet Toy" (book, hand held game... that is ONLY used when on toilet) can be helpful for reluctant toileters, and reward charts can be just as effective, depending on your son.

Also, this is really important, make sure that your child's daycare is following the same routine that you do at home.

Hope this helps.

[Guest j_mommy]

Thanks! Yup daycare does sit him on the poddy every 2 hours....as they are just starting...they do it at diaper changing time! He still doesn't tell me when he has to go or when he has went. He will tell me when he has to pee but never with poop! So we'll keep plugging away!

[JerryK]

It's been a while since my kids were in diapers, but here's one thing I remember.

Disposable diapers, especially those frigging "pullups" remove all motivation to bother to use the toliet. Why bother when you have these nice little undies that soak it all up? One of our daughters was very difficult to potty train, until we stopped letting her wear those pullups.... She got messy a few times...problem solved. Also, I think 2 1/2 is a bit young to be completely potty trained...

[Michi8]

I have three kids, and toilet training was a completely different experience with each one. First off, it is not worth the aggravation trying to toilet train a child that is not ready.

My first son trained when we noticed he was lasting a whole night (13 hours) without wetting his diaper/pullup. He didn't really get the hang of using the toilet during the day until he started wearing underwear to bed, and then it "clicked" for him. He was just over 3 at the time. We've had the odd issue with wetting the bed as he got older...it was tied to his chronic constipation...no problems since treating that health issue.

My second son was not going to participate in training until he was good and ready. He resisted all attempts of sitting on the potty, bribery, etc. What worked for him was knowing that he was going to be starting preschool, and had to be using the toilet by then. He cooperated during that summer by not using his pullup during summer daycamp (waited until he was at home), and then decided he would use the toilet by the time school started in September. He was 3.5, and has had maybe two night time accidents since then. BTW, he still has control over what he will and won't do at 7yo...he is very comfortable about who he is and what he likes to do.

My daughter was fully trained within a couple of weeks when she decided she didn't like wearing diapers any more. The motivator for her was that her diapers were irritating and her skin is extremely sensitive (she also has eczema.) She willingly started using the toilet, and was determined to not wet the bed too. She was 2.5. To this day she still won't wear underwear or socks...not a battle I'm willing to have, because I know I won't win that one.

Michelle