"Go Naked" training..what Is the Next Step

My lil guy is 2 1/2 and I decided to potty train when I noticed his diaper would be dry when he woke up in the morning. I went straight to underwear for daytime - the first day and 1/2 he wet them. I bought a bag of mm's (loves them) I told him he can sit on the potty and have a few mm's. He did - Now we are 5 days no accident - I put the diaper on for bed just in case. I recommend bringing the potty with you - I also put a wash cloth in between hi legs in the car seat and bring a few change of clothes. I would skip the pull-ups - They did not work for my older son - underwear out of the gates workedd best for my boys

Good Luck

Play outside. I took our "training potty" outside on the deck and the kids played in the yard. They wore soft shorts with no underpants at first or just underpants. I kept "reminding" them to stay dry. We'd just dump it in the garden or inside toilet as needed. I also kept a small water jug with a spout outside with liquid hand soap for them to use afterwards, and a towel on the railing.

Remember after meals or with lots of drinking you may need to encourage him to use the potty more frequently. You can give him a special little toy that's ONLY for when he's on the potty.

If and when there are accidents, just remind him again to keep trying and don't make a big deal out of it. Maybe if he can "go" all morning without an accident, he can have a "treat" (like a dum dum sucker, bag of fruit snacks, etc.). My kids LOVED the ice pops you can buy in a big box at Jewel/Dominicks/WalMart (not frozen yet). He can get a "pop" as his treat for staying dry.

At this point, you'll still have to remind/encourage him to take breaks to "go". He doesn't know that after breakfast, lunch, etc. that he'll need to. Sometimes I'd tell my kids, "Boy I need to go potty! Let's take a break and get a snack, ok." (We do the same thing if we're at a restaurant, store, etc. to stay dry on the go.) That way EVERYONE stops and he doesn't miss out on any fun or feel isolated.

I agree that too many layers of underwear and pants are too complicated right now. We used pull ups at night and again, had them go before bed, sometimes woke them up before we went to bed, however the BIGGEST problem we had was at about 4-5 am. They just couldn't hold out.

My cousin suggested "remaking" the bed for this stage - putting down a fitted mattress sheet, top that with a waterproof one, then make the bed like usual. Then, when there are "accidents" in the middle of the night, you can strip off the regular "sheets", including the waterproof pad, and then you have a bed ready to go. This "trick" helped us to keep the lights low, commotion low and back to bed quickly.

During the daytime then, we stuck with training pants and brought extra clothes everywhere. I ONLY used pull ups for long car rides and overnight. Also, we put "pee pads" in their car seats. These are those smaller sized adult incontinence pads/pet training pads...plastic on the bottom,and absorbent top layer. Again, these were more for accident protection.

I think overall the key is to let him know to do his best. And make a BIG deal out of little milestones. When accidents happen, ask him why it happened. We learned from my littlest one that "pull ups are for catching the pee pee". No matter what we said, she was convinced they were "big kid diapers" made to be peed in. Hence the reason we didn't use them much.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

Congrats MOM! , By the time you read this i am sure he has avoided accidents and is doing fine with the Cars Dry Training pants...if not try the treat approach to doing it correctly and making it to the potty and he will transition very well within days...All the hard part is over...D. J

Agree with posters that say use regular underwear, no pull ups. We also had great success with small rewards for a short period of time with both boys - they got to choose M&Ms or Pez for their potty reward (only 2 each). I only gave them candy for a couple of weeks, until they mastered the potty. The other thing that helped was telling them when to try so that the pressure wasn't all on them to all of the sudden remember to stop playing and go potty. I did it matter of fact, explaining that I would help them remember to go potty until they got the hang of it - that calls for paying attention to how much liquids are being consumed and timing potty breaks really well. I also think it teaches them that it's ok to stop what you are having fun doing to go potty - that play time will still happen even if you take a break. Little guys sometimes have a hard time grasping that concept. 2 is pretty young, but if he wants to do this, that's great.

Get regular underwear. Get his favorite character. That worked great for my boys. Because it didn't feel like a diaper they didn't pee. The one time my yonger did and it dripped all over him he reaized he couldn't do it. ALthough I did use pull ups, we called them sleep underwear, at night for a few months after they were potty trained. Good luck!

Keep trying, he will get it.

don't use pull ups. My doc suggested (if you know for SURE he knows when he has to go) to leave him in his wet underwear until its really uncomfortable "i'm busy right now..." (not as a punishment, just to be uncomfortable and not want it again) of course, that's when our son started taking off all his clothes LOL!

M.,
Try underwear. Let him pick out his own at the store. If he pee's, he will feel the wet. I would just use Pampers easy ups for going in the car etc. Otherwise, put him in underwear. There are going to be accidents, but that is how they learn. I use Goodnites at night with my three year old. Good Luck!

If I were you, given how well he's done being naked, I would not use pull ups. They are diapers. You could use them for naps and bedtime only, but I would just buy some training underwear (the kind with the extra fabric layers) and then just keep him naked as much as possible for a few more weeks at least. Give rewards for him doing so well to reinforce what's happening. We went with the pull ups method for our son (started when he was 20 months old) because my husband is nuts and can't deal with accidents all over the house and it took us 2 years to get him potty trained. Believe me, I won't make the same mistake with our 11 month old!

yes you just keep trying and trying and eventually he will get the connection. It can take a bit of time. With my daughter using regular pants rather than training pants worked better as the training ones seemed more like diapers to her. I know the regular ones don't absorb as much so that is a bit messy but not that much more and it is all just pee :) good luck.

I would not use pull ups. They feel just like diapers, even if in his mind he knows they aren't, they physically feel like it. Try underwear. They feel different. Let him pick out some cars ones, and try doing it at home like you have with no pants, only underwear. If he seems having a hard time getting to the potty in time still, put a little potty in the living room to help him remember and give him a shorter trip.