Potty Training - Clackamas,OR

My grandson showed an interest around 2 1/2 but he was slow about learning. I don't think anyone did anything special to start his interest. He does have an older sister to copy. He started out pointing to his diaper when he was wet and we would take him into the bathroom to change him. We talked about how one day he'd be a big boy and could do it in the toilet just like Sissie. He was finally trained a month or so after his 3rd birthday. It seems he finally caught on when his mother stopped using pull-ups, even the ones designed to feel wet, and either left him naked or in big boy pants. One day he arrived at my house in big boy pants and had an accident. I only had pull ups to put on him. Another time I didn't have anything to put on him and he stayed in his wet clothes for a couple of hours. A few days later the same thing happened but the accident was during speech therapy. I think that he seldom had accidents after that. We considered him trained. And we praised him every time he had any sort of success. Even when he came to tell us that he was wet. "That's good to notice when you're wet! I bet you can get to the bathroom quicker next time." sort of thing. Eventually he did.

I think their mother waited until his sister indicated an interest before she did anything too. She did read her children's books about using the potty even before she showed an interest.

if you have a male there his dad or someone willing to let him watch them go and i let my son choose if he wanted to use a diaper when we ould start the day and they all pee and poop there pants but it is learning you make sure they know it is not good to have done that in there pants if you force it though it can cause them to rebel and not want to try all together.. every child id different and when he is ready to do it full time he will let you know all you need to do is keep trying to and putting him on the potty and he will get it when he is ready... boys are much harder and they have a harder time controling there blader and there bowel movements s you just have to under stand and not get madd...well not let him see that you are frustrated...

Hi J.,

Each kid is different as you know. My son's peditrician was potty training his son the same time I was training mine and my son won....sort of. :~) He would go pee in the potty chair and eventually the real toilet at 2 1/2. I put Cherrios and/or Fruit Loops in the bowl (just a few) and he would aim at them and we had a blast and he rarely had any accidents. Now, going poop was a whole different story! He would wait until I pulled up his training pants and then immediately poop in them. The doctor told me it was common (especially in boys) that they think they are losing something extremely important when they are sitting on the potty. Isn't that hilarious? Anyway, I finally started really paying attention to when he needed to go poop. I finally caught him with a strange look on his face and realized what was going on. I brought him to the potty chair quickly and he was in a panic. "No, mommy, no!" It was too late, he pooped in the chair and I made a huge deal out of it and bought him a new toy for being such a big boy and he was finally "completely" potty trained by 3 1/2. It will happen before you know it. Does he wear training pants? If not, you should get some. Not the ones that are like diapers. The cloth kind that let them feel a bit uncomfortable when they have an accident. They don't like the feeling of course and they are more likely to learn quicker. Good luck to you and your little man! :~)

My son was about 18 months I think when he started. Of course, he had an older sister showing him the ropes. Anyway, with all my kids, I just let them run naked from the waist down as much as possible, and each "success" we made a huge deal, everyone clapping, hooting, congratulating etc. Maybe you could try to get him to just sit on it for a few seconds. Start small, and don't expect too much. If he sits on the potty for 10 seconds, make a huge deal of it, then slowly work up. A little healthy bribary never hurts either!