Potty Training - Denton,TX

Have to echo the others. Don't push too hard, it'll only be frustrating for you, and you won't make any progress.

We've been workin on this with my son for a YEAR (he's 3.5), and he's just now getting it more regularly.

3daypottytraining. Com
Lora Jensen

I was just in the same position, and my Son did not regress.

We trained my son when he turned 2 (actually 25 months). He had ZERO signs of 'potty readiness' and I would personally ignore all the advise that will tell you he needs to be 'ready' before you start. We did naked all the time for under 12 hours (couldn't handle him peeing on my floors and rugs). We then switched to regular undies and just took him to the bathroom whenever he woke up, after every meal and if we noticed he hadn't been in 2-3 hours. We told him 'pee and poop go in the toilet' but did not do any sort of rewards. We did spend some godawful amount of time reading Tari Gomi's book 'Everyone Poops' while he sat on the toilet. We took him into the bathroom when we went so he knew what it was for.

It took under a week (very frequent accidents for 2-3 days, some for the rest of a week, then maybe two more over the following month). IMO pullups are a waste of time and $$ - kids treat them just like diapers. We did NOT use a potty (gross), we got the Bjorn seat cover that fits on the regular toilet.

Prior to the advent of disposable diapers in the 1950s, the median age American kids were trained (that is done with training) was 18 months. In the rest of the world, kids are still trained way earlier. Late training is an American invention. Human physiology has not changed since the 50s.

Good luck. If you want to do it and present it in a matter of fact way (like tooth brushing, or going to the doctor or all the other things we do that we do not wait for our kids to want to do) you will do fine.

The downsides to our method - we had no bathroom privacy until my son was almost 4 (he would follow us in, still talking) and we had to nix the reading on the toilet when we realized he could sit there forever if he though another book was coming. We changed it to - ok, we'll go read in your room as soon as you are done pooping.

The purpose of pull ups is to allow the child to learn independence without having to be on your hands and knees all day cleaning up pee and pooh off the floor. It allows him to push the pull up down and pull it up without assistance. He is very very young to become fully potty trained at this time so I would just take it easy and let him set the pace.

BTW, little ones typically regress when they have a new sibling in the home. It is just a natural thing for them to do, they see all the attention the new baby is getting with the diaper time and all so they subconsciously revert back. It would be easier on you if you'd just wait until the new baby comes and try again in the Spring with him. He can run around outside in underwear and it won't matter if he has an accident, he just gets hosed off (LOL) and clean undies put on. Much less mess.

Oh -- you might want to think twice. Word on the street is that kids regress after siblings come so even if you do this in 9 weeks (there's a potty training in 3 days book/system that friends swear by, but didn't work for us) there's a good chance it'll all be for naught after baby comes along.

My daughter was nearly 4 when twins came along so that wasn't an issue for us... she did regress needing attention - but understandable. Heck I needed attention from someone other than the babies!

I understand the problem completely, went thru it myself on my last one. I used pull ups but it took longer with them. Honestly this is all on the kids. They know what to do, and when to do it ... its that waiting for it to click is all we do.Unfortunately, this is one of those things that can't be rushed. Took forever with my currently 5 yr old when we were potty training and one day it just clicked!! and that was it he got it and has never had any problems since. Good luck to you!
But everyone is different so there is no direct easy answer.

My kids are 2 years 1 week apart. I would wait until your son is 2 years 6 months. The first 3 months with a newborn baby can be kinda crazy & wild. Your son M. want to be in his diapers too because he see baby sister in diapers.

I think putting a hard deadline on potty training is unfair to the child and the parent - especially if your pregnant! The best you can do is follow through consistently with the training and not give up. We've put our son in pull-ups just because he has become so resistant to laying down, and I don't think it contributes towards potty training. You can up the game a bit with some rewards or incentives if your child can understand that. I also think that being potty trained by 2 is way optomistic and those that can are the exception.

Congratulations on the new baby : ). You can't rush potty training. They will do it when they are ready. My daughter was 22 mos, my son was 3 years old. The more you push, the harder it will be on everyone, and quite frankly the longer it will take. Wait until he shows signs of wanting to go on the potty (i.e. asks). Then put him in underwear (skip the pull ups except at night maybe) and get ready to clean up a bit for a few days. My son was 3, but he told me one day he wanted his big boy undies (we'd tried once b/4 w/ little success) and he had 2 accidents in the first hour... then was DONE! Not because of anything I did, but because he was ready.

I wouldn't push too hard... kids are notorious to regress when a new baby comes anyway, so even if it DOES click for him now, chances are, he's going to stop using the potty once his baby sister comes.

He'll get it when he's ready... pushing it M. also make him want to do it less.

I know that's not the answer you wanted to hear, but honestly, there is no magic 'this is how to get it to make sense to your toddler' button. It's totally up to him :/

With a baby due soon, I wouldn't even think about potty training. It will make life hard for you and your son. Wait until after things have settled down with the new baby and make sure he is willing and ready. My sons weren't trained until 4 and 3. Pullups are more expensive and nothing more than a diaper. Just leave him in diapers for now and don't even think about it with so much on your plate. Good luck and congratulations!

I totally disagree with Dana from Pittsburgh and pretty much agree with everyone else's sentiment that you shouldn't stress yourself or your son out by trying to push something like this, especially right before the baby is born. His world is going to be rocked by her presence and he'll need time to adjust to that, so forcing potty training on top of that is just way too stressful. And likely he'd regress anway when he sees that baby gets lots of attention because of diaper changing . . . so why wouldn't he want to go back to diapers so he can get the same attention? Wait about 3 months after your daughter's birth, then give it a go.

As an example -- my oldest daughter was not quite 4 1/2 when our second child was born. She had quit sucking her thumb when she turned 4. But then the insecurity of having to share her parents kicked in and suddenly she was a full-blown thumb sucker again because it gave her comfort. Most little kids will escape back to their comfort zone when their world is disrupted (I say "most" because there are always exceptions as noted).

I also have to say I don't understand those who potty-train for months on end, usually because they started the process before their child was really ready. When my youngest turned 3 I thought she would never want to potty train. I didn't push it; she understood the concept and had gone a couple of random times (which actually scared her!). Well, by the end of the next month she was completely potty trained. Just something clicked in her and bang! we're done. It was very similar with my middle child. The one I pushed . . . my oldest . . . she took longer. Lesson learned!

Best wishes to you and you're growing family!

My son is just turned 3 and he has been potty trained for the last 3 months. At first I tried everything and he would not go to the potty but I just let go of it and I let him pick out really cool underwear and put them in the same place as the diapers and would I would ask to get a diaper he wanted underwear instead. It made it his idea his plan and sometimes he would ask for a pull up and he would wear that pretty soon he wanted to wear underwear all the time. I did try the reward system but that backfired he sat on the potty for about 45 min trying to go potty for a reward so I stopped that.
I don think pull ups confuse them because there at the end he would ask me am I wearing a diaper or underwear. This is my strory and every kid is diffrent I hope this helps.

Like everyone else has said... I wouldn't put the stress on yourself or your son. My boys are 17 months apart, and yes, I had two in diapers at the same time. It's not as bad as it sounds. My oldest was about 2 1/2 b/4 he potty trained and wasn't fully till 3. But once he got it, he got it. On a side note, be sure to take LOTS of pictures of big brother interacting with baby brother/sister. There is nothing sweeter!

I would probably wait until about 2 months after the baby arrives, but it is your choice. Its not hard to potty train a toddler when you have an infant -- you can just carry the infant wherever you go! I did want to say, however, the pull-ups make the potty-training process much much longer. If you are very averse to cleaning up accidents, then by all means use pull-ups, but if your main goal is to progress through potty training quickly, then just dress your daughter in undies while she's learning. Good luck!

I agree in part with the poster from Pittsburgh. "Monkey see, monkey do." But I also learned from rearing 5 that the light bulb goes on at a different age, and for some it's later. You just have to be the judge. My granddaughter didn't get it until she was 4 yrs old, and then suddenly overnight she was trained.

When my son was 18 months, I would sit him on a kid seat on the potty the times I caught him about to go in his diaper. I considered it one less diaper I had to change, turned out to be a great way to potty train! No pressure on him or me, eventually he started telling me when he needed to go. Worked so well I did it with my second son and they were both potty trained by age 2 1/2. I'm doing the same with my daughter who is 16 months, she doesn't tell me when she needs to go, but she knows what to do when I set her on there.