Potty Training - Elizabethton,TN

Time to make the pull-ups go bye-bye. Put them where he cannot see them. You can use them at night time only. Pull-ups really confuse children...my 2 year old (3 in 1 month) has done the same thing in the past week. It doesn't matter if he wets his underwear...he probably does that because he knows it will get him a pull-up. Typically at this age they don't want to stop playing..or whatever they are doing to go potty. Something could also be troubling him and this is the only control he has over his body. Has there been any changes in his life or routine? Stand strong...he needs the consistency.

Hello K.,
I have a little boy who is 5yrs old. He began potty training at 18months and would go back and forth. We moved in the middle of potty training and he stopped all together going back to pull ups. Then I decided I will just keep him in pull ups until he is ready because I was frustrated and so was he. Then one day we were at the mall and He found the Buzz Lightyear he loved this toy. I let him play with it all the way home. He was so happy and then once we got home he began to play with other toys. I put up the Buzz on a high shelf in the bathroom. He came to ask me where Buzz was? I said when you use the big boy potty then you can play with Buzz. He got mad at me because he did not want to. So I let him cry a little and I also kept a glass of water out to get him plenty of liquids so that he would want to go potty. Then once he knew that he would get to play with Buzz after he wnt to the bathroom he began doing it like magic. So buzz saved my life. I also after he was through playing with Buzz would put it back up on the shelf. That way he would see it everytime he went to the bathroom. All I can say is that this worked for me and he has never had an accident at night or during nap time or any other time. He was completely trained one month before his 3rd birthday. I did however think he would go to kindergarten in a pull up. If you will just give him space and remain calm it will happen. Good luck I will pray for you. M. G

this worked years ago for my son,we spent the whole day in the kitchen .i put the baby gate up ,stocked up on juice,little treats,put toys,a book for me to read and the potty chair in the room.i choose the kitchen because it would be easier to clean up any accidents.fill the child up with fluid ,put them on the potty chair,let them get up if they don't have to go,try again in a few minutes,eventually they go.make a big deal out of it,clap ,yea!!!and give them a small treat.keep this up all day and don't use pull ups.he will get the idea.i personally think that pull ups encourage accidents.he then got to pick out big boy underware with his favorite design on them.

Praise is wonderful, but don't over-do the prizes. Maybe a reward of 'DOING' something fun instead of 'getting' a tangible gift would be more realistic (1-on-1 quality time w/him, stickers on a chart, etc). Probably the bigger 'deal' you make of it, the more he will 'play it up' and use it to his advantage; so I'd suggest the thick training pants vs pull-ups, as they're uncomfortable when wet (cold from evaporation), and you can have him rinse them off if they're 'dirty' (after all, SOMEONE has to do it, and he's not too young to learn that life has repercussions and unpleasantries). Don't I sound cruel? LOL Actually, we've reared 4 fairly well-adjusted adult kids and have 3 'grands' who we love dearly.

Remember the 2 basic rules of life:
1) Don't sweat the small stuff.
2) Everything is 'small stuff'! LOL''

P.S. I just read your other responses and I LOVE the 'Buzz Lightyear' approach! I'll send her a 'flower'!

With mine I found that the only thing I could do was be patient. I tried the sticker chart, the gumball machine, m&m's...so many things, but none of them really inspired her to go. I started working with her when she was 2 and it took until she was about 3 1/2 to start being consistent. (Now we are working on wiping every time - ha!) I agree below that pull ups, except for at night, just stall the process. Is he in daycare? I found that the peer pressure from her already potty trained friends helped. Find out what they are doing at daycare to reinforce what you are teaching him at home and make sure that you are all on the same page. Good luck, be patient and always carry and extra set of clothes, socks and shoes! :)

My youngest son was very hard to "housebreak" too. Finally he told me that he wanted a wagon for his 3rd birthday and I told him that if he kept going potty in his pants his wagon would rust and he wouldn't have it any more. He quit immediately. He got his wagon and there was no problem at all after that. I guess he just needed a reason to quit -- a big reason. My other son just didn't think it was cool to use the potty, so one day he and his daddy were walkling through the woods (yes, we live in the country which makes this easier) and his daddy taught him how to pee on a rock. Now this was cool! We brought a rock to the house and put it in the bathtub and he used it, then we put the rock in the toilet when he needed to go and he used it. Finally he decided that he didn't need the rock any more and we were home free on that one. The number 2 thing with the older one (rock man) was never any problem at all in the first place, but with the other one (the wagon) it just kinda took care of itself -- he didn't want his wagon to stink and we told him that it would and we'd have to throw it out 'cause we just couldn't have a stinky wagon around.

Have u tried buying her her own potty, one that sits on the floor next to urs? Not one that attaches to the big one, that can be scarey to a little child.Maybe use urs while she is on hers? I found this helped when raising my 4. At times they r afraid of falling in and going down the drain.

It sounds like he has regressed, which is completely normal. Just keep up with what you're doing and he will go back to using the potty. For right now you may need to put some extra emphasis on him going to the potty and not in his pull-up. Try reminding him to go to the potty on a regular basis. Just remember, he knows how, but something has him distracted right now and he just needs that extra reminder to go pee in the potty.

I would totally ditch the pull-ups...they only slow things down. They are just another diaper. I know that it is inconvenient to have to change messy pants...but it does not last forever. Maybe try a sticker chart????

In reading through all the responses I remember my son's doctor telling me he hadn't seen too many diapers in college. That my son would get potty trained and sure enough he did. We would make progress and then go backwards. But I finally got fed up one day and did what someone else said. We stayed home all day Saturday and Sunday. I pumped him full of liquids and he went potty every hour. I got rid of the pull ups except for night time and we were done that weekend. Take a deep breath.

Check out the book "Mommy I have to go Potty" from your local library. It is very helpful. Good Luck.

This is advice from a friend of mine whose daughter didn't get trained until she was almost 3-and-a-half. They had tried all different kinds of treats and rewards. My friend's advice is similar to some of the responses below: find something really really important to the child. It turned out in her case it was being a ballerina. When she found out she could not be a ballerina in diapers, and therefore could not get the ballerina outfit she really wanted, that was it. The struggle was over instantly.

Sounds like your doing great. My 3 year old son did the same thing. He did not totally want to wear big boy underwear or use the big boy potty at home until his best friend at pre-school moved up to the big boy class. He is just within the last 2 months now wearing underwear, but we still have to do little prizes to keep him going but only 1 a day if he uses the potty. It's hard. My pediatrician just said it will come in time and not to worry. Good Luck!!

Hi there, my sister raised 8 kids, with everyone of hers, she used potty treats, it was depending on what which one liked. One of her kids liked putting a penny in her gumball machine, he loved those things, another one liked hershey kisses.
For me it was the marashino cherries, I think I spelled that right...lol. She liked going to Sonic and getting a cherry, I just bought some in at the store, worked like a charm. It was easier with my sister, when the younger ones went potty, everyone got a treat, so the bigger kids kept reminding the younger ones, I wass't so lucky, I only had one.
Hope everything works out.

L.

i have not tried this before, because my son is not yet one, but i have always heard that if you teach a boy to go standing up, they do much better. there bodies are just designed to pee standing. you can put fruit loops in the potty and tell him he can sink them.