Potty Training - Minneapolis,MN

I would just buy a potty chair and have him start sitting on it to get familiar with it. Particulary just after he wakes up as kids don't pee while they're sleeping, they have to wake up a little first.

Only your child can tell you if he is ready. I have one son who wasn't trained until he was almost 4. My other one turned 2 in Dec and has already started. Of course we had a lot of upheaval w/ my first one--birth of the second, husband deployed then moving. My 2 year old started wanting to go before he took a bath. I let him go naked for a while after his bath and he will usually go one more time before we put on PJs and a diaper.

I disagree w/ the pullups though. My son was taking off his diaper to go pee and then of course couldn't put it back on. With pullups he can take it off, go pee and then put it back on. Eventually, we will move to training undies, but for now he isn't quite ready for them.

BTW, my 4 year old still has to wear a pullup to bed.

I think right now would be a great time to start :) I have been putting my now 22 month old on the potty every time I change his diaper (and for the past 2 months now), and he goes almost every time. It results in a lot more dry diapers for us. He's not quite ready to tell us he needs to go yet, but if he is naked (like after a bath), he'll actually go to the potty and pee by himself. So I know something is clicking for him.

I do not think you have to wait till a child wakes up dry to consider him or her physically ready. Maybe he isn't physically ready to SLEEP without a diaper, but just because he doesn't wake dry does not mean that he's not physically ready in the daytime. Many toddlers can physically control their bladders during the day, but take a lot longer to do so at night. Their bladders just are not big or strong enough to hold it all the way through the night. Good luck in your potty training!

My son had just turned 2 and honestly I couldn't afford diapers for both my kids at the time so I just stopped putting him in diapers during the day and only at night. He had accidents for 2 days. then when he went with no accidents for 2 full days he got to go buy his own favorite underwear (thomas the train) and he has been potty trained ever since. You know they are ready when they are showing interest in the toilet. My son didn't I just told him diapers were for babys and he was a big boy now. He wore diapers at night for 3 nights and has never wet the bed. He does have some trouble aiming cuz he sits down to pee but other than that its great.

In my experience with twin boys, they were not really quite ready at 2. Even their doctor said boys are much harder than girls to potty train, and he suggested not even really trying too hard until they were at least 2 1/2. We just started to get them used to the potty, have them sit on it and try, etc... We did the sticker chart and special treats when they went on the potty and that seemed to work for the most part. My suggestion for when you are really into the training stage, is make him try about every hour to go. We got one of the little potty chairs and started with them sitting, and worked on the standing after they were trained for the most part. Hope this helps! Good luck - I feel potty training has been the worst part of parenting so far, but I did have to train 2 at one time, so that could have something to do with it!
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We showed our daughter the potty at a year and kept it around and she would watch me go. At around 2 daycare started putting her on the potty every 2 hours and then started giving her a sweet tart candy as a reward. One candy for going pee pee and two for poo poo's. If she tells us she has to go then she gets another candy. It's what works for us. She has had many accidents at daycare since daycare doesn't like using pull ups. Within 4 months she's doing well. We continue to ask her is she has to go potty and daycare puts her on every 2-3 hours now. We make sure to put her on the potty right in the morning and she asks for candy but I no longer give it to her. We'll gradually decrease the candy.

Hi C.-

I'm in the midst of potty training my three year old now...We waited until our son was three on our pediatrician's recommendation. He told us that boys tend to train later than girls do. However, we had just moved across country and knew that there was going to be another move within 6 months, and all of that upheaval was also a factor in waiting to potty train. So the whole 3-year old business may not apply to you.

We were told that signs of readiness were talking about using the potty, or someinterest in how we used the potty versus usign a diaper and also, the biggest sign, an awareness of their own bodily functions.

We have a two-story house and have put a potty both upstairs and downstairs. Jackson either wears training pants or just has a lot of naked time. We found that the pull-ups and other disposable training diapers were too well made and that he just wasn't feeling it when he used them. With training pants he KNOWS if he had an accident. It's made a huge difference.

We also bought a lot of potty-oiented books to keep at the potties for reading. e.g. 'Everyone Poops' and 'Too Big for Diapers.'

Good Luck!!!

M.

super nanny says about 2-1/2 -3 y.o is about when kids are ready(it happens more quickly)if you start before they are ready it can drag on and on,she says look at the diaper if the diaper isnt wet after a nap she is getting to the point of voluntary control (not far off)in most kids bowel control comes before bladder(because less urges for poo,than pee)and easier to hold for a bit ..if you have a girl take her into bathroom with you when you go same for boys(men take into bathroom)i take my son with me everytime and explain whats going on --another suggestion is if they do wet their pants let them sit in it a bit so they know that it is uncomfortable to be wet otherwise they do not realize --it needs to be avoided by using the potty---look for signs clutching crotch ,make a mental note of when you give fluids and how much during the day -- have them wear clothes that are easy to pull down for the child,praise praise praise--ask if they need to pee constantly,give the kid privacy of they are shy about the bathroom if needed be consistant,be calm and confident ,dont overload the situation with anxiety or blame or rush things. ,take him to new places and so they dont get use to the same situation,,go on outings to the park etc...drive in the car,dont be intrusive when you go to a public place --steady them hold hand or knees and look away so they can concentrate--dont set potty in front of tv --if it stays(too long) it becomes a seat and kid will lose concentration and the message --after a few days put it back in the bathroom where it belongs ,aske BEFORE you leave to go somewhere if they have to pee.accidents can and will happen

do not make a huge deal about it -excessive attention or comfort to the child may start to believe accidents have their uses. have reasonable expectations , treat episode in calm matter of fact way tell them that these things happen and forget about it as far as night time make sure there are several dry diapers in a row before leaving off diaper (at night)if child is scared of the dark leave potty in room with night light .oh and make sure you put plastic cover sheet on mattress under sheet incase of acident unless you want their beds to smell of urine(probably not)

I agree with Maura. We'd thought Chase was ready around age 2 because he showed classic readiness signs (talking about potty, interest in our bathroom habits, awareness of when he was going to the bathroom & vocalizing when he was going). We bought a potty chair that he never used, as well as seats that go on the regular toilet. Our pediatrician advised us to go with his flow - encourage him if he was interested, not get worked up about accidents & stop if he got frustrated. He got frustrated right away. The accidents were too much for him. We remained encouraging, but never pushed. He full-on potty trained day/night the week of his 3rd birthday with very little help or encouragement from us - it was just the right time.

I also second the notion that pullups and things don't work. I didn't believe it at first, but they are just too absorbant. Chase got his confidence up using them though - when he started keeping pull-ups dry for half a day or a day at a time, we switched full-time to the training underwear. Cotton training pants or "practice underwear" as we called it was what really worked. Oh, and we required peeing sitting down after a couple of unintentional spraying incidents. :) Cleaning pee off every bathroom surface really isn't fun.

My advice is to work at your son's pace - and it seems boys potty train at an older age than girls for some reason. As long as he's potty trained by kindergarten, you're okay. ;) It's tough not to feel pressured to have it happen sooner, but pushing him into something he's not quite ready for will backfire.

Good luck!
J.
Mom to Chase (3)

When your son wakes up in the morning, or naps dry he is physically ready...

When he shows interest in the potty and all of that he's emotionally getting closer to being ready.

Just start having a potty chair around even if he doens't touch it he'll be getting familiarized with it. Have your husband act like it's the coolest big kid thing in the world to do and have your husband show him how. Kinda like little boys thinking it's so cool to shave and they play with the pretend razors.

Don't use pullups their the stupidest invention on Earth. They make it so incrediably comfortable to pee in that children don't mind going potty in them.

When your son has been going potty on more of a regular basis and telling you when he needs to go you can try cotton undies. After a few accidents in those he will most likely will not like the wet soaked feeling and not want to do that. You can have him clean up his messy undies too or help. That will encourage responsibility and he will understand that all the work involved with cleaning up a accident that it's so much easier to just use the potty.

Alot of people are in a race to potty train and think 2 years old is the magic age to start. Not every child is ready at age 2 and if you push it they will regress or push back. Ultimately it's the child's choice to use the potty you can't make them. Just like you can't make them eat or sleep.