Potty Training - Middleville,MI

I expect you'll get a lot of advice on this because there's really no right or wrong way to potty train. In most cases it will be dictated by your child's personality and readiness as well as your ability to "handle" the process.

I have twins who are now 11 yrs old, so this was a while ago for us. My daughter was more than ready and given her independant nature, it came very easy for us. My son, however couldn't be encouraged to do anything - he was happy to stand there and be her cheerleader! He potty trained very differently.

We opted to use a flip up potty seat that attaches to the toilet. My parenting philosophy was not to start something that had to be undone later. So, we opted to go right for the toilet, and skip the potty chair as it would be just another transition to work through. I also didn't have time with two running around to maintain a potty chair. With boys, you have two main options - standing or sitting. My husband and I decided sitting was for toilets and standing was for a urinal. Since we don't have a urinal in the house, we taught our son to sit first.

We helped him be ready by first monitoring his beverages. I gave him so much water in the morning, he HAD to go sometime within an hour of breakfast. So we started to add the routine of sitting on the potty for 5 minutes (using an egg timer) after eating breakfast and before getting dressed. If within 5 minutes he didn't do something, we'd play again for 15 minutes, and go back on the potty for 5 minutes. Once the routine was established, the whole process seemed to flow better.

He actually picked up #2 quicker than #1. We didn't use pullups either - too much like a diaper. Straight for underpants that he had picked out at the store himself and was excited about.

Our main issue with him was the nighttime training. He was a deep sleeper and afraid of the dark so getting him to get out of bed in the night was a challenge. We put nightlights in his room, in the hallway and in the bathroom so there was a lit path. He didn't get it about 4 days so we opted to stop the night time training and concentrate more on the daytime. He wore a diaper to bed, and pants in the day. (Going from two kids in diapers to one diaper a night was heaven!!) When night time training, I'd also layer the bed with bedding to make night time accidents easier to manage - first, a waterproof mattress pad, then a sheet, then a second waterproof pad almost the size of the mattress (he was in a toddler bed so the matress was a crib mattress), another sheet, then a third layer of mattress pad and sheet. When there'd be an accident in the night, instead of having to change the entire bed, I'd strip off a layer, replace the blanket if needed and we'd be back in bed in no time. I'd leave the bedding if only wet in the bathtub and deal with it in the morning.

We finally "got" the night time thing eventually. One night after bath as I was putting on his diaper he said that he didn't want to wear it anymore. We talked that he'd have to get up and go potty at night on his own and he said he would. So we stopped beverages at about 6:00 pm ish (we didn't do drinks before bed anyway- another one of those things we figures we'd have to change later if we allowed it to start when they were babies in diapers), he'd use the potty before bath, wear his pants to bed, hubby and I would wake him up at about 10:30 when we went to bed, he'd go potty, and I'd set the alarm to get up about 3:00 am (knowing it was just a temporary thing to get up nightly at 3:00 am!) to walk him to the bathroom for a final potty break. Once he stopped really showing me he had to go at 3:00, we'd just leave him sleep through the night. I think the night time thing took about a week before he'd be consistently dry all the time, all night on his own.

Whatever you do, you can't become stressed about it. Seeing or feeling your stress will make it so much harder on both of you. Yes, you're gonna have wet/soiled underpants to clean. Yes, it's an inconvenience to go anywhere while in the process so be prepared. Imagine, though, that there weren't any diapered Kindergarteners- eventually it will happen. SOme are quicker to catch on, some aren't. Some start out really well, then stop. You have to let him think he's in control- give him plenty of options (Do you want to wear the green underware or the blue ones? Do you want a sticker when you go on the potty or an M&M? ) Those mindless decisions empower them to think they're really in charge and they can do it.

Wow- sorry for the novel! I hope there's something that will help get going in all of that!

Even though he is showing all those signs he may not actually be ready... The only way to know is to start trying.
Use what ever chair he wants, they both accomplish the job. The little chair gives him the feeling of ability (he can sit or stand when he wants) The seat on the potty may be daunting since he's way up high. But gives him the feeling of being "big". If you do use it make sure to have a stable foot step for him to use. maybe let him choose. I found that using the chair at first works for me because I can take the kid in with me and use the big potty while they are using theirs...
Does he stay dry at night?
Right after he wakes up have him sit on the potty. Then make sure to put him on right after alarge liquid intake and/ or meal times. And before bed.
I wouldn't put the pressure on him right away by insisting he sits every hour. It may back fire on you and he may HATE it. Perhaps reading books to him while he's sitting may keep the boredom from setting in.
If he does go, then use YOUR childs personality as a judge on whether you have a "peepee party" or just say good job!
My guys LOVED stickers and I would let them pick out a sticker to put on a special piece of paper.
Honestly I will tell you that it is closer to 3 1/2 to 4 yrs before boys tend to be fully trained... But there are exceptions.
Also expect that when Baby gets here he MAY regress and have some accidents. Its stressful for little ones, especially for only kids to have a baby in the house.
Hope it goes easy for you!! And congrats on the baby coming....

Hi S.,

The only thing that worked for my daughter was a video called "Once Upon A Potty"; I would imagine that it is now available on disc...? They had a version for the boys and one for the girls
Hope this helps

This is what I found worked best for me. I have trained three boys and on day care child all being boys. With 2 of my boys I did the naked method this worked great because boys don't like pee going down there leg. The other 2 boys because I was doing daycare and couldn't let children run around naked I just had them go naked with loose pants on both worked great. I have wood floors so cleaning up the mess is easy. I do not use pull ups except for travel and night time and we called them bye nighty night underwear. I use the potty chair and I put it right in front of the TV we don't watch a lot of TV so every time You sit on the potty we put a special movie usually once upon a potty for boys. They get to watch this as long as they are sitting down on the potty they get up the movie gets shut off. Than they get a treat right now for the daycare child I'm training he gets a big candy heart. At first they get a reward just for sitting than once they no what they are doing they only get rewards for producing. Also once they got the pee down they only get the movie for pooping. You also fill them with many liquids the little boy that I'm currently training could not tell you when he had to go so we had him carry a cup around all day and continually drink within a week he knew if he had to go or not. I had the same worry that you do and I used the naked method and he was trained fully within 2wks using this method. All my children were trained by three my oldest took the longest but I started much later with him he was 2 yrs and 9 months. All the other ones I started talking with them at 18 months about using the potty. Just little things they fuss about getting changed I say if you use the potty you don't have to get diaper change. I you use the potty you wont have to have a stinky wet diaper on. Any where I could fit the conversation in. My second was about 2.5 and my third was 2 yrs 7 months. He could have been trained earlier but because I do daycare he was trained while we were on vacation right after his second birthday and decided he wanted nothing to do with when all the babies came back. Hope this helps any question just email. M.

We're in the same situation!! I have a 2 year old and I'm due in July with a daughter. I've started putting him on the potty first thing in the morning. I found that if I get him up and going at the first sound he makes he'll pee on the potty. If I let him lay in bed for a while he goes in his diaper. I started slow (in Jan.) putting him on the potty when we changed his diaper. Now he's sitting on the potty every hour, he doesn't always go but he likes to sit and read a book.I've heard from friends that the best way to do it is put underwear on them and just learn their schedule, I don't think I'm reaady to commit to that quite yet. We got pull-ups and he's adjusting well. I'm happy that I can see progress and when he understands more of what's going on I plan on switching to underwear. I think it's more of a commmitment on the parents' part to remember to take them every hour, I've heard of people setting a timer to help them. Good Luck, I wouldn't start if you're not ready though, they really need the consistancy.

I wouldn't bet on it being easy, S.. Boys are very unpredictable about potty training. Just jump in and start gently and see how it goes. Don't make a huge deal out of it. It may or may not work out to train him before your baby comes. This is very young for a boy to complete the process.

Hello S.!
Sounds like your son is very ready for training which is great. I am a mother of 4 and have been down this road a few times, nothing about it is easy. It is alot of running to the bathroom and laundry. In my opinion the potty chair is better than the seat because it is just there size and easy to use. They can graduate to the seat later when you are sick of cleaning out the potty chair. My favorite method is the baby doll that wets. My second son really got it when he helped the baby doll go potty and then tryed it himself. They can be kind of pricy so I made my own with an old doll and a suringe. Good luck.

Every child is different. However I found that I liked using the seat on the potty instead of the potty chairs. My DD never had a fear of the "big" toilet. We have to bathrooms in our house hers and ours. Her seat was left on her toilet all the time so if she needed to go it was ready for her, but sometimes she'd be in my room and have to go so we'd use my toilet and I would help her go without the seat at all. She fell in once or twice a little but still wasn't scared to use it. So public toilets were never a problem. I have a friend who used the potty chairs and she DD would not go out in public and would wet herself. Also there is much less clean up to using the seat on the big potty. Good Luck. My DD is also 2 1/2 and I am due in Aug too. Thought that was kind of cool our kids are about the same ages.

Hi S.,

I had really good luck training my son just by letting him run around bare-butted, and telling him that he couldn't potty on my funiture, so if he needed to go, he had to use the potty. I showed him where the potty was...and he took to it immediately. Easiest "training session" I ever had!!

Now, I chose to start with the potty chair, just because it's easier for them to do on their own. Once they handle this well and with consistency, then you can move up to the potty seat or even straight to the potty (a step stool helps here!!). It is totally up to you where you place the potty chair. I chose to leave it in the bathroom, but other moms I know have put it in whichever room the child spends the most time. I did still diaper my son during naps and at night-time....and it only took a few days of this before he was waking dry...at which time, I took a deep breath, crossed my fingers and sent him to sleep with "big boy pants" on. Happy to say, he never had an accident.

Well, maybe I just got lucky...but one thing I did learn was to let him decide when the time was right. It sounds like your son is ready...but please don't get discouraged if it doesn't run so smoothly the first time. Give it a couple of days and then just try again. Always praise for doing it right...and don't make a big deal if an accident happens...just a gentle reminder should do. Also, getting him some really cool big boy pants, or even letting him pick out the ones he likes can help.

Good Luck!

J.

go to the store and buy him big boy underwear. put the underwear on him.

take him to the potty every hour.

he will probably have an accident or two.. but that is how he learns..

do not use pullups.. they will not train anyone and just waste money..

It doesnt matter when you start. morning or afternoon.. I started with a small potty chair.. that is probably easier. but some kids like the big potty..

It is very easy if he is ready..

My daughter was 1 1/2 when we had our 2nd child. She started showing the signs that she was ready to use the potty, telling us when she was ready to go and going along with me when I went and telling me step by step what I should do (pee, wipe, flush, wash hands) so she knew what to do. She would go from time to time and had even gone a full day staying dry. We didn't push it though because it was a major adjustment for her to have a new little baby in the house who was getting some of mommy & daddy's attention. Even though she was wearing pullups, she still wanted to be changed because 'she was a baby' too like her brother. After getting past wanting to be like little brother with our help, she started focusing more on the potty. Now at 2 1/2 we said no more pullups during the day and she has been doing wonderful. We started with a reward chart, every time she was dry and went pee/poop, she received a sticker and when the little chart was full she received a special treat of her choice. M&m's worked great until grandma decided an m&m each time she went would work. The instant reward did seem to make her want to go more. Initially we reminded her every hour and told her lets go to the bathroom, not taking no trying for an answer. Now she takes off running to the bathroom on her own. Accidents in the underwear were few and she is doing great. Still working on the evening but she is waking up dry. Keep reminding her she is such a big girl and how proud we are of her. Everyone's experience is different but but we didn't rush her because we didn't want her to regress with all the changes. It took some patience on our part but it was worth the wait and we are so proud of her. Good luck!!!

Ok....the best advice? Just get rid of the diapers. Period. Gone. See ya! It will suck for a while with alot of accidents, but read to him about the potty, talk about the potty, praise the potty. Every time he wiggles and jiggles put him on the potty with an activity to keep him busy. Training is hard work but he's ready mom! Don't delay b/c it's harder as they get older!!!!

Well, I have been interested in reading the responses, and all I have to say is this: All Kids Are Different. Find out what works for you. This is my story...
My child could care less about big boy underwear. That would have never worked for me. He still hides to go #2 and if my child was in underwear anyways it would have been a BIG mess. He still will not tell me when he has to do either #1 or #2, but going every hour will start the transitioning. My child was dry through the night by 2 1/2 and we only use 1 or 2 pull ups a day. Plus for me, pullups are easier to clean up after if we are out in public shopping or the like. I could never imagine cleaning up the mess in public if he had on regular underwear. We call his pull ups underwear too because they act like it. But this is what works for me...

I began potty training my daughter when she turned 2. I began just racing to the restroom every 20 minutes which was more than likely overkill, but I kept missing her "windows"
So finally I just took the potty chair and placed in the living room, I encouraged her to just sit on it while she watched some TV, she relaxed and went pee. Once she began to connect the positive reaction to her using the potty, we were gold. IT took me about two weeks to potty train her to NO accidents. This was even very few night accidents.

It can be daunting.

My son is just over a year old and I have began to place him on the potty most mornings, he will go for me. He will also go sometimes before bath time or after....he is making the connection so I hope that when the real potty training takes place he will be fast as well.

S.