Potty Training - Baltimore,MD

Try putting some cheerios in the potty and let him shoot the cheerios with his pee! Worked with my boy. Good luck! P.

I bought my daughter underpants with her favorite characters - Winnie the Pooh, Dora, Wiggles....just put them on and told her they would be upset if she peed on them. Worked like a charm. Pull-ups give them the wrong idea. But - I had it very easy training my daughter. She was just past two and potty trained. She is 3 1/2 and has not used a pullup at night in a year. Has maybe had three accidents all together.

RELAX - he is obviously not interested and so what is the point of your anxiety - try again later

I finally have my three yr old son in underwear. granted #2's are a no go yet.
After he drinks something put him on the potty. Have the potty readily available for him. Right now I have a potty in the parlor. My son will use the big toilet but right now it's a lot easier this way.
Once he is ready to be potty trained it's just going to happen. my daughter was trained till she was 3.5 yrs old. I had been trying since she was 18 months. But one day it just clicked. By the summer she was night time trained as well.
At the library as well I noticed they have a dvd called Potty Power-maybe see if yours have that and let him watch it.
good luck

My son who is turning three in Nov. started out the same way saying that he has to go, but has already went.I just started putting him in reg. training pants during the day, and after a few accidents,he has been going on potty ever since. It isn't a good idea to force the issue.Remember all kids are different, my oldest son was potty-trained before he turned 2,my oldest daughter was almost 3.5.Good luck!!!!!

I have two children and they both potty trained at different ages. My mom always told me that children will potty train when they are ready. Maybe your son is jus tnot ready. I tried to do the same thing with my son when he was about the same age as my daughter. It just didn't happen so I stopped trying to get him to go. It turned out that about 6 weeks later he was ready and learned almost overnight to go to the bathroom and not wet his pants. It sounds like your son is telling you that he is uncomfortable with soiled pants so he is probably close. My suggestion is to not emphasize going to the bathroom so much and let him decide when he wants to go. My guess is that in a relatively short time, he will be running in to use the bathroom without your prompting. One thing though, my son's progress in potty training was successful in large part to my husband being there to show him the ropes when the time presented itself.

I am also looking for information on this. My son is almost 18 months, which is know is very young, but seems to be showing an interest in the potty. He has been saying "pee pee" too, I think just after he has gone and "poo poo" when he is trying to go. If I asked him if he wants to go potty he runs to the bathroom. I think most if it is the novelty of it and copying his older sister who turned 3 a few months ago.

Any advice would be appreciated.

A.

My son just turned 3 in July and he COMPLETELY crossed over right before his birthday. He is in underwear completely with very little accidents. Boys do it when they're ready and not a minute sooner. I tried to push at 2 and it doesn't work, only frustrates you more. My daughter is 5 and she was complete at 2. Boys and Girls are soo different when it comes to these things.

Hi, T.. I wouldn't push him. My oldest son started sitting on the potty seat at 26 months old, and even used it a few times. Once he decided that he knew how, he stopped using it for at least six months. I mean he wouldn't even touch it let alone use it. Right around his third birthday he started to be interested again. He finally trained at 38 months old. He has the interest, but he just might not be ready. My mother always told me that when they start to stay dry through the night they finally have the control to train. Then they just have to learn to master when to use it. As you know from your first, it will happen. I fully believe that if we just wait for them to be ready they do better and have fewer accidents. Mine has had only two since February. Good luck.
D.

Well, the advice I got the most for potty training boys was not to even start until at least 3 yrs old. My oldest was 3 1/2 and my youngest is in the process and he is 3 1/2 as well. It is just my opinion but 2 seems a little young for a boy, unless he is the one making the effort. Just my thoughts.

When It’s Time for Potty Training

There are many wonderful ways to help our kids think for themselves and help them become wiser. The following is a story about Harry, who learned, along with his family, that potty training can be fun, for both parent and child.

Little Harry lives in a house that has two bathrooms – one upstairs and one downstairs. One morning, his father said, “Hey, Harry! You want to use the upstairs potty or the downstairs potty?”
“Upstairs! Upstairs potty! Harry said.
A Love and Logic parent, his father smiled and said, “You want to have fun while we’re doing this, or not have fun?”
The great thing about choices with little kids is that they love making them – even when the options we give seem a bit silly to us. The decisions they make on their own make them feel important, leave them with a sense of control, and give them lots of chances to exercise their brains.
Harry looked at his dad as if he were crazy and giggled, “Fun! I want to have fun!”
“Great,” said his dad. “Do you want to bring a drink in with you, or do you want to wait until you’re done?”
“Wait till I’m done!”
“Do you want to bring Clarence, your stuffed sea otter, with us, or do you want to leave him?”
“Bring him!” Harry says, as he goes to retrieve his favorite stuffed playmate.
Now, Harry’s dad moves to the next step – modeling. Although some parents might find it a little embarrassing, modeling is the best way to teach your kids just about anything. Harry’s dad thinks it’s great.
“Hey! I really have to use the bathroom!” he says enthusiastically to his son. “Why don’t you come in with me? Let’s go. Let me show you how it’s done!”
He shows his son how he uses the bathroom. “This is so much fun! he laughs. “Someday when you’re big enough, I bet you’ll be able to use the potty like me! Then you can have fun, too! Boy! I love using the potty! I can even wipe myself! Check this out!” He flushes the toilet and waves, “Bye-bye!” as they look into the toilet.

The logic here is clear. Kids want to be like their parents. Whatever parents do, kids naturally want to be able to do, too. And if parents think it’s fun, kids will, too. So, parents have some choices when it comes to potty training:
• We can allow ourselves to become embarrassed and refuse to model this skill.
• We can fight with our kids over the issue and try to force them to be ready before they actually are.
• We can decide to have some fun, take the pain out of the process, and build strong relationships with our kids. How? Use lots of choices – and model, model, model!

When Parents offer choices, model, and make a task fun, learning happens quickly.

When Accidents Happen

If you know how to ride a bike, you probably remember falling a few times before finding the right balance. When we’re learning something new, accidents are bound to happen. So it is with out children when they are not potty-training age.
Successful parents dole out empathy and say, “Oh, you had an accident! That’s too bad! I love you, Sweetie.” They take their time and don’t rush anything, because there’s no set timetable for potty training. Every child has his or her own unique schedule of development.
Some children potty train at two, some when they’re four, and some at every age in between. It all depends on the child. A wise parent locks in empathy and waits for kids to develop the skill on their own. Then, when a child is successful, a parent can say, “You did it! I bet that feels great!”
Unsuccessful parents have a pattern, too. When their kids make a mistake, they get upset, or angry. They say, “You messed your pants again! That’s not nice! We don’t do that! Now you better learn how to do this right! You’re going to sit here until you use the potty!”
You can guess what happens. The child sees frustrated parents, and the child gets frustrated, too. Like any task we’re expected to perform under pressure, potty training becomes an undesirable chore. What a bummer!
-END-

This is directly from Chapter Two, Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years by Jim Fay and Charles Fay, Ph.D. I am not plugging this book as an advertisement, I am just citing the reference (for those of you who went to college): www.loveandlogic.com – Any questions about what they said above, please direct it to them, LOL! I know that sometimes when I give parenting advice out of a book that I’ve read, parent-friends of mine who do not agree tend to get upset, but hopefully this advice is helpful.

First off, congrats on the PT process! Secondly, you need to realize it actualy takes a full year to properly potty train. Thirdly, do NOT compare him to your older son in regards to PT because every child learns at his/her own pace. Since he's interested and presumably showing signs of being ready, just let him go at his own pace and don't rush it. Try putting him on the toilet every 30-45 minutes rather than every 15 minutes. When he produces something, offer him a small reward like a sticker or a couple of M&M's.

A great book, if you haven't bought it already, is Once Upon a Potty. We bought it for our 3 1/2 yr old and she loves it. We'll be using it for our 18 month old when she's ready to PT as well.

I tried to potty train my son at 2 years old but it didn't work. He was staying dry during the night but just didn't know how to releast it without his training pants on. At the begining of the summer he was 3 years old I started to keep big boy underpants on him during the day and ask every 30 mins if he had to potty. A lot of the time he waited until his training pants went back on. By the end of the summer he had it down pat. As you know, a good sign is when boys hold them selves so keep any eye out for that and don't push him to hard either. The turning point I think was right after he saw him self pee for the first time. With in two weeks he was going almost all by him self. Have your older son take the little one to the potty so he can see how big boys go potty. Make a big deal out of it. Good Luck he will get the whole potty thing.

I am currently training my son who is 3 1/2 and while at night he still uses pull ups. I got him training pants and plastic pants to wear over them in the day.
We put mini chocolate bars in the bathroom and started out that when either mommy and daddy went to the bathroom we got a chocolate. Now when he goes, he gets a chocolate. It seems to be working. Quite a few things I had read said to offer a reward. The only thing is he says "chocolate" when he goes pee.
Oh well...LOL!! at least it is working.

Hi T.,
Try the book Potty Training in a Day. My boyfriend used it for his daughter, and our neighbor used it for hers. And now they both are using the bathroom no problem.

I agree that 2 is young for a boy. My oldest who is 4 1/2 has only been trained(dry night and day) for a year. My younger son is 2 and I wont put myself through it until next summer when he is 3!! I also found that training went quicker and smoother for me when he was older. Good luck!!

My 3 year-old (turned 3 in June) only just became fully potty-trained this past July. She'd been going on the potty for well over a year, but still in diapers and then pull-ups. I was home with her all thru the 4th weekend, Friday-Tuesday, Saturday morning she just woke up and said she wanted to wear underwear. I told her she could but that she HAD to tell me when she had to pee or poop. She's had about two accidents since then and has been wearing underwear exclusively. It was like magic, and that's what I have heard more often than not, that you kind of have to play by their timeline. I've also heard of kids not being potty-trained until late threes or even early fours and that there's nothing abnormal about that.

So as far as advice goes, I would say keep doing what you're doing, give him the opportunity to go whenever you can. Bella reads while on the potty, and she likes that. I try not to pressure her while she's sitting there, I try to be patient, but I make it clear this is not playtime, and she needs to either "poop" or get off the pot...

Hope that helps. Good luck!