Potty Training a 24 Month Old

Updated on March 06, 2010
S.V. asks from Indianapolis, IN
17 answers

I am currently trying to potty train my 24 month old. My method is to let him run around the house with no diaper so then he can tell me when he has to pee or poop. He doesn't tell me when he has to use the bathroom he just insists on peeing on the floor and then waiting for me to notice so I can take him to the bathroom. He loves using the toilet, but he still won't tell me when he has to use the bathroom. Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe my method isn't right or you have another method to suggest, just let me know.

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E.W.

answers from Cleveland on

Why 24 months old? I have had 4 kids and 4 younger siblings and none of them were potty trained that early and none of the boys were potty trained until 3 and 4 years of age. I really think that is too young to start and it sounds like he thinks it's a game.

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K.D.

answers from Toledo on

A friend of mine who is an occupational therapist told me to wear big kid underwear on my child and then put a pull up on over it. It cuts the absorbency and lets them feel that they've gone, but also eliminates the messes. Luckily my daughter just loved her panties enough that she rarely had accidents after we started to exclusively put the panties on her. Good luck! He may also not be totally ready, even though he likes to go on the potty. Each kid is different.

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D.F.

answers from Cleveland on

Your method is perfect, you may be starting him too early though. I've heard that this method potty trains your child the fastest! I would try again in 6 months. 24 months is early...especially for a boy. I'm too chicken to try this method and I know it would work on my son now. He will be turning 3 in April. I just don't want to clean up the pee for the 1st few times. He tells me before he goes in his diaper, which is one of the signs that he's ready. Waking up dry from naps is another sign because then you know he has strengthen his muscles that he will need in order to hold his pee and poop. I wish you the best of luck :)

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J.D.

answers from Philadelphia on

my suggestion is to wait a little while. leave a potty out for him to use if he wants to.. but unless you like cleaning the floor, keep the diaper on him. he's still young, espeically for a boy (from what i've heard). I'm not saying it's not possible... but he will train so easy once he is completely ready.
For right now, i would read him some potty books, get Elmo's Potty time movie, and wait.
also get the thicker gerber training pants and plastic cover to help contain the mess. Goodl uck!!!

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K.B.

answers from Cleveland on

He's too young., not ready. Try again when he's 3. Often boys take longer.

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T.N.

answers from Cleveland on

I would put big boy underwear on him. Let him run around in those. Also I used mini m&m's as a reward, just a few at a time whenever they went in the potty. This didn't take long for the kids to catch on that. I have 4 kids and it worked with all of them. My daughter started at 18 months. I also used gumdrops for my older boys but figured out they liked the chocolate better. I have also recommended this to family and friends who had success with it. The mini ones are so small that they aren't really getting that many. I would buy a small tube and it would last me awhile.

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R.D.

answers from Indianapolis on

the problem with boys is when they pee, they may not feel it. Since the urine goes away from them. I tried this on my older son, and he would stand their peeing, and not even notice it was happening. So I had to put underwear on him, training pants, that way when he went, he would feel himself get wet. He didn't like that feeling, and would come to me with the most disgusted look on his face. I had to tell him he let that happen, he had control over it and needed to let the urine out in the potty. A short time later, he was potty trained. But he was closer to 3, also, as I have found boys take longer. My girls were 27 & 30 mos, boys 38 & 35 mos. Each child is different, and I found that once they were ready, it only took a couple of weeks for them to be completely trained!
R.

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M.C.

answers from Washington DC on

Your method is fine. That's the approach that most end up taking. Since you are training a boy, have you thought about purchasing a training urinal? They are needed for potty training, but some boys get it faster.
http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/Potty-Training-Urina...

For my son, he hated going into the bathroom to use the toilet. The closing of the door scared him. So I took the training potty and placed it in the kitchen next to the doorway to the bathroom. You also have to put them on a schedule. If you know that your son is having an accident every hour, then set a timer for just before, and then take him to the bathroom for him to try.

Boys do tend to take a bit longer than girls, so don't get too down if he doesn't get it in the next few days.

Something that helped my daughter is a DVD called 'Potty Power'.
http://www.overstock.com/Books-Movies-Music-Games/Potty-P...

Good luck.
M.

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T.S.

answers from Sacramento on

My little boy gave up diapers at that age, so it isn't that it's not doable. However, I would add that when we did it it was HIS idea.

If you're set on potty training (which you may or may not want to stick with at this point) I'd suggest these slight changes.

1) Confine him to a single room (family room works well) during the day and stay right with him. That way there can't be any waiting for you to notice what he's done.

2) Put a potty seat in the room with you. Asking a 24month old to know he has to go, tell you, and then make it to the bathroom is a lot. Keep the seat near by so all he has to do is walk the few feet across the room.

3) Give up whatever else you need to do for a few days and watch him like a hawk. If he starts to pee quickly say "stop!" and carry him over to his potty chair so he finishes there. Same thing if he squats like he needs to poop. Plus have him sit on his potty around the times that he normally pees or poops (20 minutes after meals works well) so he can have practice with success.

Hope this helps.

T.

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S.C.

answers from Indianapolis on

He may not be able to tell that he needs to go yet until it's too late. I've read to set a timer for every half hour or so and take him to the potty rather than waiting for him to tell you he has to go. My daughter is 27 months and has been potty training since about 18 months because she would tell us when she was wet. We got the potty out then but didn't push. We let her go naked and kept her in diapers then finally moved her to training pants after being home with her full time for a week so we could work on reminding her to go potty throughout the day. I still have to remind her to go potty if she hasn't gone on her own in a while and she still wets her pants but has gotten much better. I think it will just take him some time to know the signs of when he has to go but you can still remind him to go for now. We would reward with stickers, stamps on her hands and candy.

Good luck!

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T.D.

answers from Columbus on

My son was 2 when I started him, he did start to show signs at 2 but did not stick with it really until he was 2 1/2. I did the reward system and when he peed I gave him a flavored tootsie roll or when he peed and poohed he got 2. Every once and a while he would pee in the potty and that was great but by 2 1/2 he picked up on the reward system and it really worked well for my son. He is now 3 and he practically never has an accident except for bed time and he still wears pull ups. Good luck!

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M.F.

answers from Toledo on

put him on the toilet about every hour if he is going on the floor more than once an hour wait a bit before starting again. Get a book or a potty book and read him a story for 5-10 minutes if he happens to go pee on the potty do a potty dance and get very excited with praise. Make sure he knows how to say the word potty and teach him what pee pee is and what poo poo is. He will get it just be patient and consistant.

C.B.

answers from Kansas City on

if he "loves" using the toilet so much, and he was getting it, he'd be going to it or telling you. since he's not, either he isn't getting as big of a kick out of it as you think, or he's just not really ready. make sure he "helps" you clean up messes (as much as a two year old can) and make sure he knows how "yucky" it is to have pee on the floor, and how nice it would be if he could put it in the potty where it goes. if he's having repeated accidents daily, i'd say he's not ready yet. maybe give it a rest for a few weeks and then try again. i ended up putting my son in underwear, and after a few failed attempts, one day he just seemed to "get it". it may take a few false starts before he really gets the hang of it. if he's not really ready don't push too hard or he'll end up stressed and it will be even harder. good luck! my son wasn't trained until a month before his third birthday.

A.C.

answers from Cincinnati on

My daughter started potty training at about 18 months. Just messing around with it. At about 24 months we really started working hard on it & I'm happy to say now, at 28 months, we're potty trained. We started the first month or so by taking her to the potty every 30 minutes. No matter what (unless she's sleeping). Then we stretched it to 45 minutes. Then an hour. And she just started telling us on her own from there when she has to go. Every now & then we'll have an accident but for the most part, we're dry! Good luck!

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T.C.

answers from Steubenville on

24 months is sometimes ( alotta times) just too young. but try and keep ontop of him.. so if he starts to go, you can rush him to the bathroom. He has to learn what it feels like to need to go. Once he has already peed on the floor, its too late. but if ya catch him in mid pee, you can rush to the potty and Reward/Praise...

J.F.

answers from Cleveland on

I'm a mom of 4 grown children and a daycare provider for 19 years now. In my opinion, he's just not ready. I think a lot of parents mistake thinking their child is ready because they 'love' the toilet. It's two separate things. One sign of readiness is your child having the language skills to tell you they need to go. A relaxed atmosphere regarding potty training and allowing it to be the child's accomplishment rather than the parent's accomplishment, usually always meets success in my experience.

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J.V.

answers from Chicago on

Your son needs to learn the "timing." To do this, he needs YOUR help. It takes them time to learn how to read the body well enough to get to the potty in time. Your role, then, is to help him learn this, so that he can then tell you. It took my daughter some time to learn this (she fully trained at 23 months, including night, taking herself to the potty and only coming to me for help after the fact. I spent 4 months doing potty learning with her though).

If I was you, I'd only let him run around naked in a certain part of the house, when you have the time and energy to "rush" him to the potty as soon as he starts to pee, or as soon as you see the "poop" face. Then tell him, "pee goes in the potty." After you've had a few "hits," he will start to get it. I'd also put him on a schedule and just take him when you go. Teach him the rules of of toileting, "you go first thing in the morning, before leaving the house, before bed." When I did the "naked" thing with my daughter, I had the potty in the room with us. It helped to get it in her head that when she went pee, she has to go to the potty. Also, always put his poop in the toilet with him watching, and say "poop goes in the potty." If you keep saying it enough, it starts to really sink in, and then they start to head to the bathroom. For what it's worth, I only spent 10-15 minutes a day with my daughter naked. It took us months, but she was young and I wanted to introduce the concepts she needed slowly and at her pace.

Whatever you do, don't turn back. Hang in there, show no negative emotion, and be patient. This is a giant developmental milestone and they need our help in teaching them. One thing that helped me get my daughter to go poop on the potty was to talk to her about what she was feeling. So, when you see him going, ask him if he feels the pressure, and tell him that when he starts to feel pressure, it's time to go try to go to the bathroom. Talk to him about it too when he has gas and ask if he'd like to try to go on the potty.

There is a window between 18-24 months, so good for you for noticing his interest! It is so worth the effort and time!

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