Potty Training Advice Needed..... - West Fargo,ND

Hi M.
Has something changed in his life? new daycare new kids at daycare, move, different bed room. did he have a negative experince with the potty a public restroom flushed to loud or was he constipated. anything may have made him decide to stop using the potty. or maybe he has a bladder infection the causes him not to be able to make it to the bathroom. I hope you can find a answer it is so tough when they do so well and then it all stops Good Luck :) T.

I tell you what...I know how frustrating potty training can be. I have a five year old son who is now just taking alot of interests in using the toilet or the potty. We have been trying to get him fully potty trained since he was three years old but he has had so many set backs. His doctor says that when he is truely ready he will just do it himself. He has had days without aciidents but has regressed as well. Hopefully this time he will keep to using the toilet or potty. We are keeping are fingers crossed. Now our two and half year old daughter is somewhat taking an interest in peeing in the potty which is great. The only advise I can get tell you is to try not to get frustrated. I know it's easier said than done but you don't want him to feel like he disappointing you. Try to make him feel like using the potty is his idea. This will give him a sense of control.
JO

Just a thought but maybe you should have him checked for a bladder or kidney infection. Sometimes this can cause some setbacks. Hope this helps.

I feel your pain with potty training as I am also a mother of twin 3 year old boys! One had no interest ever until his 3rd birthday but has not had an accident since. The other has been interested since he was two and pretty well potty trained by three, or so we thought. He was then having issues with constipation and going poopie in the potty chair which immediately led to having accidents. We also decided to let him "choose" a diaper or underwear and it seems to have worked...watching his brother with the cool character underwear looked like a lot more fun than diapers I guess:)

I understand your frustration as I had an "on again, off again" potty learner. It is not uncommon as kids are going through so many developmental stages at this age that sometimes they seem to go "backward or regress in one area while they leap forward in another. First make sure he doesn't have a urinary tract infection. If he gets a clean bill of health then analyze which piece of the process he is missing. Has he lost interest in using the potty or resisting using it when you ask? If so, I think it is best to back off a little at his age depending on his personality and start up again in a month (back into diapers if need be). Independent kids often won't be interested until they know they will be successful on their own. Also make it a fun game...like getting a sticker or a treat or racing to the potty or aiming at Cheerios...can help build enthusiasm. Now I am NOT an advocate for using treats to encourage kids behaviors, but I will say that in the situation of using a potty it was the ONLY thing that would get my almost 4 yo (at the time) to use the potty. As soon as he started experiencing success he stopped asking for the treats.

I don't have any magic to tell you, but I also have twins who have made it through potty training. They both showed signs of being ready and they both started off well, then one started having tons of accidents. After trying many different things, I finally gave up and decided to put her back in diapers for a while. I waited patiently until three months later and finally she was ready and pretty much told me so. Then we tried again and she has been doing great ever since. That was four years ago. Maybe that will be your case. I thought with twins maybe she would want to do what her sister was (everything else they do HAS to be the same...)but she just wasn't ready. Good luck and remember to be patient!

I have been told that sometimes kids wet their pants when they experiance anxiety. Do you notice that when he wets himself he is in a situation where he may be overly anxious. Anxiety can come in alot of forms, either being around people, separation (meaning mom leaves him at daycare or with another caregiver), to as simplistic as being outside and running and playing and being very excited which is the same thing as anxiety. Have you ever went to a place that you felt nervous about and felt an extremely urgent need to urinate, we as adults have more control over our bladder than children. What I think I would try is to proactively make your son sit on the potty before going anywhere or before letting him outside to play. That way if he still experiances the urge or the anxious feeling he will have an empty bladder and may not have an accident.

A little about me: Mother of 4 children from 13 to 2 months.

ok, I am no pro!!! however, my son is 3 and was using the potty then decided to not and started to go in his pants again. It happened to be his well baby visit for 3yrs at the time and the DR said......let HIM decide in the morning if he wants diapers or undies. If he picked undies let him wet only 2 pairs and then tell him we will put diapers on again and tell him you can try again tomorrow. By allowing him to have control over the diaper situation has helped huge at our house. I know it can get to be really frustrating and annoying to do all the laundry, but try to remember this is just a short time of learning and will be over and done with soon. Good luck

Have there been any emotional changes in your household, is your schedule normal, is he getting sick? Most anything can trigger a setback, but the worst thing you can do is get angry. Then potty training becomes a battleground, not a training experience. Laundry is a way of life for mothers, so smile and be happy his plumbing works! Do all the things you did before - smile, make a fuss when he's dry, reward with a treat, etc. and let it take it's natural course. Avoid comparing one child to another. That will really make things difficult, not just in the realm of potty training!

SAHM of seven

It might be normal potty training stuff. Just to be on to be on the safe side, check out the term "encopresis" on the web and see if it describes what is happening with your son. Encopresis is a problem kids have with holding back their stool and it causes repeated soiling. Not to be too graphic, but the stool in the colon gets really hard and is painful to push out (which is what some people think causes kids to develop this problem in the first place), so any stool behind it liquifies in order to get out. It dries onto the underwear and looks like dry crusty poo (and you'd think they didn't wipe well). You'd never know they are all blocked up inside. My daughter had it as an infant and it went away with treatment (stool softeners) for a while. It became a problem again at age 3. She would go hide from me when she knew she had soiled her undies because she was so confused by it and I felt like I was going to go ballistic after 5+ messes a day! I felt like the meanest mommy in the world for a while because I was so frustrated and like you, didn't know what to do. I had tried it all and nothing worked because she was not in control of the situation. If your son has this problem, he will need to be treated for it. My now 5-year old daughter sees a pediatric gastroenterologist who has been very helpful and she is doing great. I only share my story in case it speaks to yours- not to scare you. In any case, whatever the problem is, trust yourself and keep looking for help until you get it! Good luck to both of you!

My daughter wet her pants until she was four! I thought I was going to lose my mind at the time. I can honestly tell you that bribes and fits don't work.

What works is when they have some place they want to be - like a pre-school - and they can't be there if they are wetting their pants.

HOWEVER, your son may be having a blood sugar issue to pay attention to: a drop in blood sugar will cause the bladder to let go. Having snacks around all the time (low sugar) will help this. Making sure he is getting enough protein and fat, plenty of fruits and vegetables will help this.

Then: put on a pull-up for safety. He may not want one, but give him the choice: the pull-up or the potty. He may be able to make that choice... but then again....

Learn from MY mistakes: My daughter had a daytime peeing problem and was not dry at night. I saw a doctor when she was 7 (yes, 7!!!) who told me the blood sugar trick. I started paying close attention to giving her high protein, high fat snacks both during the day and before bed and all of her symptoms went away.

Focus on: Cheese, meat (if you eat it), nuts/nut butters, avocados, fresh fruits and veggies. Avoid processed foods and high sugar foods. Go to the whole food stores for sweets that are made with unprocessed sugars, but don't serve lots of them either.