Potty Training Help! - Plano,TX

I have been there. My son was 2.5 when I was due in Sept.(1998) He was a great with the potty, until "baby" started to be the focus of things. He was GREAT with the idea, and he even helped pick things out, and when little sister got here he was great with her. But he wanted the attention too. So he started avoiding the potty at home. Once my daughter was born and she was getting the, "how cutes", and "awwws" he stopped using the potty at school too. Luckily, my children have an awesome dr. and we were able to pin point some of the problems quickly. The more attention he got, the more I let him help with the baby, the less he wanted to BE the baby. Hope this helps.

Let him run around buck naked or at least from the bottom down. It is easier in the summer, but even so, don't let him wear undies or pants in the house. My friends did this with their son and they swear by it.

I used a sticker chart with A LOT of praise. We also did a special toy he wanted after 5 dry days in a row. We had 5 dry days the first week of using the chart. He was very excited about getting the stickers and putting them on the board. I think the first day I asked him every couple of hours and after that I left it up to him. My son also LOVES to be first so if I had to go to the bathroom I'd ask him, if he'd say no I'd just tell him, well mommy needs to go and start heading that way. Before I could get there he'd dash to the bathroom. With my son it had to be his idea, not mine...so the more I'd remind him or ask the more he'd refuse. Don't make a big deal if he doesn't, but make a huge deal when he does!!

We did the ABA Positive Practice Potty Training Method. CTAC offers a course on it, and it trains them very quickly. It is intense, but it works. It may be best to do after pregnancy though. CTAC stands for Central Texas Autism Center, but the method works wonderfully on all children and it is positive.

get a timer.( make sure it is portable and it rings.)
Set it for 10 min. when it goes off TELL your son time to go potty.Don't ask ,just take him. Then set the timer again for 10 min. and repeat over and over.It will work. You have to dedicate yourself to this. It worked w/ both my kids and they were potty trained by 2 yrs.old. Constincey is the key to it.It took 2 weeks of @ home potty training( we worked w/ the school on it also),after school we went potty and started the timer thing. He ended up being like Pavlov's dog . When the timer went off, he would jump up and run to the potty!
Also, no diapers helps. Underwear all the time that he is awake.Also, check with his teachers at school on how they do potty time at school. Sometimes young kids won't tell you when they have to go you just need to remind them. Good luck

We took my daughter to the store and purchased an apple timer, and told her that it was her potty timer. When we were at home, we put it in a place we could hear it, and set the timer for 1 hour increments. Everytime her timer went off, she would hear it, and we would go potty. She liked to reset the timer. It helped me remember to ask her, and got her to want to go "when her timer went off". I also got her some big girl panties with Dora and Princesses on them. I would tell her, "don't get pee-pee on Dora" and that seemed to work. Try Superman or Spiderman undies. Also, I had a friend who I would call when she went big girl potty, who could talk like Dora, and we would call her, and she would tell "Dora" that she went big girl potty. My friend was a great help. It was another Yeah from someone other that me. It was from "Dora".
good luck

my son is 10 but do remember what we did when he was turning 2. a couple of things:

1. had a couple of pottie books we'd read while he sat on his pottie...his favorite was kermit the frog explaining the when, where, when, why and how of mastering pottie time;

2. sometimes i ran the faucet water...let him hear water running;

3. sometimes i sat on my pottie while he sat on his...yes, it sounds yucky but it gives them comfort to see you go too...after all they learn from us, even going potty.

I have 3 boys and the best advice I got was simple. Eventually, when they are ready they will train. It doesn't matter where or when but they all do. I would sit back and let him use the diapers at home, encourage the potty using at school and in 30 days try potty training at home. Who knows maybe in the middle of something he will tell you he has to go. Don't sweat it, it will happen. Good luck and I understand the frustrations. Oh and I would not put anything negative on it, like time outs or other punishments just highly reward the good stuff. Boys are slower than girls.

Hey there! My names Melissa, I'm a full time Mom with a 3 yr old and one due in April. When we were potty trianing my daughter we tried every trick in the book to get her to use the potty. Sticker charts, prizes, you name it and when she still wouldn't go in the potty, I changed it up. She only got a sticker if she used her potty all day. No mistkes because at home I believe she was just being lazy. And when she did wet her pants she got a time out. I had to stop being so easy going about it and show her it wasn't a game. Time to be a big girl. It worked out great after one week of time out twice a day and no prize she really started trying. and just after her 3rd b-day, we were fully potty trained! Because there was no way I going to be able to have 2 in diapers, well hope this helps you
Melissa

I had to let my son run around at home naked-he would just wet if he had anything, and i mean anything, on. This did the trick for him, and when he pottied, he was praised well, treats, whatever was meaningful to him at the moment. I'd try and put undies back on-he was told they could stay on as long as they were dry. Once they were wet, he went nekkie again for a few day. He got it when he was ready-Best wishes! He'll PL before he's in high school, so don't worry too much :)C.

Sticker charts work well. Each time he goes potty throughout the day, he gets a sticker. When the chart is full, get him something new. ( a small toy, candy, etc.) They get so excited at that age about getting a sticker!

Have you talked to your son's teachers at school to find out if they are doing something special or different with the kids on going to the potty?

Don't think of it as you doing anything "wrong". The other part of it might be that at school, he is "just like the other kids", but at home he knows he isn't going to be "the baby" anymore, so he is "being a big boy" at school, and still "being the baby" at home. The only thing that will fix that is time, after the new baby comes. In the meantime, since you are pregnant, it might be wisest for you to continue putting him in his "pull-ups" while he is at home, to reduce your stress levels, and the need for extra cleaning.

Good Luck with this,and the rest of your pregnancy! :)

I'm so tired of potty training with my 2.5 yr old that I've become a pessimist about it (or some might call it lazy). He's been "almost completely potty trained" for months now. I'm so tired of waiting for "the day" it all clicks and the process it through. Put him in a diaper/pull-ups when he comes home and wait til you're not pregnant to deal with it. :-)
I've heard from countless folks that most boys aren't truly ready to complete the process until they're 3. I figure I still have 6 months before that deadline. I could spend that 6 months cleaning pee and poop out of my carpet, or not.

some children just have more problems then others in this area. they are all different!

When I worked in day care we had a schedule and send the children to potty every two hours. If they didn't potty then half an hour they were put on the potty again, ect, until they used the potty.

I used a castle cake from the bakery as an incentive and my 2 YO is MOSTLY trained (wears diapers at night.) My oldest, though, wasn't potty trained until almost four. My daughter who will be 4 in February isn't anywhere near potty trained. She has volunteered to sit on the potty twice. She has peed in the potty after some coercion twice. I am hoping to find same way to motivate her, but I don't think she even recognizes the feeling of needing to potty which is a big part of successful potty training.

Good morning E.,

What I tried while potty training my son was dropping a couple of froot loops or cheerios in the toilet, (make it a little more exciting than what it really is) and he would aim at it. It came to a point to where he needed to "go" every five minutes (it seemed like) but he then became a pro at being potty trained. You just never know~give it a shot! Good luck to you!

Don't ask a young child if he wants to go potty.
Keep a time schedule (every hour?), just say "Potty time" and happily take his hand to go potty. Have the same routine each time - afterwards washing & drying hands, perhaps affixing a sticker, etc.

M. T.

The way I potty trained all three of my children was by putting something they LOVED in a bowl on top of the refrigerator. When they went they went in the potty, we would pull the bowl down and reward them ie: small toy, chocolate, anything they love and only give them that particular treat when they have gone.

I see you already have alot of responses but I figured I'd offer a couple ideas. My son is 3-1/2, and we struggled with potty training in the same way from 2-1/2 to 3. Rewards like m'm's or mints did great, but I remember there were sometimes when he just didn't want to go, even though I could tell he needed to - and he would wait until it was too late and he had an accident. So here's my 2 ideas that helped:
This first one is a little gross, a little hilarious. My son LOVES to go potty at the same time as daddy. Now, this isn't something they do all the time, but if we can tell he doesn't want to go but he needs to, then daddy will say, "Hey, I have to go potty, want to go with me?" - and he usually RUNS to go.
The other thing that I've used is when he insists he doesn't have to go, I'll tell him to "prove" it to me. So we go into the bathroom, he pulls down his pants and "proves" to me that he can't go. At this age they don't understand that we can't tell whether they're trying or not - so he actually tries to go. And most of the time, "Well look! You made some come out!"

Well those are my ideas - hopefully they help and the first wasn't too weird for you. Good luck!
R.

I have one child of three left to potty train. She is only 17 months old, so I have a little while until we start. I can remember the same thing happening with my daughter and my mother told me that I needed to quit asking her if she had to go to the bathroom and just make her try. It is my understanding that they schedule "potty time" at most day cares and pre-schools and they make all of the kids sit down and try to go. You might ask the school their schedule and try to keep him on a regular schedule of "sitting on the pot". Again, my mother and mother in law told me the same thing about making them go instead of asking if they need to go. Good luck.

Try using a sticker chart. Make one up on a poster board & put it on the wall across from the toilet, come up with a system, for example 1 sticker for #1, 2 stickers for #2 & maybe a special prize after a set amount of stickers have been earned. One thing I've learned teaching is that most kids will do ANYTHING for a sticker!! Good luck!
H.

When I was potty training my son we rewarded him for going potty. But when he had an accadent we took it away. We did this because we new he understood the concept. It took him a couple of times but he got it and he did great with it. Hope that helps.