SEEKING Potty Training Advise

Hi G.. I'm so sorry, but I have no advice for you! My son is turning 3 next month and refuses to go in the potty. I don't know what to do. I'm hoping you get some good advice that I can use too! :)
Sincerely,
M.

(I sent this answer to someone else today and just cut and pasted it onto yours. I hope you don't mind)

My son who is now almost 9 was not potty trained completely during the day until he was nearly 4 and at night until he was 6.

We made a potty board together and it helped leaps and bounds with him. We went to the store and let him pick out a big piece of colored poster board and we let him pick out stickers. Every time he went poop in the potty he got to put a sticker on the board. Once he had 5 stickers he would get a treat of some kind. Something small that cost a dollar or less like a bouncy ball or a lollipop. With in a month of making the potty board he was using the toilet all the time.

The night time wetting the bed took alot of work on both parts. We learned that we should not let him have anything to drink with in an hour of bed time. We would also have him go to the potty right before bed and then just before we went to bed. We found a vinyl cover for his mattress that fit over the whole thing and zipped up at somewhere like walmart. This saved his mattress and made it easier to clean up after.

We found that letting him wear regular underwear to bed instead of diapers made him more aware of what was going on. He did not like to be wet and would be more likely to get up to go rather than end up wetting himself. Good Luck hope maybe some of this helps.

I just potty trained my son who just turned three and I too thought it would never happen the crazest thing worked for us we told him to try and potty in the toliet and see if it would make a rainbow in the toliet then when he pottied while he wasn't looking we put colored spinkles in the potty and it worked I thought it sounded crazy when my friend suggested it but it worked 2 weeks and only 3 accidents.Good luck!

I was having trouble potty training my little one. We had a little star chart and everytime she went potty she got to put a star on it. It wasn't really working so I asked our doctor. She told me, "you have to think like the God Father, you have to make her an offer she can't refuse." so I asked my daughter how many stars she needed as a reward and she reached in and grabbed a big hand full, and She wanted to put them where ever she wanted on the chart not just in the little marked spaces. with in one week, she was trained. I don't know what rewards you are doing for your little one, but it may not be big enough! Hope this helps!

My son was 26 months old and potty trianed in 1 month. I brought the potty out to the kitchen and (as my pediatrician suggested) would give him sippy cup after sippy cup of juice or kool-aid, whatever he wanted. He'd be in underware and we'd try to sit on the potty every 15-20 min and each time he went he got an m&m, if he pooped he got 2. He thought this was great. The potty chair I used was the baby bjorn (b/c of the deflector shield). When he'd wet himself I made him clean it up. If the floor was wet, he'd clean it and then take his wet clothes off and put them in the wash, and put new ones on. I keep a potty chair with us in the car with used grocery bags and a roll of papertowels (bounty) just in case we're commuting and he has to go. He's almost 3 (in April) and just the last week we've put him in underware to sleep and haven't given him any thing to drink after dinner, usually 1.5 hrs. before bedtime, and he's done fine. We also have the plastic mattress pad on his bed, with a beach towel between that and the sheet, 1 to keep the wet in one area and 2 to keep him from sweating ontop of a plastic mattress pad.
I do like the idea of having my daughter potty trained before she's 2 and she just turned one, isn't walking full time, but is taking about 5-6 steps at a time so I think I'll take her in to the potty with me and start her. She always comes to me when she's poopy and if she's more than a little wet. She only weighs 18#, wonder if they make panties that little?
Good luck, just be persistant.

As for overnight dryness, my oldest, who was 27 months when out of diapers during the day, was well into her fourth year before she was consistently dry at night. I've seen reports that many kids just do not have the physiological development to wake themselves up to pee unti they are "around five." Meaning for some that's later. So nighttime just may take awhile. Invest in a mattress pad and overnight undies.

As for daytime, I suggest getting kids out of disposables and into cloth. If they don't FEEL wet, they have less motivation to stay dry! And get them to change themselves as much as possible. Also ask and take them frequently. Especially when you go!

Sorry, I started this yesterday, but got distracted by the kids...I have just finished potty training my third child. I did it the same way with each child and we were done in 3 days (sleeping and staying dry usually took a week). It's all about motivation. They each had different interests and we used that. I am not a big fan of bribing my kids to do things, but this is something that most kids have absolutely no motivation for. Why would they? Who needs to stop playing, or watching TV, or eating, or whatever else they are doing to use the bathroom when they can just go right there. For kids who don't mind sitting in their own mess, and that's most of them, there's no motivation to change things.

It's a real easy plan, find what they like, some people use stickers - but my kids were never THAT excited about them, and every time they use the toilet they get a reward. For pee they were all the same, chocolate. Every time they peed on the toilet they got a Hershey Kiss. I mean EVERY time. With my last here he thought he'd hold a bit back and go every 5 minutes. So he got a Kiss each time. That only lasted half a day though. It ended up cramping his style, especially when I'd make him sit there for 10 minutes to make sure he was done. The same even if it's bedtime (there needs to be the motivation).

For poo it was a different matter. My daughter loved puzzles, and she was the hardest to get to poo on the toilet (supposedly it's a girl thing), so I bought a few puzzles and every time she pooed on the toilet she'd get to open a new puzzle and we'd put it together. My older son likes super heroes. So I bought a bunch of the 1 1/2 inch action figures (ones he liked) at the dollar store. With my last child it was mini candy bars (the snack size). We only used one bag of Kisses (and candy bars for my last child) and once they were gone the kids were on their own. By that time it was second nature. We still had accidents. The first day mainly. They still need to understand what their body is telling them. Most kids realize that they are peeing when it happens, but predicting it with enough time to get to the bathroom is a whole different matter.

The night/nap time training was easy too. We simply limited drinks before bed. Water is supposed to be out of your system 30 minutes after you drink it, so for an hour prior to bed it's sips not cups of water. We use undies/panties for day time (as soon as they woke up) and pull ups for naps and bedtime. The use of pull ups during sleep didn't change the results at all. I just prefer no pull ups while they are awake because the seemed uncomfortable if they pooed in their underwear. Good luck!

I'm a mother of 5 and every one of my children were potty trained by the time they were 1 year old! Believe what I'm going to tell you..it works! I have even potty trained my friends children..who were all over 3 years of age...within a week! Be FIRM and STICK TO IT!!

For those who have babies and are WALKING even if they don't speak yet...they KNOW "how" to communicate! You know when they're hungry...right? You know when they're sleepy? You know when they WANT something...how is this?? Because THEY COMMUNICATE! Either with Grunts, Moans, Pointing...whatever! They know how to tell you when they need or want something.

So..for starters, find something they like..whether it be Cookies, Candies, Treats of some kind! Make a Special Jar for that item. Something see through...like a Glass Jar and put those treats in it and put it in plain view where they'll see it all the time...but not within reach.

Second...This is for Babies who are Walking and Not Yet one year old. Buy a potty training toilet and sit it in the bathroom in front of your toilet..so that if baby was sitting in it and you were on your toilet, you'd both be facing each other.

Everytime YOU go to the bathroom, take baby with you! Sit baby on their toilet (you don't need to pull diaper off...this is just so they "get" the idea of what you're doing) and then you go to the bathroom. ALLOW baby to see you urinate. YES...let baby actually see your urine coming out!! Make a huge deal out of it! Clap and say Yayyy! Look, Mommy went Pee Pee!!! YYayy!! And get all happy and woo hoo alot about it! Baby will become excited about it seeing all the commotion. Even if you go #2...let baby see what you're doing!
After you're done, wash hands and what not...Go to that special jar and pull out a treat and say, "Mommy gets a treat cuz Mommy went pee pee! Yayy!!" Of course, baby is going to want a treat...and as cruel as it seems, DO NOT give baby a treat!! Even if they cry!! DON'T!! Tell them, "No Nooo Honeyyy...you can't have one because you didn't go pee pee in your toilet! When YOU go pee pee in YOUR toilet...Mommy will give you one!" And STICK to it!! Every single time you go to the bathroom, take baby with you...be consistant! Before you know it...Baby will want to rip their own diaper off, to show you that he/she can go to the bathroom too! Always give them a treat when they go even 2 drops and ONLY when they go. Do not allow them to have anything from that Jar unless it's for using the toilet. You MUST be firm!!

My babies couldn't even speak and they were potty trained and used to tell me when they needed to go by grunting and pointing to the bathroom or to their private parts...letting me know they had to go! The youngest was 11 months and trained the oldest was 1 yr 3 weeks old...and that was my son. He took the longest to train. Naturally, because I didn't have a "Boy" part..LOL But daddy took him into the bathroom and allowed him to see him urinate and he caught on and Whalla! He was trained!

Now for older children...those who can speak and understand full well what they're doing! Put underwear on them right away! Don't forget that Special Jar! Again...take them into the bathroom with you...whether they want to sit on their special toilet or not...have them go IN the bathroom with you and shut the door. You DO NOT need for them to SEE you urinate...they will HEAR it. They're smart enough to know what you're doing and if you're comfortable allowing them to see...then let them. When you're done...make all the hoopla about it...just as with the baby! Wash your hands and then treat yourself to that Special Jar! The OLDER ONES catch on right away!! Make MMMmmm...MMMmmm noises while eating your treat and praise yourself for using the toilet! "Mommy's so good!! Mommy went pee pee in the toilet so Mommy gets a Special Treat!! Mmmm...Mmmm this is SO GOOD" They are going to want one SO BAD...they will use the bathroom VERY soon!
When they soil in their underwear...LEAVE THEM ON!! We as parents make the biggest mistake by cleaning them up right away! They don't suffer the consequences of what they just did! Leave them to stay in their wet underwear feeling yucky and gross for atleast 15 minutes. Don't scold them!! Just EWww..and GROSS out about it. Saying Yuck...Ewwww...Stinky...whatever. But DON'T scold!! What they did is something natural! BUT..to do it in your pants...is not! So just make it seem really gross. They wont like the way their feeling in those wet underwear and they'll WANT to take them off. When this happens and they've soiled their underwear...Immediatly go to the bathroom and try to use it...so that YOU treat YOURSELF to a TREAT!! And then make a big Hoopla about how you got a treat and just used the toilet. They are going to catch on so quickly...you wont believe it!
After a while...the Special Jar wont be needed and you wont have to worry about diapers either!! Promise!! Hope this helps EVERYONE!!