Potty training

[Ginny]

I searched and searched for a good place to put this thread and could not find one....

I need a surefire way to potty train this son of mine before I go in wasting my time and his. My daughter was a breeze... He is 2 1/2 and I want to get it done this summer before Teamkid starts at church this coming Fall.

Thanks!

 

[Katydid]

I hate to tell you but there is no "sure fire" way. All you can do is to try to encourage him to want to go potty. That and throw away all the diapers. Let him wet through and get messy, this sometimes speeds the process up.

P.S. There is a parenting forum here

http://www.christianforums.com/f123-parenting.html

 

[GodFlute2]

The only way I can tell you is wait till he's ready. if he doesn't want to you can't make him. But once he's ready he will willingly go.

 

[Princessperky]

http://home.earthlink.net/~guin_dt_sales/id2.html

link to all sorts of thoughts on pting.

Unfortunatly having an outside timetable usually makes it harder .

 

[Tini]

My oldest son is 6 and still battles while sleeping with accidents. Youngest is 3 and is sleeping through dry most nights now.

Just go with the gut feel.

 

[Tini]

My oldest son is 6 and still battles while sleeping with accidents. Youngest is 3 and is sleeping through dry most nights now.

Just go with the gut feel.

A lot of positive reinforcement with accidents too - they really dont do it on purpose - and really want to be BIG.

 

[andiesmama]

We ditched the diapers one day, Andie went with me the day before to pick out her big girl panties...also picked out her "reward candy" and a pretty jar to put them in...in plain view right by the potty!

Then I just put her in her panties & went for it...I set the timer on the stove for 30 minutes (well, I started with 20), so every time the timer went off, we went to the potty. Oh, and I also had a "goodie bag" in the bathroom with fun stuff while she sat on the potty, like new books, bubbles, stuff like that.

It only took a few days & she was telling me when she had to go. But every kid is different, you'll just have to take all these tips & figure out what works best for you. Good luck!

 

[lucypevensie]

I agree with ditching the diapers. That's how I did it with both of mine. But I did tell them about it well in advance that this is the last pack, and when it's gone then we're going to use the new underwear instead, and it will be fun, and we'll get prizes. Just say how it's going to be, and be enthusiastic but not obnoxious about it.

Use cloth underpants rather than Pull-ups so that he can experience what wet pants really feel like. Set a timer or something and try to go every time it buzzes. Only have him stay for half a minute or something. He can get one small treat for every time he sits and tries, and maybe 2 if he sits and succeeds.

Handle accidents calmly. I taught my kids how to clean up their own messes, take off their wet clothes and put them in a basket, wipe up the puddle with paper towels, wash hands, whatever else needs to be done. Go back later and do a more thorough cleaning yourself when he's not watching.

 

[Punkymom]

I took pullups away from my 3 yo dd this week and she's already staying dry. She knows that she is allowed to pee and poo in the pullups but not in the panties. She knows that she messed up if she pees in her panties. I don't get mad but she goes "uh oh I pee pee." She then takes off her clothes and goes to sit on the potty (per my instruction) and gets dry panties. She has only been having 1 accident a day...yesterday she didn't have any accidents. I was surprised at how quickly she caught on to it. I started talking to her about wearing big girl panties well in advance of having her wear them because I'm an accident a phobic if that exists. I'm paranoid that she's going to pee on me. I have a hard time holding her when she's in her panties. She doesn't know this, but I'm asking her every 5 min if she has to pee while I'm holding her. At first when I was talking to her about it she would say that she didn't want to wear panties because she couldn't pee in them. The first day she cried because she wanted a pullup. I told her she could have one at bedtime. As soon as she is fully trained during the day, we're going to switch to panties at night. Another reason why I'm waiting, is because right now we're still cosleeping part time because her bed is packed away (we're going to be moving in 3 weeks). I know moving can be stressfull, but I think if I show her where the potty is and explain to her that it's just like our old house she'll catch on rather quickly.

 

[Princessperky]

Punkymom, sounds like it is going great! Good luck on the move, there will be some backsliding, but you will already have nice foundation to fall back on .

 

[bliz]

OK - I'll say it...

I think that you and your son may be in for a very frustrating time here. 2 1/2 is young, unless he is showing signs that he is ready. Having a deadline you would very much like him to meet is not going to help matters either. Please reconsider how crucial this deadline is. Even if he "trained" by that time, he is much more likely to have an embarassing accident when not with you. Potty training has so much to do with our sex life later down the road becasue the same parts of the body are involved.

How necessary is it that he meet this deadline?

 

[LadyLuck]

Hey Ginny, I'm in a simular boat. I'm about to begin training my 32 month old son. I've lucked out that he WANTS to be trained and I don't have a time constraint. I really like the idea of the timer. I'll definately try that. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Jess

 

[purpleunicorn_Andi]

why didn't I find this sooner???? my 4 year old is finally using the bathroom in the potty...generally only having acidents at night (still have him in pullups at night...but when going to daycare he is now wearing underwear..and has had very few acidents...) up until 3 months ago was still using the pull ups...he would tell the teachers most of the time...but at home...nope never... so one day I just desided it was time to just take the plung... I think the first time was when they went to the park that had the sprinklers at school...I put him in his swim suit...and told him not to have an acident because he didn't have a pullup on...and I had put a pair of big boy paints in his back pack...and after that...he's been doing really good..even using the bathroom here almost everytime

 

[HeatherJay]

I took pullups away from my 3 yo dd this week and she's already staying dry. She knows that she is allowed to pee and poo in the pullups but not in the panties. She knows that she messed up if she pees in her panties. I don't get mad but she goes "uh oh I pee pee." She then takes off her clothes and goes to sit on the potty (per my instruction) and gets dry panties. She has only been having 1 accident a day...yesterday she didn't have any accidents. I was surprised at how quickly she caught on to it. I started talking to her about wearing big girl panties well in advance of having her wear them because I'm an accident a phobic if that exists. I'm paranoid that she's going to pee on me. I have a hard time holding her when she's in her panties. She doesn't know this, but I'm asking her every 5 min if she has to pee while I'm holding her. At first when I was talking to her about it she would say that she didn't want to wear panties because she couldn't pee in them. The first day she cried because she wanted a pullup. I told her she could have one at bedtime. As soon as she is fully trained during the day, we're going to switch to panties at night. Another reason why I'm waiting, is because right now we're still cosleeping part time because her bed is packed away (we're going to be moving in 3 weeks). I know moving can be stressfull, but I think if I show her where the potty is and explain to her that it's just like our old house she'll catch on rather quickly.

Some excellent advice here, but I just wanted to mention that you probably want to be VERY careful about the unspoken signals you could be sending to your daughter. You mentioned that you're almost afraid to hold her because she might pee on you...kids are VERY sensitive to the things we don't say to them. Trust me when I say that she feels your apprehension about holding her when she's wearing panties. This could possibly end up having the opposite effect your looking for...not only could it damage her self confidence and self esteem, she could also interpret it to mean "Mommy loves me more when I wear pull-ups than she does when I wear big girl panties." Of course, I know that that's not at all the case, but children internalize these things, and the result of that could cause problems, not only with potty training, but also down the road in other areas of her life.

I know you surely didn't ask for my advice, lol...feel free to disregard me totally...I just had to throw in my 2 cents.

BTW, I've been peed on and pooped on more times than I can count, lol...trust me...there are worse things. My big thing is getting thrown up on. I usually get sick right back, lol. Bless my husband's heart...he gets to clean up all the sicky messes.

 

[mommiefrog]

My oldest daughter was a breeze to potty train. At 1 1/2 she was telling me she had to go potty. She was completly potty trained by two. My youngest just turned two in June. It is so true what they say. Every kid is diffrent. Morgan will stay dry all night. I take the pull up off and sit her on the potty, sometimes for 30 mins to an hour. I know she has to go because she just spent 10-13 hours dry. She won't go. As soon as I give up and put panties on her, she pees. I am so stressed. I think potty training her is more stressful on me than her. She is so laid back and carefree. I wish I could be like that.
There are alot of good ideas here and I think I will try some. Thanks.

 

[Princessperky]

DS was like that, he would sit for ages on the potty, to busy thinking of leaving to pee.

I used all the incentives, and I reminded him how it was his pee, I couldn't put it in the potty for him, but I certainly could keep him from my big kid toys till he decided to do so!

I was ready with all the tricks in my arsenel when DD came along, course she beat on the door early and was a self trained girl . I so hope BBY3 follows her not him!

 

[kingzjewel]

my son refused to PT while i was really wanting him to. when i relaxed, he started training nearly on his own. he is only 2 1/2. i didnt put deadlines on him, either. i know that many people like to send their kids to school when they turn 3, but mine wont be going. he has no rush. i had to stop thinking of what i wanted him to do so he could feel free to do what he was comfortable to do.

 

[mommiefrog]

I am trying really hard to not put a deadline on potty training my little Morgan. However, she is too old for diapers now (my opinion only) and pull ups are just too expensive. I may send her to school when she is three but I have an entire year before that. It doesn't help any that I really would like to have another child and my husband has told me that he won't even consider it until Morgan is potty trained. I am going to try to relax and let her do her own thing though. I guess I just have to get used to cleaning up puddles again. LOL

 

[E-beth]

My son started potty training almost a year ago, when he just turned two. Ever since then, if I put him on the potty, he would go pee. If he needed to go and wasn't sitting on the potty, he would just use his pull-up. Once he turned three I started getting frustrated and wandering if he would go to college with a pull-up on someday. Then one day a couple of weeks ago, I put underwear on him and he was SOOO excited. He liked them alot and stays dry all day every day except for an occaisional accident which happens when he drinks too much in the day. We bought new underwear (Wal-mart actually had ones with monster trucks on them--I coulda kissed the department manager! He is having a harder time getting the poo signals before he lets go, so I wash alot of underwear. But he is working on it.

The best thing I did for him was the reward jar, the potty chart from Charmin, and buying him a little stepstool and that Kan-doo foaming soap. He is surprising me with how well he is doing.

The worst thing I did was discover pull-ups. I used the learning design kind and the wetness liner kind. They might as well just been a diaper to him. I wish I woulda put him in undies six months ago.