My son turned 3 in December and still is not even close to being potty trained. He loves to talk about using the potty, but will not do it....he knows when he is going, and so do we, when we ask him if he wants to go on the potty he immediately says no! We have tried offering rewards, reading books on the potty (he has done this with pants on), but now he screams whenever I ask him if he wants to try sitting on the potty. It just seems like he should be interested in this by now....any advice or anyone been through this with a 3 year old.
People kept saying that when he was ready he would just do it....I guess I didnt believe it until the day he decided he would be potty trained. He was about 3 1/2, but has done perfectly since then (except during the night). I guess he just wasnt ready....and I will know for the next one to let him do it on his own time...less stress for me =) Thanks
Hi K.,
The only thing that worked for my daughter was a vcr tape called "Once Upon A Potty"; I would think it would now be available on disc...
They have a version for the boys and one for the girls
HTH
Please let me know if you have any questions about it...
J.
Typically boys don't fully get it until about 3 1/2...
With our older son I had set times that he had to "try"... After waking up, breakfast, lunch, before nap, after nap, after dinner, and before bed. It was not debatable. He sat on the potty for about 5 min. at a time... (I didn't want him to dread it). At about 3 1/2 he just got it. And I would still have him try at those times, but he would also go on his own.
You choose your battles and if its stressing either of you out slack off a bit. But don't just stop. Make it the routine. He may fight you at first but eventually it will click and you'll realize you didn't have to remind him.
I feel your pain!! My son, also 3, can talk about the potty, how to use the potty etc for hours on end. He's fascinated with it, but will NOT go on it. He -has- gone a few times on it, but on the whole, would rather scream and have a tantrum than to actually go on the potty itself. He's even started to not tell me when he's gone in his pullups, which is a new thing altogether as he's always been very prompt about letting us know when it was time for a change.
You are -not- alone!
All 3 of my kids were 3 before they got it. I offered the potty chair and underwear around 1.5 and would mention it occasionally to see if there was interest, but I chose not to push it, mostly because they were close in age and it was easier to do diapers than train. Turned out they all started w/ bm, which I guess is not "common". And nights were dry right away. I think you can only try so hard. Te rest is up to them. I read once that there are 3 things you can't "make" a kid do: eat, sleep and use the toilet. I found that good advise. We can only make the path smooth and encourage. The age of your kids could have some influence. Earlier this month someone wrote about an already trained toddler trying to put a diaper on and many thought it sounded like some envy of a new baby. Maybe he doesn't want to give up being a baby just now?
I have three boys and they were all potty trained before they were 3. I was having problems training my 1st one. I was talking to my mother in law on the phone one day telling her that I did not know what to do that Nick just was not interest in the potty and I had Another due in 4 months and he would be three. I told her what I read on potty training and she told me I read to much and this is what I needed to do. I followed her instruction and he was peed trained in a week.
Her first advice was stop giving him a choice he will always chose what he knows (ie diapers over underwear).
Than she told me to take his diaper off and have him run around naked. (boys hate it when they pee on them self this is diffidently true).
She told me to sit the potty in front of the TV and have him sit on it every 10 minutes.(now this did not work for us my son refused to sit on it so we did like every hr.)
Once I got him to pee in the potty which took about a day than he was good to go and he was using it daily form there.
I used this method with all three of my kids the first one was trained at 2yrs. 9months. My second was trained at 20 months. (got smart and started earlier. Started introducing at 18 months) My third was trained at 2yrs and 3months when we were on vacation. (When my daycare babies came back He decided he wanted nothing to due with it and demanded a diaper so he could pee.) I gave it to him put kept talking to him and he was totally trained at 2yrs 8 months.
Hope this helps. I feel if you put the potty in the living room where it can be seen it helps relax the child and makes it more convenient and you have less accident at the beginning. Hopes this helps.
I was unable to potty train my son (now 9) until it was nearly time for preschool, so I feel your pain! It finally happened when I had my sister babysit one day, she went and bought him his "special" unders and told him if he peed in them, she'd have to take them back. Although we had a few instances of "public peeing" (had to go, so just pulled down the pants and went outside) and small accidents, he really wanted to keep those unders, so he made sure he didn't have any accidents!
If you think he is ready.. put him in cotton unders and tell him it is time to use the potty.
take him to the potty every hour.
he will have accidents but theylearn pretty fast wehn the pee runs down their leg..
If he doesnt get it after a couple of days or a week then stop and try again in a week or a month.
..
I have always heard that boys train later than girls. He probably just isn't ready, even though he can talk about it. I would stop any talk about it for awhile, give him some time to get unstressed about it, wait for him to ask you about it...then just tell him it's time to go rather than asking him if he has to go. Toddlers say no to everything! Have you tried letting him run around without pants? That worked for me.
Maybe try telling him it is time to go instead of asking and maybe give him a warning. I tell my son, okay after breakfast you are going to use the potty, after lunch, before nap, etc. Then when it is that time, I will say okay, it is time to go, which book do you want to take, or which train do you want to take? This distracts him from getting upset that I am telling him it is time to go. My son's problem is he doesn't want to leave what he is doing so I try to let him take whatever he is playing with and then show him that as soon as he is done, he can go right back to doing what he is doing.
It is so hard, it is different with every child. Try your best not to get frustrated as hard as that is! Hang in there!
My son would pee, but not poop at 3. He was about 3.5 before he showed interest. I did everything you described. My dr. told me to back off. We did for about 4 weeks...and he starting pooping in the pot. Give him some space and time.
3 yr olds and potty training don't always go together so well. I wouldn't worry. Give him a chance to do it and, if he's not interested, let it go for now. A lot of kids (boys especially) aren't really done with this till age 4, no matter what pressure other people may put on you about this. Maybe he'll be more interested if he goes in with your husband when he goes and begins to want to be like him. Whatever you do, I'd recommend not making a mountain out of this because that can make the process much longer.
