Advice on Potty Training - Spokane, WA

S.,
My little boy is 3 now and he is doing very well completely potty trained. We teach him to sit, because otherwise it gets very messy. We never push him, but we did reward him for quite a while. we had a sticker chart you know those cheap little stars they used to give you in graded school, well that's what we used. one sticker per potty. It worked great. He also had his own potty and could jst sit there while I went potty and when ever one of us needed to go we just asked if he needed to go. Hope I am of some help.

my son is in the potty trianing scene too, his dad only sees him when he feels like it. at this age, it is perfactly fine to sit on the potty, if you have a step stool for him, then maybe try standing. my son climbs up on the toilet to go potty. right now i just want him to use the potty, i'll worry about standing later.

I'm a single mom too, and it I've been teaching him to sit down for right now. When he has better control and really is potty trained that is when I teach him to stand up. It reduces the risk of him going on everything but the potty! It also helps with going poopoo on the potty, since I've read that some boys after they learn they can stand up they will try to do both standing. If you have your father, or someone you COMPLETELY trust around they can also help out by showing your son how to go standing up when he is older. Good luck!

if your 19 month old is being cooperative now he probably wont be soon enough. Try not to get over excited. That out of the way we teach sitting down it's less messy and then after he can stay dry all day you can do the standing up.

Hi S., Were kinda in the same boat. I'm also a single mom of now a 3 1/2 year old boy. I was stressing about potty training when he was about the same age as your child. I bought him the potty chair but he probably used it maybe 5 times. I bought him regular briefs and made him wear it around the house and I explained to him that if he needs to go pee or poo that he needs to tell me or he would wet his were nice briefs. That made him very concious and would not like to wet his nice briefs.But only do that when you have time to watch him and constantly ask him if he needed to use the restroom. When we go out I use pullups but I explained to him that its the same as his nice briefs but thicker. always keep the bathroom door open so he would have access to it if he decided to go by himself. You would be suprised that he would try to be a big boy and go by himself. I was so surpriced and proud when my son told me that he went by himself and he even washed his hands and flushed and to my amazement he used the potty chair to reach the faucet. So give it some time and do not stress about it some kids are different from others. They would do things on their own phase.

the best advice i can give, is to give him a doll, and ask him to show YOU how the doll goes potty. Youd be pretty surprised how much he knows, and how leading by example helps HIM. good luck and just remember, p/t doesnt last forever, and once he is done, hes another step away from being your baby. so cherish this time!

Hi S.!

I have a 5 yr old boy and a 2 yr old. I tried each and every one of the suggested things from the others and none of them worked for him. He was VERY interested at 19 months but like one of the other moms said, he lost interest as soon as we started "encouraging" him. I gave up and let him lead the way, then when he approached 21/2 I started trying again only to end up with wet pants which he didn't seem to mind for some awful reason. :)(My girlfriends told me to just let him wet his pants and he would realize he doesn't like the feeling, didn't work). My boy LOVES movies and I don't let him watch much TV at all so one day I suggested that if he could stay dry all day, he would get a movie that evening, that did it! by the end of the week he was dry and had maybe 2 accidents that year. He also stayed dry through the night, I am not sure how I go so lucky with that but now we are patiently waiting for our 2 yr old boy to tell us he is ready, which is not happening, but he is a different kid.

Oh, also, we did the sit down thing too, MUCH cleaner, almost wish we still did it! Once he mastered that (and I am talking months) we started talking about standing and he tried both for a while, then went to standing. We tried little spongy things that went in the toilet for aiming, it was too much I think to try to stand, aim (without freaking mom out with you know what on the ceiling) and peeing all at the same time. :)

Be patient. My son was 3 yrs old when he successfully went on the toilet consistently.

W., Mom of Zach(5)and Camden(2)

Get him a stepping stool so he stand. Let the father know that he is potty traing and ask him to let him watch. That way u can say go potty like daddy does. Every time he goes potty like daddy throw a party. Act like it's the biggest deal in the world. If this doesn't work I have some more tricks. Oh, about the aiming thing. Put a square of toilet paper into the toilet and tell him to try and sink it. Cherrioes work too.

I have four kids, youngest five, eldest ten (in two weeks) so I have done this a time or two... My son was over two before he was potty trained, and I taught him to go sitting down. For me, it was just easier than trying to explain "aiming". Just keep in mind that he MIGHT become really resistant to using the potty for some unknown reason, even though he seems to be really interested now. Three of my four did this, they were doing great and then all of a sudden would just REFUSE to go in the potty. I have no earthly idea why, but found that if I backed off a bit, they eventually came back to it. As far as "teaching" your son, you seem to be doing great. At this young age, I think that gentle persuasion is best. Encourage him, as you have been doing, and praising his efforts are the best tack to use, in my opinion, at the age he is. When he is older, and can communicate verbally that he needs to "go" then you'll be able to take your cue from him. Good luck to you!

it took me until my son was 30 months old...he just didn't want to until i bought him "big boy undies" with spongebob on them. i told him spongebob didn't want to get wet...it makes him sad. and he had a couple accidents and within a couple days he was potty trained during the day and within about a week he was potty trained at night. now he's 4 years old and he's maybe had 6 accidents in the last year and a 1/2.

Sound like he is doing very well. My son was two when he started and honestly 4 when he finally would have no accidents. He would not go when he was playing so he always wet his pants. Anyway, we thought since he was so tiny he should sit and he did this for a long time. Until he was able to lift the toilet seat himself and stand like a man! :) then he used his stool and stood to go. I would not worry so much because it sounds like you are doing a great job!

Just stay with him sitting down when he is going potty. My son is 5 and he still sits to go potty. We are working with the standing up thing. My son was also 19 months when he started potty training. He did it all on his own. I feel boy's get it down faster then girl's. The reason I say that is because my daughter is 2 and we are working with her. It took him going #2 on the potty and that's really all it took to get him to use the potty. We started night time potty training when he got older.