Getting Ready to Potty Train 2-Year Old Boy

I've got a 19-month old and am getting ready to bring out the potty trainer just to get my daughter used to the idea. I'm responding to see what others say.

It will be a trial and error for a few days. It should be easier since it is summer time. I would put him in big boy underwear (Not pull-ups) and as soon as he starts to go rush him to the potty. Don't get upset if he doesn't make it at first. Keep praising him for what ever he does. He will catch on fast. Also, only use pull ups when you are on the go and it will be a big deal if he wets himself. Pullups feel just like a diaper and he won't "mind" if he wets. If you are worried about the mess put underwear under the pull ups the key is having him be able to feel when he goes. Good luck.

Mom of four boys. Don't rush him. He is nowhere near ready. He is still a baby! You don't realize that because he is your first. :0) I remember, with my first, always being so anxious for the next milestone. Little boys generally potty train between 3 and 4 years of age. The awareness of bodily functions is not an indication of anything having to do with potty training. Wait at least a year until you even think about potty training. When you wait until they are ready, no training is necessary. It is sooooo easy!!! Remember my words. If it is difficult, a struggle, or a battle, it is too early. If you try to teach him at this early age, he may pick it up, but he will eventually regress.
Any parent who makes a "vow" that all of their kids will meet certain deadlines should be raising police dogs instead of individual, unique children. Sometimes this message board is downright scary.

When your son is truly ready to be potty trained, it will happen and it will be much smoother than if you were to force it when he isn't ready. When that time comes, I suggest going to Dr.Phil's website and look up his potty training strategy. Its got great tips and he swears it will be done in one day. It worked for my daughter and I plan to try it with my son when he is ready. Basically what worked for her is I put one day aside to do it. I chose her reward to be chocolate and not reward that Dr Phil suggested cuz it really didn't apply to my daughter at the time. I put a new movie on for her to watch, took off her diaper, sat in her potty chair in front of the TV and fed her a bunch of juice and water, filling her bladder. When she started to feel the urge to go, she would get up and tell me. I would sit her back down on her chair and go potty. she was a bit hesitant at first but with some encouragement and a reminder that if she went pee in the potty she would get her reward, she finally went. of course i made a big deal about it when she went in the potty. she continued to go potty the rest of the day in the potty. I kept the potty chair close to us throughout the house for a few days and then slowly moved it into the bathroom. As far as getting through the nite, i put pull ups on her and limited her liquids past a certain time and made her go pee just before bed and right when she woke up. As soon as I noticed that she was waking up the next day with a dry diaper I started to have her sleep without the pull-up telling her that she needed to get out of bed at nite or else she would go pee in her bed and go pee pee in the potty, or go right away when she woke up first thing in the morning. As far as her bed, I just made sure that I put a water proof pad underneath where she slept to catch any accidents.
As far as potty training for her poop, I kept that separate. She had a fear about pooping into the toilet, but she would ask for a pull up when she had to go. I finally just told her that we ran out of pull ups and that they no longer made them in her size. She held her poop for about 2 days and finally went for the first time during a shopping trip at Michaels. After that, we haven't looked back since and we've only had maybe about 4 or 5 accidents. While I can't guarantee your son will respond the same way to potty training as my daughter did, I can advise you of this.
1) It may take 1 or 2 failed attempts before he is truly ready. In that case, just stop start again several weeks later. The first time I tried with my daughter, I thought she was ready and she had tons of accidents on the first day. It was almost turning into a traumatic experience for her. I decided to wait another couple months and try again. The second time she was truly ready, it was almost too easy, and its been smooth sailing since.
2) You have figure out what will work for your son and tailor whatever potty training plan you choose towards it. Once you do make that commitment, stick to it.
3) Pull ups are pretty much like diapers, so don't even bother using them as a training tool. I only continued to use them at night until she started to wake up dry in the morning, which indicated to me that she was able to have bladder control during her sleep. I called them her nite nite underwear. She wore regular under throughout the day. She also asked for them when she had to poop cuz she knew that she wasn't supposed to poop or potty in her underwear.
4)And definitely go with your son and have him pick out his big boy underwear, so that he can get excited about it!
5)And if he does have an accident, don't make a big deal about it and tell him its ok and encourage him to keep trying and that it was just an accident. Whatever you don't show him your upset are frustrated about it. It will only upset him that much more.
6) And keep patience, consistency and love on your side :)
I wish you the best of luck!

We are training our son now, he had made it for 4 days with no accidents and we have been constent for about 10 days, but before this we were constantly itroducing the process for about 5 months off and on because he'd be interested but then give up and be stubborn not wanting to try. We got a calander and stickers for him to put his progress on a star for pee and happy face each time he poos and after poop a candy reward thats given after dinner each day, and he's all about it this time and even went in a resturant yesterday, though at night we put a diaper to avoid wet beds...

he has a step stool and wears mostly just underwear at home so it's easy for him to take off when needed, we tryied turning his around so if he mis shot it would hit the back of the seat and go down rather then carpets but that didn't last long, in the begining we'd tell him to try to toot so we knew he under stood pushing, and we also took him to the store told him to pick out a toy he choose the one he wanted and we told him after 5 days of going we'd come back and buy it .. he was all about it .. we also offered a potty party but he said he wants the zoo so after 10 days no accidents we'll be going to the zoo we're at day 5 again becasue of an accident..
YOu just can't give up keep trying and offer the things he loves to help along the way ... good luck all i can say is boy are a little harder then girls since i have one of each ..

Hi M.,
I think one of the best ways to potty train is when you or your husband goes to the bathroom to bring you son with you and sit him on his potty or especially when your husband goes to pee have him stand on his stool and go with dad.
The trick is to be constant in your trainning. Both you and your husband must do this in order for it to work.
I have a 2 1/2 year old grand son and when I am with him I keep on him to go to the potty but his parents work and cannot do this so it is hard to train him. Not to mention I live in another state. If he is truly ready he will let you know. It is not going to be easy and every child is different just be patient and it will happen. Good luck, N.

Hi Michelle!
How wonderful of you to have the joy of being a stay at home mom!
I have a great tip on this page of GOMOMMYGO.com:
http://www.gomommygo.com/pottytraining.html
It really worked for my 7 kids in only 1 or 2 charts! I loved the 'cheerio idea', too, and you could incorporate that in with the chart idea for a little boy for extra fun!
Best,
R.

He sounds like he might be ready. I have three sons and none of them trained until 3 years. My middle son wanted to at two because his brother was in underpants, but had so many accidents we reverted to diapers for a bit. If you get a potty chair for potty training and have him sit on on about the time he usually goes, after he has sucess he will get the connection. Don't keep him on a long time if he doesn't go. My husband actually pee pee trained my oldest son. He saw Dad go and he wanted to imitate Dad and Dad helped him stand on the stool and go. He was very consistant after that telling us when he had to go and was proud of his accomplishment. All my boys were night dry before I day trained them too. Don't put pressure on him and you can try, but be prepared to back off if he doesn't continue to show interest and make progress. It will only frustrate both of you.

Hello M.,
I have a 5yr old boy and a girl who just turned 2. I think it is great that your son is showing interest on the potty, but please know that there are other signs that are much more important. Usually a kid that is getting ready for potty training is on a predictable schedule. They also begin to hide in a familiar spot when they go poop. Their diaper is almost dry in morning when they wake up. Many times starting this process prematurely can set the child back if they are really not ready. My daughter will sit in the potty at this point for about 5-7 minutes, but not go. When I put her pull-up on she goes soon after. She now tells me almost as soon as she poops or goes pee in the pull-up. I just encourage her to sit on the potty so that she becomes familiar. I always remind her as I am changing her that poop and pee go in the potty. She agrees, and slowly she will make the connection as my son did at 2 1/2. My advise is to take it slow and really read the signs.

Hi M.,
I potty trained my son last summer (he was just over 2 1/2)---I heard somewhere that summer is a good time since we are outside so much. I simply put big boy undies on him and explained about the potty and let nature take its course. Sure enough we were outside, he had a pee pee accident and didn't like being in the wet undies. He asked to be changed immediately. It happened just a couple of times (both outside fortunately) and that was it. He then started asking to go to the potty to pee. Good luck!

J.,

PS: This just worked for pee---a year later he still asks for a pull-up to have a BM--I just posted my own question on that!

www.pottytrainingconcepts.com has great supplies for potty training. They also have a potty training program by Dr. Phil, which the site claims is the best around (I know nothing about it, but that's what they say). We got the "potty scotty" potty chair and we like it. They also have potty seats that attach to the toilet and can flip up so adults and children can use the same toilet. We got those and I am so pleased with them. A few other items that I am glad we got - toilet seat covers for when you are out and about (oversized, they drape over the toilet to protect little hands), a folding travel potty seat (great for a trip to grandma's house), and my favorite is the portable potty (a little folding potty chair with disposable bags to catch the waste, we keep this in the car and take it with us on outings, it could easily fit in a med/large purse - I absolutely hate public restrooms with little hands that crave to touch everything, so with this we rarely ever have to use public restrooms and my son loves this little thing).
I got a potty training book called "Potty Training 123." It gives you a step-by-step plan for potty training - I love step-by-step plans! (I keep looking for the step-by-step manual that my son was supposed to come with:) Only problem was, it didn't really work for us. It might have if I had stuck with it, but I'm a wimp, and it didn't seem to take, so I gave up and decided to try again later. I have heard from many moms that when the time is right, it is no effort at all. This first attempt was when he was 2 1/2. I tried again when he was 2 yrs 9 mos. This time I was fairly certain that he was ready. Some of the "readiness" signs that were only maybe there before, were totally there now. He was trained in one day. I had prepped him a couple of days in advance and when the day arrived, we put on big boy underwear, and that was it! He had only one accident on the second day and it was the first time he had been out of the house without a diaper. No other accidents since and it has been about 7 months (no regressions, yet). I never thought it could be so easy. I think it was simply because the time was right.
I have heard of some moms who see it as a process and it takes several months (they even talk about something like this in the potty training book I have). And I have a friend who is completely content with that type of potty training. She started her son at 22 months and it was a process. Lots of accidents and lots of running around with no clothes, but she didn't mind. He's almost 3 now and I think they are still working on it as a process (but they have had to interrupt it for a couple of moves). That isn't really my style, but we're all different, and she's a great mom - I love her, we just have different styles!
If you don't want it to be a long process and you would prefer that it take less time, this is what I would suggest: Find a list of all the "readiness" signs and be sure that he has most, if not all, of them (my son had all but the "tugging on his diaper/indicating when he eliminated" sign when I tried the first time, he had all of them when I tried again and it worked) I don't remember all of the signs, but I have seen them on different parenting sites; prepare him by talking about it a couple of days in advance, then when the day arrives, put him in big boy underwear (I have heard pull-ups just give them the same feeling of a diaper, training pants are probably fine, but we just went straight to underwear), work on daytime dryness separately from naptime/nightime dryness (my son was in underwear at naptime and nightime just after he turned 3, but I have heard many are not ready until much later), lots and lots of praise and a special treat even just for sitting on the potty when you ask him to (we go sugar-free in my house and I couldn't bear to break that even for the winning M&M's that all of my mom-friends swear are the best, but I found some juice-sweetened natural cookies that he loves and worked great).
Good luck!

Make sure you have some days where you're not running errands. Dress him in his undies or let him go naked. Be ready for lots of messes. Get a cheapo egg timer and set it for every 30 minutes. When the timer goes off it's time to sit on the potty. Have him sit there for a couple minutes, if he goes great celebrate it; if he doesn't applaud him anyway just for sitting on the potty.

It takes a while so don't get discouraged. We had to do it twice our son wasn't ready at 2 but by 3 he was. The important thing is to keep him interested and really make it sound exciting. Good luck.

Oh yeah, if you find that he's spraying on the floor when he pees turn him backwards on the potty. It gives him something to hold onto and the mess is easier to clean up.

Hi M.,
We have been done potty training our son for about 8 months now, and he is just celebrating his 3rd birthday in a couple of days. I have a potty seat that we loved, because not only could you use it as a potty chair, it has a removable seat we would take when we traveled and used a lot at home when I didn't feel like cleaning out the training toilet. We also used the training underwear and plastic pants, so he could feel when he had an accident.
Anyway, since we are done with the potty training (and we are moving out of state) I am selling all my potty training stuff I used. I have an add posted on Craigslist, but you can email me if you want to look/take.
D.

Hi, I bought my son a talking potty that sings catchy little songs when something hits the bottom of the potty. He loves it and it really helped in getting him excited about using the "big boy potty". I read a potty traning book that said not to say things like "mommy is so proud of you" because they are in the independent so saying things like that may cause them to rebel against the potty. Instead say things like "you should be proud of yourself for using the potty." Also you can go on Pushups.com and have a free potty traning video sent to you. I hope this helps some.

I have not tried it yet...but I am gonna start.
My son is two and a half.
Good Luck and wish me luck.

Dr. Phil
Potty Train Your Child In Less Than a Day
What You Need

A doll that wets

A potty chair

Big boy/girl underwear (instead of diapers)

Lots of liquids for your child and the doll to drink
**Note that the following instructions using liquids also apply to potty training for bowel movements.

Consider Before You Begin

Development: The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests waiting until 2 years of age to potty train.

Modeling: You can demonstrate or have the doll demonstrate the process of "going potty."

Motivation: Find out who your child's superhero is. The hero will provide the motivation in this process.

Step 1: Teach a Doll That Wets
Your child will learn by teaching the doll how to go potty. Have your child name the doll and give it something to drink. Then walk the doll to the potty chair with your child. Pull the doll's "big kid" underwear down and watch the doll go potty together.

Step 2: Throw the Doll a Potty Party!
When the doll successfully goes potty, throw a potty party! Make it a big blowout with party hats, horns and celebrate. Give lots of attention to the doll so that your child understands that going potty is a good thing.

Let your child know that when he goes potty, he will have a potty party too. Not only that, your child gets to call his favorite superhero to report the good news!

Step 3: Get Rid of the Diapers
At the beginning of the process you placed underwear on your child's doll. Now it's time to take away the diapers and put underwear on your child.

Step 4: Drink Lots of Fluids
Give your child plenty of fluids to drink. The sooner he has to go potty, the sooner you can begin potty training.

Step 5: Ten Trips to Potty When Accident
Ask your child if he needs to go potty. Your child might say no and that's OK. Because you've given your child plenty of fluids, he will soon need to go.

If your child has an accident in his underwear, don't scold him. You want this to be a positive experience. Instead, take your child to the potty, pull his underwear down, and have your child sit down. Do this 10 times. This builds muscle memory and your child will eventually go.

Step 6: Let the Celebration Begin!
When your child successfully goes potty, throw him a potty party. Most importantly, your child can now call his favorite superhero and tell the hero about what he just did! Enlist the help of a friend or relative to play the hero and take the phone call.

When your child has an accident, simply take him/her to the bathroom ten times in a row as you did before. This will continue to build muscle memory. And don't forget to keep up the positive reinforcement.

Hi M.,
2 year old boys can be tricky to train. They act like they are interested but in many cases they aren't ready even though they know what they need to do. I bought my son Once Upon a Potty - potty, book and video. He showed signs at 2 that he wanted to potty train but I couldn't keep him interested even though he liked the book and the video. He would sit on the potty but wouldn't go in it. We kept trying but he decided he didn't want to do it beecause it was "scary". When he was 2 years 11 months, we told him No more diapers, took them off and let him walk around in underwear. We had a couple of accidents but he was basically trained in one weekend. We kept him in pull ups when he went to sleep because it takes them awhile to learn to wake themselves at night to go. We stopped pull ups when they were consistently dry and when we knew he got up in the middle of the night to go into the bathroom.

Hopefully your son is truly interested in learning. Take him to the store and let him pick out his own potty seat for the big toilet. Then let him help you pick out a potty for training. Also let him pick out some underwear. If he's excited to use these things, he'll be more willing to go on the potty.

Good luck.

The trick is....YOU have to be willing to commit as well.
My two youngest (3 years and 2 years old) are boys.
I vowed to myself (with all 4 kids) that they be off bottle and diapers BEFORE age 3. And I kept my word.

You just have to be consistent. As soon as he wakes up, at least 15 minutes after each time he drinks anything, and before bedtime.

And, whenever mommy or daddy uses the toilet, you could say, " Okay, your turn" .......They'll be a lot of false alarms, but you have to be consistent. My boys potty trained in less than 2 weeks of being consistent. Yes, it was tiring for me, but it is worth it after the 2 weeks.

I can't afford to give prizes each time, so a simple HIGH FIVE and clapping worked for us ;-)

M., if you are interested in natural nutritious drink, email me separately ____@____.com

Best of luck !

Don't push it, he's way too young, and is barely developmentally able to control his bladder and sphincter muscles. Keep him in pull ups, that way if he has an accident it's not embarassing to him. Trust me, this is a control issue waiting to happen, and you don't want to go down that road.

What worked for my son (and the plan that I had) was to basically go 'cold turkey'. I do not believe in pull ups and think that they would be confusing for a little one...so, we picked a day and that was it. He went nakey for two days (it was warm and we were outside quite a bit & put the potty in clear view). The next couple of days he wore sweats with nothing underneath so he could practice pulling his pants up and down...and that was it. I can count on one hand how many 'accidents' he had during the process....and that was it.
I have to say, I waited until four months before his third birthday though. BUT I have heard of little girls potty training at just two.
Good Luck!

I waited until my son's 3rd birthday. Made a special trip to the store for underware. From there we went cold turkey and it took 2 weeks only.

If they are ready it really shouldn't take very long. All the moms of boys I know (over 25) waited until after 3 and were all very sucessful. Its just a suggestion.

Hi M.,

My name is M., I have 3 boys 8,6 1/2 and 6 months. my older two loved potty training when I made it a game with cherrios. You through one in before they start to pee and tell them to aim for it. That teaches them to not hit the edge of the seat as well as they cant wait to see if they can hit the target. Good luck "o" and try letting him do it about every 30 min or so for about 2 days you need to comit and when they really pee you give them a prize if he plays and does not pee no prize! have fun it worked 2 times for me.if you have questions always willing to chat @ ____@____.com

Hi M.. They just grow up way too fast. When We potty trained our now 3 year old we got a potty chair that the seat could also go on your regular potty and the base converts into a step stool. We were really glad b/c once she got the hang of going she wanted to be on the big potty. After a few weeks she ditched the seat insert b/c we didn't take it everywhere w/ us and she used the big one everywhere else. That was a fun thing for her too. After a few days of being cooped up in the house (don't plan on going anywhere for a few days up to a week) she wanted to use the potty everywhere we went. One tip I will give you just in case you experience the same thing... on day one i don't know if she understood or what but my daughter wouldn't drink anything! So everytime she went on the potty I gave her a popcicle made out of that propel water. It was an instant reward, she looooved it and I didn't feel bad cuz there is almoat no sugar in it. In the end it was 3 days of absolute madness but she was totally done in a week. (Of course I was nuts I did it 8 months pregnant.) And we have only had maybe a handfull of accidents in 9 months, if that. Good luck.

I would be very interested if you could forward your response on how to actually get them started. However my brother in law always said that he would pee next to his son's when they got started and would toss cheerios in the potty. He would make it a game and when he thought they might have to go, say "Oh let's go pee on the cheerios." Even if they were in the car he would say "oh try & waite so we can pee on the cheerios" for him it worked. Accidents were rare.

Mother of 1 year old son & 2 1/2 year old daughter.