My son turned 3 in March and is still not potty trained. It is driving me crazy. I know that kids will potty train and it will go great when they are ready but it seems like he is never going to be ready. I can get him to pee on the potty all the time. I take him in to the bathroom every 25-30 minutes and every time he will pee. BUT he will still pee in his diaper or underwear too. And he will NOT poop on the potty. I ask him if he needs to pee on the potty and he sayd yes. I ask if he needs to poop on the potty and he screams NO. I have a very simple time potty training the girls. I waited a little bit longer and on their 3rd birthdays I told them that I wasn't buying anymore diapers or pullups and that they had to throw away their binkys. They both said ok and we had a few accidents and that was it. It was great. I said that to Gabe and he didn't listen. The next day he was in underwear and he just peed and pooped like he was in a diaper. That day he didn't go one time on the potty and he ended up back in a diaper because I ran out of underwear. Now if I ask him if he wants to be in underwear he says no and runs away. I have no idea what to do. Any advice would be great and helpful.
Thank you ladies so much. I feel so much better knowing that I am not alone in the late potty-training of a boy. I was telling my husband that I never thought that I would have a child this old in diapers still. Yesterday he was dry all day but he never pooped. Today hasn't been a good day but I am stuck in bed throwing up every now and then and my husband is dealing with the kids. He did go pee 2 times and then pooped in his diaper. I am hoping that after this week when I feel better and I do not have to worry about taking the girls to and from school and worry about one of them having chicken pox...We will do better. Thanks again.
Oh to potty train!!!! I swear its worse than the dentist (LOL). Mine were a bear to train as well but take heart one day it will happen all of a sudden! GOOD LUCK!
He's not ready. Relax and let it go. He is a boy, and this is not going to be like the girls. It will come soon, and then when he does it, it will be done for good--no accidents. That's the beauty of the boys waiting so late.
From:
Mom of boy who waited so late!
Oh! You have a stubborn kid, too! I "smell what you're stepping in". My daughter is 4 1/2 and just within the last months she hasn't had any underwear accidents. I have friend who's 1st child is pretty much trained at 2. I was 18 months and my brothers were 3 and 4. [shrug] DON'T PUSH. And don't get frustrated or angry, trust me it does no good. He'll do it when he's darn good and ready and NOTHING you say or do will make it otherwise. Speaking as someone from the other side of this problem now (I hope!), this, too, shall pass. No pun intended.
If there is something that he really wants to do that he hasn't done yet, tell him they don't let kids in diapers do it and see if that motivates him. That's about the only advice I can give you.
Oh, and another thing no one tells you is they get the hang of #2 way, way after #1. As much as a year?!?
I have only one child, so my experience isn't complete by any means. But so far this is the one aspect of child rearing where I'd say you have to be really, really, really patient. Hang on, it will happen.
-S. K
Do like the "potty whisperer" is doing: if he goes in his pants, he cleans it up too.
I just wanted to respond to let you know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!! My son turned 3 this past February and does the exact same thing as yours does. It is maddening to say the least! He goes to a daycare where he stays dry all day without a pull-up on and then comes home and poops (right on time!) in his pants. I've tried following him around and trying to put him on the potty every 30 minutes, etc. and he finally told me "Mommy stop asking me if I have to go potty!" I've tried treats for good potty behavior when he goes. I've tried not putting him in a pull-up and letting him sit in his dirty underwear (which doesn't seem to phase him). I was told to have patience and just hang on....although at times I get so frustrated that I have to give myself a time out and leave the room for a few minutes so I don't get mad at him. His daycare teachers keep telling me that some take longer than others so be patient and hang in there, be persistent, don't get mad at him and it will happen. So I know I don't have an answer for you but just wanted to let you know that I'm in the same boat and am looking forward to seeing some of the responses you get to this :-)
I'm sure it's very frustrating but every child is different. And especially boys - they can take much longer to potty train than girls. If he's not ready, he's not ready. Maybe take a month or two off where you don't focus on potty training and try it again. Have patience...at some point he'll get the hang of it!
Good luck.
Hello B.. I was inclined to write you back, since I have a child with special needs (development delay) who is 4 years old. My husband and I are currently trying to get our two boys (2 and 4 yrs old) potty trained. I deal with the same things from my four year old, running away from the potty and saying no. We recently brought a kid size urinal, we are seeing some success with this. Also, I set the timer in the house and this lets them know when it's potty time. The timer has helped because it seems like I'm not controlling the process but it's really "time". We aren't at total success yet but these things are helping and giving us more dry moments. I hope some of this helps you and I would be really interested in talking more in the future about potty or special needs children. Thanks.
I really feel for you, my son turned 3 in Feb. and is just getting the hang of underwear. People always say girls are a lot harder to train than boys are to keep that in mind. What I had to do with my son was let him run around naked all day and take him to the potty ever half hour (I set the kitchen timer to make it easy). Once he got the hang of trying every half an hour I increased it to an hour and then he progressed to telling me when he has to go. He's been running around naked in the house for almost 2 months now and just within the past few weeks he can wear underwear without peeing in them. If we had to go out to the store or something I made him wear a diaper during the beginning stages otherwise it would be a nightmare. To get him to poop on the potty when he went in his underwear or diaper (or the floor!) we would bring it to the potty and let him say bye bye to it and he got to flush it. That seemed to really work well. Oh and in the beginning we offered stickers everytime he went in the potty and gave him little rewards on the days he didn't have any accidents on the floor or in the undies. If your son likes little craft things they have a lot of great stuff at Michael's for $1 that could be a great incentive. My son still uses a diaper at nap and bedtimes. There was a woman on tv yesterday called "The Potty Whisperer" maybe you can google her. She has a potty bootcamp where she says she train kids in 3 days, maybe she has some of her methods and tips posted. Don't get discouraged he won't be in high school in diapers =). That's what my mother told me when I got frustrated about it.
Don't stress out. My son is 4 and he just became fully potty trained. His Dr. says not to pressuer them. Let him know that he will be a reward if he poops in the potty. When my son finally pooped on a regular bases we created the potty dance and rewarded him with his favorite treats and toys. I know it can be troublesome but hang in there. Good luck and let me know how things go.
I am so totally with you!!! My son is 3-1/2, and by all intents should be potty trained. A year ago, he was pooping and peeing on the potty, although not regularly. Then here we are, a year later, and last night, still poop in his diaper. I have tried rewards, but he really could not care any less. I am a little stressed, as he starts preschool in two months, and they will not take him if not potty trained. I am looking forward to any advice that the other moms are passing out.
This may not be very encouraging, but my son was almost 4 before he finally pooped in the potty! it took about 3-4 weeks of him being in ONLY underwear before he would even try to poop in the potty! and he finally did on mother's day 2007...he was 3 and 8 mos! best present ever! its gross and VERY frustrating to go through the underwear thing (I even threw away 2 or more because I just didn't want to wash them out!) but that is what worked for us. sometimes I think boys are afraid of sitting on the potty (esp if he pees standing up). You can also try to tell him that he needs to send his poop to the poo poo party in the toilet...that worked for my friend's son! or a potty chart w/stickers and special treat (like 3 m&ms or something) when he poops! I did smaller stickers for pee pee and bigger ones for poops. good luck, and like you said, they WILL do it eventually. when he says no to underwear, tell him you are out of diapers and not buying anymore! good luck!
Hi B.,
What do you mean all 3 are special needs?
Here are some resource web sites:
3daypottytraining.com
3-healthy-beautiful-living.com
www.pampers.com/potty-training
http://www.kidica.com/raising-children/parenting-tips/toi...
http://www.parentingtoddlers.com/pottytraining.html
Hope this helps. Good luck. D.
yep, still working on that with my son too. He's 3 1/2. He's just very stubborn, and didn't want to take a break from what he was doing to use the potty. I had to completely get rid of pull-ups, first thing. I told him they didn't make any more big enough for him, he's going to have to wear underwear. He either had to take a break to go potty, or take a break to go change his clothes, so either way he had to stop what he was doing. Yes, I've gone through lots of underwear, so I bought big packages of PLAIN underwear, and told him he could have the cool ones when he used the potty, because Diego doesn't want his pee and poop on him. He's doing pretty well with the pee. And I did laundry A LOT!
For pooping, I bought one of the huge sticker activity books, and he only gets to do it when he's on the potty. He'll poop in the potty if we time it right, but still doesn't tell me when he needs to go, but we'll get there eventually.
I don't have to tell you that potty training boys is tough. I had similar issues with my son at this same age. Here's what worked for me: I made potty training a game and had him "sink the cheerio" by putting a single cheerio in the potty and encouraging him to aim and sink it. If he didn't go, I(non-emotionally) said, "that's okay -- we'll try again later." When he was successful, I congratulated him with lots of excitement and rewarded him with a sticker. Now, pooping was a different story! That took a lot more time and definitely more patience. I told him that when he makes poop on the potty he gets TWO stickers (a big deal when you're 3) and if he went poop on the potty for 3 days in a row, we would have a "Poop-day Party." It sounds a little bazaar, but I think not having to change diapers and worry about accidents merits balloons and a cake! Find what works for your child and motivate with praise -- lots of it! Good luck!
