Is This a Bad Idea? *Potty Training*

pull-ups are a crock & only extend the potty training process....

For my daycare, I request the thick training underwear & plastic pants. Most parents are resistant....they want the pull-ups.

The naked thing worked for my 2-yr. old daughter, sort of. She is 90% potty trained when she is naked from the waist down, but the minute I put ANYTHING on her bum (underwear, just shorts, pull-ups, you name it...), she thinks it is okay to pee/poop in them. When I tried to make her understand that she wasn't supposed to go in her pants, she got confused and then became somewhat resistant to the whole thing. So, I backed-off and put her in diapers again. We're going to try again in about a month, but this time I'm putting her in underpants and training her to pull them down when she has to go.

The only piece of advice I have is to not create any expectations that any particular method will succeed at this age. It might, it might not...more likely the latter. The worst thing you can do for his learning process is to start getting anxious or bothered when it seems like he has lost interest or "isn't trying". It just means he isn't ready. So keep everything low key and expect a lot of accidents as he figures out the sensations and muscle awareness.

When I potty trained our 2 oldest, I went cold turkey. They went straight to underwear during the day. The first 2 days I would watch them like a hawk. If I saw them getting ready to pee or poop (had alot of messes). I swooped them up and put them on the potty. They did wear pull ups at nap and bed. Our oldest caught on way faster than our second, but that was fine. They both got it during the day pretty quickly. Mind you for the first week we went no where. Just stayed home and did potty training.

Just want to offer that it is possible to buy undies that are super thick or if you don't like or can't find those the plastic pants that go over regular undies and keep "most" of the accident in so they get the sensation but clean up is easier. Throw back to when we were trained. but it works works works. I think Gerber makes them and if babies R us doens't carry them I think Kmart might. kids can get them off AND feel wet, plus save your carpet.

If you know he will pee pee during dinner, serve the food, wait 60 seconds take him from the table nicely and happily and set him on the potty, then praise the daylights out of him. WOOHOO he just went potty. wash up and continue dinner.

Last tip, give him as much to drink as you possibly can durning this time so the urge to pee is strong!! I had never given mykids drink boxes but i bought them special for this time and it worked and was fun. oh and don't plan on leaving the house stay close to familiar potty,

Good Luck!!

right now we're doing potty training...my son gets a pez from a pez dispenser...he LOVES IT!!) one for potty and 2 for poop. He's dry all day and night for potty but is having a harder time with poop.

we went straight to underware day and night...diapers are done. Also we no longer lay him down to change clothes, thats for "babies".

I would stay away from pull ups for potty training. I did the naked think with both my boys and it was great. They both learned in a couple days. However, both my boys were 3 before they could really know when they had to go. Many boys are not ready at 2 so if you are having trouble you might try to wait before you get too frustrated and make it a bad experience for both of you that does not work.

i did the naked thing, and i do have a carpet. worked wonders for my son. pullups didn't work either as my son thought they were diapers. and i used diapers at night and nap because they were less expensive and also my son peed right through the top of the pullup. they were pretty much useless to me. my son was pretty much potty trained in a week or less going around naked. i worked with the potty training 2's in daycare for about 3 yrs. from my experience potty training all of them, it should really take no longer than 2 weeks if your child is ready to be potty trained.

I used bare bottom with both my kids. You don't want to use it if he will become very upset by having an accident. But it does make them very aware and able to put the sensation together with what is coming next. And there will be accidents so be prepared for that.

I never used pull ups with my son. They are more expensive and don't hold as much (at night). I never equated diapers with being a baby so my son was comfortable wearing them during the training process and at night after he was day trained. My daughter got a couple of packages because she learned about pull ups with the princesses on them at Grandma's house lol!

Unless he will be outside the entire day, I wouldn't do it. We have carpet and if a child tinkles on the carpet, even after it is thoroughly cleaned, our dogs will pick up the scent and go on that spot. I found this out after my niece had an accident in our playroom. :( Even if we had hardwoods throughout, the thought of stepping in pee just makes me gag. Everyone says not to use pullups. They worked for my son. Here's what we did.
We used pull ups and M&Ms or Smarties. He got one candy for pee and 2 for poo. We tried to rush things because we had twins on the way and then I read that he would probably regress so we stopped until they were a couple months old. He was staying dry at night so I felt he was ready. We went out and bought Cars underwear and that was a big incentive. He couldn't wear his underwear until he was peeing and pooping in the potty for several days (3 or 4) in a row, no accidents. We kept track and if he wet his pullup, we started the count over. He started peeing in the potty consistently (got candy for a reward) but the other was another story. He was scared to death. So one day, I had him sit there until he went. He read books for a while and then started to cry. I just stayed with him and encouraged him and he FINALLY went. We called the grandparents, daddy at work, etc and went out to his favorite restaurant. A few days later he proudly put on his Lightning McQueen underwear. He had one accident a few days later. I told him if he wet on Lightning McQueen again, he wouldn't be allowed to wear his underwear. That was it. It took 2 weeks. He was 2 yrs, 10 months old. Good luck

We potty trained my son when he was 20 months old and I can tell you what worked for us. Like you said, the most important part of the process is for them to notice the sensation before they actually go. We did a bottomless day the first day of training and I watched him like crazy and moved him to the potty as soon as he started to go. The first couple resulted in a stream of pee from wherever he was standing to the potty, but after 2 or 3 times he got it and I had a few seconds to get him there. I think pull ups are a waste of money and we never used them, just stuck with diapers during naps and at night. The other thing that worked well for us was to go without underwear for the first couple of weeks. It made getting pants up and down a lot faster (just cotton pants with an elastic waist) and it's better than going naked because eventually they need to learn how to be potty trained with clothes on. I think you are off to a great start, good luck!

I tried the "cold turkey" bit with my daughter just after she turned 3 (she really did not seem ready before that) by putting her in undies and no diapers so she could realize what it felt like to be wet - but she had a ton of accidents for 2 days and not once could be bothered to get herself to the potty (she was extremely resistant). I waiting a few more months, tried it again, and we had a lot more success - I didn't let her go naked, but just put her in underwear and after a few times having accidents, she decided going pee on the potty was a better option. She had a pull-up for sleeping, but that was it - both pull-ups and diapers are so absorbent now that they don't really feel wet when they go. It only took a couple of weeks for her to start telling us she had to go pee and get herself to the potty (she also got M&Ms and a stamp on her chart for going on the potty). Poop has been another story - it's been 3 months now since she got trained for pee, and she's getting better with the poop, but it's taken longer. Which from what I have been told is not that unusual for them to be closer to 4 before they get the poop thing down, but every kid is different too.

During the summer, you could probably let him run around naked in the back yard outside (if possible) with a training potty near by. That way if he starts to pee, at least it's outside and there's no clean-up.

I couldn't do the running around naked thing just because I am way to modest of a person myself and I would freak out to have them just start peeing or pooping on my floors. We started out with the cloth training pants so it would catch it, but yet they still felt the mess. Later we went with the "big girl" & "big boy" underwear. None of my 3 kids liked the feeling of pee running down their legs and caught on very quickly. We started out using the pullups whenever we were out of the house. They figured out pretty quickly that when the pullups were on they could just do their thing in their pants without any natural consequences.

i didn't do the naked thing, we have carpet and no way did i want to go there. from where you describe he's at, i would do a sticker chart. he gets a sticker if he goes in the potty and has DRY pants. say, 5 stickers and he gets a jelly bean or an m&m. that's what worked for us. good luck!

I LOVED pull ups.
My son wore pull ups at night till he was 7 yrs old.
He slept too deeply to wake up when he had to go.
I wasn't going to deal with a wet bed on a regular basis and his bladder wasn't going to mature any faster no matter what I did.
When he woke up dry every morning for 2 weeks in a row we ended the pulls ups.
Some kids are 11 or 12 before they stop wetting the bed.
It's not deliberate - how are they responsible for what their body does when they are sleeping/unconscious?
As for day training (my son was day trained at 3 1/2),
if you don't mind cleaning up accidents where ever they are going to happen and you can do this without shaming or getting angry, give it a try.
We started at 3, when daycare was starting - and it worked out well because they took the whole class at a time every hour and they had tiny child sized toilets which were easy for them to use.
I let day care take the lead on this and it worked just fine.
If you are getting angry and frustrated - back off and try again later in a few months.
Some kids can train on the early side and others can't.

So, what exactly are you guys doing in terms of "potty training"? You mean, you put him on it at regular intervals but that is pretty much it? The fact that he tells you after he goes is a good sign. That is step one. You need to put him on the potty every 30 minutes for the first few days and give him a small treat for peeing or pooping. He gets a treat every time even if its a drop. I am a fan of pullups but they must be combined with real potty training, not just another form of diaper. I would not let him run naked because if he goes on the carpet or a rug, it is very hard to get out. If is outside then sure, let him go naked but I think it depends on the child. My son does not like being wet or dirty so potty training was very easy for us. That is why I kept the pullups on so he could feel an accident. Personally, I think after a week of every 30 minutes - one hour on the potty, if your son is not asking a least some of the time (my son understood poop first) then I think you need to wait a while.

It doesn't actually sound like he's at all ready to be potty trained. Someone in a potty training seminar said something very true - you can start potty training a boy at two and he'll be trained at three or you can start potty training him at three and he'll be trained at three. Totally true for us. Our first son actually pooped on the potty before he was two, but he wasn't fully trained until he was over three... He trained very quickly, then, though. Why push it then, I figure. Your son is, however, showing the first signs of potty training, but these are really only the preliminary steps - there are many, many steps to follow and they all take time. I would try the naked thing, but I most definitely would not switch to pull-ups. They are extremely expensive compared with diapers! If he has actually gone on the potty, then just be very enthusiastic (and glad!) when he does and leave it at that for now.

I think that at night and naps, I would keep him in diapers. Pull-ups are expensive as heck and don't hold much, especially at night. I only used them if we were going out during potty training time.

If you let him go naked or with underwear, just be prepared for lots of clean up.

It is really hard for me to give any other advice because I had a little one who trained herself at 26 months....I mean, I did all the stuff, like have the potty, talk about it, buy the underwear, but it was completely on her accord. I tried just before she was two, for one day and gave up because I did have carpet and I just couldn't do it. I think we just talked a lot about wearing underwear and going on the potty that the day she decided to wear underwear, she knew what she had to do. I really lucked out. Nighttime training wasn't until about 3 1/2 and she developed the ability to wake herself at night or hold it.

Good luck, but I would stick with diapers for sleep time and save yourself the money.

With my older two the ONLY way I finally got them to potty train was to get rid of the diapers and pull-ups! I even tried those old-fashioned pull-ups-- the kind-of heavy-duty, padded underwear-- it didn't work. They had to really feel the wetness. They went naked for a day or two and then we switched to 'big kids' underwear. I washed a lot the first couple of days-- but the whole process was only about a week-- once they could really feel the wetness. :-)

I didn't do pull-ups with my daughter - they're just glorified diapers. I put her in underwear.

I haven't read the comments so I do appologize if I repeat anything. I have three children: 3.5 year old twins and a 2.5 year old. With the twins they potty trained by the age of 3 using the run around naked thing.I had also started EC with them at the age of 4 months so we sort of started early. Since I got pregnant so closely after that I stopped doing it. So we kept the potties and they continued to run around naked, I tried to catch as many as possible. And they spontaneously decided not to use dipes any more. With my 2.5 year old who wants to be so much like his brother and sister; we have gone the pull-up route when we are out and about. Otherwise he runs naked just like the twins. We have three little potties so they each have their own, initially we started with a potty in each room! This has helped eliminate the 'oh no I have to go and can't make it issue'. I expect my 2.5 year old to be potty trained by the end of summer. I think you have some great ideas.

If you are having difficulties getting him to sit on the potty, take a story in and have him sit on the potty while you read the story. Good luck Mama!

S.

All three of my girls were "naked" potty trainers. All potty trained by 2 and a half. It wasn't really anything I did on my part other than the fact that I let them run around naked as much as possible. I got a potty chair and put it in the room where they were playing and told them they could pee and poop in it and then it wouldn't get on the floor. There were still a lot of puddles on the floor for a short time but I found that the "nakey time" really helped them with the body awareness. Of course this method isn't for the modest or folks with fancy carpets :) But I swear by the "lazy-nakey" method!

Be warned it might take more than a day or two... I also think taking a low-pressure approach with kids at this age is crucial. Don't have high expectations and act disappointed if they don't use the potty as readily as you'd like. Sometimes I think all the bells and whistles of "rewards" and such can backfire. I would praise my girls and act happy when they used the potty (because I genuinely was) and that seemed to be motivation enough. But nothing more than a casual, "uh-oh, pee on the floor" when the inevitable accident occurred. .

I agree pull-ups are just glorified diapers and also have used old-fashioned cloth training pants and just putting them in underwear. Just be prepared to do a lot of laundry for a while! I have heard of kids who are not phased by wet pants so that might not work for everyone but worth a try!

Good luck!

P.S. My girls remained in "night-time diapers" for a while longer, not staying consistently dry at night until around age three. But still, one diaper a day is so much better! Cheaper and easier on the planet, right? :)

Also - I still have to help my 2 and a half year old daughter with pulling down pants to pee during the day. She can manage if clothes are very loose and easy but often needs help. But she knows when she has to go and asks for help - which is great by me!

Under wear or pull ups will help him, great idea! Either one will help him better then diapers, they pull the moisture away from skin.