Need Help Potty Training

My little guy will be 3 in a couple weeks and still shows no interest eventhough he has his favorite character underwear and a couple potty options. We hope it will be soon, but he may just not be ready. I read my child potty books and I think this will help when he is ready.

Hi J.,

First let me encourage you! We are going through the same thing right now! My son is 3.5 and we have been trying since his third birthday.

Patience. From what I gather, boys have their own agenda as to when they are ready. I have come to realize that my son is a late-bloomer in this area and I am fine with that. The world is not going to stop and stare. Routines like what you are doing are good, but don't get too emotionally involved.Gentle persistance and patience will eventually pay off when he is really ready.

Cheerios in the toilet enthrall my son. Also when the weather is warmer I simply don't put diapers on him. He makes the decision at that point to go to the toilet. I am hoping that with our first bout of really warm weather that we can finish this up in a weekend!

Good work, but relax! :)

Hi my daughter is almost 3 and is the same way. I have tried everything even putting her in underwear. She did not care that she peed and they were wet. She just screams and screams if I try to put in her in the potty. I fianlly just said forget it and figure she will let me know when she is ready. I know this dosen't really give you advice but at least you know your son is totally normal :)

He's clearly not ready and I wouldn't push the topic if I were in your shoes. Every child is different and when he is ready he will let you know. Boys also tend to take longer than girls on this topic so patience is something to practice, I have two boys!

He may not be ready to start potty training until he's 3.5 years old. I've known little boys who aren't potty trained until almost 5 years old.

I understand the desire to move things along but he's still a little guy, let him be just that.

Hi there,

I'm very frustrated and struggling with my almost 3 yr old twin girls too! They are three this Wed. and basically only want to sit on the potty chair as something to use as a stalling technique when time for bed. Soooo. I don't think you have anything to worry about. Some kids just are stubborn and/or lazy and take longer. I was CERTAIN both my girls would be out of diapers before age 3, and it doesn't look like it's happening.

I remember with my son it was very much of a control issue on his part weather or not he would use the toilet. It was a slow process and then one day he just decided to do it. Having him go to the bathroom with Dad helped.
Hope that helps, C.

Hello,
I would suggest just putting underware on him and let him understand the discomfort of constantly messing himself see if that works. Maybe you already have and if that's the case I am sorry, and I hope things improve. Maybe one day he will just decide to be potty trained and you'll have all these extra diapers. Good Luck.
A.

Hi J.! Don't even worry yet...I was so stressed for the same reason. My son turned 3 at the end of (last) June and mid-August all of a sudden he was ready and it's been great. I did all the treats too and finally came back to stickers (on a little board I made). He recently had a little relapse but we would reward him if he went (but only if he went by himself this time) and it seemed to work. Your son will do it when he is ready. Trust me - don't even stress about it :)

The biggest thing is dont force it. You will turn him off of the potty more than anything else. Keep asking him if he has to go potty, and ask him if he wants to sit on the big boy potty. My son is almost 4 and we almost had him potty trained, then we had this big change happen with day care, and everything fell apart and now hes back in diapers again.(GRRRRR) However we are working on it and getting there. Now hes being backwards about it and letting us know he has to poop but he wont let us know he has to pee. No matter how much we try to remind him he is convinced he has to pee in his pull up. Give it time, hes not even three yet, so just keep reminding him, and maybe even setting up a routine if you can. Kids work really well with routines, if he has a day care provider ask her to help with it to. Good Luck

You are exactly where I was with my son last year at this time. Almost 3 and no desire. Then one morning in May he asked to put on underwear. So I thought, what the heck. It was a disaster at first. He wet his pants four times but every time I changed him he refused his pull ups so I'd put the underwear back on. For nap we did a diaper underneath his underwear and when he woke up, we went back to the underwear. Something just clicked because he has been dry ever since. Well-we did have one accident at a birthday party because he didn't know where the bathroom was. Anyway-just be patient and don't push it. It will click when he is ready and he'll just do it. Good luck!

Good morning J.,

I am a mom to 6 kids (2 girls and 4 boys) my youngest is 3.5 yrs. I started training him at age of two or should say introducing him to the potty at that time. I made a game of it, every two hours I would have him sit on the potty and give him a snake and have the potty sitting in the living room in front of the TV. When he started peeing in the potty I would let him watch his favorite video. When he turned 3 I stopped using the pull ups, the only time he used them was at night and when we was not close to a potty. Now that he goes on his own I have moved the potty closer to the bathroom. LOL bathroom is upstairs and he is to slow to get up their.
remember to be patient, tell him he is a big boy all the time (will help in other areas) and stickers, treats, and lots of hugs. And remember the pooping will take longer.
Hope this helps.

My husband and I wanted to potty train my son before our daughter was born just so that we would not have two kids in diapers. It was a little hard, but what finally did it for my son was finding something that he wanted. He really wanted to go fishing with his daddy. We told him that if he peed and pooped on the potty everyday for seven days, daddy would buy him a fishing pole and take him fishing. Since a child under 3 years old has no concept of days, we put a calander in his room, and everynight before bed, he would mark the day off if he peed and pooped on the potty. That Saturday morning he was up at dawn, and ready to go. He has had a few minor accidents since then, but has not worn a pull up or diaper since. I hope this helps a little.

Have you tried letting him sit on the toilet backwards with no special potty seats? My son has been fully potty trained during the day since he was 27 months and he has loved to sit on the toilet backwards like where he faces the tank. This way all the pees goes right into the toilet and they feel secure cause they don't have to work as hard to hold themselves up and they can see whats going into the toilet so they think its kind of cool :). All the other treats like candy and special underwear and good too.

I am a 21 yr old at home mom of an 18 month old boy and I just got done helping my sister potty training her son and we made up a potty song, that was basicaly letts go potty in the toilet and clapping. Also if you put cheerios in the toilet and let him use them as targets that can make it fun. If he does go portty reward him with a special treat like the park or an ice cream cone. Something small so he knows he did good. Praise him for even trying. Get him excited.

Hi J.!

Well, we are almost in the same boat. I have 2 lil boys too. A 2 yr. old(going to be 3 in August) and a 10 month old. The only difference is that I am a stay at home Mom. My 2yr. old has no interest in going potty on the toilet either! But, I am not too worried,b/c his doctor told us from the start that I shouldn't even worry about potty training until he turns 3yrs. old. She said that in all the years that she has been a Pediatrician(like 35-40yrs.) lil boys always start using the toilet at around that age. Lil girls learn to use the toilet way earlier than lil boys. That's why she just tells parents with lil boys not to even push or worry if they don't go potty on the toilet until the age of 3. I mean my lil boy just now started to want to sit on the toilet, but that's all he does is sit.lol So, I wouldn't worry about it too much even though I know you probably need him too for daycare. I just think that you should keep asking him if he wants to go on the toilet, but not stress yourself out about it. Anyway, I hope that this helped a little.=0 )