Potty Training - Kansas City,MO

Above all, just have patience. Understanding the concept is one thing. But understanding the muscles that make things happen is another. When a child first sits on the toilet they actually try and hold it in. It feels different to just let go hanging over the toilet. They are so used to the diaper being there to catch it.

When I start with a child of my own I start with putting them on every 20 minutes until they have gone in the toilet at least 3-4 times. Then I increase to 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour etc. But at some point it has to be them wanting to go and not just you putting him on. So just don't expect a lot too fast. It will happen.

Suzi

lol, suzi's response made me think of the first time i was in the ocean and had to pee REALLY bad and someone told me to do it in the water...it felt wierd and SO wrong, but i had no other choice! i imagine if i was two and didn't really get the why's and wherefore's, i'd resist too. my son is 25 months, and for us, we're not pushing it for awhile yet. i'm really going to try to wait until he shows me he's ready. i don't really know what that means though! i just know that if it gets to be a struggle or a fight i'm going to stop immediately anything i might be trying. i don't want it to be negative for him. and i know by preschool he'll get it sooo...i'm going to just try to be patient. i figure the less ready he is, the harder it'll be. all this from a parent who has never potty trained. i'm scared too lol! so i wish you the best of luck. let us know how it goes!

Hi T.,
I don't want to discourage you, but we started training my 3 1/2 year old boy at 2 1/2 as well. It took until last month for him to finally be trained on peeing in the potty. He still won't poop in the potty-he just refuses to do it. We put him in a pull-up at nap and night time. I was so frustrated, I felt I had tried everything. The only thing that worked was just putting him in underwear for a week and letting what happens happen. It was a rough week-he peed all over the place! But, it really worked. Boys are just harder. Good luck!

We just started potty training our 2 1/2 y/o (he'll be 3 in Dec.). He can hold his pee for 12 hours & when he lets it go he can out pee any diaper available, so we started training him 1 1/2 weeks ago. I put him in underware & ask him if he needs to go every now & then. If he has an accident it runs down his legs & he really doesn't like it. If he sits on he potty & his underware are dry I praise him & give him 2 m&m's. If he uses the potty he gets to choose something from a candy jar (hershey kisses or dum dum pops- he chose the dum dums at the store). At night he still has to wear his 'baby diapers' until he can get up to pee at night (he has stayed dry all night for many weeks before we started training him). It worked with my oldest & my friends daughter.
I hope this helps!
God Bless!

Feel free to try, but don't feel discouraged if you have to stop and go back to diapers. He may have the verbal understanding, but not have the physical control yet. Good luck, but do not feel bad if it takes another year or so. Boys often train between three and four years. (I know because I have four boys and they all trained at different ages, but they were all three before they truly were ready.) Best Wishes! K. O.