Potty Training - 3 1/2 Yr Old Boy

I agree with the switch to cloth. It helps soooo much. Also going with an older male helps to get them into the swing of things.

I just picked up a book at the library called Early Start Potty Training. It has a section on potty training 2 yrs and older, you may want to check it out. There may be something helpful there.

Switching to cloth training pants with a rubber cover might be good, or even allowing him to wear just the training pants at home. Switching to cloth from disposable can be helpful because the wetness can be felt much more, and feels ickier.

Incentives might work at his age too, but I don't know if you've already tried that.

My daughter was stubborn and I finially just had to put underware on her. If she had an accident then I made her clean her self up and change her cloths. After about a week of that she started using the potty all the time. Her biggest hurddle was getting her to stop what she was doing to go. My son just potty trained right before Christmas on his own!! It was like a switch went off in his head, it was strange!! But with him I only used diapers at night, pull ups during the day or I would let him run around naked from the waist down. For some reason, if nothing was touching 'it' he would take himself to his potty. I also used a timer to go off every 45 mins to an hour and since he took a sudden intrest in stickers, a potty chart (http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/CTGY/FREE-Potty-Trai...) and let him put a sticker on one of the spaces. I also had a simple potty chair from IKEA which I found to be very boy friendly and similar to the Baby Bjorn but very much cheaper!!

But keep on top of him. If you are getting ready to leave the house, before eating a big meal, going to bed, getting up in the AM, etc, have him try to go potty.

Good luck!
S.

My son was about this age when we potty trained him. My Aunt called me one day and gave me the best advice.
It happened to be on one of those really bad days when he told us he 'wanted' to be a baby all day and 'wanted' to pee pee in his diaper ect....
She told me 'When you do it.....go all the way and those pull ups are pointless because they know they can pee in them so take those off, get him some big boy underwear and have a ceremony to say goodbye to the diapers'. I thought she was being old fasioned but thought I had tried everything else and I would try it. IT WORKED!! The next day I sat him down and explained to him it was time and we needed to gather his diapers and say goodbye (feeling a little crazy) and I let him put them in the bag and we went out to the big green trash can and threw them away. That was it. Sure, he had some accidents but at that age they actually think when you throw them that there are no more diapers. Also, when they can be uncomfortable when they pee on themselves and there is no pull up or diaper to catch it....it really helps them. Get books on it too. I had a great Cailou book.
Goodluck.

Hi R.,

I don't have any magic remedies but I do know developmentally that boys take longer to potty train than girls. It's common for boys not to be trained by 3. I wouldn't be worried. I'm sure the other moms have some ideas to get this process moving along~

God bless,

M.

This sounds strange, but it works so often I recommend it. Get him off milk products. Many times the interlerance of milk will cause gut inflamation and will confuse the symptoms. Try it for 1 month. If it helps, you may need to do some more work on his diet for his health, but meanwhile you will get closer to potty training.

J

Seems the boy is "using" you all. He wants the extra attention he's missing. Ignore him when he has an accident. Show him where items for him to change into, then let him do it, even if it's not as well as you would. Your husband could take him into bathroom a few times with him, show him that an adult does it in the bathroom, not their clothes. I had a boy and girl and at 3 1/2 he should be doing the "big boy" things by himself. He needs extra love and attention, as he misses you and thinks he'll get attention from you by "misbehaving". Praise him for the good, ignor the bad.

Put him in underwear. There will be accidents. 2 weeks, he should be pretty much trained. Sometimes treats help or potty charts with stickers. Chucky cheese has one on their website. Mine refuses to poop in potty. There has been accidents. I think she likes getting her diaper changed by me and says she's a baby sometimes. I try to ignore it or make a big deal of how gross it is. Good luck.

You definitely are not alone- My first son was a little slow with potty training-I took him with me to the store and we purchased his last pack of pullups- I told him I was not going to get any more and them also purchased his fav char underpants-Not saying there weren't accidents-after a while he understood how his body worked. You may also want to get your husband involved-as he is at home most of the day with him-leave him in drawers and I can guarantee dad will stress to your little guy to go to the bathroom--b/c he def will not want to change poopy drawers--seems kinda mean-but look at the big picture you baby will be going to school soon and you def do not want him to be labeled or feel inferior to the other potty trained kids. Or you could try to keep the pullups for trips outside of the home ie..shopping, church,etc--any place where an embarassing accident can happen. He will get it, however, it will take every helping to care for him to ensure his success.

My son is three and about three months ago, his teachers at daycare wanted to move him up to the 3 yr. old class early, but he had to be potty trained. We went to Wal-Mart and I let him pick out some Superhero underwear (he keeps Marvel comics in business, I swear) and took it home. I told him that big boys wore underwear, and that they told their mommies and daddies when they needed to go so that their underwear would be clean and they could wear it all day. I made it seem almost like the superhero underwear was like a superhero costume. My son loved the idea of a costume under his clothes - a la Spiderman - and that was it. We've had one accident since then, and that was because he woke up in the middle of the night and didn't make it to the bathroom in time. I think I'm pretty lucky it happened so easy, but I also think that making it seem like LOTS of FUN can get them interested in it.

Good luck!