Potty Training - Pueblo,CO

I know it sounds a little weird, but my son loves stickers. He's 2 and almost 1/2 and at school they give them stickers when they go potty on the toilet. All the kids started sticking them on their foreheads and now he's addicted. You can get like 1500 for $1 at the dollar store. Don't worry if he doesn't get into potty training right off the bat. SOmeone once told me that it's not like he'll be starting high school still in pull ups. They get it in their own time and soon he won't want to sit in his own pee or poop anymore. :) Good luck!

Mare

First make sure he's ready. You can check his signs of readiness at any diaper company's web site. If he's ready, it shouldn't take too long. If he's not, it will be months of aggravation, accidents and stress. I tried to push my son before his third birthday but he fought it. Once he was ready about 3 months after his third b-day, it only took about a week before he stopped having accidents.

If he is ready, you can try the Dr. Phil method of potty-training in one day. It worked for us and was recommended by several moms on this website. I highly recommend it:
http://www.drphil.com - under advice, parenting, potty train your child in less than on day.

Good luck!

The one thing that worked for me was,giving my 2 year old son little dollar store toys,stamps,ballons,and stickers,to reward him everytime he used the potty.This allowed my son to do it on his own for his rewards. Also I noticed you are single but if you can find a family friend.boyfriend,brother ect to show your son how it is done by a man. If you find a willing party put cheerios in the potty so that they can both aim for them. This was the stepping stone for my son when my husband showed him this. Good luck. It's a long hard road. It's worth it.
L.

I have 2 little girls but some suggestions I have heard is candy bribery, putting cheerios in the potty and let him aim at them and put some drops of blue or red food coloring in the potty and when he pees on it it will change colors. Personally, I have learned that it is good to let them know how nice it is to not wear a diaper but both of my girls have been potty trained just before 3 and they did it on their own. It was not worth all of the poopy panties and wet bed to bother. And both of my girls wore panties night and day not too long after being potty trained.

I am beginning to potty train my 16 month old daughter! We are taking it slow, since she is so young, and it is advised to start when they are 18 months old! My daughter will tell me when she needs to be changed! I guess you can't push the child, but I have been told that is helps to put the on the potty every 2 hours! Of course putting them on the potty just before they go to sleep and first thing when they get up helps too! Good luck!

I think you started trying to potty train him way too soon. With you being a full time student and part time worker ou don't have a lot of time to put into the potty training. It isn't fair to expect your daycare provider to do all the work. Does he talk about going potty on the big boys potty???? Does he seem interested in it at all. Give him time. They say it is best to start with boys right before their third birthday. Give him time, it will save both you and him alot of stress.

I agree--he's a little young. We tried and tried with my oldest son from about 22 months until 2 1/2 or so. Rewards, praise, "throwing parties." In the end our pediatrician said, "he isn't ready. If he hasn't picked it up yet, you need to let him off the hook and try again when he's ready." That was hard! I was so tired of diapers! Especially because I also had TWO in diapers! But we waited, and a little after he turned 3 he seemed ready. Told us before he needed to go, wanted us to change his diaper right away if he was wet or dirty. We didn't even do pull-ups. Just gave him underwear. Reminded him every hour for about a week and then--voila--potty trained. I was just sure the pediatrician was wrong, but he turned out to be so right! It is so hard to have 2 in diapers, but it is so worth it to just wait. Way less stress for him and therefore for you!

I honestly belive that if he hasn't picked up on it yet then wait until he is ready and tells you that he is ready. Right now he is probably too young. I have also been told that a boy is harder to train than a girl. Most boys aren't ready to be trained until they are around three years of age. And since boys have a little something extra down there he may have this sensesation that may scare him. Or if he goes everywhere while on the potty or even if he has gotten himself he maybe a little scared to go because he doesn't know why thats happening so everytime you put him on the pot make sure the potty you are using has a high enough gaurd that he isn't going to spray over the potty and just remind to hold it down when he goes to the bathroom. Also I would go to the peditriction and ask them for any adviece also.

I had the same problem with my daughter. It sounds like you are a very busy mom. All you need is one full day with your son. The week before your full day get your son really excited about having a potty party. Tell him he gets to talk to his favorite character. My daughters was Dora. On the day you do this make sure you have a lot of juice, water or milk. Whatever you son drinks alot of. Start in the morning with putting him in underwear. Every 15 to 20 minutes bring him to the potty. If you have a doll that potties it help this process along. Make the doll go potty and then try to get him to go potty. Do noise makers or something fun when the baby goes potty. Tell your son when he goes potty he gets the same thing and he gets to talk to his favorite character. This can takes the entire day. It really works though. Make sure you have a friend or family memeber who can be by the phone and be that character. Tell me what happens. If you have question about this let me know.

The only advice I have is to make SURE your 2 year old is ready. My 2 year old has amazing comprehension and a full-sentence vocabulary, so he understands what it means to need to use the potty. Just because they understand doesn't mean they are PHYSICALLY able to control their pee-pee and sphincter (for lack of better words) muscles or that the lines of communication between their brain and those muscles are completely open. I am getting my son to do #2 on the potty, but we're waiting on #1 for when it's warmer out and he can run around in his diaper or bare-bottomed. That way, you don't have the hinderance of layers of clothes.

GOOD LUCK! I can't wait 'til mine is out of diapers.

M.

My son just finally got it 3 weeks ago, and he is almost 3 and a half. I truly believe that when they are ready, they will just do it. I started trying with him around 18 months, and he would sit on the training potty, but he would never go. Since that time I tried about every 3 months. I decided that as we grow up, we will have so many things to be stressed out about - why put our babies through that so young? A few weeks ago, I told my son that the best Christmas gift he could give me would be to potty train. He asked for his underwear, and he has only had one accident since. So that just confirms, when they are ready, it happens pretty naturally with little struggle. Good luck!

This is straight off Dr Phil, but you pretend you have a baby who needs to potty, try with the baby a couple times and when he finally goes (the baby) throw a crazy party - make a huge deal out of it... then ask your son if he wants to go - whenever he decides to throw the same crazy party - he will tehn look forward to pottying - make sure you reward him greatly. The trick is to make the baby not potty everytime, and you might have to do it often - a few times before he will go himself. I bet Dr Phil has something on his website...

M., You've alreay gotten some great advise and I'm going to add some sympathy to mine. I too am a working-student-mom of two boys. I tried to potty train my oldest, while I was pregnant to try to prevent having two in daipers (my kids are 20 months apart) as a result of trying too soon I now have a 3 1/2 year old that I am just now successfully potty training. If your son is not taking to it try to take a break. I've learned that this process has very little to do with you and me and much more to do with them. So, most importantly, don't rush him to make your life easier. Chances are it will backfire. I feel all your pain and frustration. Lately, I've been dreaming about my son graduating high school in his diapers!! Talk about a panic attack! Good Luck, S.

Hi M.-
My son will be 3 in February and he is just now getting into the potty training thing. I tried a few times earlier on to get him moving in that direction but he didn't really get it! Just lately he has been fasicnated with flushing the toilet, toilet paper, he wants to come in and see me using the potty, he tells me when he has peed or pooped. Those are all good signs that they are interested in getting trained. The last thing that you want to do is force the situation and turn it into a power struggle. Toddlers are VERY stubborn and things could get ugly : ) I know that there are people out there that say that they have their kids potty trained very early on, and good for them, but it isn't a contest and it will happen when your kid is ready. My mom claims that I was completely potty trained at 20 months and my brother by 24 months, but things were different back then. For example, uncomfortable diapers and no Pull-Ups!! Good luck and take your time! If all else fails, jelly beans are great bribery!!

Hello M... I too agree, that some children take a bit longer. It can be frustrating. Especially if you have them in a day care that pushes the issue. Honestly though, I feel society pushes our children to grow too quickly, just so it makes it more convenient for them; and sometimes a little patience goes a long way.. I have 3 kids and I did not even start potty training until they were two, it took some time, but once they were trained they had not one accident, not even at night. Just keep trying and your little one will get it, and until then just keep your head up and know the end of diapers is near.. at least for the oldest anyway..lol. M.

He's probably a bit too young--boys take longer than girls. I am just finishing with my boy and he is almost 3. If you are encouraging it at every turn and rewarding somehow (m&m's or whatever) it will eventually "click" and he will start doing it on his own. When my boy was 2-1/2 he didn't respond well, but now he is doing really well. So it's all in the timing--I would't worry too much and let him do it at his pace.