PottyTraining Question for 26 Month Old Son

He doesn't sound ready to me. Maybe wait a few more months. When he's ready, it will happen pretty quickly.

He's not ready. Also, if you are going to do it, you have to do it all the way, not just in the morning and evening, all day. I hate to say it, but it is almost like training a puppy. Every 15-20 minutes all day, asking do you have to go, putting them on taking them off. He'll get it, sounds like he just isn't ready.

I think you should wait and try again in a month or two. I also tried with my daughter at 24 months and she liked to sit on the potty but wouldn't do anything. I also tried letting her run around naked which she loved, but would just pee on the floor every time (not fun). I also tried big girl undies but again she would just pee her pants. She lost interest in the potty so its on hold for now. It is still early for him to learn, and it sounds like he just isn't ready yet.

He first has to learn how to control the muscle that will allow him to pee and poop. First thing in the morning is always the easiest. When he does go, you have to praise him. He'll get it eventually, but not in one day. We started potty training my son at 18 months and he was fully potty trained (not poopy trained) by 20 months. Bribing him will not teach him how to relax that muscle. During the summer, we allowed my son to run in the backyard naked - if he peed, he peed. He loved peeing outside (enclosed backyard). After about 2 months of training, while in the house, we just put long tight pj bottoms on him with no diaper along with a pair of old shoes. We'd ask him if he had to pee, if he said no, I would just tell him if he had to go, I wasn't going to have time to quickly change him. Sure enough, 5 minutes after I put the pjs on him, he had peed. He was in the kitchen and stood still and wouldn't move what so ever (he didn't like the feeling of being wet). I contined cooking and 3-4 minutes later, I changed him.

So, at this point, I wouldn't keep putting your son on the pot - at least not until he goes a full week of peeing first thing in the morning. Also, keep in mind, there will be some days he may have just peed before he woke up, so he may not have any pee left in him. Take your time, he'll get it. If you rush, he may just dig his heals in and not want anything to do with it.

When out and about, I'd avoid the automatic toilets with flushers... they scared the hell out of kids and for the longest time, they both refused to go to the bathroom when we were out and about.

Good luck.

I agree with Denise. He is not ready. Parents tend to start potty training when THEY are ready. If he is not getting the concepts he is not ready. He is only 26 months, average age for boys to be fully potty trained is between 36-38 months. Your son has plenty of time. If you wait until he is really ready it will be a breeze. You shouldn't have to bribe him to do anything that he will eventually learn to do naturally on his own.

Two year olds can't pee and poop on command. He may not be able to control these at all. I would not bribe a child to use the toilet - it should be expected behavior. However, he is just past 2, he is still young, you should not be "desperate" at this point, you are just starting. It's often not an instant process especially if he's young. What signs of readiness has he shown? If the answer is "none" then it's not realistic to expect him to know to use the toilet.
If he has shown signs of readiness, I'd get him into cloth diapers or the multilayer cloth training pants with waterproof outer layer if you are ready to commit to fulltime training. Cloth teaches him what happens when you pee is that you get very wet! It's yucky to sit in sopping wet cloth diapers or training pants. That motivates them and they also start to learn what it feels like just before they get very wet. When my youngest was about a month away from turning 3, I used the cloth training pants. For 2-3 weeks, it was very messy. I took him to the toilet every hour and a half and he wouldn't go in it, he'd do all his peeing and pooping in the training pants. After a few weeks, he stopped. He would wait every time til he was taken to the bathroom. It was still another month or two after that before he'd say he had to go or would take himself, but he would consistently wait til he was taken.Good luck

We tried about the same time to potty train our son. Did 3 days in underwear (well almost) and it was a disaster. By the end of the day he was back in diapers. We waited awhile, then tried again. He got the hang of going pretty quickly.....as long as he had no underwear or pants. We had alot of trouble transitioning him to underwear and pants (about 2mo or so), but now at 33mo, he is officially potty trained (since about 2 1/2wks ago). He wears pullups at nap time and bed time only and is usually dry after his nap. BTW, he wore cloth diapers, so I can definitely tell you that those don't make a difference. Just go straight to underwear. But I'd say wait a few months then try again. And have LOTS of patience. Good luck!

It WILL NOT happen until he is ready! Sorry! We checked out some books from the library about potty training (childrens books) and read them over and over and then one day, at about 29 months, he told me he did not want to wear diapers anymore, and I said OK! So, we just took away the diapers and had a couple days of accidents and then it was DONE! The books helped us refer back to the kids in the stories when issues would come up during the 'training.' hope that helps!

He is not ready. I would stop. It is so, so, so much easier if you wait until they are older and they "get it". What's the harm in waiting? He wont feel your nagging him to go and when it is time, he will do such a good job and you wont feel frustrated......just wait mama! I promise he wont start school in a diaper :)

I completely agree that he's not ready!! No need to stress everyone out. My daughter is almost 3 and just now is potty trained completely during the day. It went very smoothly once she was ready. We picked a day as "potty training day" and put it on the calendar. She began to look forward to it, even told people all about it. First day was only 2 accidents, and since then, she's only had 2 more in two weeks. That said, I was completely stressed about it, so I understand. We had been putting her on the potty morning, naptime and nighttime for months too, so she got used to the routine. Good luck!

did you expect him to use a spoon the first time? How bout the cup, did he instantly pick that up and chug? Did you expect him to walk without first pulling up, balancing and learning to lift and put down his foot? No. Don't expect potty training to be done in a day, it's a skill to be learned over time like everything else.

If he is going in his diaper immediately after being on the potty, he is having performance anxiety. You need to calm down and give him the space and time he needs to figure it out.

He will have accidents around the house too. It's OK. It's all part of the learning process. When he goes in his diaper or has an accident, just say "pee and poop go in the potty." Also, every day, put his poop in the toilet and let him flush it, telling him" poop goes in the potty." That's how you tell him. It will take him some time to figure it out. Think of potty training as teaching him how to walk. First you helped him learn how to crawl (tummy time), then you helped him stand on his feet to get strength, then he held his hand, etc.

So, he needs to learn control first. 10-15 success in the potty and he should understand how the muscles work. My daughter had weeks upon weeks of performance anxiety (going right after getting off). But once she made it in the potty and we did a happy dance (praise works best), she started having successes every day for a week, and then it immediately went to 80% of all pee going in the potty.

Also, once you start having successes, don't expect him to tell you he needs to go all the time. He may do it once a day only at the start, or he may not do it at all. Put him on a schedule until he has fully worked out the timing. It take some kids a long time to work out timing, especially if they are easily distracted. My daughter likes to hold her pee for as long as possible, and then we end up with accidents.

Be patient. Expect night training to come about 5 months after day training, on average.

He is clearly not that interested yet. so let it go for a few months. I think most people have better luck around 2 and a half to 3. My daughter was interested at 2 but then regressed and so she went back in diapers for a few months. Then I got a singing potty and that sparked her interest again. she is generally potty trained now at 2 and 11 months and can go diaper free at night. she has some issues regarding doing poop in the potty but it is getting better. They all have their own time with this. So I would not force the issue - just wait a few more months and then try again. good luck.

I just read a trick with having them blow bubbles or balloons while sitting on the potty.

It's a part of habit training - same time every day and the blowing bubbles or balloons helps them release their bowels or bladder.

good luck. And always a bit of mess - with the training - go diaper less and it'll come quicker - they don't like the wet feeling.

I would put a regular underwear on him, it works better if you don't have carpet on your floors of course. But yes, either naked or with underwear would be the best thing to do. At least it worked for me and my three children.
I would also take them with me to the bathroom every time I had to go so they could get the ideal. You'll have to be consistent with him, just before you put the underwear have him sit on the potty and see if he has to go. Start in the morning as soon as he drinks his milk. After 30 minutes ask him to go to the potty even if he says he doesn't have to go. Keep doing this all through the day. He will have accidents in his underwear, and hopefully he won't like it so he will try his best to let you know.
I know every child is different, my kids were very easy; but the trick is not to give up and be consistent.
Best

Put his potty next to your toilet. Every time anybody goes to the bathroom, take him with. Say "Let's go make pee." Pull down his pull-up or take off his diaper, put him on his seat, you sit on yours, and then pee (or poo or whatever you need to do). Let him get up and look closer if he wants to. This really helps him figure it out. Go through all the steps you take after and talk about them: "I'm wiping with a little paper, let's flush--bye pee pee!, let's wash our hands, etc" At first he might only watch, but every once in a while he'll actually pee. Praise him lavishly. Lots of clapping, happy dance, shouting wow and hurray, and telling daddy so daddy can clap and praise too. Also, when he poops in the diaper, take the poop to the toilet and flush it down, waiving and saying bye poo poo, have a nice swim, etc. Our daughter is your son's age, and that's how we've potty trained her and gotten her to stay dry through the night--we take her potty before bed, and when we wake up, it's the first thing she and I do together, and after a couple of weeks of that, she's usually completely dry in the morning. I still diaper her just in case, but it's going great. Other than by example, we haven't done any intentional training, and she's basically just picked it up herself. Some days she doesn't feel like it and we don't push, but more and more she only pees on the potty. We're still working on poop. She's only done it maybe 3 times, but I'm sure just like with peeing, she'll eventually do it on her own. We don't bribe or scold. It's completely up to her with no pressure, and she's doing really well. This summer, we're probably going to do a couple of weeks without a diaper or pull-up, and then panties after that. The pull-ups are basically a diaper and they treat them that way. But don't push him before he's ready. Just let him see it's a thing everybody does and he can he do too.

When he's sitting on the potty, set a stool next to him and put a large bowl of warm water on the stool with at rubber duck in it. Let him play with this while sitting on the potty. The water play will likely make him go after a few minutes and will entertain him so he wants to sit there longer. Yes, you'll have to clean up the splashes, but it works. Or, at least it did for our daughter.

Also, have your husband let the boy follow him into the bathroom when he uses the toilet and let him see what he's doing. The boy may ask to see the poop in the potty or to look at daddy's pee-pee, or something like that. Remember, at that age they're very innocent and those aren't inappropriate subjects to be curious about at that age. And it may help him understand what the potty is for.

If you try the naked thing, restrict him and his potty to one room that has hard floors (like the kitchen) so it's easy to clean and disinfect the floor after the inevitable accidents.

And, of course, make a big deal when he finally does go in the potty.

We got my son "big boy britches" when he was about 26 months old...and we went thru pretty much what you're going through now...We still kept him in pull ups, but always gave him the option to wear the BBB's. When he was around 30 months old, he wanted to wear the underwear instead of diapers. We had a few accidents, but potty training happened almost overnight once he got ready. If you can get him to sit on the potty for any length of time, running the faucet helps.

I know you said that you don't want to let your little guy run around the house "pants-free", but I have to say, my daughter was potty trained (with the expection of the occasional accident) in 3 days flat by going the "bare-bottom" route. It works, because as soon as you see your little one starting to poop or pee, you simply put them on the potty. Once they figure this out and make it to the potty on their own, and you celebrate with them/reward them, you're good to go! The trick is to always have a potty chair avaiable in whatever room they're in at the time. If you're worried about the mess, simply hang out in the kitchen or some other area of the house that isn't carpeted for the first few days to make clean-up easier. Of course, in order for this to work, you also need to be sure that your child is ready. A few weeks prior to her 2nd birthday, my daughter started taking off her pants and diaper and peeing on the floor. This was my cue to start the potty training process... I knew she could sense when she had to pee BEFORE going and was able to hold it long enough to get her pants and diaper off. So, if your guy seems ready to try, go for it! Good luck!

Praise him for sitting on the potty. Then just get his pull-up/diaper on. One thing we did was to put the potty in front of the TV and let me oldest sit there watching. Don't let him sit too long though, it can lead to hemorrhoids, which really would make people question.

Get the e-book at www.3daypottytraining.com. It is a cold turkey (no diapers no pullups) method of night and day training all at once. This is an amazing method. Good luck!

C.

you should not try to bribe him, if he gets used to that he will expect it to continue with other things as well. We baught my son some nice underwear with his fav cartoon pictures or superhero pics on it. and he walked around outside a lot, so if your son has play time outside put him in his underwear and he will soon learn how to go to the potty, just have it handy always. O and you may have a few pairs to wash in the beginning but that soon changes. Good luck

My sons didn't get trained until between 3-1/2 and 4 years old. I know it seems late, but it just wasn't happening before that. The good news is, if you wait until he's really ready, he'll probably have fewer accidents. They even stayed dry at night about the same time they were trained for daytime. I suggest waiting. It doesn't sound like he's ready, and you're probably in for a lot of struggles and accidents if you push it.

He'll be ready when he's ready. It comes down to the question: Are you training him or you? Give it more time.

Check out the 3 day potty training ebook by Lora Jensen

I have 2 boys. Now my oldest was the hardest and just used the pull-ups as an excuse and was almost 4 by the time he was fully potty trained so when it was time for my youngest we didnt do the pull-ups, we did underwear and rubber pants. I wasn't gonna do the repeat of pull-ups. But what we did for both boys was a treasure chest. We put little toys, stickers etc in a decorated shoe box. The toys etc came from the dollar store so it was cheap to do! And they new if they went pee or poop they got something out of the treasure chest, if they couldnt go, I still cheered them on for trying and told them next time!...But like the other mommy's said he might not be ready yet...but try the treasure chest and see how that goes....btw don't put candy or anyother food in it. Good Luck Mommy