Starting Potty Training

A method I tried is keeping him completly nude from waste down. If he is ready to potty train, he will go to his potty whenever he needs to go. It sounds barbaric, but it worked for my son.

C.,
Hi my son is two and half and is just now getting the concept of going to potty. It takes awhile for boys to be potty trained and it is really easy to get frustated with them. My son wears pull ups and seems to do really well with them. I have tried putting him in regular underwear with plastic pants on top of them, but he has a hard time with them. We have worked out a schedule with him as far going potty. When he gets up in the morning he goes to sit on the potty, one more time before we got to school. Then in the afternoon we go before we leave school, and then right before he goes to bed and of course anytime he says that he has to go. most of the time he just goes through the motion, but he is learning and that is what counts. I wouldn't push him too much and it will happen when he is ready, but it never hurts to get him started.
Hope this helps!!

Hello C.,

You might want to see if he likes standing on a stool and going to the bathroom. Make it fun for him what I did is I put cheerios in there and ask to aim for them to sink them. I don't have any ideas for the bm's it took me a long time for my son. well good luck and God bless!

I say let him do whatever he wants to, this is his way of discovering what a potty chair is all about. My little girl turned 2 on march 24, and expressed and interest in potty training very early also. It started out much the same way, when she was about 16 months old she started letting us know when she was wet and then by about 18 months when she needed to go. Sometimes she would tell us she had to go just to sit on the potty and wash her hands after. I do not recommend giving a treat as a reward but instead we do the potty dance after. I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement, and am currently looking for a new daycare provider due to the fact that I just found out she has been placing my daughter in time out if she has an accident. Praise him for every attempt he makes and any interest he expresses. Good luck. M.

A little tip that may help down the road---cheerios. Sounds odd, but if you're working on standing up and doing a #1 then it gives him something to aim for, just make sure he knows not to try to eat them. He's doing well, my guess is that he'll be done potty-training in the next couple of months.

-B.

well i have a daughter but something that worked with her is just simply using the regular toilet without a potty chair or seat just teach him how to put his hands on the side to hang on my daughter ddi the same thing just wanting to play with the toilet accessories ..

Let him develop his interest in pottying on his own, which you've done a good job of so far. There are several good potty videos which will help peek his interest. Once he's initiated going on his own several times, you know for sure he is ready and all you will need to do is remind him. Be persistent when he lapses, saying, "Let's go have some potty time." once an hour, before bath, before you go anywear, etc. Guide him to the potty with a good book or a favorite toy. Most kids have a slow start at potty training, they do really good for a while and loose interest... that's when you're persistence in having potty time will pay off, and of course, use lots of positive reinforcement and avoid any negative reinforcement, you don't want to turn it into a power struggle.

Hi C.,
My advice take him when he sasys he has to go but also start at key areas for now. For instance when her wakes up in the morning, when he wakes up from nap and before he takes a bath and before he goes to bed.

As you go on add in before/after breakfast, before/after lunch and before/after dinner.

And when he does say good job, do the potty dance whatever, make it a big deal.

Also you might make the switch to pullups so he sees ther is a difference. When it is time go straight to underwear and no more pullups except at night.

Goodluck W.

Try visiting us at www.babywhisperer.com. We have a thread on the message boards about potty training all ages, starting with 9 months. You can share your news and get tips/tricks from other pting the same age group. I think it sounds very promising that he is showing those signs. Good luck!

If he gets bored with the Cheerios, there is a product they carry at BabiesRUs that is little multi-colored toilet targets made of corn starch. They look pretty cool! My 3 year old girl is a little slow with the potty, loves to sit and play on it but has just in the last few weeks been more interested in it. Big thing is don't pressure him, he'll let you know when he is ready!

My daughter was more interested in playing with her potty seat too, at that age, and wasn't completely potty trained until she was about two and a half, but the main focus is to work with the pace of your son.

My suggestion, if you really want a early trained child, is to purchase big boy underwear and let him go! My child peed on herself a few times, but quickly learned that underwear were nothing like a diaper or pullup, and she only allowed herself to have an accident a handful of times. It's unpleasant but it works! Pullups are basically overpriced diapers, and still don't allow the child to experience the discomfort of wetness like real underwear.

We had more like with the potty seat than the potty chair.

Another idea, this worked well for us too, I created a potty chart on a piece of poster board and allowed her to put a star sticker on it everytime she used the big girl potty. It got her very excited about using the potty!

To C. and Other Potty Training Parents,

After the birth of my son I surrounded myself w/new moms and and listened closely for clues of what to expect and advice. Everyone had their own ideas when it came to potty training but they didn't have the success I expected. I was not going to be the mom who's 5 year old handed her a diaper to put on him to go poo and couldn't start kindergarten until he went on his own. So I researched then decided to teach my son the way I like to learn, by example. Now, everyone wants to know how I got my son potty trained so easily and quickly. From the start going potty was an important thing. During playtime if mommy needing to go potty I dropped what I was doing and enthusiasticly said "mommy has to go poo... yeah mommy" then I picked him up and placed him near the door. It happend much sooner than I expected but my son wanted to go potty on the big potty. The only thing we bought was a step stool. Not having a potty chair eliminated the fear of the toiled flushing. The flushing was a happy noise. As he got older and he wanted to stand while going pee pee, that was my husbands job. He didn't feel comfortable at first but I reminded him of how easy it was to get our son to go to potty and he took my advice. He was reassured when my son handed him toilet tissue and said " you did it, I so poud of you".

Many parents don't feel comfortable with their child watching them go to bathroom and that is understandable. Teaching him the importance of privacy was even easier than potty training. Good luck to those who plan to continue teaching private potty.

My son was the same way. I let him play with it and get familiar with it and in time he started sitting on it and accidently went in it and that's when we really started pushing the potty training. If you push it too hard, he isn't going to like it and will take longer to her him trained. I wish you the best of luck.

J.

We started around age 2. I took him whenever I went to the bathroom. I tried not to push or force him to if he didn't want to. Finally just after his 3rd birthday he told me he was done with diapers and that was that!

Potty training is really for the parent, C.. You can't make your son use the potty and it can turn into a power struggle if you try. Just show him how it's done, let Daddy show him how big boys do it and encourage him at every step of the game. Try to avoid pestering him with constantly asking if he has to go pee or putting him on a potty break schedule. Instead, try to explain to him what the feeling of having to go is like, how to wipe/flush/wash (make a game of it) and how you'll stop whatever is happening to wait for him while he goes. He'll figure it out at his own pace and it could possibly take quite a while, so start storing up that patience.