Toilet Training a Almost 3 Year Old

I am going through it with my 2 year old. She'll be 3 in April, but still a little reluctant with the potty. What I have noticed is that she will go when I am not paying attention. If I try to go with her or push her to do it, she refuses. You just have to sit back and let them take it at their own pace. It takes time, but they will learn. Good luck.

Some kids are afraid they will fall down into the hole. They see the water gets flushed away and think they will too. My daughter was afraid she would go down the drain in the kitchen sink and the bath tub.
You need to make a game of it. Be creative! Purchase the potty seat that sits on top of the regular toilet seat. Take her to the bathroom with you everytime you go. Explain what you are doing and then reward yourself with a sticker. When you have a certain amount of stickers, take her to the store with you and explain that you are getting a surprise for having all of those stickers. Buy yourself something, a wallett, cute socks, earrings, etc. But DO NOT let her get anyting. Hopefully this will encourage her to sit on the pot as well. When she starts earning her stickers, take her out for a treat!
Good Luck!

I understand your frustration...at 4, my son is still having problems with potty training. He will wear underwear now and a pull up at bedtime on some nights. I've figured out how to get him to pee, but apparently he's just afraid to sit on the toilet or the potty when it comes to doing his other business. He has yet to poopy in the potty. I've tried everything. His doctor said that it'll just happen when he's ready and that I need to be patient with him. My patience is just about shot. I hope that you get an answer to your question and maybe someone can give more clarity to me as well.

K., Toilet training can be a very traumatic thing for your child. It's important that you not make it more traumatic by insisting that your child go on the potty. Maybe you might just have to wait a little while. Have you tried buying pretty panties for her? This might entice her to wear them. You can also try putting cut-out pictures in the bottom of the potty. Strangely ehough, my son loves spongebob and was more than happy to pee on him. Reward her with her favorite treat if she goes on the potty. If nothing works, than just wait a little while and try again. Kids are all different. My son was fully pottytrained by the time he was two, but my niece is 3 and a half, and wants nothing to do with it. It seems to be harder to pottytrain girls for some reason. Good Luck!

My mother trained my neice in a day or two of full time focus. She basically covered a room in plastic and had plenty of toys and such for my neice. She put the little potty in the room and let my neice go with NO bottoms. She also provided LOTS of fluids throughout the day. You can take her to the potty if you notice her acting like she was going to go or if she just did and remind her to sit if she misses. If they pee, they can see it happen and they get plenty wet and are aware of it. The idea would be that after 1 or 2 times, they will start heading to the potty. Then she would follow up with a sticker chart & M&M reward. Since you have the floor covered in plastic, clean up isn't too bad and no permanent damage. You basically have to committ to several full days of spending the entire day in this pee-proof room with her until she gets it.

As someone else mentioned, sometimes it's also important to make sure you don't push too early or too hard and turn it into a battle.

You might want to try a book called How to Potty Train in Less then a Day. I just used it on my son who is not even 2 and a half yet, it really was pretty good and pretty easy as well. Well, good Luck.

I kept a small box of wrapped gifts in the corner for my potty-training son. I gave him a lolli-pop every time he went #1 and a wrapped gift for @2. Dollar store stuff. He went for his baby potty to the big boy potty in no time. Now he is fully potty-trained. But it was difficult at first till I got this present tip from a neighbor. When he was close to the point of being potty trained, I just weaned him off slowly. Only 1 lolli-pop and only 1 wrapped present a day.
Good Luck.

Does she have a favorite dollie or stuffed animal? It helped my daughter understand a little bit better when she would pretend that her dollie had to go, and she would put her dollie on the potty. It kind of made her feel more comfortable about the situation.

My son is 3 1/2 & not close to being potty trained (gasp!)
I am at a loss. He has PPD (autism) and it's a whole other ballgame for me. We from all his therepist including occupational therepy, it's one thing that the child can control and YOU can not.

From what I understand and practise myself, we talk about potty, read potty stories, watch potty videos and it will "click".
My son gets the concept but screams everytime I take him to potty. Pull ups are a waste of time and money. He's such a tall kid that the potty chair is more potty torture and to stand in front of the potty is a joke.
UGGGGGG
I feel your pain.
During bath time when I start the tub, I put him in front of the potty cause running water makes me wanna go, but he just cries.

Good Luck

My son is also almost 3 and I am having a terrible time potty training him. I have tried everything! The only thing I have had success with so far is rewarding him for going on the toilet. I go to the dollar store and buy bags of little plastic cars and dinosaurs etc. I put them in a container on top of the toilet and when he goes on the potty he gets one. Even if he doesn't actually go but just tries to go I give him one. Some people I mentioned this to, turn their nose up on it and say you shouldn't bribe children, I say its positive reinforcement and if it works then whats the harm?

yes its not easy ..... boys i used a coffee can it worked ,, girls no problem ...little potty of ther own and a story book or a toy 5 min . they more now when its time .. or take them to a store and show them the under ware they can ware , or let hem pick the ones they want , give thema treat once they use it , that showsthem there did good . best of luck to u

K.~
i am at the same point as you right now. my daughter, samantha, she's going to be 3 next month also and we've started potty training all over again. i had her completely broken when she turned 2, i mean day and night... then she had 1 accident at daycare, and that started the whole process of pullups over again. i know it's frustrating, but just go with the flow. i just started the sticker reward thing. every time she goes potty she gets a sticker and we have a potty sticker collage on our fridge. she's really enjoying it. i have heard of others giving candy, soda, toys or whatever the childs favorite thing is to try to (i say bribe) get them to go to the potty. now we just started the sticker thing this week, but thus far it's working, so i hope that it continues and that we're going to finish training. :) i wish you great luck and success. it's hard, mentally, but i know you can do it. hey, if i can do it, anyone can do it.

Well you do have a problem, when it was time to potty train my son I got lucky he hated getting wet so when I put underwear on him if he went in his pants he would freak, so it didn't take long at all. Have you tried asking why she screams or is scared? Have you asked the doctor for advice. Tryed a reward system? Does that show nanny have a website, she has great advice.

DID YOU TRY TO GET HER, HER OWN TOLIET SEAT? YOU CAN GO TO WALMART AND GET A DORA ONE OR SPONGBOB JUST TO NAME A FEW. TRY THAT AND SEE IF IT WORKS.

I have 4 girls ranging in age of 11 to 2 years old. Potty training was different with all 4. Well 3 (the baby isn't tained yet). My advice is not to push. If she isn't ready to potty train, then it simply is going to be a pain to train her before she is ready. If she isn't trained by age 4, then worry. If it was me I would put the potty chair in the bathroom and let it sit for a little while. When you go to the bathroom take her with you. Let her sit there a minute. This is a great time to start promoting good hand washing. After you finish just put the toilet lid down. I WOULD NOT teach her to flush yet. I have had to take an entire toilet off to get Easter grass out. This was awful. Other than that just enjoy the age. They grow up soooooo fast. I hope this helps!