Diffculties potting training my three year old son

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Hutchison on May 25, 2009 at 4:08pm

You could try forgetting about it for a month. It does not sound like he is ready. If you can't wait, I would suggest that if you can, ditch the pull ups. Sometimes having a few accidents gets the message across. If is warm where you are and you have the space, let him play outside without the pull up.
You could also try these tips from Sixty Second Parent - maybe something different - who knows?
Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Virna-Lisa Soares on May 25, 2009 at 4:47pm

Thank you Michelle for the tips. Yes it's pretty warm where I live; i'm in West New jersey. I'm going to try that, put underwear on while playing outside. We have a back yard so lets see.

First, I'm going to forget about it for a month like you said and try it again.

thanks

Michelle Hutchison said:

You could try forgetting about it for a month. It does not sound like he is ready. If you can't wait, I would suggest that if you can, ditch the pull ups. Sometimes having a few accidents gets the message across. If is warm where you are and you have the space, let him play outside without the pull up.
You could also try these tips from Sixty Second Parent - maybe something different - who knows?
Good Luck

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Permalink Reply by Steph Wiestling on May 25, 2009 at 5:07pm

mine used potty training as a power trip. He wanted to play 'teach the toys how to go potty on the potty' and one day I finally said, "I'm not playing that game anymore as long as you are wearing diapers. If you wear underpants, I'll play the game." He looked at me as though I had stomped on his little heart, but finally said: "fine. I'll wear the green dinosaur underpants!" So he did, and he has not had a diaper or pull-up on ever since. That first night, I put a diaper on OVER his underpants, just in case, but not against his skin. But, the second night and every night since, no diaper.
He had to be ready on his terms.
It also helped that he had seen a couple of his friends his age use the potty about a month prior.
hope that helps!

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Gjerness on May 25, 2009 at 7:50pm

It's very normal for boys to take longer to even be ready to use the potty. I would deinitely give it a break... then try the underwear suggestion. I'm a toddler teacher, and some parents have had success with an m&m (or some sort of little treat) if they actually go potty. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Dee Yates (Herbsandmore) on May 26, 2009 at 4:53am

I don't know if you ever watch Dr.Phil? He had a show on about potty training in a day. Maybe you could google and find out about what he said.
Hope this helps.

Dee(Herbsandmore)
http://www.mynsp.com/remedies

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Permalink Reply by Martha Scully on May 27, 2009 at 11:51am

If you have others caring for your child in addition to yourself, make sure you think about what rold you want them to play in the process. If you're in the middle of potty training and have a nanny come over for a few days during the process, you'll have to get her in on the training similar to how you do it so it's consistent. You may also want to ask your nanny if she has any tips for you.

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Permalink Reply by Christin on May 27, 2009 at 7:31pm

I just finished potty training my 3 (almost 4) year old son. What I did was put him straight in underwear and had him go on the potty every 30 minutes. When he wakes up in the morning, he gets on the potty first thing. It took about 2 weeks, but he is now potty trained!

He was stubborn about it at first, but I knew he could do it. We just stuck with it. My advice is once you start up again, don't bail out. Keep pressing forward. Put him on the potty very frequently. Offer a small piece of candy for when he does go on the potty (We got a pez dispenser. And gave one piece for pottying). Once the candy was gone (about 1 1/2 weeks), he got no more candy and he was fine with that.

Again, every child will be a bit different. But in order for any method to work, we must stay consisent and not fall back. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Patience is also a HUGE key. Remember he is in training...coming out of something he has done his whole life now. It will take some adjusting. :)

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Permalink Reply by Krista DeLisle on May 27, 2009 at 9:18pm

My three year old is pretty much potty trained besides at night, and all I had to do was take the diapers and the pull-ups away and let him go naked (only at home) and when he didn't have those on him he instantly used the potty. I'm pretty sure he knew he should not go on the floor, we kept his potty right down stairs where he could get to it easily in our little hallway and he woud just use it when he had to (as long as we didn't put him in a diaper or pull-up) Then we gradually brought underwear into the process and taught him he was not to go in his underwear and to use the potty. It took him a little while to learn but he did we started him potty training last October I believe, He just turned 3 in April and he is completly potty trained except at night time. Also If anyone has any advice on training there child not to wet the bed then I would greatly appreciate this as this is what we are struggling with. Other than that that was how we did it. That was how we did it :)

Thanks
Krista

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Permalink Reply by Kelly on May 28, 2009 at 12:11pm

Have you tried dropping cherrios in the toilet and having him sink them? I found this to be helpful and fun believe it or not!

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Permalink Reply by Michelle Hutchison on May 28, 2009 at 8:53pm

Hi Krista,
I would not worry about that your three year old is wetting the bed. Parents can feel really pressured about this. Still very normal at that age. My daughter is 7 and she still wets the bed occasionally. My doctor said that she will eventually grow out of it - she is a super heavy sleeper and just doesn't wake up. Use night diapers and don't worry until he is older.
M

Krista DeLisle said:

My three year old is pretty much potty trained besides at night, and all I had to do was take the diapers and the pull-ups away and let him go naked (only at home) and when he didn't have those on him he instantly used the potty. I'm pretty sure he knew he should not go on the floor, we kept his potty right down stairs where he could get to it easily in our little hallway and he woud just use it when he had to (as long as we didn't put him in a diaper or pull-up) Then we gradually brought underwear into the process and taught him he was not to go in his underwear and to use the potty. It took him a little while to learn but he did we started him potty training last October I believe, He just turned 3 in April and he is completly potty trained except at night time. Also If anyone has any advice on training there child not to wet the bed then I would greatly appreciate this as this is what we are struggling with. Other than that that was how we did it. That was how we did it :)

Thanks
Krista

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Permalink Reply by Darline Turner-Lee on May 29, 2009 at 10:30am

Hi Virna,
I potty trained my son at 26 months because quite frankly, he was eating people food and the mess in his diapers was totally grossing me out! Many people say wait until the child is ready. Well, I was ready and that is when he got potty trained. I just couldn't take it anymore.

That being said, I sat him down and explained to him that he is a big boy and needs to put pee pee and poopy in the potty. He did kind of look at me, but we had a little potty and I walked him over to it, showed it to him and emphasized that is where he was to go. We also used several potty books, one in particular that he liked was "Everyone Poops" by Taro Gomi. It talks about everyone eats (people and animals and even bugs) so everyone poops.

Some things that also worked:
He was allowed to go into the bathroom with anyone in the family. He often would sit on his little potty when my daughter was using the toilet. That was a huge help. He basically wanted (still wants!!) to do anything his big sister does, so that worked out well. When he wanted to learn to peepee standing up, he went in with my husband. The husband was a bit uncomfortable with the praise, "Nice job daddy! That's a lot of PeePee!" but this also was a huge help as my husband travels a lot and my son was basically learning from his sister and me. We also got him the Peter Potty urinal at Walmart and he continues to use it even now, a year later, to pee standing up. He loves it.

For the poop training: We read a lot of stories with him on the pot. My son tried to wait me out and go in his pants, but I have to say that I stuck with it and over time, he learned that poop goes in the potty. We'd sing songs and read stories. It actually became a special time for the two of us. He's not had a poop accident in nearly a year.

The biggest thing is that you have to be committed. Once you start, don't go back because it gets hard. I potty trained my son over about 6 weeks, but the week of the 4th of July last year, I kept him home and all we did was potty train. After that week, he'd have an occasional pee accident, but he always goes in the potty-pee or poop.

Finally, get rid of the pull ups. I know that you are probably wincing, but they are too absorbent and too much like diapers. Get regular white briefs and let him soil them. Once he's wet and yucky a few times, he'll get the message. Also, have him help you clean up. The last time my son pooped in his pants I made HIM take them off and put them in the sink. He got poop on his socks and on the floor and on his hands but he did finally get his pants and under pants into the sink to be rinsed and he also helped me wipe up the poop off the floor. He really hated having to touch the poop and I have to say that was the last time he pooped in his pants.

To sum it up, I found that involving my son in the process really helped. So often we try to do it for them, waiting for them to tell us, cleaning them up...I put some of the responsibility on my son and he really rose to it. I don't know if this will work for you, but it has been great for me and my son!

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Jen on May 29, 2009 at 12:24pm

I hear your concerns - its a difficult process. I would suggest letting it happen naturally, especially with the warmer months approaching he'll naturally want to lighten up when the time is right. The less pressure on him, the easier and less stressful on all of you! Good luck - Enjoy your son - Dr. Jen

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