Potty Training for Your 3-Year-Old in 2 Months

[raebates]

I have friends who finally asked their son (who loved Scooby Do and always wore Scooby Do undies) why he was peeing on Scooby. He hadn't thought of that. It worked.

Don't worry. very few 15 year olds aren't potty trained.

 

[pchefkristin]

We had the same issues. Keegan will be four in July. We tried EVERYTHING and then some. Then one of my gals said that when she started sitting her grandson on the toilet backwards, he was much more relaxed because he didnt feel like he was going to "fall in". So we started doing that. For quite some time I would have to sit with Keegan to get him up on the toilet, but recently he just started going in alone! YEAH!
We still have issues with the #2 situation, but we are working on that. Next time I will let him clean himself up. But also, he knows ~ No trips to Chuck E Cheese until he has mastered the #2!

Good luck!!

 

[Rebeccascabinet]

I think you have to find out what works for your kiddo. My oldest was 3 1/2 and my youngest was 3. We just bought them their fave undies and put them on the toilet every 30 minutes. We very rarely used pull ups. We also made a HUGE deal when they did go potty. I mean we celebrated every time. My husband taught them how to pee standing up and I taught them how to clean themselves up. It really wasn't that hard, we just had to wait til they were ready.

 

[jrstephens]

So Excited!My son who has not remotely been coorperating to poop in the potty has asked to go 3 times this week!!! My husband just called to tell me he went when he got up this morning! I am hoping this is the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

 

[etteluap70PC]

YAYYYYY!!! WOOHOOO!!!!

I remember when my DD finaly got it. It was so nice to not have to drag bulky diapers everywhere. It was a bit of a rude awakening when 6 mos later I had baby #2. I had gotten so spoiled in those 6 months! LOL!

 

[ahammons]

That's great Jennifer!!

I can't wait for that day in my house! lol With everything going on right now, we're backing off from potty training for a while. It's already going to be hard enough on him when DH leaves, I don't want to add to his stress. He's getting pretty excited about preschool though - maybe that will give him motivation once we get settled in. Of course, our youngest (16mo) will still be in diapers, but I'm hoping that he'll be much easier to potty train when the time comes!

 

[jrstephens]

We had backed off from "harping" on him about it all the time. I think that made the difference. I just hope he gets it up! He is in briefs all day long - only wears pull up at night to sleep it. I have come to HATE to clean up poop!

And we have decided to try for another baby, so, I really want him completely trained to not having to clean up after two!

 

[ahammons]

Let me tell you, it's not fun having two in diapers!! For the first few weeks, it seemed like all I was doing was cleaning up poop.

Yesterday my youngest walked up to DH and said "stinky" after he pooped!! lol DH said "maybe you can potty train them at the same time" - yeah, I wish!

 

[pckrissy]

Just wanted to update and give those struggling with potty training boys some hope!~My son, who I have been trying to potty train since he was 3 (almost a year now, and he has been fighting us every step of the way) well on Sunday he (without us knowing) walked straight into the bathroom, took of his clothes and diaper and went in the potty, and he has been doing it every since! I am so excited, I still can not believe it.
People told me that it is a power thing and he will do it when he is ready, so hang in there it will happen~

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Just wanted to update and give those struggling with potty training boys some hope!~My son, who I have been trying to potty train since he was 3 (almost a year now, and he has been fighting us every step of the way) well on Sunday he (without us knowing) walked straight into the bathroom, took of his clothes and diaper and went in the potty, and he has been doing it every since! I am so excited, I still can not believe it.
People told me that it is a power thing and he will do it when he is ready, so hang in there it will happen~

<Sigh> I'm just hoping it's sooner rather than later!

 

[pckrissy]

Becky~ I feel your frustration...it was instant...had no interest on Saturday and since Sunday has been going all on his own....still had a wet diaper in the am but a still HUGE progress....he always wanted to wear a diaper too and now insists underwear only, even at night...so now I am trying to explain he has to wear the diaper at night because it is wet in the morning....so we still have that issue....good luck...I hope it is sooner rather than later for you as well~

 

[ahammons]

That's great Krissy!! Could you please pass some of that good luck my way? lol

 

[kaceyleigh2]

My son is only 13 months so I'm not even close to potty training but I've been reading a book called Toddler 411...it's a great book that covers a wide variety of topics! Anyways, I just read the potty training section...according to the authors-you can potty train your toddler in 1 day-you just have to pick the right day.
They say the criteria to be successful are: 1) Your child must be clued into the urgeto go, not clued in that she/he has already gone. 2) Your child must want to be clean (they go on to add that boys take longer to potty train b/c they have less care about being clean)

Also in this chapter, The Zen of Toilet Training: 5 Key Steps...I will post the steps if anyone is interested, but in the meantime I have to go change my sons diaper....siiiigh....

 

[kaceyleigh2]

Just thought of some other things from the book that might be helpful.
Your son is asking to be changed-so that is a good sign. Get rid of the Pull Ups-they are just as absorbent as regular diapers. Put your son in regular training pants so when he does have an accident he can feel it. If he does have an accident don't punish him but do make him clean himself up (with some assistance if it's poopy) Act like you don't care one way or the other-your son might have accidents to "win the battle."
Like other's suggested definately wait until after you move-he might regress and potty training and moving might be too stressful for both of you.

Good Luck---I'm sure I'll be back here when my son is ready to be potty trained, LOL!

 

[dianevill]

Good luck! I've found potty training to be the most stressful part of parenting so far! Wouldn't it be nice if they would just wake up one day & start going?????!!!!!!

I'm not really sure why I'm reading this thread, as my kids are almost 7 & 5, but when I read this quote I had to chime in, because that's exactly what happened to my son, who at the time had just turned 2. I had noticed that he was staying dry at night, so one day I just said, "Look, Michael, I bought you some big boy underwear." He put them on, and we have never had a single accident since then. People ask how I got him trained so quickly, and I answer, "Sheer luck." I wasn't even thinking of starting, esp. after hearing everyone saying that boys were more difficult, but it just worked out.

For my daughter, she had just turned 2 as well, but I did the $89 method. I let her run around the house naked and if she started to pee I put her on the toilet. It took 2 days and $89 to get my carpet cleaned, and she was done.

I'm not having any more kids - don't wanna ruin my fast potty training record !

As others have mentioned, I'd skip the Pull-Ups. Glorified diapers is right.

My advice: Each child has a different personality and will need something different to motivate him/her. As others have mentioned, consistency is key, don't get frustrated, and keep moving along. They'll get there....some day!

Good luck to all of you!

 

[Chef_2_Four]

We had the same issues. Keegan will be four in July. We tried EVERYTHING and then some. Then one of my gals said that when she started sitting her grandson on the toilet backwards, he was much more relaxed because he didnt feel like he was going to "fall in". So we started doing that. For quite some time I would have to sit with Keegan to get him up on the toilet, but recently he just started going in alone! YEAH!
We still have issues with the #2 situation, but we are working on that. Next time I will let him clean himself up. But also, he knows ~ No trips to Chuck E Cheese until he has mastered the #2!

Good luck!!

My son turned 3 in May. He REFUSES to go pee sitting down. We tried for like a week or so with him sitting down and he wouldn't do it, so we tried standing up and that was it. Ben goes by himself now which I love!! Now I just need to get Layla potty trained! I'm hoping by September she will be ready!! Then I will be done with diapers!!

 

[gilliandanielle]

I am in this same situation! My DD is 3.5 and we want to put her in preschool in the fall. She initated the PTing herself while I was pregnant, and I went along with it without forcing her knowing that Baylor was coming and even if I did get her trained she would most likely regress. She is the same way about underwear (refuses to wear them no matter how "fun" the designs are) but will stay dry in a pull up all day and some nights. The problem is that at naptime she poops in the pullup. Sometimes she naps and sometimes she has a reast time in her room when she doesn't sleep, but she poops either way and doesn't tell me she needs to go. I have tried to bribe her with the preschool so she will be motivated to stay dry and poop free but she doesn't grasp the big picture yet.

I have my PC timer on my fridge and my DD knows it as the potty timer. I set it for 90 mins each time and she has to try to go potty even if she doesn't feel like it. In the beginning she got a treat just for trying (we did 1 or 2 M&M's) and as she started going she only got the treat for actually going. If your DS is almost there then I see no problem with full training in 2 months, and you could always start now and just know that he could regress with the move. My DD didn't regress at all with Baylor's birth, so you never know!!

Thanks for bumping this thread up- I didn't think to update you guys! I have to TOTALLY agree about ditching the pull ups. It is a gamble, but worked out for us! It was a bit of a struggle to get her to wear the panties, but once she had them on all the "diapers" dissappreared. She has had one accident overnight, but stayed dry 3 other nights. The other day she had found a pull up in her room while she was "napping" and put it on just to poop in it. I think she would rather poop in there than tell me she has to go, but as long as she doesn't have access to them she will say something. It just goes to show me that she was pooping in them because she wanted to, not because she needed to...

Thanks for the advice experienced mommies!! That 3 weeks that I had 3 in diapers was a little hard to swallow money-wise!!

 

[gilliandanielle]

I have friends who finally asked their son (who loved Scooby Do and always wore Scooby Do undies) why he was peeing on Scooby. He hadn't thought of that. It worked.

Don't worry. very few 15 year olds aren't potty trained.

I also had to comment on this. My DD is obsessed with princesses and Dora, so we bought a few pair of panties with each. I immediately played this card, then she wouldn't even wear them for fear that she might pee on her beloved characters...

 

[jrstephens]

I am so excited! Luke started pooping in the potty on his own last week, as I posted. Well, he has not had an accident since Saturday. He is even doing it at his grandparents houses now.

I never taught him to pee sitting down. We always did standing up since that is the way of a boy - I did not want to have something else to train later. And he wanted to stand anyway b/c that is what he saw his dad doing.

Gillian, Luke would do the same thing. He would hold the poop in until he got a pull up on. When he started doing it in his briefs when I refused to put a pull up on him, I would just let him go nude for a while, and he still would hold it until he got something on him but would not go in the potty.

Now he does not like it when I put a pull up on to sleep in. He tells me I am a big boy now I am pooping in the potty. I may ditch them for the night before long. He is dry most of the time but I hate having to clean the bed when he has an accident.

He is hilarious when he goes. He has to close the door and makes me leave b/c he says it may stink and he does not want me to have to smell it!

 

[gilliandanielle]

My DD still tells me that she wants a pull up at night, but I just tell her that she is a big girl now and doesn't need one. She reluctantly agrees but is staying clean...

That is funny that he kicks you out so you don't have to smell it!!

 

[cathyskitchen]

There is another method similar to the "train in one day" method already posted here. It's from the Dr. Phil show, and someone recommended it to me when my boys were potty training (they are 8 and 5 now), and it was the only thing that worked!! I have two strong-willed, super-bull-headed boys, and this was the only way I was able to get them over that initial hurdle to want to train. Here's the link: http://drphil.com/articles/article/264/

Good luck, everyone! Diaper freedom is wonderful!!! ;-)

 

[missydivine]

I think I may have to get rid of the pull ups. My DD is 3.5 and she has been total potty trained for awhile now, but she doesn't want to poop in the potty. We have tried to bribe her with M&M's. She wants them, but still won't do that in the potty. Our older DD once she decided she wanted to wear big girl panties that was that, I didn't have to do a thing. I guess every child is different.