Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

My son was 3 in Oct. I didnt push potty training this summer bc I was pregnant and assumed that with the baby coming it would all be too much. We gently started and he was doing okay with going pee pee on potty but no pooping.

Well now he is resistant to using the potty at all. I will sit him on it and he wont do anything as soon as he is off and in a pull up he will pee or poo in his pull up.

So advise me please.

Should I put real underwear on? (I have done this twice and both times pooped in them)

Should i have him naked? (I really dont want pee and poo all over my house but I am thinking I will have to?)

My son is smart and there is really no cognitive reason that he CAN'T do potty he is just willful and does not want to.

I keep thinking he will come around without me forcing it but as the days pass I am realizing I will have to push the issue...

Re: Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

You described my DS. He really only goes when he has no pants on. Problem is I have an older DS and between their schools, sports activities, etc I haven't had a couple of days to work with him on it. Older DS was also 3.5 and got it in about a week. I thought since my younger DS has an older brother that wears underwear he'd want to also. Nope! He's so stubborn. The moment he has some kind of pants or underwear on he goes. He also still naps and wakes wet after a night and after his nap.

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

IMO use the 3 day method....They are in underwear but you will still have pee all over....underwear will not stop a puddle.

But I only had one day of pee all over and we made sure there were towels on the furniture. But you need 3 days to do it and you need to be able to give your full attention to him.

Re: Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

I trained DS 1 when he was a little over 3. He was resistant as well.

I put him in underwear one day and he didn't make it to the potty - he had numerous accidents.

The second day, he went to the potty and had no pee accidents that day.

The third day he went to daycare and made it through the day without an accident.

Poop took a bit longer though - it was easy in the sense that we knew when it was coming (he would do it after he got home from daycare) so we knew when he was doing it and could get him to the potty before he went in his pants (and with some bribery and miralax - we were able to get him to go in the following weeks).

Re: Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

I agree with trying the 3 Day method. It worked for my older DS who was 3 and five months and still just didn't want to go on the potty. I'm not going to lie- those three days sucked. But it went quick and he was out of diapers forever!

Re: Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

We have the same issue going on. We tried over the summer and she wound up with a UTI. When we saw the pediatrician a couple of weeks ago she advised us to wait until she tells us she's ready, because the more we push her, the more stubborn she is going to be about it. We completely backed off and she asked to use the potty 2x over the weekend... so we shall see.

Re: Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

DS turned 3 in October as well. Pee was no problem, of course he had occasional accidents, but no big deal. He doesn't love to pee in public, but we work around it. Poop on the other hand sometimes it's great, other times he poops in his underwear. He acts afraid and like it hurts to go on potty. I know people say to do miralax, but not sure if I want to go that route. He has his appt tomorrow so I'll talk to ped then.
Oh and he goes to school two days a week and no problems there, but he's never really had to poop there as far as I know.

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

I was lazy and never really pushed my DD...then the week she turned 3 she decided she wanted to go on the potty. She has had only 2 accidents since, and both were in her sleep.
She is also very stubborn and willful and needed to think it was entirely her idea.

Re: Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

I tried a bunch of times my own way to no avail. I finally used the 3 day a couple months after she turned 3. Worked great. Only had accidents overnight the first week. You really have to make them drink ALOT. My DDbtried holding it a while but couldn't after a while. Poop also took a little longer but she only had 1 or 2 accidents with that. Also I really did get rid of all diapers. I didn't use pull ups at all. For overnight I used those training undies that are a little thicker cotton in the crotch but are still undies. They worked great bc they absorbed all the pee and it never got on her sheets. I think it was the combo of the 3 day method and the fact that she was prob ready for a little while but I kept putting diapers on. Once I got rid of them she had no choice but to use the potty.

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

Thanks so much ladies, three day method it is!!

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

DS is about to turn 3 and we started potty training over a 3 day holiday weekend. Didn't leave the house. I left him in just a top and underwear all 3 days. The first day, I brought him to the potty about every hour. Used a reward each time he went pee pee on the potty. Once he got the hang of it, I spaced it out. He had a few accidents the first day, less the second and none the third. Poop was a little difficult in the beginning. He held it in for a few days. But once he went, we made a big deal out of it. Now he likes to read or play games on the potty.

Every once in a while, he protests about using the potty. I think because he doesn't want to stop whatever he is playing. But if he was to give me a hard time every time, I would think about holding off and trying again in a few weeks. Not every kid is ready at 3. You don't want to make it into too much of a negative thing. JMO

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

The ladies gave you great advice! I would just add that you will need to continue to prompt him to go potty. My DD has been trained for a little over a year and I still prompt her to go. Sometimes she get so wrapped up in playing that she forgets and has a small accident - not enough to create a puddle but enough to change the undies and pants.

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

My boys just turned 3 on Oct 28. WE also had our 3yr check up. The Dr advised to leave them alone if not interested for 1 month. Don't even ask them anything.........try again in 1 month. If you push them it will become a nightmare

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

I've heard great things about the 3 day method.

For us what worked with DD and I'm doing now with DS is I take a few days of practicing with pull-ups and then we graduated to training underwear. I can't stand pull-ups but they definitely come in handy at first.

If he's really resistant I would wait a couple of weeks and retry. I had a similar problem and found waiting helped. DS no goes PP w/o a problem. Still waiting on #2 but it's only been a few days.

Good luck! Don't stress out if he's not ready. It's not worth the aggravation..GL!

Potty training help for a 3 yr old...

3-day method all the way! Did it with both of my kids. More recently with my dd in Sept. It was a rough few days, and we had a few puddles, but it was smooth sailing after about a week.