Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

DS is 3 1/2. This is now our 3rd time trying since the beginning of summer and I feel like he is still NOT getting it. Since yesterday he has managed to pee in the potty once...just once. I constantly ask him if he has to pee and he tell me "no". I put him on the potty everything 30 minutes and he does nothing. He gets off and 5 min. later peed and than tells me

I dont know what I am doing wrong. He is 3 1/2. I feel he should be potty trained now. I am getting embarrassed that he is the only kid his age still not trained. I dont know if he just doesnt want to, if he thinks it's just a joke or he just isn't ready.

ETA: I also have a Thomas the Train sticker chart and have been tyring to bribe him with toys.

Message edited 11/26/2010 10:24:25 AM.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

The first weekend was a mess-literally. Messy diapers all weekend long. Resolve on my carpet, blankets on the sofa's to protect them.

We switched to underwear cold turkey.

Nrthshrgrl gave the tip of doing pull ups over underwear when we went out. We did this-protected her car seat and made messes while we were out shopping much less messy.

I really though she was never going to get it. It seems like that first month or so was a mess. But, slowly it got better.

3 months in and it's usually less messy and not as much of a struggle but I won't consider her trained she tells us she has to go. Oh, and there is still the bit about her pooping only in her pants. It's going to be a while

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

Posted by CrankyPants

The first weekend was a mess-literally. Messy diapers all weekend long. Resolve on my carpet, blankets on the sofa's to protect them.

We switched to underwear cold turkey.

Nrthshrgrl gave the tip of doing pull ups over underwear when we went out. We did this-protected her car seat and made messes while we were out shopping much less messy.

I really though she was never going to get it. It seems like that first month or so was a mess. But, slowly it got better.

3 months in and it's usually less messy and not as much of a struggle but I won't consider her trained she tells us she has to go. Oh, and there is still the bit about her pooping only in her pants. It's going to be a while

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

I hate it
I hate it
I hate it
I hate it

Did I mention that I hate it?

Diapers are SO much easier. I have to make sure he pees before we leave the house. I have to make sure he pees when we get somewhere. I have to try to get him to poop ON the toilet.

UGH!

It's just annoying!

He's doing great at it now, but whether he's peed or poop'd is ALWAYS on my mind

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

STILL not trained over here either. She's 100% for pee during the day, but poop is still in a pull-up. She WILL stand in the bathroom in a pull-up to poop.

The fact that she recognizes WHEN she needs to poop, is able to ASK for a pull-up, then consciously go into the bathroom and stand there and poop makes me CRAZY. This is purely a battle of wills.

To make you feel better- my nephew (HeathKernandez's son) didn't train until he was 3.5-4. One day it just "clicked" for him and he was 100% trained.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

Posted by jellybean1420

Posted by CrankyPants

The first weekend was a mess-literally. Messy diapers all weekend long. Resolve on my carpet, blankets on the sofa's to protect them.

We switched to underwear cold turkey.

Nrthshrgrl gave the tip of doing pull ups over underwear when we went out. We did this-protected her car seat and made messes while we were out shopping much less messy.

I really though she was never going to get it. It seems like that first month or so was a mess. But, slowly it got better.

3 months in and it's usually less messy and not as much of a struggle but I won't consider her trained she tells us she has to go. Oh, and there is still the bit about her pooping only in her pants. It's going to be a while

This makes me feel better I dont expect him to just get it and be perfect...I know he will have accidents. I just know the more I can get him to go on the potty the more he will be able to know to go there himself, KWIM? I am just going to have to stick with it.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

Posted by Diana1215

I hate it
I hate it
I hate it
I hate it

Did I mention that I hate it?

Diapers are SO much easier. I have to make sure he pees before we leave the house. I have to make sure he pees when we get somewhere. I have to try to get him to poop ON the toilet.

UGH!

It's just annoying!

He's doing great at it now, but whether he's peed or poop'd is ALWAYS on my mind

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

This is working for us...

Put him on the potty every hour on the hour. Set a timer. It's really helping with my little man. He's not even close to being 100% but he will tell me when he has to go and will go when I put him on. Some days are great and some days are not. Just keep trying. Also, with DS, we never used pull up...just went to underwear and commando at home. Maybe that will help.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

its the biggest pain EVER

My son is 3 1/2 and wants to wear underwear and knows what the potty is for

HOWEVER--when he goes #1 or #2 instead of going to the bathroom he goes in his room---puddles on the floor and rug and then if it is #2 he keeps it in the pull up and THEN goes to the potty to flush it

I am at my wits end

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

Posted by jellybean1420

Posted by Diana1215

I hate it
I hate it
I hate it
I hate it

Did I mention that I hate it?

Diapers are SO much easier. I have to make sure he pees before we leave the house. I have to make sure he pees when we get somewhere. I have to try to get him to poop ON the toilet.

UGH!

It's just annoying!

He's doing great at it now, but whether he's peed or poop'd is ALWAYS on my mind

Diana, how long did it take for Jack to tell you he had to go? Or did he do that right away? What do you do when he goes to nursery school...put him in just underwear or a pull-up?

Message edited 11/26/2010 4:40:14 PM.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

I'm in that potty training hell here too. DD starts to do great and then has a few accidents and then refuses to sit on the potty at all for a day or two and we have to start all over. The worst is that she STILL doesn't want to be changed and has poop accidents all the time.

I'm at a loss. Someday I feel she just isn't there - but everyone keeps telling me THAT can't be possible. I thought some peer pressure (her friends are trained) would help but honestly she could care less.

We tried charts, stickers, small treats, etc. The problem here is once she starts doing well - she has a few accidents and just goes backwards.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

I was going to have a breakdown over the summer. It took us 6 full weeks. It was a control thing for us. Also, I think I got a little too lax with the praise so I had to back track and have a parade everytime she peed on the potty. Honestly, I believe she got it when she was ready and nothing I did was going to speed that process up. There are cute books, and DVDs that you can read and watch with your child.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

DS is almost 3, we're not there yet. I can't say it has been a nightmare, but lots of stop and go. He'll use the potty pretty solidly for a few days or a week, but then he insists we put it away, says he doesn't want to use it anymore.

We ask him now and then, but he just won't use it. Not sure when we'll take it to the next level, but from what he is saying, now is not the time.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

ds potty trained for pee right after 2 and for poop before 2 1/2 once they hit the Torturous 3's forget about it! i have to say potty training a 3 year old is pure hell (did it at work.) potty training a 4 year old was MUCH easier...it's that 3 year old power struggle age that kills. i'm already starting to show my 20 month old how his brother uses the potty and singing the song, we even put him on before bath so he's used to it in hopes he trains before he turns into a Torturous 3 yr old!
for the kids at work we tried so many things to make it fun. would he like standing to pee and trying to pee on one of those piddlers (sponge shapes)? we used food,stickers and toy rewards. running water while on the potty? many of the moms said they let the kids go naked for a long weekend and that helped start them using the potty more frequently. and they gave lots of fluids then too while going every 20 minutes.
do you make him help clean himself up, almost like a chore he must do if he wets himself so maybe he won't want to do it any more?
just keep giving tons of praise and encouragement even when he has an accident and he'll do it on his terms. it's just the age. josh and i power struggle allllll day lately!

they seem silly but it helped a few boys.
piddlers

consruction themed things

Message edited 11/26/2010 3:08:20 PM.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

Oh DS is not potty trained. He actually REFUSES to sit on the potty. Add sensory issues (bare skin on plastic.. ) and it's a NIGHTMARE indeed.

I talked to his teacher on how to do it.

I am tackling it during the Christmas break. They will start an "approach" of he is sitting on the potty while we get the pull up ready before the break. So everytime he had a diaper change he needs to sit for a few seconds there.

Next step. Monitoring closely how frequently he goes. Then increase his fluid intake.

Go on potty every 20-30 minutes. Get an M&M everytime he pees in potty.

Well.... that's the plan!!! I will report in January!!!!!

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

I'm closing on 3.5 too (boy) and it's not looking too good. He has had one successful pee on the potty - but that's it.

I'm not really worrying right now - We'll revisit in a month or two.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

One of the hardest things to do...I hate it more than anything. Taking the bottle away and CIO were much easier...and faster!

Thankfully Lucas is daytime trained now but moving slow for nighttime. I have to say..when all is said and done it's so nice that he now goes on his own and rarely asks to go or even tells me...he just does it. But if you remember...it was a year ago exactly when I first started trying with him. Very long process for him.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

DS was 3 in September and there is no potty training in sight. He literally RIPS his underwear off when I do get it on, and has NO desire to do anything on the potty.

I gave up for now...I will try again...someday!! LOL Besides I know that he will not go to Kindergarten in diapers (at least I hope not)!!!

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

In hell over here too. We started in July when DD turned 3. She got it right away for pee (or so we thought). 10 days w/ no accidents (but then we started going out more & taking long rides in the car) & the accidents started; but she was telling us when she had to go & stickers seemed to work. Then school started & we regressed. She had 2 accidents the first 2 weeks (she only goes 2x a week).

It's now almost Dec. & she's been doing really good w/ pee pee (although she stopped telling us when she needs to go); so she'll hold it/have no accidents, but won't tell us (we have to ask her/take her).

She refuses to do poop on the potty. She'll wait until I put the pull up on every night b4 she goes to bed. (If I hold off on the pull up, she'll hold it in, etc.)

I'm really starting to think my 18 month old may be trained b4 her.

ETA: I had asked the ped when we were there for DS & he said not to worry that until 4-4.5 they really don't worry & its normal & more of a power struggle than anything else.

Message edited 11/26/2010 5:21:06 PM.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

For boys peeing on the potty, can I suggest trying to get them to do it standing... We did this, he saw Daddy standing to go so he stood to go too! I had a cheap little bench from Waldbaums, was like 1.69$ and very small in height. For us peeing on the potty was done in a weekend. He was ready. He was about 2 1/2 when he peed all the time on the potty. But I have to say pooping was a freakin nightmare!!!!
I would push him to try and poop on the potty all the time and it was just all out fighting. He would scream, cry and thrash. He said he was scared. He wore underwear all day. If he had to poop, he asked for a pull-up, went in his room for privacy and pooped! So he full well knew what was going on, just refused the potty. He was 3 1/2 when he pooped on the potty - which was just 3 weeks ago. He did it once, never looked back. I fully expected accidents but we havent had any yet.

It stinks, it really does but when they are ready they will go. I tried everything. Stickers, bribes, toys, candy.... Nothing worked til he was ready. I had a train from the Thomas set (Hiro), he wanted it sooooo bad. It sat, in its package, on top of a shelf in the bathroom for nearly a year. If he tried to poop, he could hold the package and look at it, He knew that he would get it the moment he pooped and he wanted it bad. Poor Hiro was suffocating for a year in plastic and he just got out last month!!!!!

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

DD is 4.5 and not "trained" yet. She's known exactly how and when to go for well over a year, but she's stubborn, and just plain refuses. We did every trick in the book. Putting her in underpants for a week straight just meant that we had to clean up the mess in the underpants, and whatever she was sitting on. Bribes didn't work. Peer pressure didn't work.

She's finally going on the potty more than her diaper, but it's 100% her decision, and there's nothing we can do to speed it up. I don't care what the "experts" say, if a DC decides not to go on the potty, there's really nothing you can do about it, until they are ready and willing.

Re: Did anyone else find potty training to be a NIGHTMARE???

it is a nightmare! I am pretty sure it's just that he 'doesn't want to' more than anything else.
We spent all weekend sitting on the potty and he went a bunch of times (for jellybeans and hersey kisses) -- it's a step in the right direction but it's going to be a looooong time before he's trained (he's 3 yrs, 3 months)