Moms of boys - Potty Training Advice

I need guidance with Potty training! Seamus is 2 and a half. WE have put him on the potty here and there and his has peed twice. I try to sit him on it a few times a week and I give him 1 M&M if he sits for 3 mins and he gets 5 if he pees. We want to start TTC soon again so I want him trained. Is it better to have a seat that goes on the toilet or should I get a potty to put in the living room (where he spends most of his time) Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. At daycare, they have a small bathroom and most of the kids are trained (he is one of the youngest in his room) the teachers says he is showing ALOT of interest in the bathroom, etc.

Message edited 2/15/2011 8:21:02 AM.

Re: Moms of boys - Potty Training Advise

I can only tell you what we did.
I tried DS at 2y5m and he just didnt take to it. I revisited at 2y10m and it took 1 day!!! (well we have #2 issues but thats a different story)

First what I did was talk to DS alot, tell him that once we ran out of diapers he would have to go on the potty. He would check his diaper basket regularly to see how many he had left! Then one morning (I was pregnant and DS was fighting diaper changes) I had enough. he woke up dry and I hid the rest of his diapers and told him we were all out!

Then I put his little seat in the living room (rolled up my area rug and put a towel down) put seats (for the toilet) in each bathroom and took off all DS's pants. No diaper, no pull up, nothing. And I told him he had to go on the potty. I sat him every 20 minutes and told him he had to let me know if his belly was full and he had to go pee pee.

He held it for awhile, then while eating breakfast he ran into the living room, sat on the potty and peed. Once he did it once it just clicked.

But if you want to do the no pants method you have to commit to that and spend 3-5 days home (for the most part) so they can be bare bottom. When we tired at 2y5m, he did pee alot on the floor the first day. I just told him that wasnt how it was done, explained to him we did it on the potty and then would sit him on the potty. At 2y10m he was just ready and didnt need that part of the lesson.

Oh and we had a lot of bribery. Little toys, candies, stickers everything!
GL!

Re: Moms of boys - Potty Training Advise

I trained my son at 2 years old with Naked Potty Training Method. We stayed home all weekend and he was left naked so that as soon as he felt something he would run into the bathroom. I really had to stay next to him but it worked in just one weekend! Leading up to that weekend I had talked to him about the potty and how to use it so it wasnt just brand new. The following week I had to stay on top of him with it. Every time I asked if he had to go he said no, but I would bring him in there anyway and he would go. Anyway, I loved this method. I was pregnant with my second at the time and I just couldnt wrestle with him to change his diaper any more. This worked for me. Good luck. Let me know if u try it!

Re: Moms of boys - Potty Training Advise

bumping for the morning crew

TIA

Re: Moms of boys - Potty Training Advice

My DS is extremely stubborn and refused to potty train. He knew how to do it but wouldn't. We tried the no clothes thing for about a day but it was just ridiculous. Children will go on the potty when they're ready. I don't believe in bribing him or rewarding him (other than hugs and kisses and a "great job!"). If you have to "train" them, then they're not really ready - it's just a learned behavior that when they're tired or sleeping they will not do. Once he knew how, I'd ask him a couple times per day if he wanted to go potty and if not, no big deal. One day, he woke up and said he wanted to go potty and he was done - instantly trained. No tears, no mess, no power struggles, no accidents, no pull ups. It really worked out well for all of us and made it much more of a positive experience for him.

As far as diapers, from the time we knew he was ready until the time he'd actually use the potty, he'd only use maybe two per day because he was holding it all day and night, so it wasn't really a big deal to change him.

Every child is different - you know your child best and what you think will work for him. Good luck!

Re: Moms of boys - Potty Training Advice

DS was 2 years 8 mths when we potty trained him. We started putting him in pull ups around 2 years 7 mths and told the daycare that we wanted them to support it. He went here and there but nothing consistent. We had a 3 day weekend on Columbus Day weekend and basically told him that he was no longer going to get pull ups and that it was going to be underwear. We put easy access pants (no buttons) and brought the potty to the kitchen (again so it was close by).

His reward was cars. Try a reward that he would love and is easy for him to see results from. We got 80 cars in a tower at BJ's for $20. He LOVES cars. Every time he did number 1 he got 1 and every time he did number 2 he got 2 cars. We made a huge deal every time he earned a car. With number 1, we had 3 accidents the first day, 1 the second day and none the 3rd day. He went to school and they used our reward system with him. When he came home, he got the cars he earned. He went number 2 by the 4th day without an accident and was basically potty trained.

PS - I was 7 mths pregnant and intent on getting him trained before DD came. Now the only pain I have are the 80 cars all over the house

Re: Moms of boys - Potty Training Advice

My oldest son was potty trained at 32 mos but it was he that asked for it. Before that we tried to potty train and he just didn't "get" it. We bought a seat that goes directly on the toilet and stopped using diapers during the day. He was in underwear only. The first week about every 20mins we took him to the bathroom and whatever errands we had to run with him were kept under 30mins. Whenever he did anything on the potty we gave him skittles and jumped and danced around the house like nuts lol. About 3 days later we stopped with the diapers at night and he's never had an accident. So within a week he was trained both day and night. My youngest son, he's 2.5 now tells us when he goes #1 or #2 but he refuses to go to the bathroom. We've tried the underwear only and he gets annoyed when he has an accident but continues to have them so we can tell he is not ready yet. We will try again this summer.