Tips for potty-training?

Hey mommies!  Any tips or tricks that worked for you when potty-training?  My ds is 2 and a half and has really no desire at all to start potty-training. I know boys can tend to be harder to train, but is there anything any of you may have done or even said that made them really want to do it?  We have had the big boy talk, I bought him Diego underwear that I thought he would love, I even put cheerios in the pottie to give himself to aim at but nothing has worked!  Or do kids they just train when they are ready and I am worrying for nothing?  Any advice would be great!

[pertykitty]

boys can take longer! my son wasnt trained until he was 3 1/2. by his own will!!! he actually told me he would rather i change him lol. i had him practice outside as well, but until they are ready it will be a losing battle. my son and his little best friend (another 3 1/2 girl) potty trained the same week it was cute. i dont know if they talked about it or what.

[JaydensMommy]

Thanks!  I figure he will just go when he is ready, but some of my aunts have been giving me a bit of a hard time.  They say he is too old for diapers and that their kids were trained much earlier.  It upset me a bit because it may me feel like I was doing something wrong if he wasn't trained yet.  Oh well..he'll go when he wants I guess!

[pertykitty]

oh the women of the "old days" lol. pushing kids to early will only set them back. i know many boys that didnt do it until 3, so i wouldnt worry. he may have no desire right now.  maybe if he watches daddy some he will get excited about doing it. you cant make a kid potty train that is for sure!

[tomel]

We used a book called Toilet Train in Less than a Day. We trained our son at 26 months , he did wonderful with it havent have any problems since.
It took us about 7 days.

[taysmommy]

i dont have a boy (yet...someday hopefully) but my dhs mom would have him go outside and pee on a tree, lol (in the back yard of course) i guess it was fun for him so it was easier to get him to go in the potty, they had him peeing on trees for about a week, then took his potty chair outside, then after two weeks of peeing outside, he was ready to go inside, not the most popular way to potty train, but it worked for her

i know what you mean about people trying to get thier kids trained way to early, my MIL said her girls were all fully potty trained by 11 months, my dd is 16 months and has no comprehension of the toilet whatsoever, i find it hard to believe but they keep pushing me to train her now, they say if i wait to long they wont have diapers in her size and we will have to buy depends for her lol

[lovethebops]

My daughter is almost 2 and we have been trying to get her to use the potty for several months. Not that we are actively trying to train her, but she was curious about the potty, and she tells us sometimes when she has to go poop. So Sometimes when she says that, I take her to the bathroom and take off her diaper and put her on the potty. We have a little seat for her that nests inside the big seat, and is perfect for her to sit on. We do not push her, and she still seems to love going in her diaper, I believe if she didn't stink so bad (takes after her daddy:), she wouldn't tell us, and would stay like that all day! I think it is great that she has an interest at least, and when she is ready to use it all the time, she will go w/ the flow, no pun intended! I have been told that when you are ready to do it, you really have to buckle down on a weekend or something and take a few days to do it. All I know is they have to be trained before they start Kindergarten, lol! :) Good luck!

[Nicole24]

I am a day care teacher and some of the kids are not potty trained so we do the potty training with the parents. We give them a "potty sticker, or potty treat" every time they go. We also have them wear "big boy unides" over their pull-up, and tell them they cant get "Thomas, or Spiderman, or whoever wet" it has worked! Good luck!!!

[Tempuress]

ok, i kinda agree on the dont push your child to potty train if they are not ready, but my son still wanted to not be ready by 3 and he was my first (on my second boy now) so i didnt know that they did it when they were ready , i thought i had to be the parent and push him, so i would put pullups on him and if he ended up going potty in the pullup (after i made sure he knew how to use the toilet) i would stand in the bathroom and have him set on the toilet for about five min. that was all, and tell him things like, baby u gotta potty on here like a big boy. well it worked alright cuz he didnt like having to set there after he already went BUT ......now however he tends to pee himself more and doesnt want to go or tell me when he has to and he has a huge problem with wetting the bed ( he is almost four now) . So i blame myself for this. I think if i wouldnt have pushed him he wouldnt have the problem now! IDK, maybe i'm wrong, but still, because of the way things are I now agree on the "when he's ready thing"

[Agiesmom]

Is the "Toilet Train in a Day" book the one in which they make you sit all day with your child, making him drink a ton of juice, putting him on the potty until he goes, then sitting and drinking a ton more, etc.?  Someone suggested a book that was based on that and I couldn't believe it--it just seems so wrong to me.

My son didn't use the potty consistently until 3 1/2 and that was fine by me (I bought him big boy underwear, put the potty chair in the bathroom, and let him take the lead).  I just decided that he would eventually get it and it's not like he'll be wearing diapers in first grade, so what's the big deal?

[JaydensMommy]

Thanks so much ladies!  We have not really pushed the issue at all, but lately relatives were just making me feel guilty so I thought maybe I should be pushing.  I will def. grab Toilet Train in Less Than a Day tomel!  Thanks for that tid-bit.  I guess you all confirmed what I thought...he will train when he is ready:-)  Thanks!

[Agiesmom]

Does the book advocate leaving the child in wet pants while you make him practice the potty process over and over?  Does it encourage you to shame him for having an accident--saying things like, "I don't like wet pants" and "only babies wet their pants"?  Do they encourage you to give candy and soda as rewards?  If not, maybe I'm thinking of another book.

[archer0000]

Hey its me Carrie My son Jayden when he was around 1 1/2 this trick worked GREAT!!! My brother did it with both of his son's.  What I would do is put cherrios, or fruit loops in the toilet and tell Jayden to see if he could squirt it into the whole of the fruit loop! His dadddy helped him practice LOL. He loved it is was like a game to him!! It was soooo easy to get him potty trained cause it was so much fun for him! Try this also.... at walmart they have these foam rings that are disposable and are flushable they are multi colored I used these too,.... GOOD LUCK TRY IT!!!

[tomel]

The toilet training in less than a day is kinda like that. Yes the child drinks lots of fluids but the child get lot of treats, rewards and LOTS of praise.
It also involves them training doll how to go potty, the doll is used as an example.
Why does that seem wrong to you?
It saved us alot of frustration and my son alot of frustration down the road.
The child isnt being abused, yes ther is some frustration in the child at first and yes there is some crying. But they are so proud of themselves when they get it down pat. It's just like anything else you teach a child, riding a bike, reading etc. Not always easy at first.
My son accomplished this at a very young age much younger than most children and he was in OT and speech delayed.
When I hear of people who's kids are 3 and up and still having problems I think how lucky we have been in this area, and I credit the book.
We also taught him at first sitting down, he learned eventually on his own to stand up by watching Dad, he also got up in the middle of the night all on his own to go to the bathroom. so we didnt even have a hrd time weaning him out of night time diapers.
I have other friends who have used it and have had the same luck.
The other thing the child gets to do which they think is fun is dump the pee from the potty chair in the toilet, it makes them feel like they have a cool job to do. Bjorn makes a potty chair that you can remove that part and dump it.

[angels*3]

every child is different.  I don't have any boys, but with my first girl, I started with her when she was about 22months and it took her about 7 months to get it.  With my second girl, I have just started her and she is 19months, but she is very independant and I don't put her on the potty all the time uless she asks.  My nephew is 22months now and my brother in law was worried because he doesn't want to use the potty (he throws it).  The doc. said that he will use it when he is ready and not to pressure him because sometimes that can make it worse.

[tomel]

No it does not have you do those things, and if someone was doing it that way then they were doing it wrong.
Yes you scold the child when they have an accident, but in a loving way . But you dont just scold them you take them to the place where the potty is and show them how to get there from different points of the house. Believe me if my son was getting really upset alot and crying we would NOT have continued with it. He really felt like a big boy and proud of himself and had fun with alot of the process.
The rewards can be whatever you want them to be, stickers, candy, toys etc. You do have to give them alot of juice/water obviously so they pee alot..
You can also pretend your calling Elmo or whatever character your child likes and tell them how wonderful your child is doing. They get very excited when you do that.

I dont care what you say though I have NEVER met any parent who's child did not get upset or frustrated as well as the parents during any part of thepotty training process, not matter how it was done. Yes some children are very easy when it comes to this type of thing but for the most part most kids (boys especiall) arent.

[tomel]

Personally I think a child who is going on age 4 or 5 and still in pull-ups or diapers is more humiliating for the child.

[Agiesmom]

You can believe what you want, but I didn't have a struggle with this because I chose not to make a big deal of it.  Like I said, I knew he wouldn't be going into first grade in diapers, so why be on a mission to make it happen based about some national average of when a child is "supposed" to be using the potty?  So what if he uses the potty at 3 1/2 instead of 2 1/2?  I know that if you put your child in daycare, there's a sense of urgency because they have to be potty trained to be there, but if you are home with your child, why stress both of you out by trying to force it to happen all day long?  Makes no sense to me.  But, hey...to each his own.

Regarding the book...you aren't instructed to yell "NO!" when they have an accident?  And when they poop and pee their pants, you don't make them do the potty process ten times before you let them take their wet and soiled pants off?

I guess I'm thinking of a totally different book.

[Agiesmom]

Quote: "Personally I think a child who is going on age 4 or 5 and still in pull-ups or diapers is more humiliating for the child."

It's the parent who is humiliated by this--not the child.  (And I personally have never known a 5yo child who wore pull-ups.)  Think about it: the child isn't humiliated--if he were, he'd obviously be using the potty.

[tomel]

There comes a point where they are aware of their peers and what their peers can do.
I do agree with you that the parents are the ones that make the bigger deal about it.
There is alot of pressure on parents regarding the matter.
But I have also  seen kids teased by others because they are still in diapers.
Its not uncommon for children past the age of 4 to still have accidents and have to wear night times to bed.

Again everyone has their own approach on potty training. What works for some doesnt work for others.

[tomel]

Regarding the book you are thinking of the same one. Everything that you have mentioned is "close" to what you are supposed to do. But I will say exageratted.
We did not "yell" at our child. Like I said in previous post. You lovinlgy scold the child. And yes you do walk them back to the potty several times after they go in their pants. But that is up to the parent if they choose to leave them in soiled diapers.
If you havent read the book or tried it for yourself it's not fair to judge others and assume that they are being mean to their child.
My husband and I would not do that and I have a friend who did the techinique with her daughter who would not do that to her child.
If it was explained to you this way then I can see where you would get that impression.
But just like I'm sure you wouldnt like someone judging you for training your child at 3 1/2 you shouldnt take it upon yourself to criticize another parent for something that they tried and worked for them.
Someone can read the book and if it something they choose not to do then by all means dont do it.  

[Agiesmom]

Who's judging?  I'm giving my opinion.  I'm wondering why you are feeling defensive.  There really is no need to feel that way.  Really.  Like I said, to each his own.  I'm just sharing my thoughts on the subject.

Wearing night time pull ups is a totally different topic from potty training.  Children who wet the bed aren't making a conscious choice to do so--it's a biological thing that is beyond their control.  I would hope that no adult would allow other kids to tease a child for this.

When I worked at a daycare, I never saw a toddler tease another toddler about potty training.  This is about the parents.  Seriously...when a child cares about being in a pull-up and sees it as a negative thing, that's when he will potty train.

[tomel]

Your right there are some kids that would probably would get to a point where they would want to do it on their own. But there are some kids that dont. I have voluntered in a daycare situation and have seen a child who was teased for pooping in his diaper he was almost 5 yrs. old.

And yes they dont pee in their bed on purpose at night. But I know that as they get older they would feel embarrased by this, even if the parents didnt make a big deal about it.

I dont feel defensive at all.

Your entitled to you opinion and approach on the subject.