Help in potty training.

[Hazel30]

I have been potty training my son, who is 26 months old now, for 3 days now.  Doing very well with num 1s.  Today was our third day and he only has one pee accident a day only because we're out or driving.  He has not yet started to tell me that he has to go but I sit him on the toilet every hour.  I think he began to understand that he has to pee on the toilet.  My only problem is that I dont know how to get him to do a num. 2 on the toilet.  Third day now he does num. 2 in his pants.   I take his underpants and put them to the toilet so that he understand that he can do num 1 & 2.  He doesnt fully talk yet, just single words, so Im not sure if that can make things a bid difficult.  Our pediatrician said to start training once he began talking well but I knew he was ready now because of constant struggle to wear diapers and telling me when he went in his diaper.  Im also afraid that this can also create constipation.
Any advise would be great.
Thanks

[vhy]

When my daughter was 3 years old she used to refuse to sit on the potty. I used to give her a bucket of water with her duck so that she will stay on the potty while she was playing. It worked for me. She was doing No. 1 and 2 on the potty. I was playing with her with all kinds of activities until she does it. I was making it a big deal once she was done. I clap, sing and celebrate it with her. You should see her pretty little face.
The next challenging time was when she was using the pull-ups at night time. One day her dad and I let her hold the whole package pull-ups and we told her to put it in to the garbage can. And then, we let her hold the garbage bag and we took it to the dumpster. We let her dump it. We told her to say bye-bye to the diaper. She waived and said goodbye to it. I don’t think she understood we could buy it again. When we came back home we surprised her with a cupcake.
  After that, she had a few accidents. At that point I was determined not to buy diapers no matter what. In life we have to straggle a little bit, be creative, go out of our way, be determined (or go out of our comfort zone) to help our children.
In my native country Ethiopia parents start to train their children when they are 10 month old. I couldn’t do it when she was 10 month old because I don’t think it was fair for her or me to have that kind of pressure. Thanks to diaper ooof(-:

[tomel]

Yes it's way to soon to expect him to go on his own during the night or during naps. That will come with time. I know people that have 5 yr. olds that still sleep with pull ups. that is a little extreme, but it happens. My son for some reason would just start getting up at night and going on his own. We also taught him at first to pee sitting, eventually he wanted to be like dad and started to pee standing up, so sute.  

You could teach your son the sign for toilet. If you gon on americansignlanguage.com you can find the sign for that.

Your son will get it. It sounds like he is doing well. Remember rewards, rewards, rewards especially if you can get him to poop in the toilet. This for some reason seems to be a really hard one for alot of kids. It seems like if it is let go to long they never wanna poop in the toilet. When he does poop on the toilet in front  of your son call Elmo on the phone and tell him how your son went all on his like a big boy.

[RockRose]

Tomel - I'm always kind of amazed at parents who potty train their children earlier than 2 1/2 years.  (Actually,  some kids are ready earlier than that,  my 3 were ready at 2 1/2).

It's like a miracle.  They do it themselves.  No tootsie rolls,  no staying in the house for three days,  no dolls,  they just decide they want to use the toilet like a big boy,  and they do it.  There are  a few accidents here and  there,  but I only had to buy training pants and make sure we were with in a 5 minute walk to the bathroom wherever we were.

Not all kids can do this,  but I think most.  It's a whale of a lot easier than tackling it early,  in my opinion.

[tomel]

I'm not sure my son would have did it on his own. We felt we wanted to tackle it early. I had known other people who had used the technique and it worked for them. So just like this mother is seeking advice here, I had gotten advice from other's and it turns out it was something that worked and worked quickly.

Our son had other areas that we really need to focus on, OT and speech. We felt if we could tackle that early we could really focus on the other stuff more. I have heard that the longer parents wait the harder it is.

2 to 3 is a very good age cause they do alot of imitation.

[Hazel30]

Wow that is pretty good.  I would have never thought of that with the tootsie roll.  And yes your right they do immitate a lot at this age.  So I think I will go out and buy some and probobly use his elmo as a doll or maybe his Mr. Bear that he sleeps with.  Since I started training him 4 days ago he has not had many pee accidents.  My only problem is that when we drive or play he is not telling me yet that he has to go but i think he already understands the fact that he must pee in the potty or toilet so he holds it in, but when he does actualy have an accident I think its because he couldnt hold it anymore.  I was told by several other moms that you have to stay home for like 3 days straight.  But beacuse of the work I do I cannot be stuck in my house all day.  I have things I have to do that actualy pay me and my son comes with me.  But overall I think he is doing great for being 25 almost 26 month old and on the 4th day of potty training.  At night, though, we still use a diaper and during his nap.  Although I've noticed now that even after hsi 2 hour nap his diaper was dry a few times.  But I will deff go out and purchase that book and try your advise.  He is a very quick learner so Im hopping we can get this down quickly even the number 2s.  Also at what point do they start to actualy tell your that they have to go.  Because now he only shows me he went after he already went in his undies.  Also he is not much of a talker right now just single words but he has not yet learned how to tell me potty.  I tell him all the time though that he must tell me he has to do pee pee of poopo.  I know he understands me but I just cant get him to tell me.  Any advise on that.

Thanks
Fiana

[question4y'all]

We potty trained our first daughter using Toilet Training in Less than a Day she was 20 months!

Our second one is 2 1/2 and can't seem to get it.

They are all different. I'd wait a little bit and try again. Good Luck!

[tomel]

We trained our son at 26 months. There is awesome book. Toilet Training in Less than a Day. The technique rarely takes less than a day It took us several. But I will say it works and is very effective. My son has done awesome in the potty training department.

Basically you spend all day, as many days as it takes doing NOTHING but that. Use a doll to role play when the doll goes in the potty the doll gets a treat. Ths child understands that. You could use a fake piece of poo (tootsie roll or something) I know that sounds weird to show the child the doll went poo in the potty. When the child has an accident you tell them no we dont go in our pants take him to the toilet. But when you take him to the toilet you do it several times from different places in the house.
Make sure the child gets rewards gor doing good and even for going pee on the potty.
I think you can find the book on Amazon.
Good Luck

[anxiousmomtobe?]

Don't push potty training.   It is only necessary when they are ready to go to preschool.

My ds was trained in 1 day at 2.5.  I tried earlier and he wasn't ready.  A really good clue is if your child is waking up dry in the morning, he may be ready.

I run a company from my home and could not have sat with hours by the potty with my son.  (I don't think I would have the patience either).  When I have spare time I want to do fun things.

[tomel]

Yes all kids are different. In that book it does give an age range.

I still say it is very affective. I know someone who did it with all of their 8 children.

[tomel]

I think it has been established already that the child is ready for potty training.
The question from the mother wasnt if he was ready or not, she wanted advice on how to help him poop in the toilet and how she could get him to tell her when he has to go.
He is obviosly doing pretty good so far. I wouldnt stop now. She just started and she only has to tackle th epoop thing which is pretty common.
I have never heard of a child being "traumatized" by being potty trained early.
If anything it teaches them something they can be proud of especially if they are cheered on enough.
Another thing we taught my son was to empty his own little potty chair bowl in the toilet, that was his favorite part.

[boosty]

although i think its a bit early, i am doing the same thing with my daughter but some days i am lazy and i keep her in her diaper. but on the days that i decide to potty train her, shes in no diapers. i take her every 45 minutes. she is 24mos. and in those 45 minutes, i have keep reminding her not to pee in her pants. i say no pee pee in pants and she says okay. and if she has an accident she says "poo poo , no no poo poo . bathroom poo poo" so i think they understand just forget that they are not wearing diapers. someone once told me that the process of them learing takes 6 months. so its not a one or two day thing. and when i feel like shes about to push for #2, i say no and tak her to the bathroom. then we celebrate. they will eventually get it. nothing is too late or too early. do train him when you think hes ready but dont stress it if hes not cooperating. it takes time. good luck

[Hazel30]

thanks alot everyone for all the advise.  I do think my son is absolutely ready for potty. We are now on day 4 and today he had no pee accidents, but 2 poop accidents.  BUT I will take tomel advise with the doll roll playing because I think then he will get it.  He understands the process to go to the toilet, we do rewards and he started to celebrate along with me when he goes.  I actualy just picked up on signs when he does have to pee, he shows me his pants. Funny but I guess it works and he sometimes says pee.  Tonight when he did have a poop accident although I did hear him say khaki, but just didnt pay attention until after when I realized that he told me he had to go. I guess Im the one not fully ready for all this, sometimes I think he's still wearing diapers.  Today twice, he went through 2 hour intervals where he didnt use the potty and held it in.  I thought that was great and a big progress in 4 days of training.  As far as the num 2 goes, I guess some kids get it right away and some just need some assistance from the parent but I dont think it means that the child is not ready.  Today during his nap he woke up completely dry even though he had a diaper on.  This one is for Boosty....I heard when you potty train you have to just stick to it and let them go without a diaper.  If you switch one day with a diaper and one day without a diaper it kind of defeats the whole purpose.  So with us eventhough we cant stay home for a week and potty train, which would make me nutts, we go out and do our thing bring two pair of pants, socks, and undies and it seems to work well.  I also bought a portable seat cover which he loves and make things comfortable where there is no kiddie potty.  I guess there is no such thing as the right way or right time and all kids are different and we as the parents have to try our best.  I know in other countries, like Europe, many years ago when I was a child we didnt have diapers and all kids were potty trained when they began to walk.  So I think its us the parents that find diapers convinient and not the kids. When they wear diapers for so many years (2, 3 or 4 years) it makes things difficult for them , the whole potty training, since they are so used to just going in the diaper.  Its a big learning process.
Anyway, thanks again for all the advise and I still wish it was all so easy.  

[RockRose]

I think you are starting him WAY too early!   Taking hm to the toilet every hour,  because he can't sense/communicate that he needs to pee is too early to train.  He needs to be aware of when he needs to "go" before this will ever work.

Some pediatricians are extremely stiff (I'm really trying to think of the right word) and expect the child to be trained to certain things in exact fashion- no bottles after 12 months,  no sippy cups,  no getting out of bed and sleeping with mom and dad,  etc.   Your pediatrician sounds in a terrible rush to potty train your sonm,  for some reason,  and it will take you FOREVER at this pace.  

I think you should let it go until he's ready - when he can tell you he needs to pee,  and he's further along verbally.

Best wishes.