OT-6 months to fully potty train our little boy... HELP!

[DVCsince02]

Potty training is my pet-peeve. People get crazy over it.

You are soooo right! Thanks for the advice.

 

[dpuck1998]

I so agree with this!!

So maybe we should just let them roam free and kill their own food...

 

[DVCsince02]

So maybe we should just let them roam free and kill their own food...

 

[DjdBrit]

I think you have to come up with a game plan and then go with it. Usually this means staying home and staying the course I am about to start potty training an almost 3 year old boy and I am thinking the first week in Jan when its too cold to do anything. I am bringing a BIG basket of clothes and the potty in my family room and we will hang out and get the job done. The trick is to explain what is expected and stick with it (not always easy I know). I have 3 kids and my oldest DS was 2 1/2 when he was FULLY potty trained at night and everything, his sister was not so easy. My personal experience is each child is different and try not to expect too much or put unrealistic expectations on them, or yourself. Once you child is in underwear you have to stick with it, whether it means bringing a BIG bag of clothes wherever you go or not. I do not use pullups and only use diapers at night for the first 6 weeks. I am sure you will together manage to make the step into big boy undies....YEY!!! This post has reminded me that its time for my little guy too, my kids don't care about stickers or rewards so its been super had to find out what works I have found that being consistant is best Good luck.

 

[teresajoy]

So maybe we should just let them roam free and kill their own food...

I was SHOCKED to see your location!!!!!!! Vicksburg is my hometown! Class of 87!

My three kids all trained at different ages and in different ways. I hope you find something that works for the both of you1

 

[DVCsince02]

I had it so easy with our little girl. The hard part is I'm home with an 11 week old, so I'm sometimes a bit distracted. It gets really nuts when our 5yo comes home from school. Ha!

 

[dpuck1998]

I was SHOCKED to see your location!!!!!!! Vicksburg is my hometown! Class of 87!

My three kids all trained at different ages and in different ways. I hope you find something that works for the both of you1

I'm sure there are a lot of familiar people still here, this town doesn't change much. I didn't move here until 1997 though.

 

[crisi]

I respectfully disagree. We start "training" our children the moment they are born. From self-soothing and sleeping through the night to manners and respect.

I'm sorry, of course you train your children - but you cannot force potty mastery on a child. They are in charge of their own bodily functions. You will either help motivate them or not, but in the end, they are in charge. There is no magic pill that makes a child suddenly say "I want to go in the toilet."

Some kids react to stickers. Some kids to the naked thing. Some to cheerios in the toilet. Some to big kid undies. Some (oh, I wish they'd been mine) decide by themselves at two and just do it. Some Disney cruisers in the past have had luck just explaning to their kids that on "Mickey's Boat" three year olds need to use the potty or they are treated like babies. Some are born contrary, and if you give any indication that you'd like to stop buying diapers, they will dig in their heels until they are nearly five and you have them at the child psychiatrist.

Some kids react very well and very positively to encouragement - others end up so constipated reading the encouragement as pressure (and the line between encouragement and pressure is something the child perceives - what is encouragement to one child might be highly stressful to another) and end up at the doctor's office over potty training.

 

[DVCsince02]

I'm sorry, of course you train your children - but you cannot force potty mastery on a child. They are in charge of their own bodily functions. You will either help motivate them or not, but in the end, they are in charge. There is no magic pill that makes a child suddenly say "I want to go in the toilet."

Some kids react to stickers. Some kids to the naked thing. Some to cheerios in the toilet. Some to big kid undies. Some (oh, I wish they'd been mine) decide by themselves at two and just do it. Some Disney cruisers in the past have had luck just explaning to their kids that on "Mickey's Boat" three year olds need to use the potty or they are treated like babies. Some are born contrary, and if you give any indication that you'd like to stop buying diapers, they will dig in their heels until they are nearly five and you have them at the child psychiatrist.

Some kids react very well and very positively to encouragement - others end up so constipated reading the encouragement as pressure (and the line between encouragement and pressure is something the child perceives - what is encouragement to one child might be highly stressful to another) and end up at the doctor's office over potty training.

I agree. As I have stated, I haven't done the "boy" thing before and I know he would enjoy the kids clubs so I am seeking any positive advice I can get.

 

[dvcdisney]

I had a different experience. I found my son to be easier to potty train. My son was around 2.5 years old before we had him sit on the potty and a month before he was three he was fully potty trained. We let him choose his pace. We introduced him to the potty at 2.5 years old. He wasn't interested in it at first. He didn't know what to do with it. We read some books, we told him he would get stickers and toys as rewards. By the way, he was my first child and so I was very very nervous about it. I decided to be relaxed about it (around him - but around my husband I was so worried). I would ask him occasionally before we go out if he had to go. He had pull ups on the whole time. So 2 months into it, my husband said to just take the pull ups away. It was easier to do since it was the summer and he was only wearing underwear and shorts. Anyways, he had one accident with the underwear on and that was it. He didn't like the feeling, he cried. And so I told him that if he feels like he has to go to the potty, just let me know and he can sit and I'll wait with him. He did that a few times, sometimes nothing came out (but he still got a sticker for trying) and other times, he was successful.

I was so paranoid about accidents in the house, I bought a hand held wet vac just in case for the carpets. I end it up using for spills and not for "accidents".

A week after I took his pull ups away, he was potty trained during the day. He went to the potty by himself and he hadn't had any accidents. In about a month and a bit, I felt he was ready to wear underwear to bed. However, for about 6 months I had double sheets on his bed with waterproof pads underneath each layer of sheet, just in case. But he never did wet his bed.

When it was time to potty train my daughter, the anxiety started again. I wasn't sure how well she would take it. But, again, we introduced her to the potty when she was 2 years and 2 months since she was much more independent than my son and she wanted to be a big girl and wanted to go to the potty herself. However, I was a little leery of it because I didn't want to try before our trip. But she was insistent. I again, put her in pull ups and she was fine with that. But when I started putting her in underwear she mistakened it for pull ups in more than one occasion. It took her about 3 weeks before she realized that she knew when she had to go to the potty. And then in a few months we let her sleep with her underwear in her bed, agian with several layers of sheets and waterproof pad. But she didn't wet her bed either. She was about 2 yrs and 10 months before she was fully potty trained.

Although my son was potty trained at almost 3 years old and my daughter a couple of months earlier than her 3rd birthday, my son did take less time.

Sorry about this long post, but I guess what I learned is that it doesn't matter when you start them or when they start being interested. It really depends on when they are ready to do it themselves and that they know the "feeling" that tells them they have to go. Also, some children take a week while others take months. My niece decided on her own to be potty trained at less than 2 years old. My sister was not prepared or ready. She didn't know what to do. But my niece took off her diaper and decided that was it. Although this seems like a great scenerio. My neice still needed a lot of practice with the "feeling" to go. She had far more accidents because, although she thought she was ready, her body didn't. And it took about 5 months before she didn't have anymore accidents. So this reinforces my believe that it's always best to wait until they are fully ready, whether it's at 2 years old or 4. It's up to them. We cannot do anything about it. Rewards worked very well for us, but no amount of reward can help them know when it's time to "go".

Good luck. And trust that you are doing okay. And that your son will eventually be potty trained. (Not that I felt that way when I was in the middle of it, it's much easier to give that advice (although it is a great advice given to me as well) when no longer in the situation. But believe me, I was very stressed throughout. I think it's natural to be concerned about it.

 

[dpuck1998]

Great post, funny thing I took away was how us Dad say "just take away the diapers" Of course we aren't the ones left to clean up the mess. I did that with my daughter who was potty trained for months but still wearing a nite tiem diaper. I told my wife to just take it off and she would be fine. Guess what, she was. But I wasn't worried about having to wash sheets, so it was easy for me to suggest it

 

[dvcdisney]

Great post, funny thing I took away was how us Dad say "just take away the diapers" Of course we aren't the ones left to clean up the mess. I did that with my daughter who was potty trained for months but still wearing a nite tiem diaper. I told my wife to just take it off and she would be fine. Guess what, she was. But I wasn't worried about having to wash sheets, so it was easy for me to suggest it

Very true. However, my husband knew that he would be the one to change the sheets if they did wet their beds in the middle of the night.

 

[cmaee]

My sons were awful to potty train. My DD who just turned 2 has been going potty for over a month now and still has accidents, but for the most part, she tells me when she has to go...SOOOOO much easier than my boys.

My oldest DS was 3 1/2 before he was potty trained. He flirted with the idea of going potty for months. We tried M&M's, stickers, toys, etc....nothing worked. If it was my idea for him to wear undies, then we had accidents all day long. I started pushing him to go on the potty at 2 1/2. I thought surely he would be potty trained by 3, but no...not until 3 1/2. I read all of the books and tried to do their advise, but nothing worked with him. I was making him sit on the potty to go...and my DH suggested letting him run around outside one day without anything on and when he did go it was like something clicked. He then would try to "hit" everything he could. I started throwing Cheerios in the toliet and he would aim at them. I also found that when he did have to sit on toliet, he liked to sit on it backwards. I don't understand that at all, but someone else suggested it to me and it worked. The thing that worked for him on that aspect of potty training was to let him sit in it for a few minutes before I changed it and I made him help clean himself off. He didn't like that and started going in the potty after a few accidents.

My 2nd DS was alittle easier, but not much. I didn't push him until he turned 3 and he was potty trained in about 2 months. I thought having an older brother whom he liked to copy would help, but not so much....very few of the tricks I learned with my older son worked. He had to be pushed. I had to ask him all the time if he had to go or I had to take him all the time. He didn't care if he went in his pants or if he sat in it. I finally started taking him every 20 minutes or so. He didn't like having to drop everything and go sit on the potty so I told him that if he started telling me before he had to go, then I wouldn't make him stop playing to go to the potty. When he would wait to the last minute and have an accident, then I would start taking him every 20 minutes or so again, and he figured it out.

Good luck on getting your son potty trained. I hope it works out. Going to the kids club will be a ton more fun than the nursery. Is your son old enough to understand "if, then" situations? Like, if you go potty, then you can go here...if you can't go potty, then you have to go there. Holding the carrot of the kids club might be a catalyst to get him on the right track with potty training.

 

[DVCsince02]

Ha! We've been telling him he can't go on the Big Boat with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop until he goes potty. He gets it. When he's finished he thinks it time to go on the boat NOW.

Wish me luck! After the holidays It's Potty Time!!

 

[AwaitingMagic]

My boys were much easier to train than my daughter. She took forever - and would pick and choose when to go - it was very frustrating.

Both my boys were about two when they decided they were done with diapers - it was that easy. My middle one had an issue with going #2 - had to have a diaper - but he would tell me he had to go. When he was turning 3 I told him I wasn't buying any more diapers for pooping and he would have to go in the potty. It was that simple (should have done it months before). My little one trained for both at the same time. I found letting them put a cheerio in the potty for target practice helped a lot though! :O) They thought that was great fun.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

We did a combination of 3 things -- 1) waiting until he was really ready, which in DS's case was about 3 years 2 months, 2) naked (I can't tell you how much of a differene this made and 3) a bribe (not lots of little bribes like some people do, but one big one).

Before his 3rd birthday we did NOTHING related to potty training -- no M&M's, no sitting on the potty, nothing. He saw other kids "trying" at daycare, he wandered in the bathroom if I was going, but he never once tried. I was fine with that.

When DS was just turned 3 we went to a birthday party where someone had a little bike with training wheels. He loved it so much and of course asked for one, I casually (impulsively this was not planned) told him that I couldn't afford a bike as I spent too much of my money on diapers. I didn't exactly say "I will buy you a bike if you wear underwear", I just said "Oh, that is a nice bike. I wish I could afford one for you." and when he asked why I couldn't I said "well, I have a lot of things I need to buy, like food and diapers". He put 2 and 2 together.

The following weekend I asked him if wanted to pick up some big boy underwear -- NO, he wanted "MAN underwear" like he had seen his beloved uncle wear, so we ran all over town looking for white briefs (Bob the Builder or Spiderman just wouldn't cut it). We stuck them in a drawer and ignored them.

A couple of weeks later he woke up in the morning and told me he was too old for diapers. Luckily it was the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

We did naked all day -- I really think naked helps for 2 reasons -- one is that they can see how it all works -- I know this sounds weird but I think for my DS he didn't really "get it" that his body felt a certain way, and the pee came out a certain place, and he could direct the flow. So, when he went naked, the first time he peed on the floor he was genuinely suprised and interested -- who knew it worked that way? I kept the potty in the room with him (we stayed in a room with a tile floor -- I may be impulsive but I'm not stupid), and the 2nd time he went I literally picked him up and moved him so that the end of the stream ended up in the potty and he got it. I then told him -- "next time aim here", and that, pretty much, was that.

We then stayed naked for about a day and a half. I tried putting clothes on him and he peed in them, but as long as he was naked he was great. I think this is because being naked feels different enough that it's like a constant reminder. Sunday evening I put him in underwear and he did fine. Monday morning he was still fine, so after lunch we went to Toys R Us and bought a bike.

And that was that -- he went to daycare in underwear on Tuesday, the teacher was shocked and asked me over and over if he was ready -- when I picked him up he was still in the same clothes I left in. We have very few accidents, usually when we were far from a toilet. I never did any little bribes, and never reminded him to go unless we were leaving the house, I just let him tell me when he needed to go and that was that.

One of his friends in his class had been "potty training" for 6 months -- with sticker charts, little rewards, scheduled potty breaks etc . . . For 6 months they'd been giving him candy, scheduling their life around the potty, and dealing with a lot of hassle. When my DS arrived in underwear in school that day the mom was green with envy and I said, "but your little one is a month younger than mine, don't worry he'll be ready soon" and sure enough a month later when he was 3 years 2 months he PT'd too. It made me glad I hadn't bothered trying to train him any earlier.

 

[Disney1976]

I had it so easy with our little girl. The hard part is I'm home with an 11 week old, so I'm sometimes a bit distracted. It gets really nuts when our 5yo comes home from school. Ha!

Does he know you're all planning on going on the cruise, or is it a surprise? If he knows, maybe you could "talk up" all the positive things he can do if he's (daytime) potty trained (as night-time dryness can take a long time after). Maybe if you keep talking about how much fun the pools will be, and how much fun he could have in the clubs on the ship if he learns to use the potty he'll be encouraged to cooperate with you?

 

[mjkacmom]

We did naked all day -- I really think naked helps for 2 reasons -- one is that they can see how it all works -- I know this sounds weird but I think for my DS he didn't really "get it" that his body felt a certain way, and the pee came out a certain place, and he could direct the flow. So, when he went naked, the first time he peed on the floor he was genuinely suprised and interested -- who knew it worked that way? I kept the potty in the room with him (we stayed in a room with a tile floor -- I may be impulsive but I'm not stupid), and the 2nd time he went I literally picked him up and moved him so that the end of the stream ended up in the potty and he got it. I then told him -- "next time aim here", and that, pretty much, was that.

We then stayed naked for about a day and a half. I tried putting clothes on him and he peed in them, but as long as he was naked he was great. I think this is because being naked feels different enough that it's like a constant reminder. Sunday evening I put him in underwear and he did fine. Monday morning he was still fine, so after lunch we went to Toys R Us and bought a bike.

And that was that -- he went to daycare in underwear on Tuesday, the teacher was shocked and asked me over and over if he was ready -- when I picked him up he was still in the same clothes I left in. We have very few accidents, usually when we were far from a toilet. I never did any little bribes, and never reminded him to go unless we were leaving the house, I just let him tell me when he needed to go and that was that.

One of his friends in his class had been "potty training" for 6 months -- with sticker charts, little rewards, scheduled potty breaks etc . . . For 6 months they'd been giving him candy, scheduling their life around the potty, and dealing with a lot of hassle. When my DS arrived in underwear in school that day the mom was green with envy and I said, "but your little one is a month younger than mine, don't worry he'll be ready soon" and sure enough a month later when he was 3 years 2 months he PT'd too. It made me glad I hadn't bothered trying to train him any earlier.

I did nakey earlier, at 2 1/2, with no shown interest in the potty (I never brought it up). Put on Life Upon a Potty, put the chair in the room, took off diaper, told them to use it. Done. My neighbor waited until her ds showed an interest, and then finally, at 4, she gave up and PT'd him. None of mine ever asked to use the potty (I waited until my older ones were 3, and with preschool starting, I started, but didn't know about the nakey method, so it took months). The 2 year old nakey kids got it within a week.

 

[LadyShea]

DS is almost 3 and just is just now potty trained. It only took a month as we started around November 11th.

We simply said "no more diapers in the daytime", left him nakey, put the potty chair in the living room (on a waterproof pad) and kept sitting him on it. If he used it, or at least notified us he had to peepee and attempted to get to the potty in time, he got a bribe...er treat

The first day was not fun and he was not happy, after that he did better each day, then we let him wear pants (no underwear) and now he uses the big toilet and can hold it until we reach the toilet. He still needs assistance (and a reminder to pay attention to prevent peeing on the floor or walls), but is getting more and more independent. In 6 months I expect he'll be totally independent.

I am truly astonished at how well it went. I had been waiting around for him to want to use the potty, ,but he had ZERO interest it was DH (stay-at-home dad) that initiated it.

 

[jellybeans0607]

Maybe you misunderstood my post. I said he has to be fully trained on order to join the kids clubs. Which I'm sure he will enjoy more than the nursery.
Again, please contribute something positive instead of stirring a pot.

I am free to answer a post any way I like, you are free to ignore it. The only person stirring any pots is you. You certainly don't have to qoute anything I write. Especially since you had already acknowledged my reply before you decided to be so rude.