Potty Training Veterans- HELP

[AllyCatTapia]

My son started training in late Feb and is doing ok. He will go consistently in the potty, but only if *I* or hubby or childcare teacher reminds him every hour or so. He is dry during nap but not overnight.

1)When/about how long before they will do it self directed? Is that the next step? Or is this a long time thing? He will go in his pants if someone doesn't send him to go. It doesn't even phase him. I think a lot ofthe time he doesn't want to stop playing.

2We are going to Dinsey july 20. Do you think he'll be completely trained? Any disney-specific condiderations? I do plan on hauling around a change of clothes or two all days in case of accidents. Just wondering the likliehood...

 

[lclark0621]

It took a long time for my DS to consistently tell me he had pee pee. He always went when someone told him to though, just like your DS.

In WDW, we put him in pull ups for just in case. He understood they were his "just in case pants". I still took him every hour or so. By then, he was pretty good about telling me, but there were always times.

Plus there is SO much to see & do in WDW. Sometimes the excitment is just to much for little ones & their bladder.

If you are just going to go with a change of clothes, make sure to bring a change of socks & shoes to! If he has an accident, his socks & shoes can also get wet, and that would not be fun walking around in.

But just for safety sake, I would go with a pull up. Just dont use them like diapers & you will be fine. And what I mean by that is, take him to the bathroom just as usual. Dont think you can wait a little longer because of the pull up. Consistently ask him/tell him to go. Explain the pull up is only for an emergency. My DS understood right away.

 

[DonaldDuckFan]

I tried with my son several times before he fully "got it" and when he was ready he just started going all by himself. He had just turned 3 when he was fully trained, he was dry at night but I waited a month or two before we used underwear instead of pull-ups at night. The one thing that really helped him was taking the pull-ups away and just using those thick training pants. When someone told me this I was like no way, I didn't want accidents all over the house, but he pee'd in them one time and that was all it took, he caught on. Now the number 2's were a bigger problem. That took a little longer and really a lot of just patience on my part, I think he would get nervous when I would keep asking him about it, he just learned to go on his own. He's been potty trained for a year now and does great, very rarely does he have an accident. I just think when they are ready you will know...

Hope this helps, Amy

 

[WantToGoNow]

My dd turned 2 in December. We started training in October using Pull-ups. In December (around her birthday) we switched to panties. That really made a difference with her training. Within a week we were down to very few accidents - now we have a very rare accident. I still put a Pull-up on her at night but most (not all) mornings it's dry. If he's close to the "no accident" stage, I wouldn't put a Pull-up back on him - I would just take the extra clothes (or maybe you could use rubber pants over his underwear). My dd's daycare started propping the door to the bathroom open and encourages the children to go whenever they have the need. Maybe you could put his potty somewhere in the house where he will see it all the time -- he may then start initiating the use when he needs it instead of being reminded.

 

[pbharris4]

Both of my DD's (10 and almost 3..trained right at 3 and the youngest was trained at 2.5))were trained in 1 week or less.

Pull Ups are Ok and great for at night, but they are just like diapers. Both times I went cold turkey. I let my DDs pick out whatever underwear they wanted and told them not to pee on the Princesses or whoever it was. They had maybe 3 pee accidents and 1 poop accident and they were trained! They didn't like the feeling of being wet. Also, instead of a potty chair..get those training seats with handles ($5.00 at Walmart) it's easier AND they are going in the actual toilet..less clean up. Don't give your child anything to drink 2 hrs or less before they go to bed. When my youngest was potty trained she was also nighttime trained. She hasn't had an accident at all. I still put oull ups on her, but will stop in a month or two.

Maybe your child isn't fully ready yet. Being wet should bother them. I say go for the gold and get rid of the pull ups. Edited to add: that is she only wears Pull Ups at night and will soon stop. She wears underwear during the day.

 

[mom2isaac&ella]

Potty training my DS was a long process too. He didn't get it until we spent a few days aroung the house naked. For some reason he did not mind going in his undies, but disliked the feeling of going on the floor. I did spend a day cleaning messes, but he finally got it. He is 4.5 and is still wet at night - pull ups don't do the job so we switched to Goodnights. He is a really deep sleeper (has fallen out of bed & not woken up) & my Dr. says it can sometimes take until their 5 or 6, expecially with boys. He started telling me or going on his own around 3, but will still have an occasional accident if we are not near a bathroom when he says he needs to go. This hasn't happened in months, but I make sure he goes before we go to the park or are going to be in the car for a while. Just stick with it and it will come. Now my DS2 decided to start going on the potty before she was 2 and pretty much trained herself b/c she saw big brother going. She has only had a handful of accidents since her 2nd birthday in March. She is also dry for naps and at night. This has taught me how different each child is & how as parents we have to try to find what works for each child.

PS When my son was in the process we did a potty chart & he got stickers for each day with no accidents. He would get a small prize when he stayed dry a few days in a row & we slowly moved it up to a week & then didn't need to do it any more. He loves to earn rewards so this was great for him. My daughter didn't want to poopy on the potty & held it for 2 days, but when I promised her fruit snacks (Disney princesses of course) she never had a problem.

 

[Pooh Crew]

I waited until my kids were waking up dry consistently every morning before beginning potty-training. With four small children, I did not want to deal with accidents for months. My daughters were right at three, one of my sons was a little over three and my other son was a little over 2 1/2. For all four children, we did a crash course weekend training. We woke up Saturday morning and went potty, we ate and drank all day long and spent most of the day going to the potty--setting the timer to help us remember to go every 30 minutes or so. By Sunday night, they had it down. Honestly, only one of mine ever had an accident, and that was just a rebellion thing--I told her she could go back to diapers, but then she could not do big-girl stuff. Within two days, she chose underwear again and never had another accident. One thing you could try is to put underwear on under a pullup...that way, if he goes, he will still feel it and mess up his underwear, but it won't get all over his other clothes.

 

[4lilpoohs]

I have potty trained four boys. They were all trained by 2 1/2. My youngest finished training in March. I honestly thought he would never train. He did good but would have once accident everyday or every couple of days. Then one day I said no more pull ups. Bam he was trained!!! Once I took the pull ups away during the day he stayed dry at night too. So my suggestion is to put him in underwear.

 

[wdwfamilyinIL]

I have three boys, and in general from what I have been told they are "harder" than girls. My youngest will be 3 on the 16th, and we are not even close. I know that with my oldest two, they didn't do it until they wanted it. It didn't matter how often we asked, when they were ready it just happened. What I have found that helps is underwear with their favorite characters....they usually don't like to get them wet for some reason. Instead of pull ups(although pull ups are good when you are not home) use cotton training pants around the house. Rewards work will too.
For vacation, I have to agree to use pull ups then. A couple a months really isn't that long, and with the added excitment, you probably would end up with some accidents.

 

[lauritagoddess]

My DS was peeing in the potty regularly without accidents by the time he turned 3 last June, but that was with constant reminders to go. I don't think he began taking himself on his own all the time until November. It can take time for them to be able to read their own signals and to act on them consistently. I would think you'd be okay in Disney even if he's not fully trained if you take regular bathroom breaks. I know my DS consistenly would locate every bathroom he saw and want to stop there. I did bring pull-ups with us though even though he hadn't worn any for months and had him wear them on the plane and at night in the hotel since even though he was dry at night I didn't want risk him having an accident all over the hotel bed.

 

[brettgirl]

My DS5.5 has PDD and did not train until he was almost 5, he was dry at nite very quickly. It was a long, hard struggle to get him trained, but he is now. Please remember that if he is like my son, he absolutely waits until the very LAST MINUTE to go pee, bathrooms may be hard to find. If he can't tell you he has to go he is not ready, he does not know his body yet. There is nothing to be ashamed of if he needs pull ups when away from home. Take it from me, nobody should judge anyone about their children.

 

[MouseFriend]

I am a preschool teacher in a class of 2 going on 3 yr olds. In the past three months, we have helped train 8 kids. I know it can be trying, but persistance pays off.

When parents ask us for advice on training their children, we always tell them that you need to stick them in regular underwear. Get rid of the pull-ups (except for nap/bed times) because they are nothing more than glorified diapers. If the child doesn't feel the uncomfortable wet feeling, there is no motivation to use the potty. If you are concerned about carpets or furniture, get the plastic or rubber training pant covers.

We have parents send a whole bunch of extra clothes. At first we ask the child every half-hour if they need to go and make a huge deal out of every time they do go. Then after a few days every hour and so on. Usually within a week or two they begin telling us when they need to go. Our fastest trained in two days, the longest took close to three weeks. In a class of 14 kids, we have 12 that are potty trained, and rarely have accidents (usually less than one every 2-3 weeks)

That said, I would judge how well the child is doinging before deciding to use pull-ups at the park. If they still have regular accidents then definately use a pull-up, you don't want to have to carry a suitcase to the park. Disney can be overwhelming for any child, and if they are having trouble at the best of times, I wouldn't risk it. However, if they are doing really well, and telling you when they need to go, you don't want to undo all of your hard work by sticking them back in a diaper. You can always use the plastic or rubber training pants covers just in case. Remember in all the excitement you may have very little time between "I need to potty" and actually pottying

Good Luck! You'll get there it just takes some patience.

 

[HiddenMickey3018]

I have 3 children and they all got trained very differently. When training my oldest daughter who is now 11. I used blue toilet cleaner and told her if she pee-pee in the potty, she would turn the color from blue to green like magic! And if she did, she would get a prize usually a sticker or and toy from the dollar store. Katie was completely trained within a few weeks, even going number 2 was easy for her, she just picked it up! I got really creative with my middle son. Isaiah is 8 now, but I still remember how I got him trained. When he was 1 1/2 years old, his preschool wanted to enroll him in the 2 year old class early, but in order to do so he had to be completely trained. I had about 2 months to work with, so I got started right away. We tried everything, from him going with the guys in our family to running around the house naked. Then one day I got an idea. I grabbed some fruit loops, and threw them into the toilet. I told him to shoot at the loops in the bowl. I gradded a water bottle and showed him how to shoot the loops. After he watched he began to pee-pee by shooting the loops! The one thing that drove me nuts after that was he had to have fruit loops in the bowl before he would pee. So I had a box of fruit loops sitting on our bathroom floor for almost a year! But not only did I train him to pee, he was doing it standing up, and aiming in the bowl! I his daddy still cant aim right! Doing number 2 for Isaiah, was pretty easy too, there were times when he had to pee, and then he had to do no. 2 right afterwards. So I would encourage him to sit down after he finished peeing. So by the time my youngest son Devin came along, I knew I had figured out the potty training task, he proved me wrong! I tried everything! Nothing worked. He finally just one day, got it, he did it when he was good and ready. If that meant we had to postpone certain things, so be it. It is so important that they learn to read their bodies. Its really up to them. It took us 5 months to train him, it was driving us crazy! And then one day, he got up, went to the bathroom and did a no. 1 and 2 all my himself! I cried afterwards, and told him how proud I was of him. You have to be patient, and allow them to call the shots. What got me though it was realizing that they may be changing my diapers one day!

 

[Banshee]

My DS5.5 has PDD and did not train until he was almost 5, he was dry at nite very quickly. It was a long, hard struggle to get him trained, but he is now. Please remember that if he is like my son, he absolutely waits until the very LAST MINUTE to go pee, bathrooms may be hard to find. If he can't tell you he has to go he is not ready, he does not know his body yet. There is nothing to be ashamed of if he needs pull ups when away from home. Take it from me, nobody should judge anyone about their children.

I think my ds is following in your sons footsteps! He just turned 4 and it seems like we have been doing this potty thing forever!!! He really wants no part of it. I tried pull ups and underwear and I even let him roam naked but nothing seems to phase him??? My MIL acts like something is wrong with him! I am at a loss but I know I will not force him my MIL told me every 15 minutes to put him on the potty and make him stay there for at least 10!!!!!! I have never heard of that! And it seems like we would be in the bathroom all day!He also wants to go to pre school but he cant until he is potty trained and I explained to him he has to use the potty before he can go to school. My oldest DS was trained by 3.5 go figure!

 

[brettgirl]

My DS 5.5 with PDD had a lot of sensory issues and was petrified to pee anywhere. We did start him sitting (be forwarned about where the aim is!!!), he was always allowed into the bathroom with my husband and myself. I let him bring the potty in front of the tv (Bear in the BIg blue house has a potty video), we read potty books while sitting there for what seemed like forever. Nothing was working. I wrote a "Social Story" (check out on the web, might be under autism stuff), read it numerous times. I then got myself ready for three days of sitting in bathroom with him until he went. (Boy can he HOLD it). It took about one day for him to actually pee on the potty. You can not get mad, even if just after being in the bathroom forever they come out and pee on the carpet (my son did this).

If your son wont even sit on the potty, try counting to ten, singing a song all the way through before letting him off--act really happy that they did sit for that time, over do it infact. We had to do this.

Offering a special reward, sticker, a few m and m's, etc. could help. Mine liked the idea of going to Home Depot (fav store because of all of the spinning things) and I made him Home Depot undees (with my own iron ons).

I then proceeded to do what the others did, every 15 minutes on the potty-NO ASKING, just do it. Training him to stand a few months later was another ordeal because of his PDD, but it was not as long and enduring, cheerios helped as did having bubble contests with Daddy. (sorry if this offends anyone, but as a mother you do what you have to do).

Another idea that might help if your child is a typical child, is Dr Phil had a wonderful way to train kids-they actually teach one of their dolls/animals to pee on the potty. Check out his web site.

Feel free to contact me if you need to chat, or you need some backbone. (I did have a TSS help me when we stood trained my son).

 

[gibmom]

Hi! Just wanted to warn you that my 3 yr old found the toilets scary because it would automatically flush while he was still sitting on it. I carried a small strip of duct tape on my purse and would cover-up the sensor with tape before he sat down.
Julie

 

[kpk89]

With my first two I took the totally lazy mom approach -- left them in diapers until they decided it was time. Got a lot of "tsk tsk" ing from friends and relatives, but I would rather change a diaper than clean up a potty accident. And it worked well -- when they decided they didn't want diapers anymore, it was a week to fully train, including nights.

WIth my 3rd it was the disorganized AND lazy mom approach. I ran out of diapers. I didn't feel like going to get more. So I put her in undies and took her every half hour. Cleaned up a LOT of accidents. Ugh. I liked the lazy way better.