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My son is almost three, he has no problem going to sit on the potty, he actually like going in to do it but he doesn't "use" the potty! He has gotten to the stage were he stays dry through the night and most of the day and fills up a pull-up a few times a day. I just can't get him to do it on the potty yet! I have tried the Huggies Cool-Alert to see if that would help, it did wonders for my daughter, but they didn't! I know that he will do it when he is ready but I'm kind of hoping that we can move things along a little, he will be starting "school" in December and he needs to be partially potty trained if not all the way before he starts! Does anyone have any suggestions?

P.S.
I worked in childcare for years and potty trained tons of little boys, never had a problem!! Maybe I just lost my gift!

My son developed a love for all superheroes at about 3 yrs old. We bought him some underwear w/ his fav characters. We put him in the underwear during the day on a weekend when we were both home to deal w/ the accidents. He had a few accidents and was totally potty trained in about 3-4 days. He was 3yrs and 3 months! My daughter (two in a few weeks) has been watching a potty training video. She loves to watch it and sit on the potty! She is getting very close. I wonder if girls just do it quicker? She hates to have a wet, or poopy diaper and asks to be changed. Best of luck during this challenging time .

I had allot of trouble with my daughter too. She would sit on the potty as long as I wanted her to...but would not go. One day she walked up to me and asked me to put a dry pull up on her and when I reached to check it the pull up was dry...so I told her it was dry and she said, "Oh...wait one second", she stood in front of me and tinkled in the pull up and then said, "ok...now you can change it". I decided at that moment there was no reason for her not to be using the potty. Mind you this was AFTER we had tried the cute underwear..the promising a new toy if she used the potty..I had even taken her to Toys R Us and we picked the toy out..I purchased it, (a $35.00 toy) and we set it up on a shelf so she could see it all day long knowing she had to just tinkle in the potty to play with it and she still refused!! She was like your son...always dry at night and only going through about 3 or 4 pull ups a day.

So after the pull up incident I decided to just sit her on the potty until she tinkled. We sat for almost 4 hours...we read stories and talked. She was drinking and chatting with me very happily until she felt the urge to 'go'. Then she panicked and told me she had to get down right then. I went against everything I had ever heard, read or been told and held my daughter on the potty. I told her it was okay and this was what she needed to do. I know it sounds terrible...but she was 34 months old and I KNEW she was just not going because we wanted her to. I was worried at the time that I was going to traumatize her but my mommy gut told me I was doing the right thing for her. It worked great. She has used the potty successfully since that moment. It was just something she needed to be pushed to do. By no means am I telling you to use this technique I am just giving you the perspective that NO ONE knows your child like you do so trust your instincts.

Good Luck!

It must be a boy thing. My son didn't completely potty train until a few months after he turned 3. I just stopped buying the pull-ups and told him that the diapers were all gone. His school helped out a lot too. He's only had a couple accidents since. I think it's easier to do while they're at home. I either put on big boy underpants or nothing at all and kept asking him if he had to use the potty or I just took him to the potty and told him to try to pee pee.
I really think the pull ups prolong the training because at first he would ask to put one on so he could go potty. Since there weren't any he had to go somewhere.
Good luck!
Oh yeah, making him just sit there is a good idea. Put some books and things for him to look at while he's sitting there.
Amanda

Oh potty training. What I found to work well with my daughter was just to go straight to panties. We didn't use any pull-ups, etc., except for at night. And at first, she was the same way as your son. She would just sit there and sit there and never go. When she finally did have the urge to go, she would panic (just like klmorg said) and want to get up. She wanted me to put a diaper on her so she could pee.

I talked to her to calm her down, read her books, sang songs with her, and once she finally got a couple drops out and realized it wasn't scary, she did awesome!!

So I would suggest going straight to panties rather than trying pull-ups to see what happens. I think sometimes kids don't see much of a difference between diapers and pull-ups, and maybe peeing in panties would have more of an impact. Although, you may have a lot of laundry th first few days...

Oh potty training. What I found to work well with my daughter was just to go straight to panties. We didn't use any pull-ups, etc., except for at night. And at first, she was the same way as your son. She would just sit there and sit there and never go. When she finally did have the urge to go, she would panic (just like klmorg said) and want to get up. She wanted me to put a diaper on her so she could pee.

I talked to her to calm her down, read her books, sang songs with her, and once she finally got a couple drops out and realized it wasn't scary, she did awesome!!

So I would suggest going straight to panties rather than trying pull-ups to see what happens. I think sometimes kids don't see much of a difference between diapers and pull-ups, and maybe peeing in panties would have more of an impact. Although, you may have a lot of laundry the first few days...

My daughter is 1 1/2 and she has recently started asking the people at daycare to change her diaper when she is wet or dirty. She doesn't say anything to me and my husband at home. What age is a good age to start potty training. I just don't want to try too early.

quote:

Originally posted by Stacy Fournier:
Oh potty training. What I found to work well with my daughter was just to go straight to panties. We didn't use any pull-ups, etc., except for at night. And at first, she was the same way as your son. She would just sit there and sit there and never go. When she finally did have the urge to go, she would panic (just like klmorg said) and want to get up. She wanted me to put a diaper on her so she could pee.

I talked to her to calm her down, read her books, sang songs with her, and once she finally got a couple drops out and realized it wasn't scary, she did awesome!!

So I would suggest going straight to panties rather than trying pull-ups to see what happens. I think sometimes kids don't see much of a difference between diapers and pull-ups, and maybe peeing in panties would have more of an impact. Although, you may have a lot of laundry th first few days...

Oh Stacy thank you so much...I thought I was the only one who ever had a child that was scared to actually 'go' on the potty. I did the same as you...(you worded it much better)...and my daughter also calmed down after the first few drops came out and she realized it was okay. She just totally panicked when the urge was there and she knew she was going to go. I talked to her and told her it was okay and she was a good girl and how proud I was and I actually watched as the fear left her expression and was overtaken with pride in herself for finally doing it!! Thanks for sharing!

Our daughter did some regression when the little brother was born but I just decided that spending so much on diapers was going to be a problem so I jumped into her potty training like mad. First thing I figured out (long ago actually) was those cutesy pottys with the characters and music - she thinks of them as a toy and who wants to go potty in their toys? So we got a plain white seat to go on top of the regular potty but it was another step for her (get the stool, get the seat, pull down clothes...) so I got a seat for our regular toilet that has a second seat ring for toddlers. Love this thing!! Anyway, what we did was simply tell her that if she had an accident then she had to clean it up, clothing and all. She was fine with going tinkle when we put her on the seat but it took a weekend of "training" and she has been fine. There were a couple of accidents away from home and now a few overnight ones (slowly going away) but since she was only really fully trained in the last 3 months, I guess we're doing well. She does really well when she is home and even at some outings she will ask to go before we start asking her if she needs to. I do agree that the pull-ups and training type diaper products were a waste of time and money -FOR US- if they work for you then that is great! We will have the boy to train in a year or so, things may be way different for him!

We did the treats thing using small toys from the dollar store and then she expected a toy EVERY time she went so be careful there too! I guess my best 'advice' is not to stress too much over it, make sure you ask often about having to go and don't feel like you have to meet a deadline. Best of luck!

quote:

Originally posted by klmorg:
Oh Stacy thank you so much...I thought I was the only one who ever had a child that was scared to actually 'go' on the potty. I did the same as you...(you worded it much better)...and my daughter also calmed down after the first few drops came out and she realized it was okay. She just totally panicked when the urge was there and she knew she was going to go. I talked to her and told her it was okay and she was a good girl and how proud I was and I actually watched as the fear left her expression and was overtaken with pride in herself for finally doing it!! Thanks for sharing!

When I read your story it made me feel so good, too!! It was hard to get her to stay on the potty, but I KNEW she was definitely ready. The poopy thing took a little longer, though. I had to cave in when she begged for a diaper so she could go poopy. I didn't want her to try and hold it forever!

It's funny how things change. Now my daughter absolutely LOVES going to the potty.

KE - Like Michelle said we did some potty treats, too. What worked good for us was those yo-gos. They are near the fruit snacks. I would open the little bags and put the treats in a container. If she went, she would get ONE little yo-go. They lasted forever!

quote:

Originally posted by Stacy Fournier:

When I read your story it made me feel so good, too!! It was hard to get her to stay on the potty, but I KNEW she was definitely ready. The poopy thing took a little longer, though. I had to cave in when she begged for a diaper so she could go poopy. I didn't want her to try and hold it forever!

It's funny how things change. Now my daughter absolutely LOVES going to the potty.

Thats too funny...mine was the same with the poop and I too continued to give her a pull up to poop in, she would hold it too and I didn't want her to get constipated and associate pain with the potty. Once I started taking the poop and dumping it into the potty she started wanting to flush it away..I told her when she pooped on the potty I would let her be the one to flush...it only took about a week after that to get her going on the potty for poop too!

Wow, that sounds exactly like what happened in our house! It is so neat (and reassuring) to hear about other moms who have gone through the same experiences.

I just finished potty training my 3-yr old boy in July. We never really pushed the issue and waited until he said he wanted to do it. But he still had some reluctance - because it's scary growing up and because it interrupted his playing to get up and go.

I didn't want to do food treats, but we did these really cool stickers called "Pottie Stickers". Link

There are 3 background scenes in a pack. We hung the background on the wall right next to the potty so he could select a sticker and put it on while he was on the potty. When each picture was completed, he had earned a prize. (a new game, new train engine.)

We told him that when he had gone 5 days straight using the potty, he could wear the big boy underwear (that we had already purchased) and select a big prize. He wanted a guitar, so that is what he was working for. When he achieved it, we all went to the music store and bought him a real guitar (a ukelele so he can hold it and be a strolling troubador!).

Whe he resisted, we said "fine - you don't have to use the potty, but you won't earn your guitar."

Anyway, it worked in about 3-4 weeks. He is still in pull ups at night. Before he potty trained, he was waking up dry. Now, when he uses the potty all the time, he is waking up wet! We aren't working on this issue yet because of other big changes going on in his life.

Good luck!