Today's post is a slight departure from beautiful interiors but I need to get something off my chest. I was just over at Kidspot's Facebook page reading hundreds of comments about when peoples kids made the leap to being "toilet-trained", and I have to say it was beyond disheartening! Most of them were boasting about their kids "doing it" by 2 and being dry all night as well!
Noah turned 3 in February and we've just started really trying with him in the past couple of weeks. Success? Not so much. In 2 weeks we haven't had even one wee in the potty. My laundry pile is bigger than it's ever been, and I feel like the biggest failure with the daftest child in the universe.
I know every child is different and he'll do it when he's ready, blah blah blah, but he just seems too old to be running round with poop in his pants! I'm on the verge of throwing the towel in and trying again around his 18th birthday. He doesn't get it at all and I need help!
Does anyone have a foolproof toilet training method they can share and save my sanity? How did you do it? How long did it take? Tell me your secrets!!!!! Winter is upon us and another window of opportunity is slipping away! Help!
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ReplyDeleteSmarties, M&Ms, jelly beans, whatever very small treat your child will be motivated by. Explain to him that whenever he does in a wee in the potty/toilet, he gets a smartie. Poo gets 2 smarties. Remind every half hour or so. If child says no they don't need to but hasn't been in a while, encourage them to sit on the potty anyway (although no smartie unless they produce the goods). Give loads of praise anytime they do a wee and get a smartie. Try not to go out anywhere for a few days so the child has a chance to get used to the routine. Wean the smarties away after a while ( a week or so, if it is working), reinforcing with loads of praise and hi-fives. Worked with both my boys, who were both very reluctant and late toilet trainers.
ReplyDeleteIf he just doesn't 'get it', don't stress, my son was over three by the time he was daytime trained and almost four before he was fully night dry. One thing I did to help my boys understand that they are wet while not creating heaps of washing was to get them to wear undies UNDER the disposable nappy. That way they really get to feel when they are wet and start to learn the signals that lead up to doing a wee.
Good Luck, he will get it soon. Stop stressing about it all and it will happen
Hi Tina,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog & hope to purchase some of your products one day soon :) its a daily read.
I have two boys too, one is almost 4.5 and one is almost 2.5.
I have only just trained my 2nd little one, we are at week three!
I thought I'd try to help. What worked for me was direct bribery. The oldest one responded to a big bribe a Bruder fire truck and the youngest one I used potti dotti stickers and gave him a chocolate chip even just to encourage him on the toilet:). His big brother gave him the ladder toilet seat and that encouraged him to use the toilet only.
He was very resistant even though I knew he was wanting to sit on the toilet. Even now I still pop him on there if he has not been there for a couple of hours.
My oldest one still wets over night occasionally I did not train him straight through all at once I did not have the sanity for it!!:). I use brolly sheets / bed pads for him which are the best thing ever it takes up most of the bed and soaks up all the liquid . So in the night you just rip it off quickly and replace it with another one and wash it the next morning:).
Good luck Tina I felt exactly the same way two weeks ago, no worries.
I have never been able to train my boys by two or all through the night at all so don't despair!!
Thanks for brightening my world every day :)
Larissa
haha, waiting until he is 18 :). I certainly dont feel experienced, my two kids have very different personalities and what worked for my son so far does not work for my daughter. My son, refused to put on a diaper one night and we had a long sit in while I stayed strong in my position and he had to choose to either put on diaper or sit on toilet. He eventually chose sitting on toilet for that night. (After he went I put on a diaper and put him to sleep). I then recognized he was waking up dry so I took a chance and took off his diaper before naps and when he woke, took him to the bathroom. I also had this video of the great big bear and potty learning. He would sit on his toilet and watch the video.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is 2.2. She does not want to sit on a toilet, but now she doesn't want to poop in her diaper, so when she is trying to hold in the poop, I plop her on the toilet. Next step...???
My advice, take some risks, figure out what may entice your child, but mostly the child needs to learn a different way to eliminate; they are used to going in a diaper so sitting on toilet to eliminate may be scary to them. Take off diaper (perhaps first thing in morning) in anticipation for child to pee on ground, so they can feel/sense whats going on. Spend a weekend doing this. Remind him that "Put the pee/poop in the toilet next time"
I dont see that my 2.2 year will voluntarily sit on toilet at this stage, but our next step is to spend a weekend without a diaper. I stopped asking her if she wants to sit on toilet because her answer was always "no". I didn't want bring more attention to this, so sometimes I just sit her on it and give her a toy or book. She is slowly getting used to it (although she loves candy, bribery didnt/doesnt work for her) For my son, he was delighted to pee and then put a sticker on the toilet. Pick a weekend that you have energy to be tolerant and consistent and helpful!
good luck
My pediatrician told me that with boys it usually works sometime around 3 months before or after their third birthday. i know how you feel though my son will be three in may , his little buddy (with the same birthday) has been potty trained since he was just 2! I know kids who have had accidents (especially pooping) even at 4 and 5. It will happen. i dont have a fool proof tip, just hang in there!
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ReplyDeleteMy experience reflects your own. My daughters were really easy (I think they disliked nappies) and were tt in a few months and before turning 2. My son? MUCH longer. He was 3 and a half and we still had lots of accidents. I think boys are slower to get the idea in general. I found that if I put undies on my son, he 'felt' like he had a nappy on and we'd have an accident. Naked? No prob! So I bought him loose boxers and he did not like the feeling of having wee or ... running down his legs (it happened once only)so he would take himself or tell me he needed to 'go' and the race was on! After 6 months he won the battle! Yee bloody ha! LOL! Regular 'tryin' time and rewarding positively any success in potty works too & in conjunction. Good luck, I promise he'll 'get it' before he's 18! LOL!
ReplyDeletex KL