Follow up Question to Hives

You would probably just be catching him when you know he normally goes to the bathroom, or taking him to the toilet over and over again (if he will let you).

Being ready for toileting is a brain process as well as a physical process. They truly have to be ready for it to be real training.

I hope you get to the bottom of this hives issue soon...

Seems a bit young to me for potty training. My friend did this with her first, and it was as Doris mentions below, just taking him constantly to the potty or happening to catch him when he looked like he was about to go.

I waited until it really was just a matter of showing them the potty and them cluing in. You've gone through this with your daughter so you are experienced of course.

My other thought is, messes, pee accidents, etc. won't help rashes or hives at this point. I wouldn't put that stress on him.

My friend sold a natural line of products that was very high end. I can't remember the name right off. She gave us all the information but I talked to our dermatologist, allergist and doctors about it. They didn't recommend it.

My allergist for my son is the top one in this area of the country. He prefers and recommends Dove (unscented) soap. Tide free (no dyes or perfumes) and just use slightly less than needed and if you need to, rinse twice to remove residue. Bathe frequently - coolish water. Minimal soap.

We have allergies, hives, eczema and psoriasis in this house. All inherited from my husband's side so I had to learn all the ways to cope as I wasn't experienced. Simple is best. We've got it down to where it's hardly an issue any more. This was from very bad.

So - I personally would not do all the natural products you suggest only because some are heavily fragranced, as you say, some are just really good for the environment, which is great but not might help your baby.

Our dermatologist and doctor seconded the Dove and Tide Free.

We just used regular diapers. I have heard that the detergent needed to clean cloth diapers effectively can irritate a baby's skin if they have sensitive skin.

That's just my experience. I'm not knocking natural products - but I went with what our professional health care experts told us.

Some kids are ready sooner than others.
That being said, trying to train before THEY want to just turns into a power struggle.
Our son was out of diapers during the day at 3 1/2.
He couldn't stay dry through the night until he was 7 1/2 - so he wore pull-ups at night until he woke up dry for 2 whole weeks in a row.

I'm not sure the type of diaper used will make any difference but it's worth a try.
Some kids almost seem to be allergic to their own poop/pee.
Apply a liquid antacid to his behind then slather on the diaper rash ointment (the kid should almost be able to slide out of his diaper).
Bag Balm worked well for us.
Air out his butt as often as you can.
To keep his pee from getting strong/concentrated have him drink as much water as he can to keep it diluted.

Yes, he's too young. Boys don't generally have it until they're close to or over 3 years old. Even if you do "get it" a few times, weeks, months, it isn't likely to last.

It could though but it's just not something most boys do. That's from over 13 years in child care.

One of mine was prone to rashes - food intolerances triggered them, and then they were exacerbated by other exposures (lotions, wet diapers, etc).

I found that my best routine was a thick layer of vaseline after every change, regular disposable diapers, and at home, I let him be diaperless as much as possible. Being diaperless was easier before he was mobile. I let him sit or lay on a blanket with some towels underneath. I didn't do it much once he was walking (although the vaseline continued right up until he potty trained). I know your guy is mobile, but maybe you can find a way to let him be without a diaper for a little bit each day.

As for potty training, it might be hard if he's not showing any readiness signs. One of mine was really really interested at 18 months. I got all excited and tried to do it (had him sit every 30 min, lots of excitement if he actually went pee on the potty). But still, there were so many accidents, I was constantly cleaning. After 3 days, we were both really frustrated and I gave up. He did it on his own at about a year later (2.5 years old). My second was the same, but 6 months later both in initial readiness, and when he trained.

ETA: Foods are tricky triggers. My kids came up negative for dairy allergies. But both were intolerant of milk protein (casein) as babies/toddlers. They got eczema (rashes) all over their bodies as well as GI issues when they had it. And I have to ask, when you went dairy free, did you just avoid dairy, or did you look at every ingredient to look for casein and/or whey? Casein is added to many many "non-dairy" foods, because it's an easy way to increase the protein content of the food on the nutritional label. It makes avoiding milk protein unexpectedly difficult at first.

My daughter was ready for potty training at 19 months. I mean REALLY ready. Boys do tend to be a bit older than girls when they are ready. But, only you know when he is ready. I have never known anyone to have full body hives from diapers. My daughter would get a rash wherever the clothing washed in fragrance touched her skin. She does get a full body rash from nerves and I have recently discovered she gets the same thing from the heat. My son got a full body rash and hives when I breastfed him and I was taking an antibiotic. Are you breastfeeding? I did not use cloth diapers. My exhusband refused to cooperate in that endeavor.

I used cloth diapers and sold them for the same price I bought it.
Cloth diapers worked best for us.
I bought them on eBay. 10 new cloth diapers with insert where less than $50.
I bought extra inserts for the nights and had about 15 cloth disiapers total. I added the Bumkins flushable diaper liner as well.

My boy was about 2 years 9 month when he was potty trained. At night we still used the diapers until he was about 4.

However, keep in mind that disposables diapers are bleached and emits traces of dioxins. If you look up what is inside a disposable diaper you just don't want it on your little guy. The sodium polyacrylate is known as a skin irritant. VOC is harmful and the list goes on...

Cloth diapers are not expensive. Less than a box of disposable diapers. Just try it out.

sometime around age 2 my son decided he didn't want to wear clothing. so i put a potty seat in the middle of everything. told him every 15 minutes to try to potty on it. once he did i praised him for it and gave a small treat for it. he loved the treat and his goal was to potty in it and not make a mess.once he was good at staying dry and keeping the floors dry (hardwood so didn't matter if they got wet for a second) i started spacing the rewards out and once he was going a full day keeping things dry i started to move the potty seat closer to the bathroom till it was in there and he was still using it. then i out the seat part on the big potty and helped him use it, rewarded the first use and the bms on the big potty. then moved to no child seat on the big potty. then he was considered day trained.
months later i put the potty in his room only at night so if he woke he could use it, and he did for about a week then went 2 full weeks without using it and waking dry. i then considered him night trained. there is also a method of training in a day... but i never used it, you can googls potty training in a day and see if your kid would learn this way. my sister in -law trained her twins by having them try every half hour till they were old enough to hold it longer and tell her when they had to go.