Potty Training a 2 and 3 Yr Old

One thing that got recommended to me at one point was to take the pull-up or diaper and show the child, then dump it in the toilet and have them flush it (or you flush if they're scared of the flushing). That way they can see that that's where it's supposed to go.

The hard truth is that potty training boys is difficult. I have 6 boys (with one more boy on the way) and my first born was the only one to potty train before the age of 3. The next three did not poop in the potty until they were 4 or 4 1/2. I am currently trying to potty train my 3 1/2 year old, but like yours, he will only poop standing up. When I put him on the potty, he stiffens up and cannot relax enough to go. I think the feeling of the big hole underneath him makes him uncomfortable. On the other hand, all four of my girls potty trained before the age of 3. My youngest girl was fully potty trained (day and night) by 18 months! The moral of this story is: be patient. It will happen but they need to go at their own pace. One more thing, if your boys already pee in the potty, consider foregoing pull ups at home and just use underwear. It's a lot cheaper and it makes them feel more like "big boys."

1 thing at a time.. first get them pee trained.. peeing in the potty all the time. then work on poop. my son pee trained first. it took another week or so for poop.

staying dry at night can take years. that is the final step of potty training.

Tell him he can pop in the pull-up, but has to sit on the potty to do it. Then when he's comfortable doing that a few times cut a hole in the pull-up so the poop will fall out when he sits and goes while sitting on the potty. Once he's comfortable doing that try to get him to sit and go without the pull-up, and point out to him that he's been sitting and going already. And any poops in the pull-up or potty have him help you dump it in the toilet and flush it to make the point that poop goes in the toilet. Once he's good at pooping in the potty do away with the pull-ups and go to little boy undies.

Peer pressure is a great thing at times and a younger sibling getting trained might just motivate your older son. That's what happened when my nephew wanted nothing to do with potty training and he, his mom and dad went to visit my daughter and her family for a week. My granddaughter is 3 months younger than him, and when he saw she was trained, well, he was fully trained by the end of the week, too.

Since they're so used to pooping in their pullups, it feels like an accident to them if they go in the potty. In a way, this is good news, because it means they already have good bowel control!

So, if you are really ready to ditch those diapers, you have to stage it so that they are likely to have an "accident" in the potty.

Once you know what time of day is most likely for them to have a bowel movement, give them a little juice and a handful of raisins to eat. Then chase them! For whatever reason, at least for my girls, running is the best for loosening those bowels! Don't let them slow down until the potty is in sight. Then drop the pull-up, help them get comfortable on the potty, read them a story, and if it doesn't work, chase them again (a little extra juice might help)! This is a bit sneaky perhaps... but actually quite fun and the brothers might enjoy the process together. As far as I can tell, kids can't actually poop while they are running, so if you keep this cycle up for 30 minutes, it has a good chance of success. If they are tired of reading, a good thing to try is a big bowl full of warm water and bath toys to play with right in front of the potty. The warm water makes them pee -- and sometimes that timing is related to pooping. Only don't try to combine those methods at the same time because the water might be slippery for their running fun!

I drew up a potty chart with the days of the week written on it, and allowed my girls to put a sticker on it for successes (special stickers for poops!).

I also allowed my youngest to put some other stickers directly on the little potty (in a low-splash zone) every time she tried to use the potty. For some reason, she just didn't think the potty was fancy enough, but then she really loved it and wanted to sit on it more once she had personalized it a bit.

Also, if you can stomach it and if you have few rugs, ditch the pull-ups altogether. Kids become emotionally attached to pull-ups. Bring in big-boy pants in full force for them to develop an attachment to. The big-boy pants are for keeping clean, and your boys will get that. Of course, there will be accidents...

When I potty trained my kids when they were turning two, they each had a solid week of accidents almost every day, almost every time. It was a lot of cleaning up on my part, and frustrating. But I felt that I had no choice, since both girls refused to wear diapers as soon as they figured out how to get them off! Then the next week, they were almost perfect, and by the following week, they were dependable potty users.

My boys potty trained easier than my girls. I don't know why. With one of mine, I offered pennies when he went. He loved it. 1 penny for number 1 and 2 for number two. =) With my 16 month old, I just put him on the potty. I say "Let's go potty" and off he goes running to the potty. I don't make a big deal about it and he usually just sits for a second unless he actually goes. Anyway, I hope this helps.