Potty Training an Almost 3 Year old...Any Suggestions??

Hi my name is C. i am a mommy of a new 3 year old. I had the same issue with my son for a month or so, and i just stop putting pull ups on him, and used underwear and after a few accidents (only had about 3) he didnt like his clothes wet, he began to go on the potty and hasen't had an accient since. At the time he was about 2 1/2,but it worked for me.

i have to say that i strongly object to the attitude of the person who wrote "time to get real." i think it's glib and excessive and not very nice.

MANY three year old boys are not capable of using the potty. while i have heard of the occasional PTd 3 yr old boy, the overwhelming responses of moms I know, who have gone through this, is that boys consistently learn the potty much later than girls, often as late as 4 yrs old. my son is 3 yr 5 mos, and is not only resistive to the potty but also not aware of his body signals for the need to potty in advance. he is often surprised to find himself in a dirty diaper if he is concentrating on playing or reading his books.

you should read Dr. Spock on potty training, and look at such websites as Kellymom.com and Askmoxie.com, and also read Dr. Sears. you will find a much more reassuring, compassionate approach to this milestone.

your son may very well want to wear underwear and that's great. encourage him as much as you can, offer him many opportunities to use the potty, and relax. as my mother would have said, "You never saw a bride in diapers." Surely, neither a groom.

good luck!
J.

Get rid of the pull ups!!!!! It is just like a diaper.

Hi J.,
Almost 3 is a great age to get him in underwear fulltime. The two things you need to do are to be consistent about taking him to the bathroom, and get rid of those pullups which he knows are a diaper and he is not going to just decide one day that they are underpants and stop peeing in them.
With my son, what I did was get a lot of the triple layer cloth training pants with the waterproof outer layer - if you can't find the waterproof ones, get the regular triple layer and buy plastic pants like you'd use for cloth diapers with pins. Then take him to the toilet about every 1.5 hours during the day. Do not ask him if he wants to or has to go, it's just a part of the routine. Have him sit there - not for an extended time or til he performs but for 5 minutes or so. It took my son a couple of weeks before he stopped peeing and pooping in the training pants, but he then realized that he could control that, and could wait til I took him to the bathroom and not sit in wet/dirty underwear (and cloth feels much worse than disposable products)
It took a full month after he was using the bathroom and in regular underwear before he would start saying he had to use the bathroom or going on his own, but that is usually the last step in the training process (with my first, I thought it would be the first step and waited too long!)
Good luck :)

Hi,

My suggestion is to put him in underwear. It helps if you have a few days like a week-end where you are going to be home or are not doing a lot of running around. When you do go out find out where the bathroom is right away so you don't have to spend the critical time looking for them.

My turn turned 3 on August 1, in June we just put him in underwear during the day and pull up at night and for his nap. For the first few weeks you can expect many accidents. For about a month I traveled with about four changes of clothes at all times including at day care. I also purchased a travel potty for the car and make sure to bring lots of wipes. It took about 6-8 weeks before my son understood the signals that he had to use the potty. Also, it takes them a little while to learn how to hold it until they get to the bathroom. For the most part, my son did real well with #1, but #2 can be challenging. My mother in law told him that when his tummy hurt he had to use the bathroom and this seemed to help. He is completely trained now, but I still put him in pull ups at night, but many nights he is still dry.

Let me know if you have any questions.

S.

Hi, My response is a little differnt- My son is a very bright 3 year 2 month old. We have taken a fun, positive and rewarding position to potty training...however- everytime we work on it he starts to stutter terribly!! It is very upsetting to watch! So I have figured out that he maybe a little type A and is trying and failing, he shows few signs that he can feel his fullness or even when he is wet. So we have laid off. And talking to friends they all talk about how their child was potty trained at or by three and then go on to tell me about all the accidents and that the accidents dont really stop until 4. I am sure that he will not learn to drive wearing diapers, so for now we are relaxing on the issue. I do agree with everyone that the pull ups are just like diapers. Good luck, enjoy life, the potty training will come!

I ordered my dughter this dvd on Amazon thats called "Potty Power" and it worked great!

I would try letting him wear underwear. This is what we did with my daughter. When she was wearing pull-ups, she had accidents all of the time but as soon as she started wearing underwear, no accidents. I don't think that pull-ups are a good idea since they are really the same as a diaper and the child feels like it is no big deal if they have an accident in one. He is showing the signs that he is ready for underwear, so I would give it a shot.

It is labor intensive but try setting a timer for every 1/2 hour or hour and take him to the potty and have him try. He may not recognize the "need" to go signals yet. A.

J.,

I just went through this with my 3 year and 2 month old. Just before his 3rd birthday (he turned 3 in Sept) I let him run around with out any bottoms on for 3 or 4 days ( I can completely remember since I was also dealing with a 12 week old, who was not sleeping through the night, at the time). After that I put underwear on him and would remind him every hour to go to the bathroom. I did this for about 3-4 more weeks. By the middle of October he was going on his own when he feels the need. he has only had one accident. Just be warned, my son has decided to night potty train himself ( I was not going to attempt this until this winter, once I have caught up on my missed sleep from my now 5 month old), so that means I have to wake up with him at night for trips to the potty. Since his birthday is in December, running around in the buff may not work as well (since it is cold) but it worked for my son. Good luck and just remember he will be out of diapers before he starts kindergarden, LOL.

Dont wait for him to tell you he has to go, he hasnt learned that feeling of fullness yet. Instead watch the clock or set a timer and every hour tell him to use the potty. he will say he doesnt have to, but tell him to anyway. Just to sit for about 5 minutes. He will soon learn to recognize a full bladder before its too late.

I am a mother of three. Two months after my oldest turned 2 1/2 yo and my second who is only a year and three wks younger, potty trained two months before 2 1/2 yo With my oldest, I had a spiderman underwear who really liked alot and put it on and we told him, spidey does not want to get peed on. Unfortunately we forgot to tell him he doesn't want to get pooped on either. We we told him after the unfortunate event occurred thta spidey doesn't want to get peed on and doesn't want to get pooped on. So, my son said, spidey no wet...and we praised him for thinking gtht and thankfully it worked. I kind of knew he was ready because we started off letting him go naked bottom-wise in the house and he proved to go every time without worrying about pulling down his pants and stuff. Then we gradually had him wear an underpants in the house and he proved it well. One day we had to go somwhere and he fell asleep in the car and I was like oh no, he may pee. He didn't and when we got to the location, he kept saying to my husband he had to go potty and my husband ran to the bathroom everytime and that was it. My second son was seeing and wanting to go without a diaper and he kept taking it off at night and I would put it back on him in the middle of the night fearing he'll pee and he successfully did it. We had him go commando (naked bottom-wise) also and gradually put underpants on him and that was it. We told him that spidey doesn't want to get peed no and doesn't want to get pooped on. It worked too. Now, I have number three but he is too young and thankfully to God for only one child to buy diapers for.
Hope this helps. I'll pray for Jesus's Wisdom for you if you ask Him in making right decisions.

I never got anywhere with training either of my kids until I stopped using pull-ups completely and went to underwear only. Both of them treated the pull-ups the same as a diaper and would not learn to use the potty til they were not wearing them any more. You just have to be prepared for the extra laundry until they get the hang of it (hopefully sooner rather than later!)

Time to get real. A three year old is more than capable of using the toilet. Take the pull ups out of his life and he'll have to use the toilet. Explain to him that you know he can do this and HE is responsible for any accidents, including changing his own clothes and cleaning up the floor. He'll get it - quickly!

Dear J.,

If he knows the concept then throw the diapers away and the pull ups. Get cloth training pants they are extra absorbent for accidents. Take a weekend where you can dedicate to him running around the house in just his training underwear. Take him to the potty every hour and make a big deal out of it when he has success and if he doesn't just tell him we will try again later. You have to be willing to put up with a little mess and inconvenience in my opinion to have success. You can not go back and forth, diapers, pull ups, underwear. When children are busy playing they don't remember they have to go to the potty when everyday its different. You have to be consistent and just stick to it and it can be done. Just expect accidents and try not to freak out. I think Target sells the cloth training underwear if not you can order them online. I own a preschool and have potty trained hundreds of kids working together with their moms. They have all thrown out the pull ups (its just a glorified diaper and they are very expensive)and have had great success. Good luck!!