When to Stop Potty Training Treats?

If he has been going potty for 3 weeks his not going to like going in his clothes so I think you are pretty safe stopping the candy rewards. I have three kids and once you let them get used to eating candy, they always ask for it. In addition to their teeth, eating candy really affects behavior and the ability to concentrate and stay on task. I stopped giving my kids candy unless its a special activity like the movies.

I made a chart and my son "graduated" to a treat. For instance, he had to go 5 times and then he got a treat. Sometimes his reward was to go to Target and pick out a hot wheel car or something. Honestly, he totally forgot about it after awhile and I didn't even have to worry about "weaning" him from rewards. Other moms I've talked to said the same thing when I was worried about it.

The first response you got was interesting. I hadn't thought of that.
B.

I have potty trained dozens of children in my home daycare and I only use stamps as a reward for going potty. Using food as a reward for anything is never a good idea, as it teaches children to view food in extremely unhealthy ways. It doesn't matter whether you are using candy or carrots, rewarding a child with food will teach them to reward themselves with food, to eat when they're not hungry and to connect food with mood, all of which can lead to a lifetime of unhealthy eating habits. I urge you, especially if you're concerned about healthy eating, as it seems you are, to switch his potty reward from candy to stamps, stickers, small toys for x amounts of pottying/dry days.
That said, I start by giving stamps for every productive trip to the potty at the start of training, then only give stamps for pottying when they have stayed dry in between trips, then I only give stamps for poops and, by the time they're wearing underwear alone and going potty without being sent all the time, I stop the stamps and just use verbal praise. If they ask for a stamp, sometimes they get one and sometimes I just tell them that they're a big kid who goes potty all the time and wears big kid underwear and stamps are for kids who are just learning how to use the potty.
Good luck!

Hello L.!
With my daughter we gave her a marshmellow (a mini one) and that finally did the trick. One for peeing and two for pooping and after a few weeks she didn't care about them anymore and by then she was FINALLY going regulary. It took about 3 weeks of this systmen after trying for almost a year until she was fully trained and not needing or caring about praise and awards for going and her big treat was getting to pick out her own big girl underwear and of course wearing them. Oh, and she has not become a food addict nor has she developed a warped sense of food because of the few marshmellows we gave her over a few weeks.

Make sure the "sugar free" isn't aspartame, sweet and low, splenda, or any other fake toxic sugar.

Xylitol, agave nectar, stevia or some other safe natural alternative is most important especially for children!

But, as far as "treats"... have you tried stickers???

Ok what we did with my daughter was we went to the 99 cent store and bought a bunch of little trinkets and wrapped them individually then put them in a "chest" in plain sight out of reach... then we would give her a sticker every time she'd successfully use the restroom, at the end of the day if there were no accidents or so many stickers... (you make the rules up to fit your family) we would let her chose her 1 prize from the chest and she'd get so excited! she would talk about her prizes and she'd do her best at having no accidents. The stickers we gave several each day but we'd have her put them on a piece of cardboard on the wall or something similar. we started letting her know that after her prizes were to run out she'd be allowed to do "big girl" or "grand prize activities" things like play www.pbskids.org, help in the kitchen, go to the museum, park, special dinner, go to movies or something like that. Then they feel like big kids because they can go potty all by themselves and chose to do grown up things too!!

Maybe switch to stickers or a stamp on the foot or hand. Personally, I don't think food is a good idea for a reward. But, I know that sometimes you have to bend the rule a little.

I did the exact same thing, in the same timing. We also become concerned after week two of too much candy. So here's what I did last July.
I bought some stickers and made a sticker chart. I'm a Kindergarten teacher so that was easy for me- Or they sell good charts with re-usable stickers at Once Upon a Child on Val Vista and Baseline. We made a big deal about the chart and hung it in the bathroom. I also hit the dollar store and Target dollar bin to make a treasure box. (I just filled an empty gift bag with cheap toys).
For week 3 and 4- each pee in the potty earned a sticker. We kept using the candy for pooping, though. At the end of the day, if he earned all of his stickers he got to pick one thing out of the treasure box late evening. For week, 5- he could earn stickers only for pee or poop. At the end of the day- same thing- treasure box. For the last week, 6- he earned stickers each potty without any treats or treasure. We told him on the weekend we'd take him to pick out a toy at the store, if the whole chart was full of stickers. It was- he got his toy and we were done!
It doesn't hurt to over due it but you don't want to rush it, especially with boys. He really only had two accidents, after the first two weeks of having quite a few. So, from weeks 2-6 it was just positive encouragement with very very few accidents. We provided very little opportunity for accidents by staying close to home for the first few weeks.
It sounds like what you're doing is working, just wean him off slowly. He'll be SO proud of himself when he's all done!

I always stopped giving potty treats when we ran out. I would say, "Oh well. They're all gone. You can have a sticker if you want."

Hi there! Congrats on helping your son potty train! We initially did treats for our two kids (a single chocolate chip, initially, until we had to up the anty!). For both kids, the final "reward," and when we ended treats, was going to the store to choose fun big kid undies, so the "treat" could be worn all day, a constant reminder of the big success. (Re: teeth, you might check w/ your dentist, but gummies tend to stick in the molars. A hard candy or other type that isn't sticky is better on the teeth.)