I can't get my 2 yr. old to use the potty....any suggestions?

Question

He'll be 3 in December, and I've been trying for about 2 weeks to get him potty trained, he always waits until he gets off of the potty and goes in his pull-up. This is the second time I've tried. I've tried bribing him with stickers and suckers and that still doesn't work. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Take little squares of toilet paper and put different shapes on them with different colors of markers and then lay them across the top of the water in the toilet. Make it a game for him to 'hit the yellow circle' or the 'blue square'. He will learn his colors and shapes and have fun doing it and be potty trained without knowing that is what you are doing.

Answer 2

If you have patience, this will work for you. There will be accidents but it will better in time. My son, now 3, got potty trained in less than 1 month. Give him regular underwear, after he pees the first time let him know he was supposed to use the potty chair or even toilet. Then every time he has an accident point in the bathroom and tell him that's where you go potty. After, a week he will get the concept. You can put on night training pants if he potties in his sleep. Then continue this until he gets the drift. Sometimes they are so use to wearing diapers they think they can get away it. But you can only show him how to use the potty without wearing diapers. Good luck!

Answer 3

Boys generally take longer than girls to potty train. 3 is not unheard of for boys. If you have a male in the house, have him take the boy into the bathroom with him to show him how it's done.

If that doesn't work, try the outdoor method. Take him outside and let him pee on a tree. Let him do this a couple of times and then the 4 -5 time take him inside and tell him to do the same thing in the potty. You might want to get him a little stool to stand on so he's more comfortable using the potty.

Answer 4

I'm having the same fun with my daughter, who will be 3 in two weeks! Now we're up to the fact that she knows what it's for, she just doesn't want to use it half the time. Let him run around in just underwear or nothing at all, and place the potty somewhere close by. You could try to show him how his belly will feel like it's pushing when he needs to pee also. It's trial and error, it takes forever, and you will be cleaning the carpet a few times, but don't give up, and praise him LOTS when he does make it in the potty. He'll get there! Also ask him if he needs to go about every fifteen minutes or half hour, and pump him full of water or juice so that he will have to go. Good luck :)

Answer 5

You know as parents we feel pressured to have our kids potty trained at a certain age because most people do. Well my son turned 3 on July 8. He wears regular underwear now but has been training for a while. It takes time! You can not rush these things. Children are just like us...if you push and push sooner or later they will do the exact opposite. I suggest a musical chair. When he goes potty it will play music. Whatever his favorite food is reward him with it if he uses the potty. It helps to show him he is doing a good thing. It is very time consuming. Try to just be patient. Good Luck!

Answer 6

Boys are more determined when it comes to potty training, that is for sure. When my boys were young I tried floating Cheerios, that always worked but bowel movements were more difficult. So my suggestion, get a cool looking toilet seat insert he can play with while he is sitting there. They always love the toys, and that seemed to make a difference for my boys. Also, training pants now have heat and cold sensors to help the child "feel" what they are doing, I suggest you invest in some. For my girls the stickers always worked wonders, so don't give up, just change the sticker format, try a boy theme and make a reward that goes with a full line of stickers or a full page, something he really wants! Prayers =)

Answer 7

just keep pluging away.. This is an age where potty training starts and training is just that, it will take some time.. Remember to make a big deal when he does use it.. Let him go with his daddy or grampa...Seeing is worth a thousand words..If no males are around, let him go in with you.. My son learned young and was easily trained.. But 2 weeks, no way.. It seemes like you are real commited so thats a start, now just have some patients.. When he does start using the toilet, start letting him wear underwear immediately. He won't like the feel of going in his new digs.. Same goes for bed time.. No pull-ups. Get some plastic sheets and no drinks two -three hours before bed.. This worked great with both my kids, but from what I hear from others, we were very lucky.. Good Luck

Answer 8

My son just became potty trained, and he turned 4 on July 10.

Girls learn much earlier. Realize that as long as he has been alive, when the need comes, it just happens automatically, so the concept of holding it until he is on the toilet might be alien to him.

I decided that sometime between birth and age 21 :-) he would figure it out, and I was not going to apply any negative pressure to him.

He was almost 12 pounds at birth, and he is in the 99% in size now, so the problem was that he had outgrown regular diapers. That made me want to speed up the process, so when we changed his diapers, I began singing him a song I made up about 'horrible, terrible, yucky poo'. All the negativity was focused on the poop, not him.

I also got him some superman underwear, and let him wear them for a short time, to see how comfortable they were. Then we'd put the diaper back on him, and tell him if he went pee or poo in the toilet, he could wear them again.

I also told him that if he went in the underwear that would ruin them.

That made him really want to go in the toilet, but it still took him a several weeks to really learn how to hold it.

One way or another, he will evenutally figure it out, and then there will be no looking back. Don't 'dicipline' him to try to get him to learn, use all positive reinforcement.

This same technique worked in my daughter before she turned two, and my youngest is a year an a half, and she has asked us to put her on the toilet in time.

Each one is different.

Good luck and have patience with him.

Answer 9

I have, with my Ex, lived through "potty training" with three, very different boys. But one thing that helped with each of them was Potty Training Videos. Here are a few:

http://www.webehave.com/pottyvideos.htm

If yours is like any other three/four-year old, he'll watch anything--especially anything animated--that's on the tube. Just pop these in and let them play. He'll be paying attention even if he acts like he isn't.

Meanwhile, don't sweat it. Kids are read when they're ready. Just be standing by with major, loving praise when he finally does do it!

We'd always leave the kid alone, first of all, on the potty seat. Don't you prefer privacy? Then we'd "remind" him to "show us when you're done!" When there was at least something to see in the potty, we acted like that little turd was an egg from the Golden Goose! His little chest would puff out with pride and that's the end of the story.

BUT...

Also don't panic if he reverts, at least once-in-a-while, to the diaper. After all, eventually, we ALL do ;-)

Answer 10

Today most experts believe that toilet training, like many developmental achievements, should be child centered, which means that parents take their cue from the child rather than vice versa. Don't punish him in any way for not going. Just keep trying rewards like you have been.

You can buy books/movies that are about potty training.
Once you're ready to start to potty train, take your child into the bathroom with you, and talk about what you're doing.

If possible, have your child go to the bathroom with the same-gender parent, so he or she can see and learn the proper mechanics of toileting.

Use consistent words associated with potty training. Whether you say "poop" and "pee" or "urinate" and "defecate," choose words that are not offensive or embarrassing or that describe toileting functions in a negative way.

Here is a website for you to look at about tips and what you can do.

Answer 11

A lot of two year olds are not ready to be potty trained. They have to know the difference between being wet and being dry. All you can do is keep trying and he will get the idea sooner or later. By the way boys are really hard to train compared to girls.