I cannot get my 3.5 yr old potty train'd, all unconventional suggestions welcomed?

Answer 1

i had the same problem with my son.

it was frustrating and embarrassing for me (and him).

but honestly, i just 'gave up'.

in other words, i took time off from 'training' and just let him be.

i had quite a few well meaning moms at our church tell me i was being too permissive, but my opinion was that he was only 3. i mean, if this is the worst thing he's dealing with then that's ok.

anyway, i would joke and say that it was between him and God (and i would pray-mostly for PATIENCE! and that God would keep me from wanting to kill him when i pooed in his pants, yet again that day....).

and i would also say that i was going to let him be, and let is wife worry about it one day (HA!).

finally, a month or so later, it just clicked. he got it. he started going on the potty every day, every time. no kidding.

i think childhood is stressful enough. i tried seeing it from his perspective. how hard would it be for me to have to start going in my pants? in other words, i was asking him to change the only way he knew and was comfortable with. and the more i stressed about, the more he did.


anyway, after a few weeks break, he chose to start trying on his own. i praised his every attempt. and within a few days, he was completely a 'big boy'.


good luck,

and take it easy!

remember, it could be worse!

he could be 13! (just picking!)

Answer 2

I personally potty trained my now 3 year old during a long weekend. I basically put panties on her told her that she had to use the potty. I explained that diapers were for babies and that she was mommy's big girl and that part of being a big girl is learning how to use the potty. When she did use the potty I made it out to be a huge deal complete with clapping and yelling and running around the house. Hey, anything to get them to go... LOL. The way I potty trained my little brother when he was younger was to put cherrios in the toilet and told him to aim and shoot. That worked, but before we tried that I would tell him if he used the potty that I would give him a cookie and it worked. Instead of food, I would reccommend stickers or stickers that could lead to a new toy or something. By three and a half your child should be able to understand all that's going on and grasp the fact that they are no longer a baby.

Answer 3

I am still 2 this day struggling to get my 4 year old son completely potty trained, we tryed offering him candy as a reward for going to the bathroom (that got him trained thru the peeing part), but he was still pooping in his training pants so we switched 2 underwear and now he still poops in them and it doesn't seem 2 phase him. We are currently trying all the methods we can 2 train him thru the poop phase but nothing seems 2 be working. So I would suggest trying the candy or a new toy or something like that as an award. Also you can google "how to potty train my child" there are plenty of accredited sites written by peditricans and dr's that can offer new suggestions as 2 how 2 go about successfully traing your child. The main problem we believe is wrong w/ our son is that he still see's that his younger brother is in diapers and gets by w/ pooping in his diaper, and he sometimes says "I want 2 be a baby too" so we know he's just going thru a jealousy phase right now. It doesn't help matters any that we have another baby coming in 5 weeks

Answer 4

When you get your 3 1/2 yr old established at home and start to venture out to use department store potties a quick piece of advice. Act like it's a game to see if the potties are the ones that flush by themselves or ones you have to flush. My 3 1/2 yr old is always excited to see if she guessed right. Also BEWARE of those potties that flush by themselves. My daughter had one flush while she was still sitting on it and that set us back 4 months (she didn't want to sit on any potties)! So my husband and I made sure we had "magic paper" in our wallets. We told her it was magic and the toilet wouldn't flush as long as the paper was on the censor, which it won't since the censor is blocked. The *trick*...the magic paper was a post it note. Now we don't rely on magic anymore but plan on using it for my second child.

Answer 5

I was a nanny for twin toddlers, and they were soooooo hard to train! One boy, one girl. Even though we had separate little potties for each of them, they hated using them and instead we had to let them use the "big pottie" and hold them up a bit. There were a lot of rewards involved, like stickers and such (no food, many experts think using food as a reward leads to unhealthy eating habits). She was much quicker to like pottie training than he was, and so part of his motivation came from wanting to be like his sister. He had some problems with his digestive tract and was often constipated, and so even when he learned to pee on the pottie, he had a hard time pooping because it took so long and was uncomfortable. Be patient and don't make a big deal out of it if she/he "can't" go every time you take her/him to the pottie.

Answer 6

Well, the weather is getting nicer. You could make a day of it out in the sun. Like in your back yard. Someone once suggested this to me. I didn't try it, but you might like the idea. You grab the potty, some sun screen, and lots of juices, water, and so forth. Head out to the back yard, and play all day. This way, if they make a mess in their undies, you don't have to worry so much about it. You praise them highly when they do use it by giving them something they like. Such as candy. Make a big deal out of it. Try it for the weekend, being totally consistant. Good luck.

Answer 7

Give him a big glass of coke and plunk a training toilet down in the middle of the room. Show him some of his favorite food and tell him that he can't have it until he goes potty in the potty. The coke should take maybe twenty minutes to take effect. This worked on me--I was potty trained in ten minutes.

Answer 8

No threats. please! They can't help it if they aren't ready!

Rewards are good for trying to potty train. They have piddle pads like little targets that flush but the Cheerio idea would work just as well as long as the child won't get confused with wanting to eat them, too. Yuck! My son was over three and he made up his mind one day that he thought it would be a cool thing to do. I know you are frustrated but it sounds like your child just isn't ready.

To be sure, though, you might ask your doctor. Maybe there is a physical reason your child won't potty train or maybe he/she can give you some professional tips..

Answer 9

one thing that helped with my reluctant 2 1/2 year old was to have pee pee races. Yup you read that right I said pee pee races.What I would do was take him into the bathroom every half hour or so.We would both sit on the potty. Who ever went pee first would win a small treat. Of course if he won there was a huge party. lots of yippies and high fives and all that stuff. He is now almost 3 and is doing great. what ever gets them excited about going is usually what is going to work best. Good luck to you.

Answer 10

Same problem with my 2 year old niece...

My parents said they strapped us to the potty 3 of us and it worked til this day I am readily potty trained.

I hope it helps Good LUCK however most doctors would say wait until their ready and enforce discipline along with a reward system