Health Forums

Posted: 06 December 2006 at 4:58pm | IP Logged

My little boy Kristian is 2and a half and although he uses his potty every night before his bath he shows no interest in using it all the time. He also always does his poos in his nappy / trainer pants. Am I worrying too much or will he just do it when he's ready. I have tried training before but by lunch time he's fed up and just wees where he's standing!!

Posted: 06 December 2006 at 5:25pm | IP Logged

You need to keep persistance, either completely training him, or not. He will do it when he is ready, and most boys are later when they toilet train, some being 3 or even 4. Also for some children training pants just do not work, and so the best way is into underwear and put up with the washing for a few weeks.

Does he ask for the toilet? Or indicate when he has done something in his pull up? These are a good sign to say they are ready for the toilet training.

If you do go for it though, like I said persistance is the key. If you do it for a week, get fed up of the washing and put him back into training pants then he will not learn. Also when you are out, best to keep it all the same, you can buy a portable potty and just make sure you pack enough clothes for the time you are out.

Make extra time to take him to the toilet, every 20 minutes or half an hour. If he asks for the toilet, even though he only went 5 minutes ago, then take him to try. Praise the hits and ignore the misses.

Im sure he'll do fine!

Posted: 06 December 2006 at 5:31pm | IP Logged

I personally think 2 and a half is to young to potty train...

My ds didnt show any signs of wanting to use a potty till gone 3 and he was the one who went to it, not me following him about with it.

Kids need to be ready to be potty trained, not pushed in to it...

I would give him more time till he feels ready

Posted: 06 December 2006 at 7:53pm | IP Logged

Hi. Just a quick one to say that I completely agree with everything already said here. There's sooooo much pressure to get your kids out of nappies, and helpful comments about when they 'should' be clean and dry, but in a lot of cases they're simply not ready.

As the name gives away, I have three boys. With my eldest, I started trying to train him at about 2 years 4 months as that's what everyone else seemed to have done, and it was a complete and total nightmare. I kept with it, as I felt I should, and because then most nurseries wouldn't take them at 2 1/2 unless they were trained, and he just didn't get it at all. He was probably nearly 3 by the time he had fully got it.

My second one, I waited until he was 2 years 10 months, and he had it down to a fine art in a week. Number 3 is now just 3, and he does OK with wees, but often misses his poos (he does get very constipated, so that doesn't help) but I have the opposite problem in that now he's tried big boy pants, he wont wear trainer ones which would be much easier to clean up!

So, basically, you need to do what's right for you and your son, and try to ignore what he 'should' or 'shouldn't' be doing at his age.

Posted: 14 January 2007 at 12:51pm | IP Logged

My son cameron has been using the potty since about 1yrs 2months. He now has just turned 2 in october and uses potty all time at home. To start off with round house he have no bottoms on , now we have put pants and trousers on him and yes he has few accidents but hes doing really well....

As ppl have said before. He will use potty as and when hes ready.. Just keep the potty in sight so he can use it if he wants to.

Good luck. xxx

Posted: 14 January 2007 at 1:02pm | IP Logged

We only started to potty training Max when he started nursery at around 2 years old.  It took him 8 months to be completely dry during the day. 

As for potty training itself he didn't take to the potty at all, instead he preferred to sit on the toilet. Whereas my younger son who is 21 months prefers the potty.

Then when mum2joshua's little boy came to stay Max watched him standing and peeing and got the gist from that!  So, in essence, I guess Max learned from his friend.

I do think development of any kind differs from child to child and I know it's a cliche (but a right one) that we should let our children lead us.  They will soon let you know that they don't like being wet or prefer to be wearing spidermen pants instead of pull-ups.

Good luck.

Zo xxx

Posted: 14 January 2007 at 1:04pm | IP Logged

My eldest was 3 when he began potty training, we tried numerous times previous but he had no interest whatsoever in the potty.

I think he was about 3years 4 months by the time he was out of nappies in the day, he never used training pants, he prefered big boys pants, which ment i had tonnes of washing when he had accidents, but he didnt like being in wet underware so i'm convinced that helped speed up the process. He also hated the potty, he used a toilet from the word go

He was 3years 6months before he was completely dry in the night. It was two week before he was due to start nursery full time.

My youngest 21months, tells me when he's wee wee'd and wants his nappy chinging ever 5 minutes, so Im going through nappies like there's no tomorrow atm, show him the potty and he puts it on his head, he wont sit on it, so im not even attempting him yet, i'll leave him a little longer.

Dont feel pressured into potty training to early, just go off your son let him guide you.  There too much pressure and competition over lo's being out of nappies earlier than others.  It just causes stress for all involved.  Your son will let you know when he's ready.