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How do you potty train a boy

April - posted on 08/09/2009 ( 44 moms have responded )

I have a little over 2 year old son and we've been trying to potty train as well and its a tough cookie. when he has pull ups, he'll just go in them because its like a diaper , and he will NOT wear little boy undies, so we tried little boy boxers, but nope , he wont for the life of it wear them, either, he'll wear certain shorts sometimes alone but not that either. he tells me when he poo's, but wont go on the potty. once in a blue moon, he'll go pee on the potty , but thats cause he's see's his 3 1/2 sister says she has to go potty and goes in the bathroom and he'll do it on his own but he'll eve barely do that. so im having troubles myself and not sure what else to do either. he acts like he wants to be potty broke but wont? ugh. and he's so hyper active, he wont stay long on the toilet most of the time, not even with his favorite toys to help him get the concept. we'll keep asking him like every 10 mins if he has to go but he'll say no and run for his life. being so hyper, he wont stand there to even let us explain or talk to him or anything, so frustrating at times.

any other idea's to help? or what should i do? or anything?

alot of people have told me boys were earlier than girls to potty train yet some say different wise. in my eyes, girls were easier. my daughter was sooo much easier to potty train lol.

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Taryn - posted on 08/17/2009

I tried to potty train my Boy at 2 it didn't work so left it for a few months. The only thing that worked for us was buying some Fireman Sam pants which he LOVED and he wouldn't wee in them. Can't you buy his favourite character pants wrap them up with ribbon etc so it looks really good & leave them by the back door one night with a note from the potty fairy saying she hopes he likes the new undies now hes a big boy & can use the loo? & really hype up that the fairy has been to see him etc. just remember Boys are like grown men as soon you try & talk to them about something they switch off!! lol. try to not make a big thing out of it unless he goes to loo on his own he will get there soon. Good luck & hope this helps. x

Theresa - posted on 08/16/2009

April,

I have twin boys who are almost 3 and are just now getting excited about the potty. We tried at 2 and periodically over the last year, but they just weren't into it. Now, they tell me they have to go to the bathroom...they've practically done all the work themselves. We do reward them when they tell us and they go (mini M&M's - 2 for potty, 5 for poo & stickers for great days!). We still have a long way to go as they don't understand the underwear concept (won't tell us they have to go in them...so weird). I was so worried when trying to start, but it works out. Just keep up the patience.

Best of luck!

Theresa

Abbi - posted on 08/15/2009

i also didnt put a diaper on him, at all, once he figured out that being wet was no fun, he didnt want to wet himself.

Abbi - posted on 08/15/2009

Ok. This is going to sound a little different. My son is 23 months and only wears night time diapers. We started by letting him pee on bushes, then put his potty out side while he was there, we put a target on the bottom, then when he started using it we moved it to the porch. We slowly moved it into the bathroom and now he goes everytime. When we were in public I would ask him about every 30 minutes. For poop we used match box cars. they are not that expensive and he was so excited to get a new car to add to his collection.

Stacey - posted on 08/15/2009

I had my son follow his father every time he went to the bathroom. He got the hang of it really fast and I haven't had an issue at all!

Heather - posted on 08/15/2009

Put Cherios in the toliet and tell him to "shoot" them with his Pee. This has worked for a bunch of people that I know. And Prizes are a plus, but you can only use that prize in relation to going potty nothing else. We used stickers.

Tiffani - posted on 08/14/2009

plus after he pees his pants a few times he will automatically go to the bathroom instead of sitting in it even if he already peed his pants.

Tiffani - posted on 08/14/2009

put a few cheerios in the toilet and have him try to sink them with the pee, this will help him to aim and if he dont like undies, let him run around naked and keep the porry chair where he plays. bribery is good but like my child shes addicted to candy when she goes and shes fully trained now so she always jacked up on candy. lol

Crystal - posted on 08/13/2009

i sure do wish I knew. My son is 3 years old and is still not fully potty trained. My husband didnt want to bribe him with candy because it is just not good for his teeth. Especially too much of it. We made a chart and let him decorate it with stickers and art. Every time he used the potty he got to pick out stickers to put on it. That worked for a week. The cereal worked for a day. We tried pulls ups and underware. We would always ask him if he needed to go and he would say no. I would say lets just go and see what happens. That worked for 2 weeks. We did every hour on the hour, that worked for 2 weeks. He loves to pee outside but I don't want to potty train him that way either. Then he started preschool 3 weeks ago and is wearing underware all day long! and in 3 weeks he has had maybe 2 accidents there. That is great! however, now for some very strange reason he doesn't want to use the potty that much at home. I think is he just too busy. So i am with you. I have no clue. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone in this.

Jessica - posted on 08/13/2009

I have a 2 1/2 yr old boy who is still potty training. If your son is interested in the potty or bathroom that's good like for example he likes to flush the toilet all the time or turns the faucet on but if he is not interested then give him some more time. My son started using the potty when he was 18months old and I didn't push him to go. We would do a couple of weeks, then it was 2months, then he would stop using the potty and we waited until he wanted to do it again and it was the same process. He would go for a couple of month's then stop, and then he would do it again. We are having a little bit of trouble with the poop thing, but that's okay. We normally tell him that he can't poop or pee in his cars, spiderman or elmo undies and sometimes that worked. He goes to his friends house and she does stickers. You can do a sticker chart where if he goes then he can put a sticker on the chart and have one for himself. Or maybe everytime she goes potty have him go in there with her to go potty. I started my son by sitting down on the potty first and push his peepee down and then he saw his father go to the bathroom and wanted to stand up like daddy and then I told him that he had to sit to go poop. He started to get the hang of that about 4 month's ago. Just take things slow with him and sometimes kids don't like to go potty at home they would go someplace else like your parents house or at the lake or a friends house. But eventually he will get the hang of it. I took off my son's diaper or pull ups in the morning and every so often I would ask him if he had to go and he says no, then a little bit later I would watch for signs like scooting down or stands still to pee and I would try to catch him most of the time. Now I just put a pull up on him at night time because we didn't start that yet. He never liked the potty chair, he always like the big toilet.

By: Jessica Hodgdon

Tina - posted on 08/13/2009

my 2nd son is 3 1/2 right now, n is just gettn the potty training licked. up until 6months ago, he didnt want want to give the diapers up. we just left him go naked, n now hes going consistently on the potty, but at night we have to put a diaper on him, as he cant hold it through the night yet. but hey, its a start. :)

Tina - posted on 08/13/2009

my 1st son was 2 when i started, n i just took him in the bathrm n put him on his potty chair, i sat on the toilet, n brought a ball in the bathrm with us, n made a game out of it. then he wasnt affraid of the potty, n also just left his diaper off after that, n just reminded him every half hour that if u have to go, u go on the potty chair. n within 6 months, he was trained! remember, always make a big deal bout it afterwards! :)

Neetu - posted on 08/13/2009

u see whenever ur baby wants to do potty tell her to point it out to u and be alittle strict on this once ur child understandsthat u will not take no for an answer,he will do the needfull,cause we think the child doesnt comprehend but it is not so,as u bring him up and mould him he will certainly do so.but do it early.

Breanna - posted on 08/12/2009

I do it with m&ms it does help and he wont be fixed on the candy after he has done his training. If you have him walk around naked for a long time in your home that helpe dmy son. he would feel the urge then he would notice he had no diapers on so he just went. Maybe if you make it a fun experience and go with him to the store to buy new undies he likes that also may help.

Michele - posted on 08/12/2009

hi I've potty trained two boys no girls so I have no comparison between sexes but most people tell me girls are easier. I had trouble with my first now 5 years old, I think because we tried too hard in the early days. If he went to the potty we made a big fuss and celebrated but if he didn't we had no reaction and I found in time he wanted to use the potty but without too much pressure and asking him all the time because he too became annoyed with it. My son was 3 by the time he got the hang of going to toilet before accidents with time outside to explore with no pants to understand what was happening and lots of wet undies because he too just wet pull ups as though they were a nappy. in my opinion it takes lots of patience and it will all happen when the child is ready. hope this helps a littl.e

Peyton - posted on 08/12/2009

I have two boys and my 3 yr. old has been trained for about 9 months now and He was easy to potty train we didnt even have to use candy or anything really, except we did use a sticker chart b/c he wouldnt go # 2 in the potty so we would let him put 2 stickers up whne he did and 1 when he peed so when te sheet(thats all it took) was full of stickers he got 1Big prize from walmart/toy store. So maybe this will help you out, Also have you tried letting him go outside that also worked wonders for my lil boy. GL w/ everything

Marla - posted on 08/12/2009

Quoting erin:

Quoting Meghan:

put blue food coloring in the toilet and make a game of it telling him to make the blue water green by peeing in it. also you can make it a game by putting cheerios or fruit loops in the toilet and tell him to hit them while standing. Anything you can do to make the toilet itself fun may work.

i am definatly gonna keep this in mind when it comes time to potty train my son..lol...thats a good idea if i have a problem with him..

We use.... what is it.... 2000 flushes.... 4000 flushes? Anyway just drop the blue tablet in the tank and the water stays blue for months! My 3 year old loves watching the water turn green. This also helped him from not watching and missing the bowl. Our bathroom stays much cleaner now!

Jenna - posted on 08/12/2009

i am working on the same thing with my 2yr old n let me tell you its not easy one thing that i have noticed helps is when he does go on the pot make sure to make a big deal out of it like its the best thing you've ever seen em do. also i heard from my babysitter to try lil boy undies with plastic pants over them cuz he wont like the feel when he goes to the bathroom in them.

Roeetta - posted on 08/12/2009

My little one will be 3 in October, and you right potty training is tough. He wont tell me when he needs to pee, if I don't ask him ten he will just pee in his pull up and usuall when i do ask he says he doesn't need to go but I take him to the potty and he pee's. As for the pooping....he likes to "hide" when he is pooping so if i catch him"hiding" and get him to the potty in time he will poop on the potty but if not it's in his pull up. He's a very busy lil boy so i think that has alot to do with it. Good luck with your little one and the best advice I can give is ....just be patient. :-)

Sarah - posted on 08/12/2009

We tried starting our son at 2yrs to go on the potty as well, but as much as we pushed, prodded, rewarded efforts, etc. he really didn't start until he decided he was ready. Our daycare provider said that "big boys don't wear diapers, only babies do" and since we have new babies in our house he had a real motivation to prove to us that he was indeed a "big boy". He basically was trained as soon as he made the decision and we have had very few accidents since. I vote to just give him the option, but don't push it and don't pressure it. He might just be fighting your efforts. When our son did start though, we would ask him when we noticed his signs for having to go, but we also rewarded him with gummy snack pieces (one for pee and three for poop on the potty...including pulling up his underwear, emptying the potty into the toilet and flushing it and then washing his hands). He pretty much goes on his own and is fine about it now, but he just needs help wiping after pooping since that is pretty hard for him. He also gets a kick out of being able to pee outside (our way of training him to pee standing up) vs. using the potty inside (where he sits to pee and holds his penis down so it doesn't spray out of the little potty's bucket). Apparently boys just fight it more and the pooping in the potty is the last thing that happens, so just give it some time and if you really want to try now just stick to peeing and wait for the pooping in the potty until he is ready and comfortable. Good luck!

Jennifer - posted on 08/12/2009

lol I just posted about the same book then saw yours we Love that book

Jennifer - posted on 08/12/2009

Try taking him shopping for the "big boy underwear" and let him pick! And the food coloring and cheerios is definately a good 1 also their is an Elmo dvd about potty time! and a really great book called Once Upon A Potty by Alona Frankel its a great potty training book 2 read 2 him! And always clap and reward!

Erin - posted on 08/12/2009

Quoting Meghan:

put blue food coloring in the toilet and make a game of it telling him to make the blue water green by peeing in it. also you can make it a game by putting cheerios or fruit loops in the toilet and tell him to hit them while standing. Anything you can do to make the toilet itself fun may work.

i am definatly gonna keep this in mind when it comes time to potty train my son..lol...thats a good idea if i have a problem with him..

Nadine - posted on 08/11/2009

do you know what i have found is they will do it when they are ready my son is not even two yet but tells me he has done a poo and a wee but like yours will not sit long enough to do it but they are still very young i think most people are not tolilet trained until they are close to 3 so he is doing pretty well to know he has done stuff some children have no idea at all.

Moira - posted on 08/11/2009

I had a wee boy in the dayhome i ran and his parents had a hard time potty training him, he was just over 3yrs, so at pick up time on a Friday I told his mum to let him wear pants/shorts with no underwear, and take him to the bathroom every 2 hours or 15 minutes after a drink. So she started that on Saturday, he had no accidents after that, other than a few from not getting into the house fast enough. within 2 weeks he started wearing big boy undies and no more accidents. But you cant go back to pull ups when you start, and remember the pee pee song and dance :)

Erika - posted on 08/11/2009

Kind of the idea of the kids peeing in the trees.. like the big boys. My son (23 and very well potty trained now, LOL) didn't want to pee in the little potty, but didn't like leaning or brushing against the cold porcelain of the 'big' potty. My mother suggested using orange juice cartons or something disposable that he could hold to pee in - or have held for him - and then helping him pour it into the big potty. once he got the hang of that, he started using the big potty in no time. It did take us awhile to get to that point.. he had to be ready!

Kimberly - posted on 08/11/2009

Honestly, I wish I could help. I am going through the same thing myself. I even bought a book about potty training in less then a day, and it just upset me to tell ya the truth. Everyone I have talked to just says it will happen when its time. Bribery seems to be a favorite among the people I have talked to. I havent been able to get my son to go for it. I send you my best wishes and hope that it works for you soon.

Petra - posted on 08/11/2009

also try getting dad to say out loud that he needs to go to the toilet and let your son follow him into the toilet and see how its all done that work for our newphew that we where looking after.

Candace - posted on 08/11/2009

my aunt potty trained her son in three days:first day let him run around naked,2nd day with just boxers on and by the third day he was fully potty trained

AMY - posted on 08/11/2009

PERSONALLY, YOU MIGHT HAVE TO TAKE A WEEKEND OUT AND JUST HAVE HIM SIT ON THE POTTY ABOUT EVERY 30 MINUTES. MAKE IT KINDA OF A GAME. BUY HIM A BOOK ABOUT A LITTLE GOING TO THE POTTY. THERE IS A BOOK I USED FOR MY DAUGHTER IT WAS CALLED ONCE UPON A POTTY BY ALONA FRANKEL. I WOULD READ THIS TO HER WHEN SHE SAT ON THE POTTY. I DID THIS FOR 2 DAYS STRAIGHT SITTING HER DOWN EVERY 30 MINUTES AND READING HER THE BOOK.

Tammy - posted on 08/11/2009

I know someone already said this, but I am a huge fan of using duct tape to tape the diaper on! I just put a big piece over the little tapes in the front of the diaper and make sure the ends of the duct tape are in the back so he can't get to them. It has worked so far with my son who just turned 2 August 1st.

Tara - posted on 08/11/2009

this worked for me but it is kind of silly, I have 4 boys and in the summer mine would play outside in the back yard and they wanted to pee like big boys so they would just pee out by a tree and that did work before i knew it they were having no more accidents and were using the toilet.

April - posted on 08/11/2009

Quoting Amanda:

have you tried putting his big boy underware over his pull ups? it gives him a feeling of both and he can get used to the big boy underware too!

Yes i Have tried that

Amanda - posted on 08/10/2009

have you tried putting his big boy underware over his pull ups? it gives him a feeling of both and he can get used to the big boy underware too!

Diana - posted on 08/10/2009

We use the reward or bribe system as well. We started giving him skittles 2 when he pee's and 4 when he poop's. He still has not got the pooping in the potty down, but it will come in time. We do not have any accidents with peeing. And it does work, plus I just kind of waited until he was ready. We would try at least once a day for probably 3 months and then all od a sudden he decided it was a good thing to go in the potty.

Kyla - posted on 08/09/2009

We started out sitting and having him look where he wants it to go. We also made a chart and he gets more stickers for going through the proper motions. (1 for telling us, 1 for sitting even if he can't go, 1 for peeing, bigger stickers for poop, 1 for cleanup and washing hands.) So far its going very well. I fear he will fall back a little when he starts daycare tomorrow....

Holly - posted on 08/09/2009

www.3daypottytraining.com

It works. No matter how stubborn the child. I used it and my 2 1/2 year old son has been potty trained for over a month. It certainly changed the way I think about potty training. :)

Becky - posted on 08/09/2009

Quoting April:

Quoting Becky:

if nothing else works, sometimes u just have to wait, my nephew was almost 4 yrs old before he showed any kind of interest. keep working with him but don't punish him for not doing it. let this be his decision. In my eyes girls are way easier... my daughter wasn't even 2 when she peeed in the potty all the time but it took another year or so before i could get her to poo in the pot. and i had to completly give up on her for her to do it. i wanted it more then she did and she knew it so refused... give this time, and don't push him. My turn is comeing, my son is a yr and a half and i plan to let him show me when he is ready, even though i have a nother one on the way!! Godd Luck!!!!

Oh I know, I'll never make or force him into, I'll wait til I know he's ready ready which I'm hoping for, lol.. Because its just tough because he wont keep diapers, undies, shorts or anything else on. Always taking them off, no matter where we are, even if its not at home. He'll rather pee or poo on the floor. ugh. He'll even take the diapers off and go throw them away even if its a diaper I just put on him so we're for sure going through the diapers, and they're not cheap.. LOL. and like i said, we'll put anything else for the place of diapers, he'll just run away for his dear life and hide.

i know this sounds bad but get a roll of duck tape and tape those suckers on, i had a friend who had to do just that.. her daughter was the same way.

April - posted on 08/09/2009

Quoting Becky:

if nothing else works, sometimes u just have to wait, my nephew was almost 4 yrs old before he showed any kind of interest. keep working with him but don't punish him for not doing it. let this be his decision. In my eyes girls are way easier... my daughter wasn't even 2 when she peeed in the potty all the time but it took another year or so before i could get her to poo in the pot. and i had to completly give up on her for her to do it. i wanted it more then she did and she knew it so refused... give this time, and don't push him. My turn is comeing, my son is a yr and a half and i plan to let him show me when he is ready, even though i have a nother one on the way!! Godd Luck!!!!

Oh I know, I'll never make or force him into, I'll wait til I know he's ready ready which I'm hoping for, lol.. Because its just tough because he wont keep diapers, undies, shorts or anything else on. Always taking them off, no matter where we are, even if its not at home. He'll rather pee or poo on the floor. ugh. He'll even take the diapers off and go throw them away even if its a diaper I just put on him so we're for sure going through the diapers, and they're not cheap.. LOL. and like i said, we'll put anything else for the place of diapers, he'll just run away for his dear life and hide.

Becky - posted on 08/09/2009

if nothing else works, sometimes u just have to wait, my nephew was almost 4 yrs old before he showed any kind of interest. keep working with him but don't punish him for not doing it. let this be his decision. In my eyes girls are way easier... my daughter wasn't even 2 when she peeed in the potty all the time but it took another year or so before i could get her to poo in the pot. and i had to completly give up on her for her to do it. i wanted it more then she did and she knew it so refused... give this time, and don't push him. My turn is comeing, my son is a yr and a half and i plan to let him show me when he is ready, even though i have a nother one on the way!! Godd Luck!!!!

April - posted on 08/09/2009

Quoting Meghan:

put blue food coloring in the toilet and make a game of it telling him to make the blue water green by peeing in it. also you can make it a game by putting cheerios or fruit loops in the toilet and tell him to hit them while standing. Anything you can do to make the toilet itself fun may work.

I've honestly never thought of that. Out of everyone I asked, online or offline, no one has ever mentioned that, lol. thank you and i'll definately for sure try that out

April - posted on 08/09/2009

Quoting Nikki:

This sounds bad but we've been doing it and it works. Bribe him with M&M's!!

I'm afraid we have tried that, haha. no luck though, he doesnt seem care. we even tried it with his favorite chips.. we've been working with him for about 5 months with the potty training and no luck with anything..

Meghan - posted on 08/09/2009

put blue food coloring in the toilet and make a game of it telling him to make the blue water green by peeing in it. also you can make it a game by putting cheerios or fruit loops in the toilet and tell him to hit them while standing. Anything you can do to make the toilet itself fun may work.