TOLIET TRAINING- 3 yr old

Meghan - posted on 07/10/2009

Boys tend to take longer to train, anyway. I have a three-month-old girl of my own, but I'm the big sister to eight wonderful kids, and most of them are a good deal younger than me. I've seen my mom struggle to potty train four of my little brothers (I have five brothers, but the eldest one is only two years younger than me, and I don't remember his potty training,of course), and they all started and became proficient in potty training at different times. My two pre-school-aged sisters were practically a breeze in comparison. My youngest sister is only thirteen months old. So, she's next on the list after my two-year-old brother is potty trained. Which he's not, yet; but, my parents have recently started testing the potty waters by having him sit on the potty occasionally. He has shown some interest in the potty, but I'm sure that's partially due to seeing his older sisters using the potty. Every kid is different and will show interest in his own time. Patience and consistency are key.

Deb - posted on 07/10/2009

Hi Emmy!

I just wanted to "reassure" you that this is very normal and that your son is not late with potty training. It is the "exception" when a child younger than 3 becomes potty trained. I'm a Parenting Educator and this concern comes up very often with parents. Did you know that children are typically not developmentally ready to be potty trained until between the ages of 3 and 4? The bladder and bowel muscels are still developing. When a child is potty trained between those ages it is due to several factors. One can be that they have an older sibling and the younger child imitates, two it can be sadly because the parent forces(believe it or not this happens quite often) the child to sit on the potty every hour and will not let the child up until something happens even if they sit for extended periods of time. When I have a parent who does this I tell them to please stop do not do this ever. It causes undue stress on the child and will make it even more difficult and begins a vicious cycle or power struggle. Another difficulty that parents speak to me about is the "pressure" from family/friends making the parent feel as though something is wrong with the parents abilities or something is wrong with the child. Don't let anyone pressure you or your son to conform to this way of thinking. Before I forget one simple thing that might help in the near future is to ask your son why he doesn't want to sit on the potty. He may be afraid. You never know what insight you can find out by asking questions. Hang there ok and just know that when your son is ready it will happen don't stress! Take care!

Susan - posted on 07/10/2009

Every hour try reading him a story when you are using the toilet, while having him sit on his potty (first clothed then next time diaper/pants off).Later have him sit with a book or magazine while you sit on the toilet or tub as he reads to you what he sees in the book/mag. when he accidently potties while on the toilet do the mega potty dance with song no matter how bad you sing or dance. It helps to make going to the bathroom in the toilet a awesome thing to do.

Emma - posted on 07/10/2009

I just let my 2 year old daughter run around with no nappy on and placed her on the potty every half an hour or so right at the beginning, after a fuw mistakes, she liked the potty i also made a star chart with silver stars for wee's and gold for, poo's. she would get a cookie for five in a row. make a big deal over there sucsess's and dont fuss over the acsidents. we still use pull ups when we go out as is hard finding public loo's in a hurry hear. and a nappy at night but she has started waking if she need;s to go so that will be comming off soon too. Good luck, i start potty training again in summer when my son turns 2, hope it gose as sommth as the first.



one more thing it might be the type of potty my daughter wont go on the old fasioned type that you sort of crouch on. we got her one like a chair.

Beth - posted on 07/10/2009

Most book would say to wait till they show intrest. But I just finished potty training my daughter and I would suggest, putting him in big boy underwear. Once they pee in them a few times they realize they do not like getting all wet and are a little more interested in staying dry. Good luck.