How do i potty train my 18 months old son?

J - posted on 04/09/2010

So I also have a son he just turned 3. I was told not to force it. So I didn't...which was really hard. My daughters who r now 10 and 9yrs old were potty trained by 1 1/2 and the other by 2 so this was very hard to do. So my suggestion is not to force it it will come in time.

Connie - posted on 04/03/2010

i agree with sylvia! my boy is nearly 18mths old and i would not even think about potty training for ages yet, i think it's way too early yet! you'll know when he is ready.

Jen - posted on 04/03/2010

well, fist RELAX. get to know your child: does he like new experiences and trying new things? this sets your timeline....it can take up to 6 months or more if he's not adventurous..
next, what can enable him? does he understand WHY? has he seen it done? library has books with cute pictures..somtimes it helps
try to use incentives too..
get some trainer pants to catch accidents and plan on taking him to pot about an hour after a major drink/meal. reward his cooperation with a nice hug. whoever is helping you watch him can support this process.
all the best!

Aisha - posted on 04/02/2010

what I am doing now for my 9 months daughter is at every diaper changed I put her on the putty with a water sound on the background. Try also once he wakes up and b4 bed and after each meal

Wendy - posted on 04/02/2010

I added cheerios in the toilet and my boys loved to go potty to pee on cheerios .LOL it was fast and easy

Helen - posted on 04/02/2010

with our son my hubby would use the bathroom the same time. its funny i would see to male trying to use the toilet at the same time. it would be great having a male around to show him. lmao i also did it a few times, making the motion of standing up and trying to imitate how its supposed to be done.
good luck

Mary - posted on 04/02/2010

This tells me that he is not ready! I used a book called "No Diapers for Ducky" and my daughter loved it. I also used Elmo's Potty Time DVD. I started using the book and DVD before I started really trying to get her to go in the potty. I have had issues with bowel movements, but we have books in the bathroom to help her take her mind of the job at hand. Rewards work well also. We used stickers, because that is what she really liked. Other people I know use M&M's or Skittles (small piece of candy and you can give just one for pee and two for poo!) I hope this helps!

Rhonda - posted on 04/01/2010

Try putting food coloring in the potty with a little bit of water then get them to pee in it to see what color it changes to...or put cheerios in the toilet (for the boys) they like to make them move!...Also take them every 1/2 hour to get them the idea having to go.

Kim - posted on 04/01/2010

18 mos is much too young to start potty training. Please save yourself and your child a lot of frustration and wait until he's about 2 1/2 before you even start. I waited until my son was almost 3 and he trained within days. By that age he was developed enough and had enough control over his body to get the ideas and learn quickly. That doesn't mean there won't be accidents. Expect accidents through age 4. It's a learning process. This doesn't mean that you should familiarize him with the toilet. At this age he can watch your husband (and you) use the toilet and explain what your doing. Read him stories about potty training (there are cute ones out there!). You can get him a potty to play with and even sit on but don't expect anything right now.

Lirita - posted on 04/01/2010

This may sound strange. I only had time on week ends to teatch my son. So i let him play out side only having a t shirt on no pants and told him to see if he can pie on a flower after a vew monthes i took the potty and put some flowers in it in the garden till he got use to the potty. It helps to paint a flouwer in side the potty for him to pie on when it is in the bathe room. When he turnd 2 he was of the neppies during the day.

Connie - posted on 04/01/2010

I have 2 boys and they both were potty trained at different ages. The oldest I tried at 20 months and it was just too soon so I waited 6 months and with in a week he was trained. However the youngest was too busy to be bothered to be potty trained and he would go in and use the bathroom and do nothing and then pee in his pants he was 3 1/2. My suggestion to you is maybe he is not ready yet. I also might suggest having Dad take him in with him when he goes pee and show him what to do, that might help as some people learn by example and like to be shown how to do it.

Joey - posted on 04/01/2010

Hi Joannah, my daughter was between 22 and 24 months before I had her potty-trained so don't stress....it may just be a little early. My daughter is 9 now and I joke her that "Barney" potty-trained her! She was good about going peepee in the potty but harder to go poopy - always wanting to get up too quick. So I put a towel and the potty in front of a Barney show she loved and she sat there long enough to go poop! We celebrated majorly and that was how she started going poopy in the potty! Thanks Barney! Good luck to you and just remember, in his own time, he will stop going in the diapers - guaranteed - and it will all be a distant memory or funny story that you tell him one day!

ROXANNE - posted on 03/31/2010

MAKE IT A GAME FOR HIM, PUT SOME CHEERIOS IN THE TOILET AND TELL HIM TO AIM AT IT.

Lydia - posted on 03/31/2010

18 months is far too early to potty train. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble if you just wait until he's a bit older. In the meantime you can let him play with the potty - question of familiarising him with it. :-)

Connie - posted on 03/31/2010

I know this is gonna sound stupid; however, My ex sister in law potty trained my nephew by letting pee out the back door. She would call the dog around to the back of the house and my nephew thought he was peeing on the dog (really wasn't) he thought that was so funny that he wanted to go pee out the door all the time. After he learned when he needed to pee, she had him use the potty. Now this won't work if you live in a close neighborhood, she was in the country. Just be creative, what ever makes it seem like fun to him will most likely work.

Tammy - posted on 03/31/2010

start a reward chart have him help you to pick out the stickers that will be used. Explain that everytime he goes on the potty you'll add a sticker and when he gets to the end of the chart he gets a special surprise.

Joannah - posted on 03/31/2010

Thanks for all of your messages...really appreciate it!

Joannah - posted on 03/31/2010

Hello Anna, Thanks for the suggestions...we started having my son running around naked now and he actually says when he have to urinate...he just says "pee pee" and then we show him the potty but he don't wanna go there...so we just let him peed around. We tried the underwear also, and you are right, he is just peeing himself. I hope that he will learn to go to the toilet soon...he's turning 19 months soon!

Anna - posted on 03/31/2010

I have two girls one is 6 and the other is 2 1/2. We had my oldest completely potty trained by 3. we let her run around naked and made it fun for her to go to the bathroom. I never used a little potty chair, i don't recommend them, but if it works then use it. We usually made a very big deal about them going potty on the toilet. That made them feel good. My youngest was potty trained completely by the 2nd week after she turned 2. You have to make sure that the other people that watch him are actually doing the same. If they aren't that makes it harder on you in the long run. Ask frequently if he has to go potty. Watch for his pee pee dance or just the look on his face if he has to poop. If he gets quiet and goes to hide tell him that he should go on the big kid potty and that he is a big kid not a baby. I hate pull ups, it's just a diaper and they don't learn as well. Put a pair of underware on him and a few times of peeing himself he won't like it anymore. It all sounds like a big hassle, but it's not really that hard once you get an idea of it.

Dana - posted on 03/31/2010

My son and I had fun. I bought some cheap little boats that were enough to fit in his potty. So when he had to go pee, I told him to go shoot the boats and he loved it. He was trained in 2 days. When it comes to #2 I said he had to go and drop bombs on the boats. Use only 1 boat with that (lol) but it made potty training easy and fun.

Amanda - posted on 03/31/2010

we worked with the nursery to potty train my son - it is still on going but everytime he goes on the toilet he gets a sticker and lots of big boy praising. we also let him pick his stickers from the shop and he understands that these are his special big boy stickers and only asks for 1 when he has been on the toliet at home.

Mildred - posted on 03/31/2010

i have the same problem, my 14 month old son is not able to use the potty. i work 8 hrs a day, five days a week so i spend less time. on weekends i try to make him use it but hey, i don't know what to do now.

Becky - posted on 03/30/2010

Great question...my son is 20 months and I want to train him. He sometimes tells us when he has gone/has to go, but when we sit him on the potty he just sits there and NEVER DOES ANYTHING. He likes it that we clap for him though just for sitting there! I guess it will happen one day.

Ashley - posted on 03/30/2010

I started real young with my daughter and we started with her changing her own pee pants, then from there we got a kids potty chair that she picked out, and then a potty seat for the big kid toilet, I kept her involved in each new step so she felt she was doing something she wanted... weee finally made a potty game where everytime she gave the potty man a drink(pee) she got a star and 5 stars got her a prize out of a box of candy and small toys... every time she fed(poo) the potty man she got 2 stars because it filled him up more... we even put eyes on the toilet seat. It also may help if you let your son decorate the bathroom with stuff that makes him happy, fav charactors, my daughter liked rubber duckys! Hope it helps a little.

Becky - posted on 03/29/2010

One thing I'm planning on trying with my little girl when she's ready (she's only almost 5 mos. so it'll be a bit) is having her "teach" a doll that pees. They say your recall goes up to 90% when you teach something, so when I first heard of this it made a lot of sense. You break down the pottying process into manageable steps (e.g., pulling down pant, underwear, and so on), teaching the child. Once you've gone over this a couple times, have him teach the doll. I don't think 18 months is too young - it's just younger than the current norm in our society. My grandma had my uncle potty trained before 15 months, so it is doable.

Sylvia - posted on 03/29/2010

He's 18 months old? Well, if I were you I'd wait about 8-12 months and then start potty-training him.

Obviously I haven't done a randomized controlled trial on this, but I find when I talk to other parents I hear the same thing over and over: those who waited until the kids are about 2 and a half found potty training relatively quick and easy, while those who started really young (i.e., before age 2) found it took a reeeeaalllly long time and was difficult and frustrating. At a certain developmental stage, which seems to happen with most kids sometime between age 2 and age 4, various physical and psychological factors come together and the whole potty thing just "clicks" -- whereas before that happens, you could spend months or years on potty learning and they just don't seem to get it.

Is your son in daycare? Who looks after him while you're at work? If it's an experienced daycare provider, or someone with older kids, they probably have a lot of knowledge and experience on this topic and would be able to help you out. I know we got a lot of help with potty training from my daughter's daycare teachers -- to be honest, they did most of the actual work, I just did the extra laundry ;^)

Christinna - posted on 03/29/2010

Make it a game at first.. I didn't start trying with my son until he was almost 2 and he was fully potty trained by the time he was probably 2.5 years old.. put cheerios in the potty and try to get him to sink the cheerios.. or get a big (used) fruit or vegetable can and let him practice going in that.. something about the sound that they make when they go in the can makes them want to go there more often.

Rebecca - posted on 03/29/2010

Use a timer, set it for every fifteen to twenty minutes when you are home. It will help him register that he needs to go potty. When it goes off say "potty time", get you an old calender or make you a chart. When he goes give him a sticker and let him put it on it so he can see his achievements *sp*. When he is outside he can use a tree, boys thinks its cool...lol. Good Luck

Michelle - posted on 03/29/2010

my son sat ont he toilet backwards too! and was fully trained by 2

Michelle - posted on 03/29/2010

ask others to help train him.
use a sticker chart beside the potty. use candies or we call them treats1
ppl ive heard use cherrios int he toliet. use the pulls ups or just underwear, even naked if you can stand it!
try everything every few days and see which worked better. my son loved the sticker chart for 2 months then we tried the cherrios but he just wanted to eat them lol

Candi - posted on 03/29/2010

i have 4 children and i never thought it would work ,but i put mine backwards on the potty , that way they can see whats going on,all mine were going potty on the toliet at 18 months and totally potty trained by 2 years old...try it ,it will work. good luck

Barbara - posted on 03/29/2010

Hello my name is Barbara and i have four kids. Right now I am potty training my youngest who is 2 an 1/2. I would probably just wait another 6 months or so and then see if he is ready. I work too so it has bneen a struggle for me as well, Witht the other kids i never worked so it was a little easier. Maybe talking to the babysitter to see hoe he acts at daycare. But that is a good sign tho that he realizes when he is dirty.. And you might want to teach him sittind bown i had too with my son. Does he have his own little potty cause sometimes gthat works too.

Matsikoane - posted on 03/29/2010

i think the best way is to start during the night. normally our kids signal somehow when they are pressed at night. they turn and toss and after relieving themselves they go back to smooth sleeping. so take advantage of those turn and toss moments and place your child on a potty. the day training will just follow

Michelle - posted on 03/28/2010

I would take the crying as a sign that he is not ready yet. It is great that he can tell you when he goes, but he is still on the young side. Perhaps you can empty the diaper into the toilet so that he starts to understand where it should go.

Emily - posted on 03/28/2010

I have the same problem. I just bought a potty seat insert with his favorite cartoon character. I am also asking daycare to positively reinforce what I am doing at home.

Joannah - posted on 03/28/2010

Thanks for the suggestions! I will try it then.... :-)

Debbie - posted on 03/28/2010

you could try him on the toilet and not the potty using a step so he can get up his-self. i have also seen / heard of something you can put into the toilet so he can aim at it. keep going as if you put back in nappies can give mixed messages. you could also try a reward chart, reward with favorite book, trip to the park, favorite programe ect.

Meredith - posted on 03/28/2010

peeing on a tree made it fun 4 my son. once he figured out he could do that there was a naked boy in my yard peeing on everything.lol but no more diapers! haha