potty training a boy

Rachel - posted on 05/07/2011

i made a sticker chart for my son and put it on the wall next to his pot. whenever he went in his potty he chose his own sticker and put it on his chart. however, my son was telling me when he was about to do a wee in his nappy and i think until boys are at this point then its pointless training them as they lose interest quickly. apparently kids recognise urine movements sooner than poos so try startin off gettin him to learn to do wee's in the pot.

Kandace - posted on 05/07/2011

this may come across as in appropriate! ... but it worked for me after 2 YEARS of trying to train my oldest son .... we went camping for a week and my grandma taught my son to pee on a tree while out for a nature walk! ... after that he would ASK if he could go outside to pee on a tree! ... silly as it sounds it made going pee like a big boy FUN for him and when we got back to town he just started using the toilet. he HATED the potty so his daddy taught him to stand up and pee at home. in the year since he as trained he has only had 3 accidents!



Also wanted to add my son HATED the cool alerts. so i would put them on him at night and he HATED it he was actually trained for night time by the end of the second week. he said they made his 'pintoo' hurt. the cold sensation was def. something that turned him off of pullups!

Allison - posted on 05/05/2011

Boys are harder to potty train, I have two. Both of them didn't get all the way potty trained up until they almost started school. They did the same thing they got distracted and wouldn't want to go. Rewards didn't work because after a while they thought they needed something better. I asked a nurse once why they where peeing in the toilet but not pooping she said that sometimes when the poop down into the potty they feel like they are losing a peice of their body and it scares them. I found that if you just keep encouraging and asking frequently eventually they get the hang of it. I also used target practice in the toilet like a cheerio in the toilet or a dot of food color they think its pretty cool to pee on different stuff. I personally like the scrubbing bubbles toilet cleaning gel because it provided a target and cleaned and freshened at the same time.

Toni - posted on 05/05/2011

I have three boys and I start them out sitting on the potty. Also, having them pee on a tree works. It is fun and gets the job done. I am currently working on my 14 month old, but no luck yet. He is getting used to the potty though. :)

Shannon - posted on 05/04/2011

My son was super easy, I would put him on the potty every 2 hrs and poor a lil warm water down the inside of his leg it would make him pee every time then we would do a silly dance and singing "chance went pee pee in the potty, chance went pee pee in the potty' and give him one m&m for peeing and and 4 for going poop he by the end of week one he said he had to go so I said no more diapers got him real underwear and and he had 3 pee in the paints that he did not like so he started saying when he had to go every time by 3 weeks he wanted to stand up like daddy and never had a prob took 3 weeks and he was good he was 24mts good luck just dont do the pull up it give them that saftey net they dont like the feeling of going on them selfs u may have to wash alil more for a few days but will save u time in the end my lil girl started at 16mts the same way good luck again

Ricky - posted on 05/04/2011

My son would not pee sitting down, he would always wait until he was off and standing in another room, so we decided to try standing up which worked for him.
one trick that worked for my son was putting dishsoap in the toilet. I got his daddy to show him how to make bubbles in the toilet by peeing in it. We then let him run around naked and keep offering him drinks (lots of water) and took him to the bathroom every 30-45 minutes. He would get super excited when he made bubbles. We also rewarded him with m&ms. For the 1st week or so of potty training we gave him 1 for peeing and 2 for pooping, after the 1st week we stopped giving him the m&ms unless he remembered and asked for his reward. We kept up this routine of letting him run around bottomless and frequently taking him to the bathroom for a while, now he goes pee in the toilet all by himself (no more bubbles now) and can pee on demand.

It may take some experimenting on your end, it took me a while of on and off training before I tried him standing up (and thats all it took on his end, all he wanted to do was be like daddy)

Ashley - posted on 05/04/2011

Don't force it, it won't work... He'll do it on his own when he is ready. My son was potty trained in less than a week, day and night at 3 years, 2 months old.

Charity - posted on 05/04/2011

I don't know if it will work for you but it worked for my son. Tip #1 get rid of pull ups at least during the day and go to underpants only, it may be a mess at first but if you have the patience I found that it really is the best way...for us pull ups were a waste of time and $ they feel too much like diapers and I think that they confuse them more than anything. Tip #2 take your son to the store and let him pick his own underpants it will give him something to be excited about. Now from my own personal experience... my son was about 2 when he was ready...he hated the little plastic potty I got him and wanted to go on the big potty standing up...and also he was having a lot of accidents in the regular brief underpants so we got him some boxer briefs and it did the trick, about a 2 weeks later he was potty trained, he still had the occasional accident at night but by 2 1/2 he was night trained as well good luck and I hope my experience helps.

Tara - posted on 05/04/2011

I wanted to add that it took our son at least a year (if not a little longer), after he was potty trained, to actually WANT to stand to pee. And even now, at almost 5 and half, when he does stand to pee, he does this weird straddle/lean thing in front of the toilet because he refuses to use his hands to help aim. It's quite the sight..hehe.

Myranda - posted on 05/03/2011

Patience is a virtue Ashly. I have a two year old that is really interested and ready, but not quite grasping the idea.

ASHLY - posted on 05/03/2011

well i thank all of u and iam still trying he will tell u sometime when he gotta pee but not all the time and when i put a pull up on he he wont go at all.. when he does pee in a pull up or on the tolite he tells me "my wee wee working" or its not working but my daughter was easy..and i dont think lettin him watch me pee is good for boys no matter how young.. his father trys to show him standing up but he just dont wanna touch the tolite...i will get it i know it takes time..but thank yall for everything..

Jenn - posted on 05/03/2011

well I potty trained my cousin at 3yrs old an I basically trained him like I did his twin sister at age 4 I decided that we had to turn him around so I put cheerios about 4 or 5 in the toilet an I told him to aim an shoot an when he was done I told him to shake shake shake.He was trained in 2months it was messy but there just learning.

Heidi - posted on 05/03/2011

Try using his favorite snack to get him to want to go potty. Or if you dant want to use food, stickers are a great idea! For every pee give him a small sticker & for every poop give him a big sticker. The best way is to use a watch & make sure you take him potty every 30 min til he gets the idea that when that "feeling" comes he will know that he needs to go potty!

Anushka - posted on 05/03/2011

We trained our son at the age of 3, and it required lots of patience and praise. Let your son see you when you go to the toilet. Then take him every 20 mins, if he does make a pee, then clap your hands & praise him. If he doesn't tell him its ok and he can always try again. and continue this for the rest of the day. We found that when you are starting out, use a baby toilet seat to make him sit down when peeing..it helps him to be confident to do a pee. then later on you can show him how to stand. If he is shy then using the toilet seat to pee will give him the privacy he likes and allows him to get used to going to the toilet. in a few days he will enjoy the experience. and will know when to recognise when he needs to go.

Tara - posted on 05/03/2011

I don't know what to tell you except, as has been mentioned, make sure he is ready. Honestly, our son was EXTREMELY easy to train, as he trained himself. One day, at 2 and a half, he came up to me, told me he wanted to wear undies, we put them on, and he never had one accident (no joke!). When he is ready, he will train. Don't rush it because that can only make it harder on you. Good luck!

ASHLEY - posted on 05/02/2011

my son was hard to potty train to i thought it was due to the fact that i had twin girls when he was 19months old but he was hard to train before they were born i started to train him by taking him serveral times and letting him sit on the pot while watching Elmo and calculating what he usually goes in the morning and making sure i sit him on there around that time but he still wasn't fully trained until he was 3 years old but boys are just harder to train because my twin girls were trained fully by the age of 2

Alicia - posted on 05/02/2011

my 4 year old didnt get potty trained until he was 3 1/2 years old i took him every hour and put big boy underwear on him if ur son is ready to be potty trained try showing him how to stand and pee because my son would sit on the potty but u are right i think boys are harder to potty train my mom had 4 girls and she said that it was easy to potty train

Christina - posted on 05/02/2011

i put a jar of gummy bears in the bathroom on the shelf above my sons potty..when he goes in the potty he gets a gummy bear. i know its bribery but it works !

ASHLY - posted on 05/02/2011

he always waits till the last min to go but then when he is playin or interested in something he wont go n just pee on himself..and the only way he will go throughout the day is if he is naked..well thank you guys for ur help and i will try what yall said cause this is crazy my 4 year old daughter was potty trained at 1 in a half.

Delia - posted on 05/02/2011

I'm trying to potty train my 2 year old and any time he pees or poops in the potty my 3 year old and I sing (We made up our own pee pee poo poo song) and we yell HURRAY!!! He's not going on a regular basis but any time he pottys; I feel like its a win.. One less in the diaper.. If I have to go to the bathroom or if his brother does we all go up and pee... Even if he tries and nothing happens I always tell him that it was a good try. I found with my 1st son.. Lots and Lots and Lots of praise worked. He was potty trained before his second birthday... Hope this helped.. Good Luck!

Louise - posted on 05/02/2011

Is your son ready to be toilet trained as boys sometimes take longer to come around to the idea!

If you are sure he is ready then take him to the toilet every half an hour and if he does a wee overly praise him and then wait for an hour and then take him again every half an hour. Do not use pull ups except at nap time and over night. Do not rush to change his pants when he pees let him know what it feels like to be wet and uncomfortable for 10 minutes. If you do not see any improvements in 4 days then stop and put him back into nappies and try again in a month or so.