Potty training tips

Maebb

I'm sure this has been discussed many times, so it would be great if you could link to a post or other online resources.

DS is 23 months. We have one of those little frog training potties. I haven't pushed the issue of trying to potty train because he's still young, but sometimes when I change his diaper, he'll ask to sit on the potty, I'll let him, and he usually pees. Sometimes it's just like a few drops and sometimes more, but I always give him a piece of candy if he pees. He has only pooped on the potty once.

He'll usually tell me if he poops (like announce afterwards, "Mommy, I pooped"), but never before. Also sometimes I'll ask if he pooped, and he'll say, "No, I just tooted," and he's always right.

Does it sounds like he's ready for me to start doing anything more proactive, or should I still wait for him to ask to sit on the potty? Any tips? I am pregnant EDD January 19th, so it would be awesome if he could be potty trained by then, but I'm also fine with waiting until he's ready. TIA.

Maebb

Ok, @bearsbearsbears‌, that makes sense. I guess I'll just follow his cues for now and let him pee on the potty when he asks.

I didn't even think about him pooping when I'm BFing the new baby - for 2 years olds, they sure can be manipulative at times. Thanks!

chetrick

My son *just* got it and is finally asking to go potty on a regular basis. We have been accident free for 3 weeks. However, we haven't night trained yet (we have one of those kids who doesn't get out of bed until we enter his room in the morning and we are not sure if we want to give that up yet). We started around when he turned 2. He is now 3.5. I wish I would've listened to all those people who said "wait until your kid is ready." I obviously was wrong about him being "ready" even though he was showing some of the same signs as your son.

Maebb

I guess that's my question - I don't know if he's ready now or not. I'm thinking probably not quite since he only pees on the potty a few times a day and doesn't ever tell me before going in his diaper.

@MrsButt‌, I'm pregnant, so the "lots of booze" isn't really an option now, but maybe that's another good reason to delay the PT until after DS2 is born.

Maebb

OMG, poop on the floor. I am glad our house is all hardwoods and tile. I can just picture like a dog, yelling out "No!" and running to try to carry him to the toilet, but usually it's too late by that point.

ridesbuttons

If you are going to try and train, remember you cannot force the issue. Don't make it a struggle for you will surely lose and there is nothing to gain really in the struggle regardless.

If you are going to train, wear the baby while the toddler is awake which frees your hands/arms up for anything that might happen.

DS1 trained when DS2 was very young (they are 18 months apart) and I started by letting him go pantsless inside the house and putting the potty in the living room, which is where we spent most of our time. I inched the potty towards the bathroom over a period of several weeks. I don't remember any bad accidents to tell you the truth. He trained right around the age of 2 and by the time he was 2.5 I considered him fully trained. (yes, it took that long).

I never once asked him if he needed to go, always the onus was on him.

Once he was 'house trained' (maybe 2ish months of no accidents) I would take him out on short trips in the car (grocery shopping or similar). We had several wet pants events during this period. Once he was more or less short-trip trained, I sent him to daycare in underwear. 1st day he went through 3 pairs of pants/underwear. The following week it was one accident a day at daycare. The following week it was one accident in that week. Then....done.

But, it took time. I did a lot of laundry. Looking back, I dreaded the notion of potty training more than the actual 'training' and it was not as nasty as I imagined. Either way, I was cleaning up after 2 kids whether they were both in diapers or one was wearing underwear.

The last thing that I can say *I think* worked for me was buying the most uncomfortable, cardboard-like diapers for my toddler I could find. I never bought a size bigger than '4'. No need to make the diaper nice and comfy at that point.

Good luck. It's not so bad and sooner or later, it will be done.