If your LO potty trained after 3...

NJLH · December 2011

What finally worked? My girls have zero interest. They'll sit for a minute but nothing comes out. One of my girls now developed a fear of the potty altogether (she has bad constipation so I havent pushed). I tried to put on underwear which lead to kicking and screaming. I havent resorted to the full-on naked, lock-in-the-house thing but I guess I may have to try that. Any ideas so my girls dont go to highschool in diapers? Thanks

rsd12 · December 2011

First, I could not imagine doing 2 at the same time. But I am sure once you get one going, her sister will follow along! I did not potty train 3+, but the only thing that worked for my oldest boys were being naked on the bottom & being very consistent (or annoying ; ).

I am having the most difficult time with my youngest. My 2nd son was potty trained at 25/26 months & my 27 month old just is not getting the hang of it quite yet. But then again, I have not been consistent. Finding the time is so much harder now!

Have your tried a reward system (my middle son would do anything for m&m's). And honestly not sure if I would worry about #2. I would probably tell her it is safe to use a training pant for that until she is ready. I figured my oldest was going to college in training pants ; ) A year after he was using the potty for pee, he finally asked to go for #2.

schnappycat · December 2011

Honestly, I just waited until he was fully ready. In our case, it was 3.5. He wasn't at all ready at 3, so I didn't worry about it. I had to push him slightly because he was starting preschool, but after a few hours of protest, he was fine and never looked back. Super easy! Underpants during the day, pull-ups for longer errands (for a week or two just in case), and we were good to go. In our case, no amount of rewards or bribery would work (he's not that type of kid), so I just had to wait.

RunMama · December 2011

DS #1 turned 3 on Dec. 2 and we are trying it this weekend. We are doing the "naked method". He's done really well today! I have been bribing him with hershey's kisses. Everytime he goes on the potty he gets a chocolate. Today is the first day, so I'm not sure how tomorrow will go, but he hasn't had one accident! He hasn't worn clothes though, so I don't know how successful we'll be with clothes on. Good luck!

Mrs.Saxy · December 2011

we did almost naked. Underwear and a shirt. The first day was miserable, he went to the bathroom 26 times. The next 2 days were bad then he got better. Don't use Pull Ups because DS thought those were diapers and he always regressed.

The pooping, though, took him an additional 5 months to do on the potty.

What worked? Bribery, candy, and lots of candy. We first used jelly beans for successful potty peeing. If he had an accident, but went to the potty, still no jelly bean. Jelly beans weren't good enough for poop. We had to use Dum Dums. Every poop in the toilet got a Dum Dum. It took a few accidents, and we actuallyshowed him his poop in his underwear (then he gagged) for him to go in the toilet. The Dum Dums really helped though.

UsedToBeGoldie · December 2011

we did the 3-day with Griffin the weekend after he turned 3 and he did great.

we just did it with Gibby after Thanksgiving and he's doing well - we're a little lax about it and leave him in pullups too often, to avoid having to clean up messes... he stays dry 90% of the time... but he will NOT poop in the potty (he has only done it 2xs)... but i didn't plan to train him until 3yo anyway so i'm OK with him still in pullups (he's 2.5)

Sawyerplus1 · December 2011

schnappycat:
Honestly, I just waited until he was fully ready. In our case, it was 3.5. He wasn't at all ready at 3, so I didn't worry about it. I had to push him slightly because he was starting preschool, but after a few hours of protest, he was fine and never looked back. Super easy! Underpants during the day, pull-ups for longer errands (for a week or two just in case), and we were good to go. In our case, no amount of rewards or bribery would work (he's not that type of kid), so I just had to wait.

This was pretty much us too. DS was almost 3.5 by the time we seriously tried it, and that was mainly to get it done by the time he started pre-school. He had NO interest before that, and still very little interest by the time we started. We went full on undies-only and were housebound for the first couple weeks (except pull ups for longer errands, as PP said). It was pretty exhausting but he caught on fairly quickly. Gummy bears ended up being the reward that most enticed him.

If your girls aren't ready yet, or have a fear of doing it, I'd wait a little longer.

SweetBaby2004 · December 2011

With DD#1, we just waited til she decided she wanted to be. About a month after she turned 3, she went to DH (who is a SAHD) and said, "I have to go potty." DH told her she was in a diaper and she could just go. She said, "No, Daddy! In the big girl potty!" He took her and she went and we had success from there on out.

Pooping took about 6 more months (she was afraid to go). She would poop in the pull-up only. We told her we would buy her a sandbox if she pooped in the potty and she told us she didn't want one (even though we knew she wanted one so badly). One weekend in May, I had her be naked for quiet time. She came out and asked for a pull-up. I told her if she needed to poop, she could go in the potty. She went back to her room. About 10 minutes later, I heard her going in the bathroom and she was pooping! We made a huge production out of it (how proud we were, etc) and she beamed. She then wanted to know where her sandbox was Wink

DS - we waited til he was ready as well. He was about 3 1/2 and decided he didn't want to wear diapers or pull-ups anymore. It was about 2 1/2 weeks before DD#2 was born and I worried that he would regress and want diapers to be like his new baby sister, but that actually seemed to be what prompted his desire to be potty trained - he wanted to be a big kid and not a baby. He seemed to struggle to poop on the potty as well, so we would put him in a warm bath and that seem to get "things going" to where he just really had to go. So, we had about 2 weeks of being diaper-free before DD#2 arrived!

gr8fulaa · January 2012

With Dominic it's all in the approach- He is 4, and will still tell you he doesn't need to go to the potty. I just quit asking- instead of 'do you need to go potty' (which results in denials, persuasion and coercing) I just tell him its time to go potty and we go together. As far as pooping goes, bribery wasn't as effective as distraction. Dominic always played quietly when pooping, so he associated the two- who would want to just sit on the potty when you could be playing? So we'd get him on the potty and play with some fun toys together, which keeps him on the pot longer and helps him go. He was a late potty trainer, having very little success until maybe 3.5. Another tip was that Dominic was confused about sleeping in diapers and wearing undies during the day- kinda like where am I supposed to be peeing today? so we went all undies, and it was better. Good Luck!

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