PTing - Anyone regret waiting?

dashofreality · May 2014

DS will be 2 in a few weeks. He wants to do everything that his big sister does, so for a little over a month he has been occasionally using/sitting on the potty when his sister does. Recently he has been doing really well. I've put him in pullups and yesterday he went on the potty about 5x with a wet pullup maybe twice. He is super treat motivated so he is really into the potty thing right now. I think if we buckled down over this long weekend and did a 3/5 day underwear/naked training he would do well.

Problem is that this is a horrible timing. Dh is going to deploy soon, in the next two months we have two long car trips, a move, switching DCP. Just a ton going on, lots of change, and he is still pretty young for this (ideally I would like to try in about 3-4 months). My only concern is missing this great window of opportunity. Having a 3 yo, I really don't want to be trying to PT at that age.

So, has anyone had their kid show interest in PTing and put it off? Any regrets? Success?

JENandJEH · May 2014

I can't speak to missing a window because we tried with DS1 numerous times between 2 and 3 but he just wasn't having it. He turned 3, his dad came home from deployment and basically said, "this is how big boys use the potty" and he potty trained in a day. So, basically I just wanted to say that potty training at 3 wasn't so awful. DS1 was 2 when his dad left for a 12-month deployment and, like you, we had a lot going on and lots of travels, if he had potty trained around 2, I would have worried the deployment would have caused him to regress and caused more issues/turned it into a battle in the long run. If youdo decide to potty train, you could always put a pull-up over his undies on oh your road trips so that he still feels the wetness of the underwear if he has an accident in the car.

ashiscute · May 2014

Honestly I'd wait. I would keep taking him occasionally and praise him but no stress at all. Each of those things individually could cause a regression so the combo of a move, switching daycare, and daddy leaving would be too much for me.

My DD potty trained at 26 mos and that was last April. We moved about 4 weeks ago and she had a regression that lasted almost 2 weeks of 2- 3 accidents per day. Good luck

Tink112011 · May 2014

I'd try it, if I were you. I noticed a window of opportunity at 25 months. I ran with it and DS PT'ed in a weekend. Our lives are always pretty hectic. We take long car rides regularly, took his first plane flight to Florida for a week-long vacation, and we didn't slow down because of DS being PTed.

Quite frankly, I'm THRILLED to have that PT phase behind us. I don't regret doing it "early" one bit! Also, it seems like boys are easier to have PTed while on the go.

fitmom82 · May 2014

DD showed alot of interest a few months before 2, she did great for a few days and then had like 5 accidents so we gave up for a while. She started ripping off diapers again right after turning 2, we tried again, and she got it.

I'd say give it a shot, if it doesn't work out stop for a few months. I think pull ups are a total waste, you've got to just go for it. For the long car rides use a diaper if you don't think he'll make it. We had occasions we'd go back to diapers, it never messed her up.

dashofreality · May 2014

Hmm, I appreciate the responses. I am still torn. I try not to hold my kids back from things that they can do, especially because it is a pain for me. But I generally think that PTing is a pain/stressful for at least the first month - always scoping out bathrooms, afraid of accidents at inopportune times, dragging my other kid off the playground to take one to the bathroom etc.

So that is my problem, I think I could go to underwear with minimal accidents, but it is more stress for me at a stressful time, and yes there is a chance of regression with all that we have coming up. But then just now the darn kid comes home from preschool dry, goes to the bathroom and pees and poops on the potty like it is no big deal...

TiffanyBerry · May 2014

I think it depends on how communicative your kid is and how the PT'ing goes. A long car ride might not be a problem at all (keep a little potty in the back of the car!) if he can tell you when he has to pee and you have a few minutes to find somewhere to pull over. I don't know about the move - it may or may not bother his potty training, but I can see the concern.

I'm generally really inclined to let kids lead the way in these things, and trying to tell him NOT to use the potty would be weird/hard, so, just not getting in his way might be the best answer?

mrscheese15 · May 2014

DD was interested in PT right around a year ago. We bought her the potty and stickers, etc. She was going for a while, but regressed. We have no idea why. She'll be 3 in a month's time and even though we have her half naked in the house when she's home (she's also being PTed at daycare) she has no interest in it. I'll be home for 2 months for summer vacation. I think we'll be going old school and no diapers/ trainers and dealing with the accidents as they come. DH and I are TTC in the next month and just want to get her out of the diaper phase asap (without being TOO pushy)

Good luck!

dashofreality · May 2014

TiffanyBerry said:

I think it depends on how communicative your kid is and how the PT'ing goes. A long car ride might not be a problem at all (keep a little potty in the back of the car!) if he can tell you when he has to pee and you have a few minutes to find somewhere to pull over. I don't know about the move - it may or may not bother his potty training, but I can see the concern.

I'm generally really inclined to let kids lead the way in these things, and trying to tell him NOT to use the potty would be weird/hard, so, just not getting in his way might be the best answer?

I may have overstated what he is doing. Occasionally if his sister is going potty he will go in and go potty on his own, but generally I have to ask. He will say yes or no, but if I didn't remind him to use the potty he wouldn't go.

DH is leaning towards trying this weekend. I feel like that is easy for him to say because he doesn't take him to the potty that often.

SusieBW · May 2014

If he is showing signs, I would go with it. If he regresses a bit with a move, so be it, but maybe he won't. You can always use a pull up for a long car trip. I agree with PP that said it would be weird to go backwards.

My DD started showing signs at about 1.5 as well, and we just followed her lead. We would remind her to tell us whenever she felt like she had to go, and would ask her every once in a while if she needed to go, but mostly, we just let her do her thing. She was fully potty trained before she was 2.5, including overnight. Sometimes I wish I had pushed her a bit more sooner than we did, because it felt like a loooooong process when we were just following her lead. I was always hesitant to say she was potty training, because it didn't feel much like training at all, but it went on for months and months. We finally got tired of it dragging out and got more active about it for a couple of weeks, and it finally all clicked at once and all accidents just stopped. If I had known that little push was all it would take, I would've done it a lot sooner.

PTing - Anyone regret waiting?

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