Monday, February 04, 2008

40 Days!

So here's a question..and I know I've already asked a couple of you about this..but here goes anyway:

If you've potty trained..a boy..what were your tricks? What worked the best for you (and him)? Did you let him roam around naked or did you go out and get him his very own underpants? Did you reward him...did you just cheer him on?

I ask because I tried to start Calix on the whole thing today..and well, he can't even TELL me when he even has to go potty (even if I brought him to his potty every 10 minutes..which I did)..so I ended up mopping up a couple of huge puddles before finally giving up and putting a diaper back on. I wanted to get a better idea and more tips about the whole thing before I start again. I'm taking him out to get his own underpants tomorrow..and also some stickers for his potty chart (thanks, Jenna!). But I'd also like to see what's worked for everyone else.

Mom..speak up. I know it's been some years..but you had 9 of us..5 boys..and we're all close in age and ya know..you were always potty training someone for like..15 years. So you can speak up on this one too..if you remember. Hannah, you have a boy. Sarah..you have 2 of them. Friglet..you have 2 boys (I know it's been a few years for you, too). Basically..shoot ideas at me.

Ready? Set...

GO!

5 comments:

Hannah said...

Well I know you won't want to hear this but if he can't tell you when he needs to go, he may not be ready for potty training. Does he let you know when he needs to be changed?

With Ash (the miracle child, I swear) I bought a potty chair and sat it in the living room. Then I had him sit on it while watching tv or reading or coloring. I would wait until maybe 20 minutes after he ate and definitely immediately when he woke up.

If he went then I'd make a big fuss and clap and tell him what a big boy he was. That way he would see that going pee in the potty was a good thing to do and wasn't an accident.

Now like I said, Ash was a miracle child. The very first time he went pee in a potty, he had no accidents afterwards. Miracle.

Bella on the other hand was a stinker. She has just barely become officially potty trained. Things I learned with her:

Pull-ups are evil. They do not help with potty training. They act like a diaper so the child doesn't feel the discomfort of wetness. Get some of those thick training pants by Gerber. Buy a lot. He will wear quite a few a day more than likely.

Don't freak out when he has accidents. Get down to eye level with him and tell him that he had an "accident" but that's okay. Let's try to make all the pee pee go in the potty.

Stop giving drinks 1 hour before bed time and have him sit on the potty before bed.

Good luck!!! It's lots of fun!

Hannah said...

Wow, that was long.

Anonymous said...

I know I haven't started with Kyler, obliviously. But I'm an FCC provider and I got the little guy I have to start training.

When he was 2 1/2 he was at my house and training pretty good. He never told me when he needed to go though, so every hour I had him go, or when another child his age would go, I'd have him go after. Then he went out of care because his mom had a baby. He regressed. He came back and WOULD NOT sit on the potty. Finally one day I said hey I have candy, you wanna sit on the potty. He said to me "yeah but I wanna sit on the little potty" His mom had bought those little removable child size seats to go on the big potty, so make sure you let him pick what he is comfortable with.

I bought the huge bag of zip lock M&M's, at first he got one any time he would sit on the potty, or pee. When he was more comfortable, it was only when he would pee. Now he doesn't need any. I also went to pull-ups website and they had the printable charts that you can customized for your child. I had Kai's so he got a sticker for sitting down, peeing, and pooing...although he still hasn't here. So we did charts and candy, and praise but I don't over do the praise because I don't want him to think he is doing something wrong if he has an accident.

Another things was when he stopped training his mom left him in pull-ups. He is a big 3 y/o so the size diapers he would need equal the same amount of pull-ups so it cost the same for her. (typically pull ups cost more, I guess, but since you get less diapers the bigger they are it equaled) It was a mistake because he became comfortable with the way they felt when he would potty in them, so he used them like a diaper. If you are going to use them, then I would only do it when he is actively training. It was hard for me to tell her that I think that's why he would just go in them and that he needed to wear underwear.

But I told her, and last week he started wearing the thick underwear with plastic over them to my house and he hasn't had an accident at all. I don't even put a pull-up on him at nap time, but right when he wakes up I can't let him really wake up, I ran him to the potty. I have no doubt that if he was in a pull-up and I didn't have him go sit on the potty that he would be going in them, even though we haven't done it in the underwear in a week.

Today he was all about going to the bathroom by himself. But right after he'd pee, sometime he wouldn't even pull his pants up yet, he'd open the door and say "Mrs Crystal? I peed in you potty!" I'd tell him "that's great" or "awesome" and ask if he needed help, he'd say no and close the door and finish...(he likes to dump the pee by himself). So he was still looking for that praise before he was done.

Sarah said...

Ok, ok..here goes......for me...I found out early on (with Rylie) that pull ups don't work for their intended purpose. (although I started buying them for trenton just because they were more convenient and easier to put on and less bulky than diapers.) I thought I was smart and went out and bought underwear, thinking, well...if they have these on, they for sure will tell me when they need to go...WRONG! They were always too comfortable in those as well, so they just pee'd in em.

After much frustration with Rylie, I heard someone say they just left their child bottomless. That's what I did and after about a week it was done. I've done that with each of my kids now. I did make them carry around a towel though to sit on.

Now, I'm not saying there weren't accidents...but without a diaper on, they would usually come to me and say they needed one and that was always a dead give away that they needed to go. I still kept them in a diaper or pullup for the first few nights just to be safe. But after they were trained and good during the day, I never put one on again at night and I've never had a real problem. They all get up in the middle of the night when they need to go potty. I would say buy a mattress cover to protect the mattress incase of accidents, rather than keep putting them in diapers. They will eventually be able to wake up on their own when they need to go.

Good luck!

Sarah said...

Just thought of something else...

Let him sit to pee. Just teach him that he needs to point it down. I got a little bit of flack about teaching my boys this way, but my boys will never know or be teased about it when they're older so who cares. They did sit for quite a while but now they have both converted into standers. Also, they both know to lift the seat, which is nice and they also both use t.p. to wipe off any drips they might leave. Something else that is easily learned if you teach them early on. :)

As far as getting them to understand the importance of washing their hands afterwards? That's a different story. Alyssa & Camden have picked it up very nicely. I think Rylie finally has as well, but Trenton doesn't really care.....same with flushing. My boys don't find it important to flush.