admin answers:

When I read your question it makes me think that too much emphasis is put on the potty-training. If it were my daugther, I would ask myself what she has to gain from not using the potty at home? Is the time, when she’s having her diaper changed the only time of the day when she has mommy completely to herself? Is she afraid to let you down? Is going or not going on the potty the only thing, where she’s in charge? You know your daugther, so you can probably think of several other possible reasons for this situation.
Small children cannot control very many things in their daily life – others decide what they shall wear and eat, where they shall spend the day, when it’s bedtime etc. One of the only things the child can control (after a certain age) is wheather or not to go in the diaper or on the toilet. Children often experience emotional stress or discomfort as stomach-aches, and often react on such problems by holding back and become constipated or by beginning to pee/deliver faeces in their pants. I am telling you this because a potty-training can become an unresolveable problem, if the child and the parents aren’t ‘pulling in the same direction’. In these cases – and in your case, as my advice would be, the best way to solve the problem is to stop all talk of the potty and every attempt to potty-train the child. Give the child a break, and when she’s ready to use to potty again, she’ll let you know. It is not unnormal for a three-yeat-old not to be potty-trained yet. Give her the time, she needs. Best of luck to both of you!

admin answers:

I would say to move him before the potty training. At 28 mo we potty trained my son and he was still in a crib (we had a crib net too!). I wish we would have put him in the toddler bed first. After he was potty trained, he would fight taking naps saying he would have to potty. Even though he had always been a good napper. We did put him in the toddler bed about 6 weeks after potty training and that first week was tough. He had several accidents. And he really didn’t want to nap because he knew he could get up and go potty. If I had it to do over again, I would have gotten him used to the toddler bed and that whole ordeal (he’s a sneaky guy too!) and then introduced the potty after he was settled with his bed. Hindsight is always 20/20.

admin answers:

Every time i have to go potty, i tell my son “I think mommy has to go potty, want to come with me?” He does, then I say “do you want to try too?” He will… He finally caught on and now he says he has to go potty too. It just takes time. Dont push him… Just make it a fun time. He will do just fine.

admin answers:

I would not worry about ages, and just look at the signs. My daughter’s doctor thought I was crazy to try to potty train my daughter at 18 months, but she was showing some of the same signs you mentioned. She was completely potty trained by age 2.

I’m going to school to be an elementary school teacher (with an emphasis in early childhood), and one of my professors stressed the fact that milestones are reached in age windows. For some kids it may be 18 months, but for others it will be 3 years. One age is not right, and the other wrong, because each child is different.

All of that being said, I would buy your son a potty chair and some underwear. Sit him on the potty (or however you want to train, I’ve only trained a girl!), after he wakes up, before meals, etc, to get him used to being there. Praise him for going, but don’t discourage him if he doesn’t. It may take awhile, but its definitely a great milestone!

admin answers:

Have you had him checked for allergies? My son would ONLY wet the bed at night if he drank milk close to bedtime…he had a lactose allergy that showed up in the form of bladder irritation while he was sleeping…you may want to take him to an allergist.
Then again as already suggested his bladder just hasn’t grown at the same rate as his body…he may just grow out of it.

admin answers:

Many times young children wont go “poop” I had this problem with my older son(now 16) He too would hold it for days sometimes up to 5 days! He hated going! You have to make it “fun” for him. Here is what I did to solve the problem.

I took my son and let him pick out a “potty towel” from the store.(To cover his nose from the smell) We got him some books he liked to look at and even put a little radio in the bathroom next to his potty chair. This way he isn’t bored while he is sitting in there…he can look at books…listen to the radio…and even cover his little nose if things get too bad =D
THis may sound like a silly way to handle it but it worked for my son…

Good luck