How Long Did Potty Training Take?
Tuesday July 18, 2006
One of my favorite blogs is Our Everyday Things. Leonny has a toddler, Anya, and is expecting another child in about a month. She's been working to potty train Anya and wrote me the other day seeking advice. I thought I'd put the question to you guys so you can leave some comments and share your experiences. She writes,
I write about toilet training little Anya and how it's been going on my blog, but I'm often curious to know how long do other kids take to be 100 percent toilet trained. I mean, completely toilet trained and what other moms go through during the training days (or should I say, weeks and months!)Myself, it took my son no time at all to learn to pee on the potty. He started doing this when he was 2 years old. I would say it wasn't until he was almost 4 years old before he would consistently go poop in the potty and have no poopy accidents. As for night training, he never had a wet night past the time he was 3 years old. Boys are pretty different than girls, however, so I hope some parents will talk about how it went with their girls for you.
Comments
I have three children, my first and second children were potty trained at age 2, and they did this pretty easy. My daughter wet the bed for almost two years after, but that was the only problem. Now my third child–she is a different story! She is almost three years old (Sept) and she is not potty trained yet! I mean I know that all children potty train at different times and paces, but she has been my most difficult one. She is doing things ahead of schedule, skipping, abc, counting, shapes, talking in sentences, has wonderful manners–well until potty training comes in the picture! She is getting better and is more excited about not having accidents and she really likes the factor that the Big Potty– swallows up her poop and pee-pee (dont ask, lol). But still she refuses to let me know if she has to go and sometimes it is a down right tamtrum. I am trying to be very patient with her and when I try to get her to go and she doesn’t and then she has an accident I tell her that it is okay, we will try to make it to the potty faster next time. So do also understand the joys and frustrations of potty training! Hope this is helpful, maybe I can get some advice from all this also!
Liza
My son:
I wanted to wait till he had all the signs of readiness because I heard it would be a breeze if he was ready physically and emotionally. Also, one of our pediatricans was very clear that for a boy I should aim for his 4th birthday as my goal, not 3rd like I had been planning.
We had one failed attempt which lasted a week when he was almost 3.5yo. He was too stubborn and we weren’t stubborn enough. It was a losing battle that shouldn’t have gone on that long. (we tried presents, stickers, pretty much every sort of thing we read about.)
I was aiming for his 4th birthday. But about 2 months before he discovered the left-over “potty presents” and wanted one. I told him they were for when he used the potty. In the days to follow he got very interested in the idea. I think he wasn’t convinced if he wanted to give up diapers. But, one day it just clicked.
One day he was in diapers and the next day he was 100% in underpants. He was ready. I thought bms would be a challenge but I guess I offered a good incentive (trip to the toy store) because as soon as I offered he ran to the potty and produced one.
It was, in our case, absolutely true that when he was ready that was it. In hindsight I wonder if I should have pushed when he was 2.5 and maybe not as willfull. But, the more time I spend with other 2.5 year olds I remember what my son was like then. I know that it wouldn’t have worked.
We maight have been “late” but we were just right for us.
Okay, please don’t think most kids are like mine (or even MANY kids!!)
My first son (now almost 7), started training when he was about 20 months old. After about 2-3 months of being 80% trained, he started refusing to use the toilet, and we decided not to push the issue and let him go back to diapers full-time. When he was 27 months, I decided it was time to get rid of the diapers, because he was so far ahead of schedule in everything else that I couldn’t imagine he wasn’t capable of doing this as well!
To make a long story short, we had 2 urine accidents in the first 2 weeks, no bm accidents and even though I was putting him in diapers at night, they were always dry in the morning!
I was convinced that he was “trained” when about a month later we went on a road trip and it took me 20 miles AFTER he announced his need for a potty to find him one. When we did, not only did he really have to go, he had diarrhea!! How lucky am I?
Our newest family addition is now 8 months old… I doubt I’ll get that lucky twice!!
~~Alex
My daughter woke up one day and said she didnt want to wear diapers anymore. She wanted big girl undies. And since that day around 2 years old, she never had an accident. Never, not even at night. She is 6 now. My son on the other hand, is going to be 2 and he wont even look at the potty. He loves to take his diaper off though. We have tried to use a little potty and the big potty, but still NOTHING. I believe that they will go when they are ready.
My stepson was about 3 and a half before he was completely accident free. What really did the trick was putting food coloring in his little potty, so when he went it would change colors!
what other moms go through during the training days (or should I say, weeks and months!)
Are dads allowed to answer? ;->
My twins were fully potty trained in about 2-3 weeks. But the quick potty training wasn’t due to any magic formula or inside information that Pediatricians have. We simply waited until they truly showed signs of being ready to be potty trained, which in their case wasn’t until they were about 3 years old.
I truly believe that if we had started any earlier, then they still would not have been potty trained until they were just over 3 years old or maybe even a little later.
I started training my daughter(now 3), about a week before she turned 2(July). It took about 2 weeks for her to be pee-pee trained. By the time October came, she was completely trained.
I am now trying to train my 2 years old son, and let’s say it’s not going as well. I followed a routine with my daughter of sitting her on her potty 20 minutes after she had something to eat or drink and she would sit on the potty for about 30 - 45 minutes. This might sound cruel, but I made sure she had things to do such as coloring, drawing, playing with her dolls, and watching some Dora shows. This doesn’t seem to be working with my son. So my husband and I have decided to give it a break because he just doesn’t seem ready.
My son is 31 months, totally knows what the potty is for, sometimes likes to sit on it but adamantly refuses when we ask him if he actually wants to use it. He clearly does not. It is a game for him. When he gets upset when we change his diaper we tell him when he is ready to use the potty we won’t have to change his diaper…when he is ready to use the potty like a big boy, he won’t need a diaper. But we never push. We just always ask when we know it’s the right time for him to go. He has now started to tell us he has peed or pooped. We know one day (as with all things so far) he will announce he is ready and the time will be right to get him on the potty.
I think it is an issue of control. Once they feel in control of the situation they will do it.
I should add that my son was more than physically capable with regards to potty training. On our failed attempt 6 months before he was trained he was able to hold his bms and urine for very long stretches of time. It was totally a case of him having control over the situation…and knowing it.
i have a 3 year old son and when it came to potty training i left him train himself.. they will go when they are ready to go.. i think when u force them they backslide and end up in diaphers again. i come from a family of 8 and the ones that were bribed to go backslided and the ones that were left go on there own went when they were ready. i dont think its a overnight thing either it takes time let them set there pace after all nothing else happens overnight in reality. as for accidents the only accidents he has is when he has nightmares. they will go when they are ready and theres no harm in a 3 year old in diaphers or pullups no ones perfect or the same.
May anyone out there please advice me. My son is 4 yrs and not fully potty trained. I have tried all tricks I could think of and those I got from friends, but I just can’t get my boy to be interested. I know I should not push him, but sometimes it can be very frustrating.
How will I know when he is ready?
Thanks for the advice and stories, everyone!
Basically, I started training Anya when she’s 23 months old since she’s also showed quite a few signs of readiness.
The first 2.5 months were filled with many many accidents. I was about to postpone the whole training until somehow it simply got better.
Now, at 28 months, she never has any BM accidents and only one urine accident in the past one month (she still wears diapers at night though). I take her out withOUT her diapers 97% of the time too now since I find out that if she wears her diapers again for too long, she somehow starts to wee in them again and ‘forget’ to tell me that she needs to go (even when she’s already diaperless afterwards).
My challenge now:
she tells me she wants to wee, but she doesn’t want to anymore when we’re in the toilet. This happens a few times each day and honestly, with a bulging tummy right now, it does get quite tough for me.
Our daughter is almost 4.5 years old and is completely potty trained in the day but has numerous accidents at night. I should hasten to add my wife is 3.5 weeks away from delivering our second baby and I think our daughter is jealous. Anyone have any tips–we already stop liquids 2 hours before bed and lavish praise on her should she make it through the night (which happens infrequently). There was a period for about a month where she had only one accident but the closer we get to delivery the more accidents. Should we revert back to pull-ups? We are tired (and so are the sheets and blankets) and washing them all the time. HELP!!
My son is almost 16 months, he’s starting to show signs of wanting to go on the potty. Especially interested in watching daddy when he uses the big potty. We bought him a potty just over a week ago, and if he thinks I’m not watching, he’ll go and sit on it on his own. We aren’t using it yet, but I think if this continues as it has been we might be starting to use it in the next few weeks.
My 20 month old is 80% potty trained. I think the secret was helping her to figure out what the potty was for (I sat her on it and cheered when she went) and letting her experience accidents (I allowed it to happen in the back yard ) and now she tells me when she wants to go. It’s been a slow process (about 3 months, pulling back when she indicated she didn’t want to do it) but I was fortunate that she wants to learn now and doesn’t need to be pushed, encouraged yes with stickers and praise. In my case the secret was starting before she became too obstinate. Now she makes the decision to do it!
Maybe someone can help me as well! I have three year old(June) twin boys. They are still in pull-ups. We tried a few months ago to use strictly big boy underware. The accidents were too many to handle. So we went back to pull-ups. One of them will hold it for pretty good and stay dry for most of the time. The other one only goes a little bit, and then once he has a dry pull-up on a little while later he wets his pull-up again. So then we go potty in the big potty, and a little while later he has another accident in his pull-ups. They both will go pee-pee in the potty, but have yet to get to the point where they tell me that they need to go before they go. Sometimes they tell me before hand and sometimes they don’t. As far as bms, I not really even trying to push that issue yet. I really want to get the pee-pee part mastered first. I hope to be able to put them in some kind of pre-school soon, but most of them won’t allow them to attend if they are not potty-trained. Any advice of help is greatly appreciated!
Great blog! My daughter is only six months old, so I don’t think we’re quite ready for the potty training phase quite yet. But reading everyone’s comments and what not has given me wonderful ideas on how to handle it when the time comes. It has also given me some really good ideas on what to write about next on MY blog about babies. Thank you, and keep up the good work!
Great comments everyone! My daughter is 21/2 years old and we have been trying to potty train off and on for about 2 months. She just started going pee pee in the potty by herself but only if I don’t say anything to her. If I ask her to go to the potty she immediately says no! I read in a book that sometimes if you let them run around naked it helps them recognize the signals and now that is the only time she will go to the potty is when she is naked. She refuses to go to the potty when she has pull-ups on. Now I don’t know what to do. It really worked to let her be naked, when she had the first accident and peed on herself she didn’t like it so when she knew she had to go she would go and do it on her own. If someone has any suggestions please pass them on! Thanx.
Hi,
My Baby’s 9 months now.. i think there’s still time for the potty training to start.. but have a fair idea of when to begin the training.. Thanks people..
My daughter is 2 1/2 (3 in March) and we’ve had her in big girl pants for about a month and a pull up at night. Most days she wakes up dry, but she can’t seem to get telling us that she needs to go. We make her go and she usually goes when we put her on the potty, but she has only told us that she needed to go on her own about 3 times. I’m so frustrated that I want to scream. I think I’ve freaked out over the accidents enought that she’s probably damaged and I feel terrible. Thank God my husband is patient and understanding and tells her all the time that it’s okay and everyone has accidents. I can’t help but think that something is wrong with her…but after reading these posts, I feel so much better. I guess they really do “train” when THEY are ready. I’m terrified to go back to pull ups though at this point for fear of giving her an even bigger complex about it. She averages 1 accident a day…some days it’s 2. Should I stick with the big girl pants and just make her go more often? Or should we go back to pull ups untill she really says she’s ready?????? I’d really appreciate some feedback.
My son will be 4 in a couple of months and he goes pee on the potty fine but I’m not so lucky with the BM. I can’t get him to go at all on the toilet so now we are back to diapers. Everyone I know with boys said that they were a lot harder to potty train than their girls but one day they just woke up and start using the potty. My girl is 21/2 and she will go potty by herself. Good luck to everyone!