PT Questions - going from naked time to pants - LONG

[pittsburghgirl]

This weekend was our big potty weekend - nothing going on, and DS has been showing all the signs lately. He is 2 y 9 mo.

Background - DS has never been overly interested in being naked, but recently starting asking to have his poopy and wet diapers changed. He goes to preschool two mornings a week (T/Th) so I was hoping we'd be into pants by then.

On Friday, we did naked time. After a couple of accidents, he did great all day - 2 poops and lots of pees in the potty. We had a potty chair in the living room, where we played all day.

On Saturday, DH started out poorly, told him he could have a pullup (he had slept in one). I managed to overhear and got out of bed to convince DS to do nakie time again. He did great again - poop and lots of pee in the potty. In the evening we decided to try underpants because he seemed to want to wear them. Result , one pee on the floor at bedtime. Then he wore another pull up to bed (he is generally soaked in the a.m., he drinks too much at bedtime - another story).

This morning he wanted to wear undies, DH had him for a couple of hours while I went to church. Result - two pees on the floor. By now I'm getting absolutely stir crazy trying to play with him in the house, so I put on a pullup (he had not pooped for the day and I really didn't think I could cope with a undies poop while out) and we went to the mall. Lo and behold a poop in the pullup while at the mall. He also napped in a pullup.

After nap, we took the pullup off and right after dinner, despite being asked repeatedly, he peed in his sweatpants. So no we're back to naked.

The question is - how do we get from naked to pants? He doesn't seem to grasp that he needs to go to the potty when he's not in the fresh air. (Or else he just doesn't want to). I do ask him repeatedly and often if he needs to pee, and he never says yes. (Even when he was doing well naked, he would say no, and then 2 minutes later race to the potty.)

I'd really like to stay with it, but I don't think I can send him off to preschool in undies if he isn't going to even try to use the potty when he's clothed. Do I let him choose for the day what he wants to use? Or is he just not emotionally ready yet? The other option is training pants with a cover which I do have.

TIA for any advice!


Marilee
mommy to James
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[JBaxter]

We were a full week ( at least ) naked and extended undressed bath times and after potty times ... Nathan insists on being naked to poop still. After that we did loose fitting shorts ( it was summer) I think it was 3 months before we did undies and shorts/pants. Everything Nathan wore was super easy to pull down Its only been in the last 2 months we are doing both undies and pants.

[pittsburghgirl]

So - what did you do if you had to go out? Did you use diapers for that?

I have stocked up on loose fitting sweatpants so he can definitely pull them down if he WANTS to.

Marilee
mommy to James
http://b3.lilypie.com/CSwdm4.png

[nisi]

It just takes more time for some kids than others. DD1 caught on right away (though she was a lot older) but we're still working on dd2. She does great naked but forgets a lot in trainers. It's getting cold so we can't do nakey all the time (plus there's the daycare issue - the state inspectors really frown upon letting the kids run around naked LOL) so we just clean up the messes and be patient while she figures it out. She is improving, but accidents are still frequent. When we go out, or those times when I REALLY don't feel like mopping up a pee puddle, we use cloth trainers with a cover, sometimes 2 trainers if they're the thinner ones. Some kids have no trouble switching between diapers/pull-ups and undies, but dd2 really needs the consistency, so we only use pull-ups for overnight. If your ds isn't confused by switching, pull-ups are a good option for going out.

Good luck :-)


Nisi
CPS tech and mom to 2 girls, 2/01 and 12/04

[pittsburghgirl]

Thanks to both of you.

I am hoping that DS is fine switching between pull-ups, cloth trainers and naked. So far he seems fine wearing pullups while out and still knowing what to do while naked at home. I hope to use the cloth trainers for times that we go out after he has had his daily poop -- I just don't relish the idea of cleaning poopy trainers (when we used CD's we always had fleece liners) plus the whole issue of carrying them around afterward :) We are out and about a LOT. I think he is one of those kids with a serious aversion to the public bathroom -- today he insisted he didn't have to pee and wouldn't go to the restroom at the bookstore even as he was hopping around and crossing his legs... of course a minute later he did pee in his pullup.

I guess I'll just keep trying the undies/trainers at home and keep mopping until he gets the hang of it.


Marilee
mommy to James
http://b3.lilypie.com/CSwdm4.png

[laurel]

We had a similar situation with our DD this summer. Fortunately it was summer, and she could wear a dress, so it wasn't as much of a nudity issue! But she definitely took a few weeks before she 'got' the idea of underwear. She'd be 99% reliable if she had nothing on her bum, she'd always run for the potty and did great. As soon as she had underwear or clothes on though, it seemed like it gave her conflicting feedback or something.

I ended up putting a cloth diaper on her if we were going out, similar I guess to the idea of trainers with a cover. Then at least they still have more of the sensation of being wet and as PP suggested, it keeps the pull-up for nighttime only. That being said, I sure wished she'd get the idea of a pull-up so we could use that instead, but as soon as one was on it was like it was telling her brain it was a diaper.

Good luck!

[JBaxter]

It was summer so if I needed to go out for a quick trip I would wait until he peed then stick him in shorts. Honestly I didnt do much for 2 weeks just basiclly cleared my calendar. I shopped after DH got home. My friend did the same method and called it potty boot camp.

[daisymommy]

I personally don't know what the deal is, because the same thing happened with DS. He would be fine as long as he was naked from the waist down. But as soon there was any "insulation" ;) he forgot all about going on the potty. Drove me NUTS!

But long story short, thru no doing of my own, he eventually figured it out--but there was lots of washing and wet clothes in between the times. Just wanted to give you a boost of encouragement that it does get better!

[sdbc]

We ended up using those hideous Gerber plasticy training pants at daycare and out until DD was more reliable. they actually worked great. She felt wet when she had an accident (unlike with pullups), but pee didn't leak all over the place. She used them for about a month, then switched to regular panties. The cloth with cover seem about the same.

Sue, mommy to Aurora (Rory) born 5/13/04

[aguinn]

How old is your son? BB is 3yr, 3+mos. Just today we tried underware-only with him and it did not go well at all: two accidents before we were even out the door, one while walking in to his school, and three more while there - all this within a 4.5 hour time-span.

I am frustrated to say the least, but I felt like we had to do something to get his attention. For the last three months it's been like this: he will sit on the potty with no arguing, but will not tell us if he has to go at all. He will usually pee and/or poop and is always proud of his accomplishments. We ask him all the time if he has to go potty and he always says "no". I felt like we had hit a wall and I wanted to get him thinking about the process, too.

We told him last night that if he would only tell us that he had to go potty, and then actually *go* in the potty instead of in his pants, that we'd give him a treat (right now = one m&m) each time. This worked okay once and then he forgot.

My GF suggested we try a bigger "prize", something that he really wants. So, I went out and bought out Target of all their Star Wars Galactic Heroes 2-packs and we put the one with Chewbacca in it on the counter in the bathroom so that he could see what his goal was. Well, that was a disaster because he wanted to play with it immediately and then was very upset that we wouldn't open it for him. I felt horrible, like we were teasing him.

I don't know what to do. Maybe it's just too soon? Maybe I'm pushing too soon? If this process doesn't drive me to drink, I don't know what will!

Sorry to hijack your thread and that this is so long, but I'm a sad momma tonight!

TIA for your suggestions,

;)amy
momma to DS#1 "Big Brother" (BB) and, finally, DS#2 "Little Brother" (LB)

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"Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see." ~ Neil Postman

[KrisM]

I don't have a ton of advice, as we're PTing here, too. But, for going out, I put underwear on under the pull-up. He then can feel that he's wet. Also, we've set some "rules" that seem to help more than asking him if he has to go. For example, we always go before getting in the car. We always go before lunch, etc. In our case, he can always pee when he wants to, but doesn't do it on his own yet.

[kitmama]

I agree that having "rules" on when to go potty is a good idea. Here, we always go potty before sleep, before heading out anywhere, before bath. . . Other than that I used to think Littleman would let us know when he had to go. HA! That did NOT happen. To avoid having him change clothes 8 times a day, I simply had to pay attention to how long it had been and periodically tell him it was time to go potty. No arguing. There were some battles, but I was firm and those didn't seem to have lasting ill-effects. It helped if I used the big potty while he was on the little one.

Littleman has been in underwear/Gerber cotton trainers since last summer, and only now has he occasionally announced that he needed to go potty- BEFORE he peed. I'm glad it's looking like he's getting the hang of that (finally).

He has also slept in undies for his nap the last several days, and woke up dry! He still wears a cloth diaper at night. He just turned 3 a couple weeks ago.

[pittsburghgirl]

Thanks for all the great advice. I have trainers with covers and the idea of putting on underwear under a pullup is good too.

We actually put the whole thing back on hold.. a week into it, he had a painful poop on the potty and boycotted thereafter. I decided to let it sit for a week or two to avoid a battle of wills (will probably try again next week since we don't have a lot on the calendar for Thanksgiving).

I felt so bad, he rarely has constipation but of course he had to have it during the first week of doing so well with the naked time.

Marilee
mommy to James
http://b3.lilypie.com/CSwdm4.png