Potty Training Advice Needed...

[shburks]

I have a 2.5 year old ds (32 months). He's been interested in the potty for a while but not *extremely* interested. This week I just decided to try underwear/training pants and stick close to home if possible and see what happened.

DS does pretty well about going on the potty if I remind him about every two hours. There have been a couple of times he would pee without reminding but only if he was naked. If he is wearing underwear/pull ups, he just pees in it and doesn't tell us. I guess the wet feeling doesn't bother him. He even pooped in the potty this morning all on his own (and pooped in the floor...sigh).

I guess I'm just not sure what to do. Do I continue what I'm doing--naked as much as possible, underwear and training pants--or do I say "he's not ready" and go back to diapers? I hate to go back a step but I don't want to push him either. I'm concerned that if he doesn't mind the wet feeling *and* he doesn't know before he needs to pee that it's not the right time.

Any advice?

Susan

[BeachBum]

I think there will be a lot of divergent opinions on this.

My opinion is that kids don't really start to recognize the "I need to pee" feeling in a diaper as much. When being naked or in undies the sensation is different and they start to put two and two together.

I think that peeing "on demand" when you take him to the potty is a great first step. The way your post reads is that he will pee in a diaper instead of telling you. I don't find that surprising. That is how he has been doing it for 2.5 years! Plus, diapers don't really feel "wet" like undies do.

My son is 21 months and we are about at the stage you are describing. He will almost always go when reminded, and will poop on the potty almost every time (he initiates). We've been working on it for 4 days now. My friends who I've spoken to IRL seem to think we are really on the right track.

I plan to stick close to home as much as I can this week, then really try to move to undies full time. I'm sure we will have some accidents, but I'll deal.
I do not plan to use pull ups as I think they create confusion. He is not ready to nap/night train and I'm sure that will be confusing enough.

Obviously I'm nearly in the same boat you are---so I'm not proclaiming expert advice. :) But I thought I'd share my $.02 since you had no other responses.

[shburks]

Thanks for the comments and understanding! Since he's not "fighting" us with the potty and he is actually going most of the times, we'll continue this path for another week or so and see. Unfortunately, he'll pee in diapers or underwear without telling us--doesn't seem to mind feeling wet at all. Sigh... It's a bummer because a few weeks ago he would tell me when his diaper was wet.

Oh, well...keep trying I suppose!

Anyone else got any thoughts? It's awfully quiet over the weekend. :)


SUsan

[niccig]

My DS is the same age. We were letting him have a lot of naked time, not for potty training, but because he wanted to run around naked. The amount of time kept increasing, and I realised that he wasn't having accidents the day he came out and told me he just pooed in the potty by himself. So, I've let him be naked most of the day. No accidents in over a week. He won't wear underwear, and he'll go in his diaper. So, I think we're half-trained. Trained at home, but using a diaper on outings. I've heard a lot of kids do better naked and underwear can take a while.

I would continue what you're doing. Let him be naked. And follow his cues. Good luck...I know it can be frustrating..but he'll get it.

Nicci

[shburks]

Thanks, Nicci. I read your other post, too, so I do feel much better about where ds is and the whole "naked trained" thing!!

Susan

[JTsMom]

Amateur advice warning.... ;)

Don't know if this will help or not, but I thought I'd mention it just in case, just b/c you said he doesn't seem to be bothered by a wet diaper. Huggies makes "Cool Alert" Pull Ups that get cold when then get wet. Maybe they'd be worth a try for the times that you need a backup plan.

Good luck! We're just barely dipping our little toe in potty-training here.

[shburks]

Lori--We *are* using the Pull Ups with the cool alert and I don't think they ALERT anything!! DS doesn't notice in the least bit if those are wet.

However, lots of naked time does seem to be working better. Just this morning, ds voluntarily without reminding sat on the potty and pooped!!!! Big time exciting!

Anyway, for ds, at least, the cool alert didn't work, but thanks anyway.

Susan