Am I doing it wrong?

[basil]

DS is 2.5, and he meets some of the criteria for starting potty training.

He is interested in going with us into the bathroom, he stays dry for several hours at a time and sometimes through naps, and seems to be interested in his potty chair.

But every time I put him on either the chair or the potty seat, he sits there and says "I peed!" rather gleefully but nothing comes out. I don't think he understands how to control it, maybe.

Poo training is more difficult currently, since his regular time is at 5 am right after he wakes up, while he is still in his crib. If he does poo outside of that time, which is like 1-2x/week, he will tell us but only as he is doing it, and not before. I've tried moving him to the potty when he starts, but he threw a fit.

He doesn't seem to notice when he wets his diaper, and I don't blame him since sometimes it's hard for me to tell except by the weight of it.

Is it just too early? Should I put him in underwear so he can feel what "wet" is like and start to associate that with needing to pee? Complicating things is that he has a new baby sister coming in May, so I wanted to either have it done with, or wait until the summer.

[Simon]

Personally, I prefer to do it sooner and be done with diapers. You'll hear from lots of people here who prefer a slower pace. There is nothing wrong with either decision. What times are you putting him on the potty? Right after nap or after a mealtime were good first times for us. Early morning is also great but sounds like your Ds is hanging out in the crib at that point. IIWY, I'd go ahead and let him try underwear and make the connection between peeing/wet and the potty. If you don't want to worry about messes, you can put a diaper or cloth diaper cover on over the underwear. The other key trick is to get him to sit long enough, at a time he is likely to need to pee, so that he will relax and let go. IME, it has worked best to be low pressure at first and read books, sing songs, or watch tv on the potty while sitting on the potty at the same time every day for several days in a row. We basically say, "We're going to learn how to use the potty. Let's sit here and read a few books and see what happens." A little running water in the background can be encouraging, too. We start with morning but after nap could be good too. Creating that habit of regular potty attemps, all of my kids have managed to pee in the potty within the first few days that way and it started that "A-ha" for them.

[basil]

Thanks Simon!

So I've been putting him on the potty somewhat regularly…he often doesn't want to go and I've been hesitant to force him since I don't want him to develop a negative association with it. I have been sort of bribing him to even sit there by saying he could use the iPad. So he sits there happy as a clam but nothing comes out. I try when we get home, after naps, before bed, and same results. Yesterday he wet himself but didn't tell me until I picked him up and felt his pants wet. Today we got home from daycare and his diaper was dry, so he sat for 20 minutes playing iPad but no pee. Then he peed an hour later while eating dinner, though he told me at the time that he pooed.

I don't know if I should just keep trying or change tactics (but to what?).