I bought the potty chair, now what do I do?

The title says it, I would appreciate some potty training 101 advice . My DS is almost 20 months old. I don't expect him to actually potty train anytime soon, but I would like to start introducing him to the idea.

I put his potty chair in the bathroom today and showed it to him. I said, DS this is your potty. DS looks up at me with a questioning stare. I reply, you can go potty like mommy and daddy now. DS continues to look confused, and then it hits me, I have no idea what else to say to him. It seems that I spent more time researching potty chairs then teaching techniques :duh: :hysterical:

If anyone has some really basic suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Websites, past threads, lucky charms ;), any advice is welcome.

TIA

:BUMP::BUMP: please :)

well ours simply sits in the bathroom. when we are getting in the tub, we ask him if he wants to sit on it. sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. when his older brother is also in the bathroom, DS2 will run over and sit down just like big bro. we have had a few pees and a few poops on the potty, but nothing major. I am not pushing it - when spring arrives, we will do nakey training for a few days. In the meantime, the potty just sits there. He knows what it is for, but I don't talk it up all that much.

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Originally Posted by megv

well ours simply sits in the bathroom. when we are getting in the tub, we ask him if he wants to sit on it. sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. when his older brother is also in the bathroom, DS2 will run over and sit down just like big bro. we have had a few pees and a few poops on the potty, but nothing major. I am not pushing it - when spring arrives, we will do nakey training for a few days. In the meantime, the potty just sits there. He knows what it is for, but I don't talk it up all that much.

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You mentioned DS2 has a big brother to watch, I think that would really help my DS... Maybe I could talk DS's cousins (ages 3 and 5) into letting my DS see how they use the potty since they are trained already (with their moms permission of course).

Like I mentioned before, I DON'T want to actually potty DS right now, I think with his personality he is to young. I just want any suggestions etc for general introduction, or really anything useful. Thanks Meg for the idea of older siblings/cousins!

:BUMP: last one

Well, first you put the potty away and wait another year til he is a bit older and can listen, comprehend and follow directions better. At least that is what I did. I got my 3 yos potty trained pretty quickly with very few accidents. My friends who started much earlier were working at it for months. That's just my opinion.

Here's what I do. I let them pick out some fun underwear. then I put their potty chair in a central location. In our last house, the potty chair was on the kitchen tile but close enough that the boys could sit and watch TV while they were waiting for something to come out. Otherwise, they would never have had patience to sit for more than 30 seconds on their potty chair. Then I put them in just undies or even naked and give them all the juice and water they want. This means they are more likely to have some pee come out while they are sitting on their chair or running around playing. So, those first couple of days, I stay really close to them, feed them drinks, and have them sit on the potty ever 20 minutes. Usually, with all they are drinking, they will actually pee int he potty. Then I do a big victory dance and give them m&ms. Everytime they put either pee or poo in the potty, they get m&ms and a mommy victory dance. Poo earns them even more m&ms and more mommy praise and songs. After a few days of that, I dress them in their undies and pants. they will have a few accidents and then I leave their sopping wet clothes on them for about 5-10 minutes before I change them. That wet feeling is so uncomfortable that they try harder to pee in the potty so as to avoid that feeling. I diaper them at night for as long as they need it. Night time training usually doesn't happen til much later. I don't use pull-ups.

Hope that helps!

We read the book My Big Boy Potty Joanna Cole. It seems to get the message across in a very factual, easy to understand way. My 20mo has been taking us to the potty with him for a couple months, but most of the time it is after he has gone. It is going to drive me crazy, but I can't really stop him since he's interested. He has done it away from home more than AT home. Kinda crazy... good luck to you! My vote is to wait until he is leading it. Much faster.

I agree with gatorsmom to wait until he's older and can comprehend. Not just understand that he went, but understand the feeling BEFORE he goes. My friends who waited until that point had it so much easier than those who pushed it. DS is 2.5 and I havent pushed it yet.

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Originally Posted by gatorsmom

Well, first you put the potty away and wait another year til he is a bit older and can listen, comprehend and follow directions better. At least that is what I did. I got my 3 yos potty trained pretty quickly with very few accidents. My friends who started much earlier were working at it for months. That's just my opinion.

Here's what I do. I let them pick out some fun underwear. then I put their potty chair in a central location. In our last house, the potty chair was on the kitchen tile but close enough that the boys could sit and watch TV while they were waiting for something to come out. Otherwise, they would never have had patience to sit for more than 30 seconds on their potty chair. Then I put them in just undies or even naked and give them all the juice and water they want. This means they are more likely to have some pee come out while they are sitting on their chair or running around playing. So, those first couple of days, I stay really close to them, feed them drinks, and have them sit on the potty ever 20 minutes. Usually, with all they are drinking, they will actually pee int he potty. Then I do a big victory dance and give them m&ms. Everytime they put either pee or poo in the potty, they get m&ms and a mommy victory dance. Poo earns them even more m&ms and more mommy praise and songs. After a few days of that, I dress them in their undies and pants. they will have a few accidents and then I leave their sopping wet clothes on them for about 5-10 minutes before I change them. That wet feeling is so uncomfortable that they try harder to pee in the potty so as to avoid that feeling. I diaper them at night for as long as they need it. Night time training usually doesn't happen til much later. I don't use pull-ups.

Hope that helps!

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:yeahthat: All of it. This is what I did with my boys, pretty exactly. I think those pull ups that are supposed to let them know when they are wet don't work. They need to really feel wet.

My first was trained right at 3 and my second son about 3.5.

Thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions. My new plan is to ask his cousins (that I mentioned earlier) and their mother if ds can go into the bathroom when the cousins go potty so that he can at least see how it is done. It may sound weird to do (my SO thinks its odd), but I figure its no different then if DS had older siblings or went to daycare. DS currently goes to to his cousins twice a week in the morning with SO while SO babysits his sisters kids so she can go the class. I just have to convince SO to let DS tag along with his cousins when they use the bathroom (and get permission form the kids and mom of course). I figure having DS see how his cousins go potty may EVENTUALLY in a year or so, put the idea into DS head that he wants to be like them (it may be wishful thinking on my part :wink2:)

I will also take the potty chair I bought out of the bathroom (and thus put potty training out of my head for now). DS may initially be a little sad since he likes to sit on it when he follows me into the bathroom :rolleye0014:.

Thanks again everyone, and also Lisa for some of step by step instructions you took to potty train. Watchingthemgrow, I will look into that book you mentioned too (for when DS is ready). Also Nechums and artvandalay for seconding waiting.