Potty training before preschool starts?

[lmwbasye]

G has recently shown minimal interest in the potty. He has peed 3 times...more by chance than on purpose. We had not planned on potty training until his 3rd birthday. We have a lot going on right now and it seems overwhelming right now. However, this is his last week of camp and then I have two weeks of the boys home before he starts preschool. He will be in the 2 year old class and will go 2 mornings a week for 3 hours.

I can't decide if we should try to full-on train during those two weeks or if he'll just regress when school starts. Part of me just doesn't even want to go there yet. We just moved and there is a ton of adjusting going on right now so part of me is just overwhelmed with the concept. The other part is wondering if I'm missing an opportunity that I should take. In the back of my mind, too, is the fact that we'll also have to face moving out of the crib at some point. Sigh.

For those who have BTDT, what do you think? Should I go for it or just hold off for a few months like we had originally planned?

[SnuggleBuggles]

What's the rush? I'd wait because the peers at school and the teachers there might be able to help make the process easier.

Beth

[wellyes]

Do you know the school's policy? Some preschools only accept kids who are PT.

[luckytwenty]

I'd wait--potty peer pressure is better than Mommy potty pressure! My son was reluctant until he started a camp and all the other kids (or most) were using the potty. A week later, at age 3 and 2 months, he was pee-trained.

[lmwbasye]

Do you know the school's policy? Some preschools only accept kids who are PT.

They do not require that he be PT.

[edurnemk]

I voted yes, although I think it also depends on your son's personality, how much he's affected by change, etc. This was our experience, DS is very adaptable (thankfully, since we've moved 3 times since he was born) and also his PTing won't be as recent as yours for the start of pre-K:

DS will be 3 in January, he starts pre-K in 3 weeks and I went for it a few weeks ago and did PT (just 2 weeks after moving into our new home), he's doing great . The first 2 or 3 days I thought I had made a mistake because we weren't getting anywhere. And suddenly he "got it" and went from 8 accidents a day to one or even no accidents a day. He was so proud of himself, and that helped a lot. So he was succesfully pee-trained in a little less than a week (He still doesn't poop in the potty, he sepcifically asks for a diaper when he needs to). I have to admit we did use prizes (or bribes, whatever you want to call it: m&m's). Oh, and we never used pullups so he was immediately aware of the consequences of not getting to the potty on time.

His school is very supportive of PT (they said PTing is a "team effort" between home and school) so I'm sure any regressions won't be that bad. We took him to visit the school the week he was PTing and he was very excited to use the little potties they have there. I'm sure he'll be more prone to accidents at first since he sometimes forgets to go to the potty when he's playing with other kids, he's really into something, etc. But I'm just not stressing about it, I'll just send a couple of extra pants and undies just in case. He's still wearing the training pants (the ones like regular undies but thicker in the middle) which are great for little accidents. And he's done great even when we're not at home.

[hillview]

I was never in a rush to PT. DS is about to turn 3 and he PTed in a week last month. Older is better.
/hillary

[the2bobs]

No hurry, it may backfire. DS2 is trying to PT himself now & I'm so not ready. I'm thinking let him set the pace, our Ped said don't even try til he's 3-3 1/2. He won't be 3 til Nov. it's been really hard b/c I also have an 11 mo old.

[alirebco]

Do it now! DS got the hang of it in just a few days and if I would have waited, he probably wouldn't have wanted to do it until 3.5 like some of our friends' kids. I'm so glad he did it right before he was 2.5 even though it was exhausting at the time!

[lmwbasye]

It's tempting, for sure. We are in that two weeks now. This week is out, though, because we had so many errands to run and we are travelling this weekend. Still toying with next week right before school starts. We do have the potty out and DS2 did use it right before his nap today. But, lately very often he does not want to try because he gets really frustrated when it doesn't work. Poor thing.

Love the input, though. The last time I checked the poll it was 50/50, so it makes me feel like I'm not crazy for waivering so much on this. LOL!