It is not going as stellar as I hoped. I don’t know if Tru is just not ready or what. We do have successes several times a day, but we have the majority of his pees in the pull-up still even with setting the timer for every 20 minutes. It’s like he has always *just* gone right before we get to the toilet. He is really excited when he goes in the toilet and I don’t think he is really aware that he is going in the pull-up. Plus, since we are gone from the house a good bit for now, it is hard to be super consistent although I am pretty good with it on the days we are home all day. It is pretty exhausting actually to be running to the bathroom every 20 minutes. Usually, once daddy gets home, we stop for the day because Tru wants to play with daddy and we are both worn out on potty training for the day anyways. I foresee this being a long process if we continue. As long as he is happy with continuing, I think we should even if just just enough to keep him familiar with it. If we stop now and try again later, it may be quicker and easier…. I just don’t know. I think for now, we will probably just keep going with it as much as we can and hope for it to click sooner or later. I guess we shall see!
I stopped trying with my oldest son when I saw that it wasn’t. Then tried again when he was one month from turning three and he trained in three days, including dry nights. I didn’t even attempt to train my second son until a month before he turned threw, figuring, hey it worked before! Same thing, he trained in approximately three days. Took a bit longer for dry nights. But I guess you don’t want to wait until almost three If you’re making a first attempt at 16 months?
LikeLike
That’s great that it worked so quickly for you! So encouraging to read. I thought we might be successful earlier because I have know other mommies who were able to potty train around this age but I really think it comes down to when the kid is ready and I just don’t really feel like he is quite there yet. Like I said, I will probably keep going with it here and there to keep him familiar with it and who knows, maybe it will click eventually. But today for example, I have been taking him occasionally like when he got up this morning and after meals…. I really don’t want to tire him out or discourage him on the process so if he’s not in a good mood, we just skip it.
LikeLike
If you do stop for now, let me pass along some of the best advice I ever received. Eva’s pediatrician told me early on after an attempt that was not going well not to worry. She said she might be three before it happens, but if I’m patient, she will let me know she’s ready when it’s time. She was so right! When Eva finally did throw away those diapers for good, she never looked back. It was the easiest potty training experience ever for me. She still wore pull ups at night for a couple of years, but that’s it!
Also, the boys in my family have historically been difficult to potty train. My brother had the easiest success with his son by taking him outside (they lived in the country) and they would pick a tree and pee on the two trees together. It seemed to work well to jump start his potty training.
Good luck to you! Potty training might be my least favorite thing about raising kids.
LikeLike
Thanks for this. I agree, I just told DH the other night that potty training was the one thing I never looked forward to about having kids. I think for now we are just going to be hit and miss with it since I really don’t think he gets it yet. He is happy when he goes on the toilet but seems to not notice when he goes in his diaper so I think he is just a little young yet. I’m happy as long as we stay familiar with it so he isn’t afraid to sit on the toilet etc.
That’s interesting to hear what worked for your brother because I had that same thought. (well, I wasn’t going to be the one peeing on the tree lol but you know). I thought it might be easier when summer rolls around and he can be outside where accidents won’t matter and maybe he will become more aware of his body functions….
LikeLike
I am not looking forward to potty training this boy. Ha! Something else we did with Eva is skip the potty chair. I got one of those toilet seats that fit over any regular toilet seat and we used that. Don’t know if that made any difference at all though.
LikeLike
That’s what I did too. Silly as it sounds, emptying a potty chair makes me want to throw up. My only complaint with the potty seat is that it is hard to keep the dangly angled inwards lol. So, I would suggest one with the splash guard thing.
LikeLike
Agree! And good thought!
LikeLike
I had my boy sitting on a potty starting at 4 months, but never made it a “must do”. We (me) just kept at it (upon waking, after food, after naps and before bed) and let it be a part of life. During the summer when he was 21-22 months, I started upping the game. It was also around this time that I could start seeing indicators that he was going to go pee/poo or that he was in the middle of it, so we could take him to the potty (even if he had just gone). I got very excited when he would go in the potty and calmly say “oh well, next me” when he didn’t. Now, at 2yr 5 mo, he has been day dry for several months with only a few accidents. Night time, I think we are mostly there, but I have been keeping him in diaper anyway, even though he has been protesting the last few nights. (I just got a mattress protector today…diaperless tomorrow night. eeks).
I think my biggest advice is to not stress. Go with the flow (hahah) and do what feels right. He will learn to use the potty!!
LikeLike
Thank you for this encouragement!! It sounds like you guys had a very relaxed experience. That is what I am hoping for. 🙂 We also started around 4 months and surprisingly he did better with it then than he is now. I certainly hope to start my next little guy at the same time and keep up with it. I know we could be doing better if I hadn’t slacked off during morning sickness etc…
LikeLike
There definitely was more issues/problems as Paxlet learned to walk and be more mobile. It’ll happen!
Oh and if I had to try and (seriously) potty train during morning sickness…I would have slacked too. Thankfully for me, the training part was mostly done by then.
LikeLike