Thread: How on earth do you potty train a boy?

DS is 2 and a half and is at the stage where he can't stand having a nappy on once it's been wee'd in. He's been through 6 nappies already this morning and I'm starting to go mad. Even though we're using cheapy ones (he would do the same in Pampers so I thought we may as well switch) it's a cost I can do without.

The problem is that he doesn't seem to know when he's about to wee or poo, won't wear pull ups, won't wear pants and refuses to use the potty or the toilet. He just runs around semi-naked, clutching himself and occasionally weeing behind the sofa

DD was a late bloomer with potty training too but she never went through any of this - one week she wanted a nappy on and the next she wanted to wear pants and never looked back. I was always told that boys are easier to train but this is definitely not my experience.

Has anyone else been through this with their boys? I'm getting desperate for any help or suggestions I can get!

Thanks

Go straight to toilet, get him a step and drop a ping pong ball into the pan. Then make it a game of trying to sink the ball. Get daddy to play too and Junior goes with him when he wees so he can get competitive about it.

I did the ping pong thing with youngest. Works a treat. I never used a potty with either of the kids, just a step and the loo seat add on type thingies.

Remove nappy and put on pants. He'll get sick of the soggy feeling around his bits soon enough. Just because he doesn't want to wear them doesn't mean he shouldn't. I'm guessing he doesn't want to go to bed/brush his teeth/eat carrots etc etc but you still make him do it!

Concerning pooh....they're NEVER too young to learn to play Battleshits with Daddy!!!

Would help if Daddy was bloody here lol! He's only managing to get back once a month at the moment, with money being so tight. Think the problem is that DS only ever sees me and his sister and can't work out why his bits are different.

If I were to try forcing the pants issue, what do I do when we go out? We can be out for an hour sometimes picking up DD from school and if he gets wet, he's going to be very cold. There's nowhere I can go to change him :/

the colder he gets the faster he'll learn! As long as you explain to him each time that the reason he's cold is because he wee'd his pants he WILL learn! There's no fast track but the message WILL get through

Will give it a go. Everything with him is just so much harder than it was with his sister. I'm hoping that him being a difficult baby/toddler will mean he's an easy tween/teenager as DD is turning into a nightmare as penance for her easy early years.

Agree with BB, although I am having a problem getting dd potty trained. She likes wearing pants, will sit on the potty (she falls through the toilet seat ones because she has a small bum) butu will then get up and have a wee on the qtr carpet. Love her

If he's in a buggy use one of those pampers pad thingies. And yep, he'll only get cold a couple of times before he changes his mind about going to the loo before he sets off! I think toilet training is seasonal really. Do it now before it gets really cold.

Potty training, feck I hated that stage! I'm with Birdy tough love always wins. Stick to a regime and he'll get it.

My little man is also 2 ½ and last week we cracked the potty issue. We had his two year visit with the health visitor about a month ago and raised my concerns that he wouldn’t entertain even sitting on the potty, she told me not to worry and that they will do it in their own time. Then last week he went behind the curtain to do a poo he asked for his pot pot and finished his business, he got lots of praise (mummy even cried) a sticker and a sweet (could have been a bad mistake but it worked) and was very proud of himself. The next day I didn’t put a nappy on and he just used the potty as and when he needed it building up his sticker collection, the only problem is he’s not able to pull down his pants and trousers yet so just walks around with nothing on. We still have accidents when out as he doesn’t tell me when he needs to go but I’m sure in time he will get fed up of being wet. My big problem is his eating!!! He ate everything as a baby, now will eat hardly anything it’s driving me crazy.

my little one was like that, then we gave her three choices at lunchtime (sandwiches) and found that she likes liverpate on bread with black olives and tomato.....strange, but better then nowt. she actually doesn't like having a warm meal in at lunchtime and prefers to eat a hot meal when daddy is home in the evenings
veg used to be a big one for her, couldn't get a thing into her except for toms and olives, she used to eat loads of fruit tho, we know eating brocolli cooked and carrot raw......still working on the rest. i think the big thing is not to put them under too much pressure with food , just offer it , and if they see you eat it they might try it in time.and if he has a little friend that loves veg arrange a dinner date, he'll soon eat his.

the little devil will not entertain a sandwich unless it's choc spread that i don't like him having, the only things he will eat for lunch are dry bread, toast, crumpets or muffins, he will not eat eggs, cheese, milk or meat apart from crap ie sausages, fishfingers, nuggets. i cook a meal every evening and the only thing he will eat most nights are the peas and yorkshires, luckily he will eat grapes and yougurt for pudding. the health visiter told me not to worry and give him some vitamins if i felt he wasn't getting the goodness he needed. i must say he is getting better asking what things are and trying them before he spits it out. the big problem i think is dad lets him eat what he wants, as we don't live together this is hard to control, his dad eats alot of junk foods and maybe not the best role model.

Originally Posted by sarahuk222000

he will not eat eggs, cheese, milk or meat apart from crap ie sausages, fishfingers, nuggets

DS is the same (apart from the cheese - I've caught him in the fridge biting chunks out of the Cathedral City block before) and seems to exist on crap as him eating something is better than him eating nothing. I used to cook a proper meal every night but he turned his nose up at everything, no matter how hungry he was. The really annoying thing is that when we go to my Mums, he cleans his flipping plate.

I'm hoping its an age thing (and just part of him being a pain in the arse) cos I hate feeding him the frozen rubbish

Just make sure if you can afford it that the sausages, fishfingers and nuggets you buy are pure meat rather than the concentrated cheap stuff. Or if you're any good in the kitchen make your own and you never know you might be ale to hide a vegetable or two in there.
My littlest went from eating everything to refusing veg completely. I hide leek, swede or onion in the potato and he eats that without any drama. I've given up on brocolli he won't even put that anywhere near his mouth. But strangely if I throw a load of veg in a stew or a cottage pie made with stock he'll wolf the lot down. Sometime sit's the texture as well as the taste so presenting things in different ways can help too.

Sorry squirrel that doesn't help at all with your potty training issues does it lol. All I can say on that one is if you find anything that works let me know cos my 19 month old is having none of it just yet!

I think I should rename this thread 'what shall we do with the difficult toddlers' lol.

My sister has just gone through this with my nephew and having no man around the house she was dreading it but surprisingly he's learnt a treat! Telling him that he was a big boy now and not a baby that used nappies worked the best, think particularly as he had a big sister and well to be honest she is a bit of a bully but he did need manning up a bit. Once he got the hang of having a sit down wee and having to wait until he had done one, he was sitting on the toilet later that week. He just seemed to reach that stage and even gave his mom his bottle back because he was a big boy and didn't need it anymore. Bless him. Good luck! He'll get the hang of it, but he'll get there when he is ready I'm sure!

I went through the food thing. Do you sit and eat your lunch/dinner together? If so, then do them whatever you're eating and sit down together. Don't let them have any snacks other than the planned ones. When they tell you they're hungry just tell them they'll have to wait til dinner time and they should have eaten their lunch.
Don't pester them - just sit down at the table together chatting about the day, about what you're going to do for the rest of the day. Anything other than food. Give them say 30 mins to finish up, then if they're not done throw that food in the bin. Lots of praise for what they have eaten, not mentioning what they haven't.
At tea time, give them a choice of 3 things to have for dinner. You have the same as them, and put everything on their plate whether they like it or not. Do the same as lunch, give them a time limit, have a nice family chat about everything, don't mention food to the child. It will take a week or so for them to get the message, but eventually you'll be able to put just about anything down in front of them.

I always put everything on the plate for my girls, and tell them if they don't like it they don't have to eat it, but they have to at least try a little bit.

That worked (and still does) for DD but DS is totally resistant - I think he might be a bit too young yet for logic. We can't sit at a table (don't have one - no room) but the kids eat off occasional tables and I sit with them. DD has always been a better eater but she was at nursery all day so was trained well to eat what she was given. I think DS does lose out for being stuck with me