I have been trying to potty train my almost 4 year old with no luck. I now have him always in underwear. help.

Question

He has been in just underwear for 3 days with no luck. He just keeps wetting his pants. I am at my wits end. Preschool starts in 6 weeks.

Answer 1

Keep putting your son on the potty chair every 30-45 minutes. Everytime he eats something or drinks then put him on. Keep him there for about 5-10 minutes everytime. Some children are harder to break than others. I also have two sons and my second son was easier to break than my oldest. If your son is wearing regular underwear he should want to stop wetting his pants. If you are married then have your son use the bathroom when your husband does.

Answer 2

I am in the same boat has you. My son is four year old and underwear still nothing. Wetting his phants doesn't bother him at all. Drive me crazy. He doesn't have to be potty train where he going to preschool yet but will work with him. He had Learning disability and so on. What you can try which I am starting to do tomorrow. Sticker chart. Everytime he pee or poops in the potty he get a sticker on the chart. Also everytime he pee in the potty you can give him a piece of candy. Go to dollar store get cheap toys. Have them in a bag that he can't see the toys like a surprise and everytime he goes in the potty can put his hand in there and get one. And see if that will help.

Answer 3

The first thing I would do (now, please know I have 2 girls, I don't know about training boys specifically!) is tell him when it's time to go potty.  Say, "Mommy (or Daddy!) has to go potty, come with me."  He needs to know it's not an option and he at least needs to try.  Tell him it's okay if he doesn't actually go, but he at least needs to try.  Take him  about once each hour.  Sticker charts are great for potty training!  My daughters each helped make their own with me on poster board (they are now 3 and 5, my 3 yr old has been trained for the most part since about 18 months, my 5 yr old, about 2 1/2).  There were lines for each thing they had to do, push up the toilet lid, pull down pants, go pee, go p**p, pull up pants, close lid, flush, and wash hands.  Each time they did one of them they got a sticker to put on the line.  They have huge small sticker books at Wal-Mart with lots of small stickers.  I know they also have those "piddle tabs" (or whatever they are called) at Babies R Us where you put them in the potty and when the boys pee on them it turns the water colors.

Answer 4

I had my son wear jeans so the pee sticks to his legs longer.    Wearing just underwear is only a small area that is wet.   Urine dries off skin quickly (on the legs) but it takes longer wearing clothes like long pants.   You'll also have less urine on carpet.   My son wet his pants a lot  when he was 3.   I took him outside in cold weather to play in the backyard.   When he peed his pants outside, he freaked out since he was freezing.   He was suddenly potty trained forever after that.   I know it's summer now but it's another trick up your sleeve if this is still an issue in the winter.

Answer 5

I have 5 advice peices.

1) start a nickel jar, 2 for p**p and 1 for pee, and when it's full he gets a day with you somewhere or gets a toy.

2) Let him pee in a jar, boys think thats cool, (for some reason)

3) have you tried putting him in Cool Alerts? He wont like being cold!

4) Dont put pants or undies or diapers on him, let him run naked, then when he pees, it will be all over him, he wont like that

5) Put him on the toilet, and say, i wont let you off till you go, then say BE A BIG BOY NOT A BABY!

Answer 6

My son was also late in potty training.  Maybe it is a boy thing!  I tried to start training him about the time of his third birthday, but he was not fully trained until four-and-a-half years old.  He is diagnosed with a mood disorder so I do not know if that is why he was so late.  What worked for him was talking to him and involving him in the plan... we told him that he was a big boy now, and that he needed to go potty.  We asked him if he wanted to go on the potty chair or on the toilet... We gave him a sticker chart and we decided that after every ten stickers he would get 50 cents... we put cheerios in the toilet for him to aim at.  We tried everything.  What worked the most though was letting him help us set a date when he was going to really start trying to potty train.  We left him alone about it until that day came. He picked a day and it worked... that is the day he decided that he was going to do it.  He is stubborn so he had to think it was his idea before he would do it.  Good luck... And most preschools need to accept children whether they are potty trained or not... if they are federally funded like HeadStart, or public school based preschools then it would be considered discrimination to not accept him because he is not potty trained....

Answer 7

My friends have told me that when they tried to potty train a boy, they threw cheerios into the toilet and made a game of him trying to his them.

Also, there are "Potty Training Videos" for him and you to watch which will give him incentive to use the toilet.

Also, when he does make an effort to tell you and he tries very hard to keep dry, use praise and love.

Good luck, eventually it will happen.

Answer 8

What has been working for us is what we are calling potty training bootcamp. For the first two or three days I sat out in the backyard with him and a gallon of water and a kiddie pool, and a potty. We let him run around naked so that when he started to pee he could see what was happening. He learned to put the feeling and the action togethor. By the end of the weekend he was getting better about knowing when he had to pee. Starting Monday we put him in underpants with plastic pants and took him to the potty every 20 min wether he had to go or not. If he was dry all morning he got a sticker and then if he is dry all afternoon he get another. When he had earned 5 stickers he gets a brownie(his favorite) As he got better and was able to hold it for longer we extended the time gradually.  Be consistant and remember what my grandmother always said, "They never go to kindergarten in diapers"

It takes time, but he is starting to get the idea. You just need to be patient and find out what motivates her. For us it is brownies, Once you start you can't stop and it is best to try to stay home for at least a week, until he is relaiably dry at home. If we have to go out we still use pull ups.

I wouldn't worry too much. Children learn to use the toilet when they are ready.  I have seen plenty of 3 + 4 year olds who are still using pull ups occasionally. Every child is different and you need to find what works for you. When he gets it, he will start to move very fast and before you know it you will be giving away the diapers.

Good Luck

Heather

Answer 9

Give it time. It took my daughter 3 months to get trained.Try small rewards to a sticker chart.

Answer 10

Been there done that! With each of my children I had them potty trained between 1-2 years old.  Each had their own issues with it.  My son was the HARDEST because I was doing it how I had done my girls... with him sitting on the potty...big mistake, when he saw that daddy stood up to do it that is the only way he would do it.  Which after he did it that way for a while it worked out great!

I can't let him run around naked in the back yard so what I did was let him go in just undies and i brought the potty to the corner of the living room (because at most preschools there is a potty in the room) and they would use the potty as long as they didnt have to run to the back of the house to go in the bathroom.   and over a couple of days I would move it closer to the bathroom and that is how I got them to get trained.  I hope it helps a little bit.