Why does it take so long to potty train a toddler?

Question

how would u go about doing it with out being overbearing ??

Answer 1

i was told this and it worked 2 times for me. i got a foster child at 3 who was not potty trained. i tried everything and nothing worked so i followed this advise. i told him "I WILL NO LONGER BE BUYING YOU PULL UPS WE ARE LEAVING TO THE STORE RIGHT NOW, HERE IS MONEY AND YOU ARE BUYING YOUR OWN UNDERWEAR" we went to the store he picked out his own and payed for them. we went home HE tossed all pull ups. he peed his pants that night. HE washed the sheets and underwear. he asked for the pull ups i said NO. and that was all it took.  good luck i know its a challenge  

Answer 2

My mother had her first four children potty trained at about 18 months without even really trying.  The fifth child was born quite a bit later when disposable diapers had finally become the norm.  He was the first to be diapered in disposables.  She struggled for years to potty train him.  He was mostly done by age four, but the struggle had caused issues and she said he still had accidents for YEARS after that.

Disposable diapers desensitize a child to bodily functions.  Normally a child would recieve biological feedback about wet/dry every minute of their life, but disposable diapers are so effective at wicking away of all moisture that children cannot identify wet/dry.  They are trained to ignore these sensations during the formative years of their lives.  Some children suffer no ill effects while others will struggle for long periods of time and in a smaller number of cases many years to overcome it.  There are lots of other factors that contribute to whether a child will take a long time to potty train too.  

The best thing I have heard of is to get rid of all diapers and pull-ups when it comes time to train.  Training in a long t-shirt bottomless quickly helps most children start identifying the sensations they have ignored previously.  Put a potty out in the middle of the room and if the child uses it praise and celebrate (maybe surprise them with a treat or sticker), if they have an accident, put them on the potty for a minute or so and then have them "help" clean-up.  Don't let the child "decide" when to train, that is like letting them decide when to take the garbage out.  If they wait too long, the garbage truck has already come.  If you keep a child in disposable diapers too long, the potty training becomes even more difficult.  

Answer 3

My grandma got my sister pottytrained in one day. My mom had been having trouble with it, (my sister was 3 I think?) so when my sister went #2 in her pants, my grandma cleaned out the undies, but since you could obviously still see the stain, she had my sister rinse them out in the sink and told her that now she was a big girl, and when she had to do that, she could use the toilet. Somehow, it worked!

Answer 4

i tried my twins at 21 months and they just didn't get the fact that they needed to tell me when they had to pee ... so i stopped and will try again in october.  They wake up dry from night time and naps so i put them on the potty every time they wake up.  Also set my stove timer to go off every half an hour was too soon but every hour and then it was a game to run to the potty and sit on it.  But it was me being trained and they really could not tell me they had to pee so ... i will not push it and try again later.

Answer 5

Why? Because parents want to do it on their terms, not the child's terms.  Parents need to understand that toddlers won't potty train until they are good and ready.  I've been "potty training" my 2 1/2 year old since she turned 2.  She's not at all interested.  She'll sit on it and I'll read to her, but nothing I say or do will make that pee come out.  She'll wake up dry in the morning sometimes, and she'll sit on the potty, but no matter how long we sit, nothing comes out.  My oldest wasn't until almost 3 when she started to get really interested in peeing in it.  So, I'm not pushing her now.  She'll pee when she's good and ready.  So, we sit on it occassionally, but I'm not consistent with it just yet.  Maybe in a few more months.

Answer 6

You may have start a little to early. DO NOT USE PULL UPs!!!! You have no idea how long this stupid product can delay potty training. I've been a nanny for over 15 years and I swear this product was designed for the diaper companies to make  money more off of parents. There is no difference between the absorbance of a diaper & a pull up. The point of potty training is for the child to feel uncomfortable! So if you're using them get rid of them now. I occassionaly will tell parents if you're going on a long car ride fine put one on. Good Luck

Answer 7

It doesn't.  If you do it when the child is ready and IF you put your foot down and expect the child to potty train rather than allow the child to decide when he/she will do it, it only takes a couple weeks.

I think most parents have been bombarded with the whole, "don't push the potty training" idea that they allow the child to be the one deciding when it gets done and when it doesn't.   I am a firm believer that we need to TEACH children  right from wrong and EXPECT them to listen.  If a child is developmentally ready to be potty trained, it is wrong for her/him to continue to pee in their pants.

When we teach our children not to hit, not to go in toe road, not to bite, to share...we PUSH the issue, right?  Potty training is no different.  If they are ready...PUSH IT and it will only take a couple weeks...every time.

Answer 8

It helps to make the benefit seem more important than actually doing it. My daughter really took to wearing big girl panties and all of the praise, attention and treats that came along with every successful trip to the potty. It still took a while but my approach was like : If you go in your diaper, you won't get any chocolate chips (sad face) Oh no!

Answer 9

How long did it take you to learn  all their  litlle cries and needs. It takes time because they don't understand why after all this time of being in diapers, all of a sudden we as parents want them to go to this potty. It's  confusing. You have to be trained to watch their actions of when they need to go #1 or #2 and get them to the potty. My daughter didn't get trained until she was 3 1/2. She just refuses and i saw that it was stressing her out. Just be patient or get the help of another parent,  friend,  family who has had better success in the matter.

Answer 10

Because they are LEARNING!  Their organs/signals haven't totally functioned yet- and they have a hard time learning how it feels before you have to go potty!  My oldest is 8 and she still has accidents at night because of this-  and there's nothing you can do about it, but be patient and wait it out until their bodies/brain are capable of interpreting the signals correctly.  (it's normal for children up to age 12 to still have accidents at night etc).  

Just be patient- don't get frustrated etc-  your child(ren) can sense this!  It will happen- but like talking and walking IT TAKES TIME!

Answer 11

Children are staying dryer longer because of the disposable diapers.  This makes it hard for a child to understand that they are wet. My children were all around 2 when they were potty trained, over 30 years ago.   But they were in cloth diapers. Today both of my gran children were close to 4 years old.  I have to say that it is a sign of the times.  Think about this. You never see a child in kindergarten in diapers.  When its time they some how get it.  My daughter in law pulled her hair out trying to get my granddaughter trained and in the end she did it on her terms.  They stopped pushing and then all in one day she just did it on her.  Pull ups helped but in the end keeping her in undies was the key.  At night they still keep a pull up on her.  She sometimes still has accidents but these are getting to just once or twice a week at night.