Seeking tips for potty training three-year-old.
I need help.
My son will be 3 in November, and I cannot for the life of me get him potty trained. I’ve tried everything I can think of. I’ve bribed him with candy and money, I’ve put him in timeout when he refused to sit on the potty, I’ve tried songs and shows, and he’s seen other kids sit on the potty. I’ve taken all the rugs out of the house, and for the past week I’ve had him in underwear and been sitting him on the potty every 30 minutes. He was doing really well for a day or two and now he’s having accidents constantly again. I’ve only gotten him to poop on the potty once or twice, and he no longer seems phased by having accidents and being wet. He’s a very smart kid and I know he gets the concept, he just doesn’t want to take the time to sit on the potty. I’m at a complete loss and have no idea what to do anymore. Any suggestions or thoughts would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
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Have him clean up the “accidents”. You know the ones that truly are not accidents.
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Fruit loops in the potty? They like making a game of it!
My oldest did that and had to watch my dad pee a couple times (he only watched me since his dad wasn’t present) so those helped us!
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My daughter just turned 3 in August and I was having the same problem. I literally just gave up. Put her back into pull ups. Then literally today was the first day she asked for her big girl undies that she picked out from the store months ago and was accident free all day! We even were brave and ventured out for an afternoon of fun and everything she had to go she told me. It’s just timing certain things can not be forced or rushed and this is one of them!
Toss cheerios in the potty and tell him to aim it with his winky and pee on them to make them sink
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Hi mommy, dont sweat it so much! My son only potty trained just after he was 3 and that happened within weeks of him being ready. It sounds as if its become quite a tense situation and that may be making it worse. I would rather focus on reward as opposed to punishment.
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If the child is a boy, let his dad do it. If it is a girl, try making her wear the.dirty one by telling her you ran out of diapers.
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Seriously it sounds like it become a power struggles. Back off and try again in a month. When they are ready it’s very easy to do. With no power struggle or meltdowns. All 3 of mine practically potty trained themselves.
As bad as this sounds my brother was the same way and we held him on the potty till he went weather he cried or not for a week and then was fully potty trained besides bedtime after that week
My son didn’t potty train until 4 months before jk. Sometimes they just aren’t ready
Take child to br when you go. Put child on potty chair will get the clue
Have him sit backwards facing the toilet lid with some washable markers
Try keeping him completely naked instead of underwear!
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Already listed above. I also make em sit on da potty til they go, after half hr of drinking/eating. Also taped up a paper & put sticker every time they went & after 5 stickers they get a treat. Good luck!
Cold turkey naked don’t let them stand to pee. Omg they spray everywhere. I used a timer and we tried about an hour after we peed then 30 min then 15. Lots of drinks give treats for trying. I have one m&m for trying several for actual pee and Hershey kiss for poops
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I agree I kept my son naked for. Few days and than introduced underwear. Took 3 days than when he had underwear I would just remind him to try and if he had an accident I didn’t punish him I would just talk to him about it and tell him next time we have to try to go in the potty. There will be accidents but he will get it.
Yes, sitting backwards is what did the trick for us! He would run and jump on the toilet, sitting on it like a horse! It became so much fun to him to run and jump on the toilet! LOL
The best thing I ever did was get a potty watch, so the watch is telling him when to go vrs you. It takes the power struggle out of it & makes him feel like a big kid. I also don’t recommend doing punishments. It’s a very hard process on kids & if they feel like they will get into trouble it actually delays the process even more. You may want to take a step back & do a “restart” get the watch, get special underwear and take two days where you don’t go anywhere & make it a fun process. We did a “potty party” and it was an exciting time for my kids. Also, he may just not be ready, it has NOTHING to do with intelligence. Every kid is different & please, always keep in mind, your kid will NOT be 20 & in diapers! This is just a phase, be patient & make it fun!
If he doesn’t seem phased by being wet than he’s not ready.
HOW I POTTY TRAINED MY SON
I tried to Potty Train my 3 year old like 3 months after turning 3, he was NOT ready. For a month I cleaned up all his “accidents” and tried everything that worked for everyone else. So I put back on the Pull ups and for the next 2 months I talked to him about telling Me when he went Poop or pee. So he is more familiar about his bowel movements in pull ups.
I brought out the Potty Training toilet and when I suspected he needed to Poop or pee I brought him to that toilet. And about 1 month later only pull ups at night, I Eventually moved him to the Regular toilet with a step stool.
I’d say “I had to make Potting part of his Normal” and this worked for me.
He now goes on his own and doesn’t wear any Pull ups. Day or night
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Don’t discipline him. Just keep with it.
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I definitely wouldn’t punish him for not going or having accidents. Imo all that’s gonna do is make him wanna try it even less. Sometimes they’re just not ready, even if we think they are. Don’t worry too much about it, he’ll do it when he’s ready and I promise he won’t be in diapers or pull ups forever. My daughter didn’t potty train until about 2 weeks after her 3rd bday. She was super advanced in everything else, she just wasn’t ready for the potty yet. And that was totally fine with us. One day she just decided she was done and wanted to wear big girl undies to school. I was a little reluctant but I let her. I packed like 5 extra pairs of clothes for her that day 
I was quite surprised and happy when she came home from school that day in the same undies she went in. And that was that. She didn’t wear a diaper or pull up ever again, even at bedtime. He’ll do it on his own time, when he’s ready.
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Oh crap potty training book by Jamie Glowacki
Seriously a life changer for me! My three year picked it so quickly after implementing the techniques she teaches.
See if he’ll pee outside- on a tree.lol mine did. Try the big people toilet. My grandson wouldn’t use a potty but he would use the toilet. Good luck.
Rewards chart with stickers!
Put cheerios in the toilet and tell him to try and hit them. It helps him learn to aim and every boy loves to pee on something
Order the book Toilet Training in Less Than a Day by Fox and Azrin. It is written for training kids with disabilities but I adapted it down for my kids . I’ve also used it a lot in my classroom years ago. It is fantastic and quick
Try letting him stand up to pee 
my son does that and he thinks it’s awesome
You cannot put him in timeout for not wanting to sit on the potty. There is no timeline for readiness. My daughter was 3.5 by the time I got her trained. You may need to wait a few more months. The more you push and especially the more you punish the harder it will be. Potty training is a major milestone for children and it should be exciting. When parents lose their patience and create a negative energy because the child isn’t doing what the parent thinks they should, it makes the whole experience harder and can be traumatizing for the child. Take a step back. Try again later.
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You’re not doing anything but stressing him and yourself out. He will do it when he’s ready.
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He will go when he’s ready.
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Don’t punish him for not doing it. There’s a lot of help and methods and maybe he just isn’t ready. Punishing him doesn’t make it any easier…on him or you.
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Don’t ever punish a child for not being potty trained.
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In our house routine keeps everything possible! Potty time when you wake up, then after breakfast and following any other meal. Potty before and after naps and also before leaving the house. Also always allow time to make a pit stop in public and dont put them in a situation where they cant control their bladder. Bribes never work but taking time to make it part of the day will stick with him eventually. You got this!!!
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Boys generally don’t care a young as girls do. Maybe if he has an “accident “, you stop his play for a few minutes, he’ll potty because it is faster.
Just give him time. He’ll figure it out.
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I had my son go in the bathroom with any guy I trusted. I did that for 2 weeks after that I put him on the toilet on he knew what to do and I never had a problem after that just try it and see how he does
If you have a standard white toilet seat sit him backwards with dry erase markers so he can color and go potty. Windex cleans it right off
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Just stop. He’ll do it when he’s ready. I went through hell and attempted many times to potty train. Then, one day, she went on her own and that was that. Didn’t have to try whatsoever. Like why did I bother?
Potty chart? That’s how I trained all four of mine. I got poster board and decorated it with whatever they were into at the time… Thomas, Toy Story, Doc Mcstuffins… then each time they pee’d in the potty they got a sticker and each time they poo’d they got 2 stickers. We worked toward goals/bigger rewards. Like if you go all week then they got maybe a piece of candy or dollar toy or something… something that seems big to them. If they go a couple weeks… all mth without an accident they maybe a trip to Chuck E Cheese. It literally took my daughter like 2 days. My boys were quick too. They all liked the big potty best so I always made sure they had a good stool. 
Best wishes!
Make it fun, don’t put in timeout for not using it some kids develop at different paces. Maybe have dad take him in there or a male figure you feel comfortable with. I had all my kids come in with me my daughter was trained by 2.5 and both my boys took forever. Hoping my youngest learna quick when hes starts
My son is almost 4 and he still isn’t potty trained. My son has Sensory Processing Disorder along with speech delay. I’m going to tell you what all his teachers and doctor told me. He will do it when he’s ready. Never punish him. Make going to the potty fun ( whatever method that is ) have him sit with a book. Most importantly, make it a routine. Even if he refuses, be consistent. It will click one day. I’m still waiting for that one day but don’t give up.
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My son will be 3 in March and he is showing a few signs of potty training but he is terrified of the bathroom. We are working on it, daily, but until he is showing a lot of signs of being ready and hes over his fear, I’m not gonna push it. My girl was 2.5 when she was really showing signs of readiness and I potty trained her in literally a day. No accidents at all ever, and she was night trained by 3.5
I know this is hard to believe but they do it when they’re ready. Mine is almost 4 and we did videos, stickers, rewards and one day I walked out of the kitchen and she was sitting on the potty by herself! You can’t get on to them, shame them or make it negative at all. If it’s even a little negative they won’t do it.
Tell him to pee in the grass lol.
I had to do a “game” with my son. I out apple Jack’s in the potty. For each one he got a quarter, unless it was orange he got 50¢. I only put to orange in there and it only counts when the stream hits the cereal. He couldn’t go all over the inside, the first but of pee had to hit it
My son was almost 4 when he fully potty trained. We let him pee outside at 1st & he would pee in the potty ince he was tall enough, but it took forever for him to poop in it. He may not be ready yet.
Maybe he’s just not ready. My son wasn’t potty trained until he was 3 because he wasn’t interested at all. Don’t push him to do it. That will only cause stress for him and for you. Don’t worry, he’ll get it eventually.
Sounds gross maybe but have daddy sit on the toilet, sit him on his potty, leave the room. He might want to be a big boy like daddy, or get a step stool, let him stand on it and pee standing up. They make targets that float in the toilet so the child can try to hit them.
Oh, the more you try with some kids the more they won’t go. Ease up, save your sanity. Put him in training pants, they can feel the wetness better in those.
I bought dove chocolate with caramel, and left my son in his big boy undies, set a timer for 15-20 minutes and when the timer went off he had to sit on the potty for a few minutes. He was potty trained in 7 days.
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Not ready. The more you push the harder it will be
Talk to his pediatrician. May have a uti or be constipated which is causing him to not want to go possibly. Doesn’t hurt to check
Honestly, WAIT! We tried everything under the sun and could not get our almost 3 year old to potty trained so I stopped because we were due with #2 3 weeks after he turned 3. At 3 years and 4 months he decided one day he was ready, woke up and said “I want underwear so i can poop on the potty” and for over a month now has been completely potty trained, no accidents, and we’ve had no fuss. He has medical needs that make it harder for him, but once he was ready he was ready, and we haven’t had an issue since. He still wears a pull up or diaper to bed because he is on IV nutrition overnights and pees a lot, poops a lot, but daytime is easy breezy.
Every 20 to 30 minutes put the child on the potty 3 days
He might not be really jet, u could get a movie about pottying. Some kids do it later.
I don’t know how to help you but the number one thing I do know is all the negatives you are doing will never work. I don’t care how much you think he is ready he is NOT. Just keep trying, Praying, Praising, doing the Peep Peep, Poop Poop dance, you use the toilet in front of him dance scream and scout and dance when you peep or poop. If he doesn’t do Anything change the tune to then Oh so sad dance. If he has an accident tell it is OK we will do better next time. TIme Toilet all day long when you are at home. When you go out put 2 diapers on so you never have to jndress him in a dirty nasty public restroom again. Tear inside wet diaper off you have clean dry one still on. No more wet socks, No more you getting down on nasty wet bathroom floors. MAKE IT FUN. IF YOU USE POTTY CHAIR TAKE IF WITH YOU EVERY WHERE. SPEAKING FROM A MOTHER OF A CHILD WHO IS 19 1/2 WHO TRAINED HERSELF THIS SUMMER. SHE HAS WORE PANTIES TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY SINCE AUGUST 1 UNTIL TODAY SEPTEMBER 13 WITH 3 ACCIDENTS. NO ACCIDENTS AT HOME ALL SUMMER. I have a trash can in bathroom have since she has been little. Have diapers handy. Taught her to take her owe daipers off, put them in trash, get new one out hsve had singing ringgle about black in the black so she knows back from front to put new one on. Now if it is pooped I have gloves, plastic bag and wet ones I clean her up. I had to teach her what the pain in stomach meant was go poop. It is the greatest day at 2, 3,4 5, or 19. No negative, always FUN, Songs, make them handle body fluids, all doctors said this day would never Come. No candy, stickers, bribes, PRAYER, PRAISE, PLAY. He CAN Do it, but Mom do you believe he Can. Be blessed God Love. Never give up.
Perhaps modeling from other kids?
I definitely wouldn’t do time out for not sitting on the potty. It should be a fun new thing, not a scary thing where he gets in trouble. Im on day 4 potty training my 2.5 year old and I have a 10 minute timer go off allllll day. He knows it’s his potty alarm. I try to race him to his froggy urinal in the bathroom. Sometimes he fights me so I’ll tell him his (pick a toy) needs to go pee quickly lol. For pee we do tons of praise… for poop he gets a small bit of Ice cream or a chocolate. We also have a trip to legoland as a reward when he is completely trained as motivation lol. Make it fun. He feels your stress. Here’s our set up . My son loved picking out his trainer undies for the day. And he’s obsessed with his froggy urinal lol
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Im having the same problem. Little man is 3 in november and just wants nothing to do with it. And hes in the biggest size nappies 
Potty watch, pissing on Cheerios, get underwear of his favorite character and tell him he can’t pee on them or they will be sad. But if he can’t communicate that he has to pee this is a waste of time. Your child is different from everyone else’s. He will come around. Just give him enough time.
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My kid loves books…Every time it was time to sit on potty, I read a short kids book with her. She can sit there for hours now, but must get that from her father:roll_eyes:
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My little just turn two and was potty trained
I had a 3 year old foster that was almost 4 by the time he was potty trained. He had no interest at all. However it really helped him to be able to pee outside. Remember, you don’t have to go every 30 minutes, so he probably doesn’t either. Unless you are pumping him full of liquids. I think the success in short term potty training is setting aside a few days where you eat salty snacks that make you thirsty, and give them as much water/drink as they want that way he would have to go a lot more than normal. Just remember, boys are normally dirty. It doesn’t seem to bother them as much to have accidents. The boy I had was, however, bothered that he had to stop what he was doing to be changed. Which I purposefully made take significantly more time than just going to the potty.
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My daughter was a few months over 3 when she finally said she didn’t want diapers anymore. He will do it when he’s ready. Forcing him to do it won’t help
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I felt like such a crappy mom because I couldn’t get my son potty trained, even well into him being 3 years old. An older lady at my work told me that my child is not going to use that potty until he is ready and to not beat myself up. That was probably the best advice I got with parenting because it’s true. I still showed him the potty every day and asked him to sit on it and wait a minute and failed many times with this. But one day, he just did it. And hasn’t worn a diaper since.
Your son will go on his time. Just keep trying but don’t beat yourself up if he doesn’t go as soon as you’d like.
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Wait till he is 3 and try again.
My son was 3 and if he wanted to he did. He knew he was suppose to but he didnt want to…until he was starting preschool. They didnt do diapers the kids had to.be potty trained. He wanted to go to school I told him they wouldnt let him if he was in diapers and he just started using the potty every day.
U gotta spend like 3-4 days not leaving the house and focusing on just potty training. What I did was had a potty chair in the living room. Like right in the middle of the living room. Had him wear no diapers or underwear just a long t shirt and didn’t let him leave the living room. Gave him lots of liquids through out the day. And had him sitting on the potty every 15 mins or so or even had him sitting on it when he would watch one of his shows on tv. I took a new picture frame took out the glass and just use a white sheet of paper and use that as a sticker chart next to to potty. Any time he peed we put a sticker. Poos were actual candy but that took a little bit longer then pee. They will cry to want to leave the living room or cry to not to sit but u just have to keep encouraging them. U will have a few pee accidents on the floor but after a few times they will start to feel when they have to go after going a few times on the potty from sitting on it watching tv or from the every 15 mins. My son was one to hide when he had to poo so when I saw him trying to go which was in the morning I kept sitting him down. Thru cries and him wanting to go off and poo he eventually just went. After a day of that I moved the potty to a more private part of the living room. Still did that for a couple days and eventually the potty was moved back to the bathroom and he was potty trained. Lots of liquids, don’t give up. Lots of stickers and over appraising overly dramatic about them sitting or going. U can do it! Then after that it’s learning to go places lol. My son was potty trained the week of my 29th birthday when he was 2.5 good luck!
Straight up no pants! This worked for me! I had been trying to potty train my son from the age of 2.5 around age 3.5 I decided to just go naked and see what happens and he started to go on the potty! I’d also suggest him to sit down as it is a little hard for them to figure out how to hold their shirt and the penis to go pee my son turned 4 beginning of August and he’s fully potty trained! Even at night time!
I’m in the middle of potty training my daughter and we did the underwear only in the house. We always make a big deal when she does go on the potty…she gets to pick her “big girl” underwear every morning and every morning or after a nap if she’s dry I make a big deal of it. I don’t say much when she has an accident, but she is still upset when she has one so I’m not going say anything other than accidents happen. We’ve done a chart with stickers and when she gets to the end of the path she gets a reward of an ice cream sundae…maybe something like that would work along with enforcing the “big boy”, course I had to talk up the big girl before I actually started using it.
My daughter was potty trained at 19 months when I started seeing signs of her being ready. My 2.5 yo is not. He’s just now coming to me telling me when he poops and as much as I was hoping he’d be ready, he’s just not. Don’t beat yourself up! Some kids, especially boys (so I keep hearing) take a bit longer. And it’s OKAY. He will get it when he’s ready. The best thing to do though is to not shame him for accidents or shame him for not wanting to use it. That might just push him further away from being ready.
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He isnt ready! You dont punish him for not sitting on the potty.
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When he ha accidents make him change himself. He probably won’t like it but he will get that it’s easier to go potty then to waste time changing himself especially if he is playing and doesn’t want to interrupt that
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Timeout is a no go accidents happen I always tell the kids just let me know when you do pooping is so hard for a kid to get at first definetly set alarm and encourage him every hour and positive reinforcement every time my 3 year old goes we high five and i tell him good job just breath mama potty training is diffcult my oldest took me forever until I figured it out just potty trained my 3 year old
Read “oh crap, potty training”
Pee on a tree that’s how my son started
When my son turned 3 I made a big deal about him being a big boy now. We did underwear only and only did pull ups at night. Maybe 6 months later we took away the pull ups at night because he was having very few accidents.
I tried around 2 and he just wasn’t ready.
Well I had 3 boys and all boys think its funny to pee or poop on something. Drop a m&m in the potty tell him to hit the target! Mine loved it. Fast trained. One m&m won’t hurt the toilet. Also use big toilet = big boy. Use a little stool to climb up. Be there with them but don’t hurry them or stare at them.Fix your hair or something. You know your child.
Keep him in regular undies not pullups (if thats what you’re using) and everytime he wets or poops an underwear have him wash it . He will not like havingbto touch his own urine or poop and he will definitely stop. Mom did this with my little sister and she learned to go to the toilet everytime she needed to…yes it worked!
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By chance uyou. Live in a. House. Out. Away. From. Town. Litttle. Boys. Think its. Neat to. Pee. Off the porch. If. You. Can. Try it. Behindf a bush. Try. Learning. One. Thing at. A time. Good luck. Or a. Male. Whho. Can take. Him. With. Hhim
Seriously WAIT UNTIL HES READY. My son turned 3 in may and just became potty trained like a month or 2 ago. It took him literally less than a week and it was the easiest thing to do. He doesnt have accidents thru the night or when were at stores or anything
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It takes time. But when they are ready, they decide to do it and do it. We have to see it from their view. We know what to do but we all had to learn. Shaming, making them feel gross, or feel as though they inadequate or bad when accidents happen is not going to encourage it positively. If you had an issue that your family thought you should just learn to do or control and they made you feel gross or wouldn’t help you get cleaned up or punished you for it how would that feel. I recommend getting the seat insert for the big potty, a step stool and encourage but don’t force. This will only make them have negative feelings. And it does take their mind and body to connect that "oh that feeling means I need to go and then connect it with getting there in time and trying their body to hold it with a rewarding outcome rather than a negative if the can’t make it in time. It’s a big process and once they connect it all it goes quite quickly. My son was 3 1/2 and in a week it went from refusing to completely out of diapers even thought the night without 1 accident since. Previous to that he has his ex step mom punishing him and demeaning him when he had an accident. It broke his heart. He didn’t understand why because his body didn’t give him enough notice that he was being punished.
My mum said to me when my kids were little ‘let them do it at their own pace, you haven’t seen a 5 year old in prep in nappies, don’t stress’. Was good advice then, and is good advice now.
If you get a potty with a design of his favourite you for example shaped like a car. Or his favourite action man he may sit on it without drama …
Put ping pong ball down toilet and get him to see if he can hit it with his wee. I did this with my son and he loved it plus they don’t flush down xx
I put my daughters potty chair in the living room, that way she didn’t have to leave what she was doing, to go pee, it didn’t take long, before I noticed her sitting on potty, w out me reminding her
Making a major deal out their accomplishments and taking to restroom when you use it, saying it’s time for mom or dad to use it before I pee
my pants has worked for me and friends.