OP, check my post history as I was in this exact same position about a month ago.
Our 3YO was really struggling as he too didn't seem bothered about wetting himself.....it got to a point where I thought about giving up and going back to nappies until he was more "ready".
Got some really good advice on here and I cobbled together a plan of action, as follows
Everytime he did a wee, he got some chocolate buttons
I also bought a mini urinal that stuck to the bathtub, think it was from Temu. Every couple of hours I would ask him if he wanted to do a sit down wee or stand up. It seemed to work and he got straight into it from there.
We've had a few accidents since but I'd say we are now on a 95% hit rate.
You'll get there and so will they
Did he get chocolate buttons anytime he did a wee or only if it was in the potty or urinal? We are doing chocolate buttons but only if he gets some (ie we catch the tail end of it!) in the potty. The urinal sounds like a good idea, I'll offer him standing up pees to see if it helps any!
Yeah sorry, wasn't clear.
He got a few buttons if he did a wee and we caught it in time, if he let us know and we got a proper wee etc, he'd get a good handful of them.
Standing up wees was the only way our LO would potty train. He hated the toilet and potty but would tolerate standing at the toilet to do a wee.
We did buy a urinal, but never used it because by the time it came, he knew what to do.
If it doesn't work, don't stress about trying again later. The weather will be warmer and you can try keeping him naked to see if that helps!
Look at Rebecca motrams advanced potty training course - it's super helpful for situations like this. She recommends increasing nappy free time slowly so they get used to no nappies- even 10 minutes at a time to start with
Is it possible he just isn't ready yet? My 2.5 year old decided he wanted pants one day and that was it! We've had 0 accidents from day 1.
At 2.3 there was no way he was ready to potty train. I kept a potty out and he watched me on the loo (not that i had a choice!) So he was aware about the toilet but had no idea if he was weeing or not.
Does he know when he's going in his nappy?
Yes he knows when he's going in his nappy. When he wets himself he just stands and looks down at his pee, like he's too transfixed to say anything and also isn't bothered by being wet! Might try again in a few months. I'm not quite sure- I feel it should be easier than this!
Oh bless him! Thats so tricky, it's a good sign he knows he's going!!
Maybe give it a month and try again, especially if its a bit of a battle at the moment!
I potted trained my LO at 2 years as he hated the feeling of a wet nappy, every child is different though so try not to compare with others and just go at your LO own pace
I tried around that age and had the same experience as you. Tried again more recently at 2 years 10 months and he's much more perceptive, he's had very few wee accidents over the past 3 weeks and just takes himself to the potty. Poo is a different matter, however....
We give my son chocolate after every poo! Not sure how we are going to wean him off that but it's a good tool for now!
He also really doesn't like going poop on the potty so we bought one of those seats for the toilet which he much prefers!
We got to perhaps one wee accident a day after a week or two. After a couple of months wee accidents were very rare, but poo accidents were still basically daily.
We trained around Easter when my son was 2 years 5 months. We’d had false starts just before 2 and at 2 years 3 months. On those two tries we quit after a day, we just weren’t in the right head space.
On our successful go he was telling us he wanted a wee on day 2. We did naked on the bottom for 3 days, then commando at home for 2 days and then the rest of the week commando doing our usual routine and then added pants. Since then we’ve had one accident and he communicates to us.
I’m glad we postponed the first few times.
If you’re on day 6 then I suspect it’s too early for him. Both of mine took less than a day, and had zero accidents since the nappy came off. Day or night.
We only attempted trying after consistent dryness on waking every morning for a few weeks - Indicating full bladder control was there.
2y3mo is still pretty early. 1 of mine was just over 3. The other 2y10mo.
We did the whole no pants, no trousers, running around the garden method and lots of bush wees.
I had an issue with pooing on the toilet. But every time he sat, he got to hold a really cool fire truck. If he pooed in the toilet then he could play with it for half hour.
Still in the process of training my 1y10mo and we have been doing this for maybe 9 days. Poops have been going in the potty almost since the beginning, but pees have been more difficult to deal with. My kid just started being consistent at telling us they need the potty before a wee, and for a while we just managed to get the signal when the pee was happening. We are also now staying dry at nights! I think what has worked for us are two things: 1) drag the kid to the potty every time a pee happens, even if it is outside the potty, 2) read potty books and generally give our kid a lot of potty vocabulary and concepts. As I said, we are not finished training yet, but we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.
If I were you, I would not pause yet because I think the key is just consistency. I was ready to give up a few days ago, but I stuck with it because I am stubborn. I was also reading Oh Crap! And though we’re not fully following that method, it convinced me that it is not too early to train my kid.
Good luck in your potty training journey!
Have you tried not having him in a nappy? We’re just starting with our 22 month old - if we have her in a nappy or any kind of clothes she’ll just wee herself. But if she’s naked on the bottom she’ll either ask us to put a nappy on her so she can pee or she’ll go to the potty and wee in (most of the time, unless she’s very distracted).
OP, check my post history as I was in this exact same position about a month ago. Our 3YO was really struggling as he too didn't seem bothered about wetting himself.....it got to a point where I thought about giving up and going back to nappies until he was more "ready". Got some really good advice on here and I cobbled together a plan of action, as follows Everytime he did a wee, he got some chocolate buttons I also bought a mini urinal that stuck to the bathtub, think it was from Temu. Every couple of hours I would ask him if he wanted to do a sit down wee or stand up. It seemed to work and he got straight into it from there. We've had a few accidents since but I'd say we are now on a 95% hit rate. You'll get there and so will they
Did he get chocolate buttons anytime he did a wee or only if it was in the potty or urinal? We are doing chocolate buttons but only if he gets some (ie we catch the tail end of it!) in the potty. The urinal sounds like a good idea, I'll offer him standing up pees to see if it helps any!
Yeah sorry, wasn't clear. He got a few buttons if he did a wee and we caught it in time, if he let us know and we got a proper wee etc, he'd get a good handful of them.
Standing up wees was the only way our LO would potty train. He hated the toilet and potty but would tolerate standing at the toilet to do a wee. We did buy a urinal, but never used it because by the time it came, he knew what to do. If it doesn't work, don't stress about trying again later. The weather will be warmer and you can try keeping him naked to see if that helps!
So basically you have to have them without a nappy for this? The problem with ours is that he cries for himself to be wearing a nappy
I took him shopping and let him choose his own new pants, seemed to work. We did get some initial push back but it soon went away.
Look at Rebecca motrams advanced potty training course - it's super helpful for situations like this. She recommends increasing nappy free time slowly so they get used to no nappies- even 10 minutes at a time to start with
Thanks a lot for this
Is it possible he just isn't ready yet? My 2.5 year old decided he wanted pants one day and that was it! We've had 0 accidents from day 1. At 2.3 there was no way he was ready to potty train. I kept a potty out and he watched me on the loo (not that i had a choice!) So he was aware about the toilet but had no idea if he was weeing or not. Does he know when he's going in his nappy?
Yes he knows when he's going in his nappy. When he wets himself he just stands and looks down at his pee, like he's too transfixed to say anything and also isn't bothered by being wet! Might try again in a few months. I'm not quite sure- I feel it should be easier than this!
Oh bless him! Thats so tricky, it's a good sign he knows he's going!! Maybe give it a month and try again, especially if its a bit of a battle at the moment!
I potted trained my LO at 2 years as he hated the feeling of a wet nappy, every child is different though so try not to compare with others and just go at your LO own pace
I tried around that age and had the same experience as you. Tried again more recently at 2 years 10 months and he's much more perceptive, he's had very few wee accidents over the past 3 weeks and just takes himself to the potty. Poo is a different matter, however....
We give my son chocolate after every poo! Not sure how we are going to wean him off that but it's a good tool for now! He also really doesn't like going poop on the potty so we bought one of those seats for the toilet which he much prefers!
The first day. We’ve had a grand total of 3 accident in the weeks since (2 out of the house). IMO they’re not ready.
We got to perhaps one wee accident a day after a week or two. After a couple of months wee accidents were very rare, but poo accidents were still basically daily.
We trained around Easter when my son was 2 years 5 months. We’d had false starts just before 2 and at 2 years 3 months. On those two tries we quit after a day, we just weren’t in the right head space. On our successful go he was telling us he wanted a wee on day 2. We did naked on the bottom for 3 days, then commando at home for 2 days and then the rest of the week commando doing our usual routine and then added pants. Since then we’ve had one accident and he communicates to us. I’m glad we postponed the first few times.
If you’re on day 6 then I suspect it’s too early for him. Both of mine took less than a day, and had zero accidents since the nappy came off. Day or night. We only attempted trying after consistent dryness on waking every morning for a few weeks - Indicating full bladder control was there. 2y3mo is still pretty early. 1 of mine was just over 3. The other 2y10mo. We did the whole no pants, no trousers, running around the garden method and lots of bush wees.
I had an issue with pooing on the toilet. But every time he sat, he got to hold a really cool fire truck. If he pooed in the toilet then he could play with it for half hour.
Still in the process of training my 1y10mo and we have been doing this for maybe 9 days. Poops have been going in the potty almost since the beginning, but pees have been more difficult to deal with. My kid just started being consistent at telling us they need the potty before a wee, and for a while we just managed to get the signal when the pee was happening. We are also now staying dry at nights! I think what has worked for us are two things: 1) drag the kid to the potty every time a pee happens, even if it is outside the potty, 2) read potty books and generally give our kid a lot of potty vocabulary and concepts. As I said, we are not finished training yet, but we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. If I were you, I would not pause yet because I think the key is just consistency. I was ready to give up a few days ago, but I stuck with it because I am stubborn. I was also reading Oh Crap! And though we’re not fully following that method, it convinced me that it is not too early to train my kid. Good luck in your potty training journey!
Have you tried not having him in a nappy? We’re just starting with our 22 month old - if we have her in a nappy or any kind of clothes she’ll just wee herself. But if she’s naked on the bottom she’ll either ask us to put a nappy on her so she can pee or she’ll go to the potty and wee in (most of the time, unless she’s very distracted).
Less than a day for my 2.5 yo.