LATE potty training...Please share your story.

Stories of older kids who eventually "got" it?

Noah was pee pee trained orginally right after he turned 3, and it wa sgreat for a while. Then total regression ...now its almost nothing. Occasionally he will pee in the toilet, its is not too often.

I tried it all and he just for whatever reason doesnt want to.

He gets EXTREMELY upset when I force it.

I know he is trying to control one of the only things he can in his life.

I'm honestly not that upset/worried over it.

He will when he does. I dont feel ok with pushing it.

But I get some LOOKS from people over this ( he will be 4 in June) and it bothers me they judge me and him for this....mostly that they look at him in a way as if, what is wrong with him. People have SAID that. I can handle that, I just dont care, but I dont want HIM to start to feel that.

Is this a huge deal?

Any tricks too?

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

My daughter was well over 4 when she potty trained.
What ended up working for us was a visual sticker chart and rewards system. She was really into farm animal figures so we'd buy those sets at Target. We take a picture of one and make a sticker chart. I.e., when she used the potty 1 times, she'd get the giraffe. Then we'd have her go 2 times to get the elephant, etc.
We'd place the figure up on our mantle so she could see it but not get it.
Aurelia is autistic so the visual cues really were the best way to go but it worked like a charm!!
Good luck!! He'll get there!

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

Two things that I think helped us:

We put on underwear with a pull up over it. One of DS's teachers recommended this because she said the pullup still absorbs quite a bit of pee and they aren't uncomfortable enough with it. With the underwear underneath, he feels wet when he has an accident and doesn't like it, so it's an incentive to not have accidents.

Second, we never did stickers or charts, but we did have a container of special, favorite toys that he was only allowed to play with after he had success on the potty. He learned pretty quickly that he could get them only after he went on the potty. We would set a timer for 10-15 minutes for him to play and that seemed to help a lot too.

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

My DD was 3 yrs, 9 months when she finally got it. I was stressing about it and tried to push it earlier, but it made everything so much worse. My DD is very stubborn and needs to do everything on her schedule, so once I relaxed and just encouraged it a little bit without pushing, it happened. We did use M&Ms as rewards and made a big deal when she was successful (did a potty dance, clapped, sang, etc.) One trick I didn't try, but was recommended was to leave the treats out in a place where DC could see them to be reminded.

I think you're right in not being worried. He will do it when he's ready. You can possibly help things along by using some of the tricks others have mentioned on here. For the people that make comments, I'd tell them that you're not worried & you're sure that he won't be receiving his high school diploma while still wearing diapers.

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

I put him in underwear a little after he turned 3. He was going on the potty sometimes, but he also had a lot of accidents. I reminded him to go every half hour, sometimes he would, sometimes he wouldn't.

I had to change his clothes/underwear around 3X a day at first.

He finally trained fully when he was ready, 3.5, then he was night trained 2 weeks later.

I don't think it's a big deal, they PT when they are ready. I think it's good to encourage it but not force it.

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

Noah wasn't potty trained until he was 4. I tried about 5-6 different times, but he just never got it. One day, about a month before his 4th Birthday, I bribed him to sit on the potty, and he did a wee. Once he did that for the first time, he was just 100% potty trained pretty much right away...from that day forward he had a minimum of accidents.

I don't see any use in pushing your kid to use the toilet when they are clearly not ready. If he is ready, he will do it!

Good luck! And don't get down about it!

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

The day after my C turned 3.5 years it literally just clicked. I stressed about it for months (years!) but didn’t stress about it to her. She just wasn’t interested. Fully knew when she had to go, could hold it for hours in underwear before screaming that she wanted a diaper, etc. She just didn’t want to use the potty, we always asked her if she wanted to, she said no, we tried to encourage her, but she wasn’t interested and we didn’t force the issue too much. Then one day, DH asked her if she wanted to use it, and she said “SURE”….and there’s been no turning back since then. Not one accident, pooping wasn’t an issue at all (did it right away too), for the first times peeing in public was a hassle and she wouldn’t go, but after our 3rd or 4th outing she was fine in public and now it’s a non-issue.

I never believed it when people (including people on here when I was stressing about potty-training) said it would “just click”, but that’s literally what happened with DD.

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

US!!! We had a lot of problems. It WILL happen when they are ready. Kaitlyn was the last child in her class to potty train (she is the youngest though). I think I had everyone tell me "oh it is SO easy you just take away their pull ups for a week and they will be trained. You just aren't trying hard enough with her"

We would try over and over. Take the pulls ups away - she would do okay - day one, then a few more accidents day 2, then more on day 3 and by day 3 or 4 would refuse to go on the potty all together for several days. She would not tell us when she had a dirty pull up etc. She was frustrated and I was too. Sometimes she would "kind of" get it- start to pee realize and run and finish. She also has a small bladder and can go 2-3 times in an hour sometimes - then not again for a few hours.

Then back in Jan she had a Monday off from school (so she was off Fri-Tuesday) - she just said to me on Wednesday I want to get rid of my pulls ups this week mommy. I was.

So we started that Friday. The 1st day I only put the pull up on at nap time and at bed time. She had 2 or 3 pee accidents, and she pooped in her sleep at nap. Day 2 (sat) - she was dry all day. By day three she said she no longer wanted to wear them at nap time. By about day 6 or 7 she said no more at night time. She has been dry ever since (she had one time she just made it to the potty so she partly peed in her pants - but finished on the potty). But basically I consider her to be dry every since.

BTW we had tried - stickers, m&m's, charts, other treats etc. They would maybe get her encouraged but in the end none of it worked until she was there. We also tried regular underwear under the pull ups but that made no difference.

I was very frustrated - and felt like everyone else was getting it and I felt that it would never happen. As a result I'm a firm believe in it WILL happen but maybe not when I want it to - but it will happen when they are ready. Don't give up hope!

Etd to add I knew she wasn't ready before that b.c when she would go she would get SO excited - but when she would have accidents she would be SO upset.

Message edited 3/21/2011 4:14:39 PM.

Re: LATE potty training...Please share your story.

Thanks everyone...I just felt like people were thinking maybe I was lazy and maybe I was taking the wrong approach to it.

I just dont see the need to push it. The kid literally changes his own pull up I'm sure it is gonna happen, but I put time , energy and usually bribery $$ into it and it fails, and I just dont wanna keep pushing him so hard.

I can tell its gonna happen soon, I just wanted more opinions on it being ok to let him go at a slower pace. Thanks again all!