help! pottytraining smells!

marywooyeah

hi this is a bit embarrassing but my son isnt doing too well at potty training, so basically my living room carpet is getting covered in wee and poo and although I am scrubbing it with carpet cleaner then using shake and vac when hoovering I can still smell it and I am doing between 2 and 3 loads of washing a day cos of all the extra clothes he is getting through.
in his bed I hav been using bed mats to catch the wee, but he doesnt sleep through the night so about 2 hours after he goes to sleep he wakes up and wants to come in with us. because he is so big me and my husband cannot sleep in the same bed anymore and I usually stay on the sofa (which means that I wake up aching and dont sleep well, but thats another story) but my husband forgot to put a mat down in our bed so he wet himself in the night. I've washed all the bedding but the mattress stinks of wee and I dont know what to do, I really cant afford a new one and what if he just wees all over that too?
It's got to the point where I dont want anyone to come in the house in case they think it smells - can anyone suggest anything to get rid of it?
thanks

julie2710

Just wondered how old your son is? Are you trying to get him potty trained when he isn't really ready for it yet?
With regards to the night time I would suggest keeping Pull-ups or something on for the time being. My 2 1/2 year old has been potty trained since April. Goes off to the toilet himself during the day but isn't always dry at night and it's just an extra securit measure to have the training pants on him at night. With my 5 year old I did the same at about the same time and it was only when he was wearing the overnight pants for about a week and not wetting that I risked not putting them on.

rosie383

I think you need to stop potty training for a wee while and then try again in another couple of months. My first one was dry in about 2 days, I had to have 3 attempts with dd2. If he is doing it all over, he isn't ready. Full stop!
And don't let him sleep in your bed. My wee one has been dry at night for ages, but if she does wake up and come into our bed, I just wait til she's asleep again and put her back in her own bed with the plastic mattress cover. I'm sure you are going to get the same advice from almost everyone here. Save yourself a headache and loads of cleaning.

marywooyeah

hi Julie he is 3 and 2 months, we have been pottytraining for about 3 months. if he is at home with nothing on his bottom he will readily go and sit on the potty, or go and use the step up stool to get to the toilet. if he has pants and trousers on we have to look for warning signs and coax him to the potty otherwise he will just wet himself. we are using pull ups but they leak and when he wakes up at night his trousers are soaking so I have to wash them.
I'm getting to my wits end with it, I dont want to be one of those people who smells like wee!

julie2710

I would give it a break for a while to be honest and take the pressure off him and yourself. Children will generally do it when they are ready very quickly.
Keep him in the pull ups during the day and limit his fluid intake prior to bedtime. Buy some "big boy pants" with his input and tell him when he feels he is ready to use his potty he can wear those during the day instead of pull-ups.
I did this with my youngest who wasn't really getting the hang of it after the first couple of weeks and it was me that was trained to drag him onto the pot when I thought he needed it! After about a month he woke up one morning and asked for his big boy pants and we just had a couple of accidents in the first week and that was it!
Make sure he also has trousers or shorts with loose elasticated wastes so he can get them up and down on his own and buy the pants slightly bigger too for the same reason.
There's no right age to be potty trained, just a load of pressure from mums who like to compete on whose child was trained at the youngest age!
Good luck and maybe hire a carpet shampooer to get them clean and fresh.

patchwork_cat

I would definately be putting him back into nappies at night. It is quite normal for them to be dry during the day before night.

Do you mean you can't sleep with your husband because he is too big, or because the 3 of you can't fit in the bed. If it is the latter than he needs to be put back in his own bed.

I put aside a couple of weeks to potty train my DS ( a long time ago!) and we didn't go out much to begin with nothing on bottom half and then I bought a load of joggers and elasticated waist shorts and asked him regularly if he needed to go. We had a few potties so one was never far away.

Bicarb on the marks for the moment and then hire a carpet cleaner when it is all done.

TryingHardToSave_2

I have been really lucky with both my sons. They were both dry at around 2 1/2 and within 2 weeks were 100% dry.

I cant really advise with regards to the smell, could you not fold up a bath towel and put the potty onto this so the wee/poo can be washed out in the machine.

I agree with taking him out to buy big boy pants and let him choose them also make a little reward chart with lots of praise if he stays dry in the day without accidents.

I would focus on being him 100% dry in the day for now and then try the night times. You may find it all clicks into place with him.

Id wait until nappies/pull up have been dry for a week or so and then try without them. Limit his drinks before bed and even put him on the loo before you go to bed. Also invest in waterproof mattress protector.

Good luck x

BitterAndTwisted

Clean the carpet and the mattress with biological laundry detergent. When they're dry sprinkle a load of bicarb on them and leave for several hours before vacuuming it up again.

Sounds like your little fella is too young to start with the potty-training, and as has been mentioned, some are dry in the day-time and still wet at night. As soon as he gets into your bed, change him and pop him back in his own. Getting out of your own bed to sleep on the sofa is a slippery slope.

ubamother

you mentioned that he's ok when his bum is bare, but not when he's wearing pants and trousers - which suggests he is aware when he needs to go. Is it worth trying a half way house of just wearing pants that he can easily get off himself while you're round the house? Another thought - if it's normally you who puts on his pants, perhaps really encouraging him to put them on and take them off may make him feel more able to do this. At least the pants would catch the poo and you wouldn't be washing pants and trousers.

Some of the smell at least will be in your head (or sinuses!) - I get paranoid about phantom cat wee smells when no-body else can smell anything.

OrkneyStar

Just one thought- are pull ups the best way forward ? Kind of like saying you need to learn not to pee in a nappy but actually it is ok to do it really ? DS was 2 and 3 months and we went straight to pants- took him a couple of days to get it, mind he is my only own experience of it (other than from friends stories of their kids). I do know some children do take longer/are ready later so perhaps have a wee break from it, and come back to it in a couple of weeks....there are also the options of 1. getting pants he likes, 2. reward charts etc. I also agree about him needing to be in his own bed, and you need to be in your own bed too....sleeping on the couch is not on! All the best.

savingmummy

I would stop the training, sounds like his not ready!

Pull ups if you want to continue though as these will catch accidents.
I only let them go nappy free of a night if they are clean 100% during the day and wake with dry nappies in the morning.