How late did your child potty train?

cllola

Your son really doesnt sound 'delayed' in his development to me (in my non professional opinion) I have a 5 year old and i am step mum to 3 year old twins so have lost of personal experience.
3 years old really isnt late for potty training, my son showed no signs of being ready until just after 3 and half, when he was ready he went straight into fully trained with no accidents (proof that he was ready).
It was a few months later that he became fully dry at night.
My step sons are 3 in April and are showing no signs of being ready.

Wait until your son is ready, whenever that may be - it stops the stress for everyone involved.

Plus it is always best to wait until summer to potty train - far fewer layers to change when/if there are accidents.

rpc

Our son wasn't at all fussed about it (and wouldn't sit on the potty).

Took his nappy off and put him in pants one day shortly after his third birthday. Starting using the toilet straight away. Two days of accidents and then he had it pretty much nailed.

tiernsee

Both of mine were three and despite pressure from my mother (who thought we should have started when they were two) we waited until we thought they were ready. Daughter picked it up immediately and was dry day and night within a week, son a little longer with the odd accident. Son also had speech and language issues but don't think this contributed to any of the accidents (these usually occurred when he was so busy doing something he put off going until it was too late......)

If the nursery are relaxed about it don't worry. Ours wouldn't accept children in nappies so we did have an added incentive for them to do it quickly.

DueMarch11

My son will be 3 in March, he does the odd wee on the toilet when he has his nappy off but I haven't tried to potty train him as such yet, I think I'll wait until spring then see if he wants to have a go at it.....if not then we'll just leave it a bit longer. My daughter was dry in the day by the age DS is now but then she always has been a bit forthright lol

skylight

My first, I did by the "book" and tried to potty train her around the age of 2. She wasn't ready and it took ages.

For the rest, I've relied on them instead and waited until they were three and just staring nursery - none showed any sign of wanting to use the toilet before then. When their acceptance letter for nursery arrived, we sat down together and I read it to them (amending it!) and added a bit about they only accept children who can use the big toilet and they do not allow nappies in nursery. They have all been dry day and night as of that day so I will do exactly the same with my grandson who is just past 2 and has no inkling whatsoever to use a potty!

Metranil_Vavin

I'm so glad to read this thread!

My son will be 3 next week and is still very much in nappies. My OH makes a point of sitting him on the potty each evening before his bath, and he'll more often than not do a wee and sometimes a poo, but I think really until we take the plunge and chuck the nappies away, it's a bit of a futile thing to do.

Something just makes me feel he isn't quite ready yet, and as someone said above, until they are ready it's a bit pointless to try and force it.

I am mildly embarrassed though that all of his friends appear to be potty trained already.

olgadapolga

Metranil_Vavin wrote: »

I'm so glad to read this thread!

My son will be 3 next week and is still very much in nappies. My OH makes a point of sitting him on the potty each evening before his bath, and he'll more often than not do a wee and sometimes a poo, but I think really until we take the plunge and chuck the nappies away, it's a bit of a futile thing to do.

Something just makes me feel he isn't quite ready yet, and as someone said above, until they are ready it's a bit pointless to try and force it.

I am mildly embarrassed though that all of his friends appear to be potty trained already.

It's completely futile. The fact that he "more often than not" has a wee/poo is coincidental. Probably due to the fact he's suddenly exposed to cold - have you ever noticed that if you go into a cold atmosphere it makes you need to go?

I work with young families and I came across a one who were propping up/supporting a six-week old baby on a potty and were convinced that he knew what was going on as "he nearly always does a wee on the potty". Try as I might, they were not going to be convinced that it was purely coincidence.

And don't be embarrassed if all of your son's friends appear to be potty trained, I'd bet serious money that they aren't fully toilet trained yet.

Really, the best thing you can do is wait until your lad is ready. And trust your instincts to know when he is ready because you will know. Several people have already said that they wished that they'd waited; I can add to this as I was worried about my oldest daughter not being toilet trained in comparison to her friends and I tried to force the issue - in the words of Julia Roberts, "BIG mistake". It was a nightmare and she wasn't properly dry by day or night for a couple of years. Worse still though, she realised how stressful I found it all so when her brother was born (and she was just about dry) she regressed and started wetting herself everywhere we went, purely because she was not getting undivided attention. My poor lounge carpet bore the brunt of it unfortunately

Lunar_Eclipse

Do you mean 'potty train', or coming out of nappies? I ask since 'training' has pretty much fallen out of fashion as disposable nappies have become standard. As a 70's child, I was supposedly trained out of nappies, months before turning two, as was typical of the time. My mum said I was sat on a potty from about 6 months (for 20 minutes after every meal) and number 2's were rare in nappies after turning one!

I have two girls who came out of nappies on their second birthdays and I felt embarrassed for leaving it so long, but that seems to be the age we do it at now. All my friends had two in mind, in line with books maybe? In hindsight, I would have 'trained' them much younger.

Personally, unless a child has developmental difficulties, I think the timing is decided upon by the parents (or it was with me & my friends.) There can be lots of accidents, as should really be expected. I bought about 30 pairs of knickers and once I explained what we were doing, that was it: no confusing putting nappies back on, half and half, going out for the day in a nappy etc. It was hard with DD1, very easy with DD2.

Lunar_Eclipse

From my personal experience of only two children, I'm not convinced about children being "ready".

DD2 showed no interest in the toilet or obvious knowledge of her own toilet needs, yet had no issues when I said 'from now on we're using the potty or toilet, you don't have a nappy on." She nodded her head and that was that. Not a single accident ever.

DD1 showed interest in the toilet and knew what she was doing for months, yet was a complete pain about using it. Lots of accidents. One could argue she wasn't (mentally) ready, but she was just playing up in the way some children do at bedtime, mealtimes etc.

I'm so glad I'm not facing it again.

Toto

I seem to remember the older kids being quite early out of nappies, obviously the autistic one took a lot longer but I think even she was out of daytime nappies by 3.


The little one had no interest or intention what so ever to part with her nappies and she was 3 years and 2 months before we even tried with any conviction to get her to use the loo. She was dry within a day or two but really had a hard time with doing a poo on the toilet, complete trauma about that! We got there in the end though as most kids do, my advice is honestly to relax about it as much as you can. He will get there in his own time.