It’s amazing to me how children from the same family can be so vastly different with the same milestones. I expect this of course, but it’s always a surprise. My son Mateo will be 3 in May and he’s potty-trained! Yippee! The other guys wanted nothing to do with potty training until 3, and even then, it was serious work.
With information at our fingertips, you can learn about endless topics at the click of a button. Information on potty training is as varied as it is abundant. Mention potty training to a grandmother and you’ll probably learn that their sons were using the potty by 2. Current moms are training boys around 3, but depending on the child, it can be later. Then there’s that group of moms who are doing infant potty training.
While there’s such disparity, there’s no right or wrong. Children have their own schedule for potty training. Most show signs of readiness to begin using the toilet between 18 months and 3 years of age. Boys are usually later at potty training than girls. Some people think this is because girls have the same plumbing as mom, so it’s easier since the primary caregiver is most often the mother. One theory on why boys take longer is that they learn twice. First to sit and then to stand and urinate.
There is no right or wrong way to potty train a boy, most potty training experts, however, recommend that toddler boys should be potty trained sitting down. Teaching them to sit for both urination and bowel movements, helps to keep things simple for them. Once they have mastered potty training, then you can teach them to pee standing up. It’ll save you aggravation to wait.
Some signs of readiness:
- Staying dry for at least 2 strait hours
- Able to follow simple instructions
- Feeling uncomfortable in dirty diapers and wanting to have them changed
- Asking to or talking about using the potty chair
- Asking to wear big underwear are signs of readiness.
To see a checklist of signs, click here.
If your child tells you about having a dirty diaper, be sure and praise him for telling you. This will encourage him to tell you in advance next time.
With Mateo, I let him lead the way. He was very interested and so I encouraged him while he still had diapers on to use the potty. Then I added a few weeks of pull-ups to give him the chance to physically pull his own pants on and off to go the bathroom while still allowing for mistakes. If he went, I would cheer and carry on. He smiled and was proud of his accomplishment. Soon, I let him start wearing underwear. Of course he had accidents, but I handled them with patience and kindness. Inside I was thinking – when will this be over?! But it’s important to be supportive.
As far as bowel movements, that was a bit more challenging, but I really tried to talk to him about what it feels like when it’s time to go poop so this way he might recognize the sensation and go. I’m constantly asking him if needs to go potty, because I know he’ll forget easily, since it’s still a new thing to him. Yesterday though, we were playing and he stood up and told me he needed to poop, now I know he really understands.
I must admit, I did use a little food bribery to teach him. He earns 1 M&M for pee and 2 for poop.
Another thing…early last week, he had a bunch of accidents where it seemed like he didn’t use the potty at all. It was messy for me and frustrating. Especially with poop, as if he just rejected to use the potty. So, I took a big risk and made him run around naked while we were inside. He didn’t want to at first, but I told him that the potty was hungry for his poop so I wanted to make sure he used it. He held it in until finally, he went to the potty. Since then, thank goodness; he has been using the potty again 100%.
Maybe I’m more relaxed than I was with the others, or maybe he’s more motivated to learn. Whatever the case, I hope #4 is as easy as #3 was!
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