Thursday, February 7

The Best Potty for Boys?

James has a fairly noticeable "poop face", so I thought I might soon start putting him on the potty when I see him doing it. The only trouble is that I usually notice him doing it most often when we are playing in the basement, and there is no bathroom down there. I think I will get a little potty to use for this reason. Does anyone have any suggestions on which potty works best for boys? I've heard a lot of good reports about the Baby Bjorn potty chair, however it is a little pricey I think. Any other toilet training tips for boys are also welcome. I'm in no rush with it - just thought that since I can tell when he is going I might as well put him on the potty!

13 comments :

Teri said...

Seeing as Zach wasn't 100% PTed until he was 4.5 and Jake is 32 months and no where close, I may not be good for advice, but the biggest one I've heard is don't force the issue - a friend did that it was horrible for her and her son. I know you're not pushing it right now, but just keep it in the back of your mind :) As for potties, I just bought the cheapest one I could find. LOL! Worked just fine. I would definitely start putting him on there when you know he's pooping - I've never had that with either of my boys. Oh, and treats helped with Zach when he was around 2.5/3.

Nin said...

never trained a boy.....hear it's harder.....not looking forward to it.....best of luck :)
is it just me or is that baby a little funny looking? did i just say that out loud? I mean type it....

Christy said...

Hey Heather...I succesfully potty trained my son in 3 days! I know that every child is different and some train earlier and some train later. There was alot of pressure for me to train my son as soon as he turned 2 years old and I didn't think he was ready at all. I knew my son and I was with him all day, everyday...I knew that he was not ready! My best piece of advice is wait until he is ready. If you start any earlier you will be potty training for months or even years. The first thing I did was talk about it alot. Then I bought "big boy" Spiderman underwear and then decided to start on a Monday and made no plans for the whole week. We trained him right on the potty itself and we used a reward system for the first couple days. He got a small chocolate or piece of gum when he went on the potty. We also made a HUGE deal everytime he went! By day #3 he was trained! The poop took a couple days longer because he was really nervous about it! He wasn't trained for nightime until about 6 months ago. He was 3 months shy of his 3rd Birthday when we trained him. I blogged about it so if you are interested to read it let me know! Hope that helps and sorry this is so long!

Andrea said...

I have been putting Tate on the potty since he was about 11 months old. Now he poops almost on the potty at least once a day and he is in training pant (with a plastic pant over them still) during the day and rarely has accidents - unless I forget to take him. All he needs to learn is the word "potty" or something like that so he can tell me when he needs to go. But it was actually not hard potty training Tate at all so far. I actually believe that the younger you start them the easier it will be in the long run - AND the less fights and forcing the issue you will have to do once they get older! Anyways...we have a baby Bjorn potty and it works okay - the only thing I don't like about it is that you can't take the middle part out (that they poo and pee in) and clean it - you have to clean the whole potty because it's all one piece. Other than that it's okay though. But we usually just use one of those potty seats that you put on the big potty - WAY easier - no cleaning involved after they go. :) Good luck!

Renee Shaw said...

Preston would have been completely potty trained by the time he was 2, but we moved in that time and it really threw him off. And we are in a state of clutter right now at our new place so I'm not ready to start it again. When I do I know that it won't be hard, because he understands the concept. Also, much easier to do when you only have 1 child!! To be honest every child is different, but as long as you understand that it will be work then you'll be ok. I think a lot of people don't understand that and that is why there are 3.5 yr olds walking around in diapers and soothers. James is a bit young yet, but once he hits the 18 month stage just watch him for signs. With Preston he kept taking off his diaper, so I thought lets go! THere will be a window where they show interest and if you miss it, it will be tough for you to try and get them back into it.
Anyway, in terms of a potty make sure to get one that has a good sheild on it! haha Otherwise they will pee on the floor. The one that I have has an ok sheild but I'd like to get something different that goes on the toilet. With girls (next time) the sheild isn't that important as for a boy cause boys shoot everywhere! haha

Renee Shaw said...

Oh ya, when I did pt Preston it took about a month to be trained...but like I said when they have so much upheaval like moving they often lose it (if you're in the stage of training). So I will start again next week once we get out the clutter (Sat) of our place.

Ellen said...

In my opinion there are about 3 steps in potty training.. the first is them learning to control their muscles to actually pee whenever you put them on the potty (this part is where you need to take them all the time so that they realize what they are supposed to do and learn control). For this stage I took my son to the potty every 3/4 hr or so. The second stage is them learning to tell you that they have to go on the potty, but whenever you put them on they know what to do. This is where I am now with my 2 yr old son. I did go through some times with him where he didn't want to go, but I treated it like bedtime, you still need to do it! and now he rarely makes a fuss. and the last step is night/nap time training - I'm not there yet, but I stopped putting my son in diapers, he now wears pull-ups for night so diapers are history!

Anonymous said...

I would wait for a time when they seemed to be curious about it. With my last child she absolutely hated diaper changes and so I told her she should try going on the potty. She has a very strong personality and absolutely hates being wet or dirty. She amazingly was toilet trained by 18 months. I would pick certain times of the day to concentrate on it in the beginning. (first thing in the morning, after breakfast, etc.) Later I would progress to putting her on the potty and giving her water to drink and read while she sat there. She would accidently go in the potty and we would celebrate. Pull ups are wonderful but I would use a training panty so that she could feel the wetness and feel uncomfortable. Good luck with things. When you feel he is getting the hang of things or grasping the concept dedicate a good week to it. Don't plan any outtings. Make training your mission. I would have her in panties or even nothing and we would play beside a potty making it easier. In the beginning it is about learning control and when they have to go they have to go now. Have fun with all these stages! - Tammy

Trail Rider said...

hello girlie!

I did "both" ways of potty training.

With Noah being the first boy "able" to potty train, since caleb wouldn't have been able to, I decided to start him early and do exactly what you are thinking of doing. I took him to a potty everytime I saw him grunt.

It was fun. Since I didn't have alot of kids at the time, I had the time to play around with it. He felt like a big boy and I enjoyed it.

It turned out that he didn't ACTUALLY officially train until he was 3, but that's okay, I would do it over again. It comes down to when THEY are ready.

With my others, I just waited, since I didn't have the time to run to the potty, I waited until they showed many sidns of being ready and Isaiah trained at almost 3 and Faith was 2 and a half.

I will do the same thing with Elishah. When she's ready, well go for it, just because when they truly are ready it only takes a couple of days.

Have fun!!!!
Boys are so fun, I miss having a little boy baby around!

Trail Rider said...

oh yeah, and smarties, stickers, all those things are GREAT TOOLS!!!

Drea said...

I only have experience with our 1st boy in this dept. ;-) but the way we trained him was great!

Heres how we did it

Took away ALL DIAPERS during the day.
I got him training undies from Target that had a slight bit of extra cotton padding in the front. They are called Trainers Underwear I think. Their located in the onesie Dept. in most baby sections. I think their by Gerber. Those helped if he had a few accidents... didnt hold all the pee but it was a lot less mess than regular undies.

Once we got the undies In the mornigs Id take Caleb pee.
He'd go.
Id then put him in undies... and set a timer for 20 minutes. After those 20 minutes Id sit him back on the toilet and make a 'psst' noise. He'd pee again.

Id then reset the timer. This seems like it be a real pain.. but it isnt bad at all. Once you see he is going every 20 minutes fine and then one time says he doesnt have to go... then set the timer 10 more minutes.. so it then becomes a 30 min. stretch.. then take him again. And so on.

Eventually they can stretch out pee pee breaks to about 30-45 minutes when you 1st start. Within like 2 weeks of this with Caleb he was able to go about 1 hour between going pee. Poop was never an issue with Caleb either. He actually told us when he had to poopie... with pee he never really told us at 1st... we just always took him before he had to go.

Id say in about 1 month Caleb was completely trained except for NAPS and Bedtime.

This method WORKS! you just have to be very disciplined in timing him.. and not using pullups. If you use a pullup type thing they wont know when they wet. The way they learn is by feeling their wet when they do have accidents. Caleb hated that wet feeling so he learned fast.

Traveling the 1st month was hardest... we lived 30 minutes from anything so id actually take him pee before leaving... set a timer on my cell phone.. and as soon as we got to the store id take him pee. We never once had an accident in the car thankfully ;-) but it was stressful hehe


Caleb was trained by the time Taite was born so he was just over age 2. I think 25 months?


Since Taites birth we only had a few accidents when he'd wake up with a stinky in his night time or naptime pullup... but thats it. Now at age 3 he never has poop accidents and rarely has peepee accidents. if he has a pee pee accidents its because he tries to hold it to long. He now goes like 3-5 hours between going pee!

Hope that helps :-) Im going to start training Taite soon. Hes 15 months but I watch him carefully and notice he can go about 1 hour between wetting his diaper (its easy for me to tell when hes wet since he wears cloth diapers). Once a baby shows they can stay dry that long I think its worth a shot. If anything to just prepare them and help them learn cues.

Ow! and as far as potty seats. We used the kind that sat directly onto the toilet for Caleb. He HATED the tiny toilets. I have a baby bjorn toilet I use with Taite now but I prefer sticking him on a regular toilet by far... lot less mess! they even have FOLDABLE traveling toilet seats you can keep in your diaper bag (in a plastic bag). I have one and love it.

Erica H said...

wow, these are all very good tips! I haven't even begun to think about training Annika yet. But all this talk of potty training is starting to get me thinking...I have heard boys are tougher than girls to train, but I never really understood why. Best of luck!

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