I am a Mom (Brenda) who invented Potty Training Rewards. I believe children need
praise in every aspect of their lives including potty training. PTR offers this
praise followed by a fruit chew reward. Being a Mom this is my way of helping other Mother's with potty training.

Thanks, Brenda. If you read my post you'll see that we have tried rewards. Everything from candy to money to toys. Thanks for your comment.

We had to stop cold turkey. Long story short I was trained to run him to the toilet when he needed to go, but he wasn't trained to hold it in until he was able to tell us that he had to go. It made me crazy. He totally regressed. We stopped for 3 months. Never mentioned it. Left the potty chair there, and the undies in the drawer, but didn't talk about it. Three months later he woke up one morning, said, "Mommy, can I wear undies today?" I almost gasped aloud, thinking that we had finally broken through. He never had an accident again! Did it completely himself, daytime, nighttime, the whole shebang! NOW, I am a big proponent of waiting until THEY are ready! By the way, he was 3 when he finally got it.

I totally agree with JB. Leave it alone. Same story with our smallest daughter. We had everything there, and one day she just said she wanted to go on the toilet. Then left it for 2 weeks or so, and then went back to it, with no problems.

He will come to it himself, just like everyone else does - look around you, how many people do you see still in diapers? If you force the issue, you will cause problems.

Thanks Murray and JB. Maybe we should just give it a rest for a while. Did either of you use training pants or pullups? We're thinking of maybe using those instead of going back to diapers.

We had our son wear pull-ups, instead of immediately transitioning from diapers to undies...we also bought the Elmo potty and walked him to the bathroom every 30 minutes. Within a few weeks he had the hang of it and we were able to get rid of the diapers! He wore undies during the day, and pull-ups to sleep (we still had accidents every now and then). Good luck! My sister is in the same dilemma..Nothing's worked with my niece!

Thanks, DMR. Glad to hear that worked so well for you. The hardest part is that we HAVE had great success, but then once in a while he'll insist on having a diaper. When we tell him that we don't have any, then he breaks down crying. So hearbreaking. Yesterday was a good day, though. Hopefully we're on the right track!

I wish you all the luck. My son is 6 years old and still has accidents at night. The day time accidents finally stoped over the summer. Some kids just take longer. If your having a poop issue it might be medical. Boys tend to have more issues than girls have.

another agreement with JB vote... we let all 3 of our boys let us know when they were ready - it happened right around 3 years old for all three of them (one a bit before & one a bit after) - woke up one day and said "mommy, I want to wear underwear"

:)

Thanks Sara and Andrea. He has been crusing along since I wrote the post, and now his 16 month-old brother wants to sit on the potty chair (our older boy uses the toilet). Maybe we're closer to being diaper free than I thought!

awesome! that's how my "early" one did it early too IMO (not that just before 3 is early but you get what I mean....)

I am a little late to post, I missed it 1st time around, but I just wanted to share what worked for me.

My son was almost FOUR when he finally was potty trained! I,like you, had tried everything.

We enrolled him in gymnastics, and after a few tumbles across the mat, the instructor looked at him, and said, "Buddy, you're pretty good, and I want you to come back, but you will have to wear underpants next week, because gymnasts do NOT wear a diaper." My son looked at him, and said ok,went home, took off the diaper and from that day on used the potty.

I don't know if it was because gymnastics was something he really wanted to do, or it was a stranger telling him, but it worked!

Thanks everyone for your comments. Maybe it is just blind luck, but I swear since I wrote this post the kid has been on a roll. Honestly not a whimper or a whine since. He even got out of bed on his own in the middle of the night to go potty!

My boy was almost 4 when he finally got it. He had no problem with #1, it was #2. One day he freaked out on his potty and showed me why.....he finally did the two and after I nearly cried with happiness, then the look on his face was like " oh! that's what i have to do!" Your little man will get it soon enough....you just might need a lot of patience while you wait.

While you're probably swamped with advice, Children's Services Council of PBC has some potty training tips on its web site - in case you're interested. www.cscpbc.org/pottytrain

Thanks for the comments Kate and Shana. I think we've hit our stride. The blog must be good luck. Not a complaint since I wrote this. Two down, one to go!

Well I have sort of a different view on potty training and my "methods" are probably strange to some people. I pretty much let both of my boys take the lead with their own potty training. My 8 year old was trained by 2-1/2 and never looked back at diapers. My now three year old however still wears pull ups at night and has accidents every now and then. I never thought of it as "training" rather more like "showing" them the basics like when to go, where, how. Yeah seems silly but these little guys don't know all the details that we do - so show them! Once they know HOW to use the potty the eventually WILL use the potty with or without your help how long that takes depends on each child. Just relax with it and your child will too. I also never used the rewards system with treats. Just my take on it! I am actually kind of floored that there are whole books and "methods" on something that just happens naturally!