Is my kid trying to potty train himself?!

Question

I was hoping to wait until summer to potty train to do the whole pants-free out in the yard for 3 days to minimize mess, but I think my LO is trying to potty train himself 😩 he tells us every time he pees or poops in his diaper and wants to be changed immediately. We ask him if he wants to go potty and he says "no!" but that's his favorite word right now. SOS. do I need to pull the trigger and potty train now?

Answer

A few days of cleaning up messes is waaaay better than changing diapers for half a year in my opinion! 
We have potties in both of our living rooms and he spends time naked every day. He’s confident to pee on his potty but prefers to poop in diapers. He’s not as ready as your toddler sounds - give it a go! Maybe there won’t be any messes at all if he’s so keen!

Answer

We have been having naked time and encouraging him to go poop after breakfast on a little potty and have had a lot of success with pooping and had one per accident so far but he told us immediately. We have to watch him carefully though and prompt him to use the potty when he gets his “poop eyes.” I read you aren’t supposed to offer rewards but my lo did NOT want to sit on that damn potty so we started giving him rewards for sitting and going potty. It has turned into a fruit snack AND a sticker but I want to be done with diapers so I am okay with it if we get to diaper free life. We are saying bye bye to diapers starting tomorrow (except during nap). We are going to try hard for four days (fri-mon because I work Tuesdays and Thursdays) and see where we get to. Good luck!

Answer

We have definitely been bribing our son with fruit snacks. At first it was if he sat on the potty he got 1 and if he goes pee or poop in it he gets 2. It took one day and now he has no problem sitting on the potty.
He does much better without any undies on and will run to the potty to use it virtually unprompted. We have a little potty we carry around with us in the house.
He has had some accidents with undies on but has gone on a few outings staying dry. And only one accident peeing on the bathroom floor, it was almost like he didn't realize he was peeing but promptly ran and sat on the big toilet to finish peeing. With any accidents I tell him it's ok, we can just try again later.
One thing that really helped get the idea across was pretend playing with his favorite toys that they are going potty on the toilet. I would hold one over and make pee noises and tell it good job for potting on the toilet and pretend give it a treat. He then takes one and has it pee on the floor which I respond oh no little blue, we don't potty on the floor. Baby, can you show little blue where he can go potty? When he has little blue pee on the potty I praise little blue and my son. It's pretty adorable, he has his toy pee on the floor and looks at me for my reaction 😂

Answer

We’re currently trying the pants off thing and I have to say, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. My son had been showing signs of readiness right before his second birthday, however after like a day or 2 of doing really well on the potty it’s like he looses interest and refuses to sit on the potty anymore, which makes me think he’s not fully ready. But he will tell me when he goes pee or poop and sometimes even before he does it. Sometimes he will say “mommy change butt” when he needs a diaper lol. I’ve always heard there is a window for potty training and if you miss it’s harder (this probably isn’t true but I’m not willing to risk it 😂). 
Anyway, someone recommended the pants off method and this has worked best for my son so far. He has yet to full blown pee on the floor. He will start to go sometimes and catch himself then run to the potty- most of the time without even saying a word to me. I’m noticing he is getting better at catching it before he starts. & he has also started pooping on the potty which he never did with any of the other methods we tried. I have only had 1 poop mess so far and that’s because he tried to hold it so he could play 🤣 but as soon as he started going he ran to the potty and finished his business. Not saying it works for all kids, but don’t rule it out completely. Good luck!  🤞🏻

Answer

He definitely could be starting to get ready! Maybe introduce the potty and see what happens. My daughter was telling me when she pooped and was using the potty consistently back in September. She would even tell me when she had to pee and would go on potty! It was going so well for 4 days that I started to put her in regular underwear. Then she had one big accident and that was the end of it. She hasn’t wanted to do anything with potty training every since. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Is my kid trying to potty train himself?!

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