Felt terrible because my boy wasn’t potty trained by 4

I want to write a post about potty training my boy because I think it would help other moms feeling the stress.

We started trying to potty train our son around 2.5/3 because most of our friends started then. Our boy has stomach issues and around that age would have 3/4 diarrhea diapers and we have been to docs, blood testing and allergy testing. Modified diet and now at the age of almost 5 his diapers are getting better. Maybe he had toddlers diarrhea... we are still figuring it out.

Anyways we tried putting undies on him, we were super positive if he had accidents. But after a couple pee and poo accidents he all out refused to put undies on or sit on the potty. When I say refused I mean blood murder screaming and throwing himself around so we couldn’t even come near him with the undies. Then we tried pull ups and he refused those too.

We took a break for a couple weeks... still all out refused.

Then we kept just trying every couple weeks. We read books about it, he watched papa pee... super positive.

At one point, my husband was like “okay let’s just have him go commando or force him to wear them!”

I was totally against it and thought it would have a negative impact. After the first couple accidents, he was basically self injurious... hitting himself.

Suddenly one day I got the idea to try and have him pee in the bathtub standing so he could atleast see himself peeing... and once he did, his face was priceless like “oh that’s what happens!!”

Then I thought “he won’t go on the potty...” well I told him if he goes on the potty he can pick anything he wants at the store. He is going nonstop on the potty now!! He even held it today until we got home and the other day, used a public bathroom. Told me “mama i have to go peepee. I want to use the potty here”

Ugh I could scream with joy. It was years of all our refusing. I got judged by other parents and teachers.

I just have to say if your child isn’t ready, they aren’t ready and that’s okay!! Keep trying diff things, I also thought of the idea of peeing into something like holding it in the potty like a fav cup (I know sounds kinda gross) but only for the first couple times and then they would get comfortable with it.

I’ll never ever judge another parent if their child doesn’t reach a milestone when it’s considered culturally appropriate.