Comments on: Potty training without Pull-Ups?

By: Linda

Linda — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:46:45 +0000

Okay, so for full disclosure, I do not have kids nor have I ever attempted to assist in potty training. But, after reading his and all of the responses, I have a thought…what would happen if you put on regular underwear with a pull-up/diaper OVER them? The underwear would feel wet, but the pullup would stop the leak. Not sure if it would work, but thought I’d throw the theory out there. Maybe worth a test?

By: jane

jane — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:51:52 +0000

In reply to Karen. Joanna Goddard at Cup of Jo also wrote a post about potty training her 2.5-year-old. She also asked for suggestions from readers, and there were a couple of things I bookmarked for the future. Also,the book "diaper Free Before Three" has a great tutorial on the how-tos of it all.

By: cheryl

cheryl — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:24:10 +0000

My sister in law waited until it was warm to train my nephew. ( I have two girls) She had him outside, naked (LOTS of sunscreen!) with the little potty. He hated the feeling of it running down his leg, so it only took few days!! They use pullups at night. Their doctor told them boys go through growth spurts where their bladders can’t keep up for a while. Good luck!!

By: Hannelene

Hannelene — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:35:48 +0000

I let my older guy run pants free for a week. Needless to say we didn’t leave the house. I set the timer for 30 minutes and put him on the toilet every 30 minutes. He was 2.5 at the time. After that, we went to underwear. In the 9 months since, I’ve cleaned up maybe 10 accidents?

I did get pull-ups for night-time, and he still uses them at night, but since he mostly wakes up dry, I reuse them a few times. I figure we put them on right after bath time, so how dirty could it be?

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:45:29 +0000

I have never used pull-ups as a method of potty training. First you let them go naked. Then you do underwear but no pants for awhile at home. Lots of tries, lots of rewards, lots of praise. If he is ready it should happen fairly easily, if he is not, then take a break for a couple of months and then try again. Mine potty trained at 26 mo, 22 mo, 4.5 yr (major issues!) and finally 26 mo again.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:26:18 +0000

With my daughter, we first tried pull-ups but she just peed in them, like they were diapers. It was pointless. So we went to underwear so she actually felt what happened when she peed. And we stayed home most of the day for a few days or so until it clicked.

My son (now 5) was soooo much easier than my daughter (now 7). I’m not sure if it was his personality that made it easier or if it was that we had more experience since he was our second kid.

Of course, we had the inevitable messes to clean up, but wood or laminate flooring sure makes that easier. And we had them stay off the furniture.

We used pull-ups for nap and bed time and for when we went out of the house until we knew they could hold it long enough to get to the bathroom.

I really think the straight to underwear approach worked best for us because we didn’t need to spend any extra money and the whole process went by faster because they learned to make those connections more quickly.

Don’t be scared. It really isn’t as bad as it seems. And if days go by and it’s not getting any better, then you may need to hold off and try again in a few weeks or so. Good luck!

By: Jenica

Jenica — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 22:25:28 +0000

In our experience, the only thing that works is going straight to underwear. It’s a rough few days, but it clicks. I also recommend having your husband do the whole thing. I was not effective at all. I get too nervous about accidents and too upset and they KNOW. Steve got G potty trained pretty much in a day.

By: Kacie

Kacie — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:56:48 +0000

Hey, at least you have a lot of hard floors! You could even roll up your throw rugs for a little while, and just keep him off furniture unless it is covered in a towel or something.

But push liquids. Many many learning opportunities can be a great thing.

His first pee accident? Play it up like it was so cool that he just peed, and run him to the potty and have him sit. And talk about next time, we try to get to the potty before the pee comes down our leg. lol.

You can do this!

By: Kasey

Kasey — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:51:10 +0000

We aren’t there yet, but my friend’s son basically trained himself at 23 months so tey went cold turkey. In looking at the cloth options I’m intrigued by the flips, but can’t bring myself to buy them. I think we’ll probably use the gerber trainers on one of my school breaks as a compromise with the cold turkey method. If you decide to modify I’m interested to see how that works out.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:22:00 +0000

In reply to Amanda. Thank you! Another vote for the cold turkey method. Sigh. I suppose I shouldn't rule it out entirely, but I am just so scared of it (especially since boys are notoriously tough to train).