Hey Mama's! So my 3.5 YO was potty trained when he turned 3 but we moved in September so he digressed back.

Question

Hey Mama's!  So my 3.Hey Mama's! So my 3. 5 YO was potty trained when he turned 3 but we moved in September so he digressed back. We got back on the horse a few months later but he continued having accidents until a few weeks ago and our pediatrician recommended we move him back to pullups and try again later. We're going to try again but wanted to see if there are any tricks or incentives that worked for you with staying power? It seems like non-treat related incentives don't work terribly well but I don't want him eating a ton of junk all day. Thanks!  

Answer 1

I too have a 3. 5 year old boy and we have been at this for 11 months! We have weeks of success followed by less successful weeks. Clearly I don’t have words of wisdom for you, but I just wanted to let you know you’re not struggling alone.  

Comments

@fridlund solidarity! It's helpful to know we're not the only ones so thank you  

Answer 2

I just finished training my 2 yo, it took 2 days. 2 m&ms every pee on the potty, 1 mini chocolate every poop on the potty (poop is a work in progress as she has some pretty extensive GI issues but the 2 candy limit worked for her and by the end of day 2 I stopped saying anything about the candy and she didn’t ask either. I think I’m an entire week she MIGHT ask for the candy 3 or 4 times. It worked for us, but every kid is different.  

Answer 3

We did a treat bin. Healthy favorite snacks, an unhealthy snack, sweet treats and little toys. It worked really well for both of our stubborn boys. Each day, it would be refilled to start again. One boy went for the toys first (mostly hotwheels and some LEGO guys) and the other loved the food (both the healthy and unhealthy options).  

Comments

Pee and poop were one selection and both would equal 2 selections.  

---

@beaton Ooooo I like this, thank you!  

---

Andi, we had tried other things with our older son and no luck. The treat bin did the trick. Good luck!  

Answer 4

I found a massive bag of hot wheels at my moms house and started handing them out every time he’d go sit on the toilet and even attempt to potty. Worked great! He’s the same age.  

Answer 5

If you are using heavy cotton underwater, than stick with that. At that age it could really backfire if you just go back to pull ups. Any peer interactions will require potty training (classes, preschool). Just keep those underwater in a basket of shelf the bathroom, with a pack of easy to get wipes and extra pants (elastic - no buttons or zippers, just easy enough to pull up on his own). Let him clean up after himself if he has an accident (with assistance of course if he is poopy). It may just be that your guy just can’t make it. you want it to be an intrinsic reward (pride) and only he knows when he has to go to the bathroom so you don’t want him to become dependent on you reminding him, he needs to listen to his body. If it becomes a power struggle then things may go backwards so keep it up and stay consistent - no stress. . Kids this age can certainly clean up after themselves (wipe a floor or take their pants off and change.  

Comments

@riedel768 awesome, good advice thank you!  

---

My almost 3 year old has been potty trained since she was 2, but regressed in the last month. At school she was being reminded to go to restroom and try every 1 or 1. 5 hrs, and was doing great at home too and going on her own when she felt the urge. Now I have to remind her to go before going outside, sitting to watch tv, before or after a meal, otherwise there's an accident that happens. A few days ago I had a talk with her about rewarding her with butterflies on her wall (a butterfly design cut out of construction paper), and told her I'll add one (paper cut one) every day she doesn't have an accident because big girls are clean, and only clean girls get decorations on their wall. I've been desperate and that's what came to mind. She didn't have an accident yesterday. Lots of reinforcement for good habit. When she has been having accidents, we tell her that we're sad, and ask her where she needs to pee/poop. She is in diapers at night only. Glow in the dark stars is what my son has and it worked.  

---

@acrylic10 thank you!  

Answer 6

We did a reward chart with 10 spaces. We picked out a toy that he would get once he filled in all the spots with a sticker and placed a picture of the toy in the 10th spot. He got a sticker in a space only when he went poop on the potty. Once he filled up the spaces, he got the toy. Worked like a charm. Each time he went pee, he got one chocolate chip  

Comments

@false Thank you lady! Hope all is well with you mama  

Answer 7

I have an almost 4 year old girl and it’s the same story ever since we moved here in February. She just wouldn’t go to the potty in the new house. We kept trying but were unsuccessful. This weekend we made up our minds to try again harder and she is finally back to underwear and pees in the potty. However no luck with pooping yet. After 2 days of her not pooping, we had to give up and give her a pull up. I don’t know how we will train her to poop. So what worked for her was rewarding with candy once she does it successfully. It didn’t work with pooping but we will try again.  

Comments

@manilla yes same, good luck to you!  

---

@lehmann thanks a lot! Good luck to you too!  

Answer 8

We started with jelly beans or skittles but didn’t love the idea of all the candy so we switched to those mini marshmallows. 1 for pee and 2 for poop and she was just as happy with those as the candy and I felt better about it ‍♀️