Teaching my 2yo to use the potty - anyone else attempting this?

Dec 121 min read

So we got one of those little potty seats for our son (he's 2.5) mostly because he started showing some interest. He's pretty hit or miss with it. Some days he'll sit on it like 5 times and nothing happens, other days he actually goes and then acts like he invented toilets.

My wife thinks we should push it more but it feels too early honestly? Plus we've got a newborn now (6 weeks) and I'm not trying to juggle potty training AND a screaming infant. Thoughts on whether we should press forward or just chill for another year or so?

9 comments107 views

Comments(9)

FFrank D.RegularDec 13

The potty seat vs standalone potty battle is real. Have you tried letting him watch you? Sounds weird but our pediatrician said normalizing it helps way more than sitting him on the thing and expecting magic.

DDex J.New DadDec 12

Dude some days mine sits on it for like 10 minutes and does nothing then immediately pees in his diaper. I've learned to just... not stress about it. They all get there eventually.

MMike T.RegularDec 13

The little potty seats are great but also make sure he's got a step stool for the regular toilet too. My 2yo eventually preferred the big toilet with the seat reducer because it felt more "grown up"

KKeith L.RegularDec 13

2.5 is pretty young honestly, don't stress too much about hit or miss. My son didn't really get consistent until closer to 3. The fact that he's interested is the main thing - some kids aren't ready until way later

NNeil C.New DadDec 14

Don't rush it. I pushed mine too hard at 2.5 and we had regression city. Backed off for a few months and tried again and it was so much smoother. Every kid's ready at different times

AArchie K.RegularDec 14

2.5 is early but if he's interested that's the main thing. We waited til 3 with our son and honestly wish we'd started earlier because he picked it up faster. The hit or miss phase lasted like a month for us then it clicked.

TTom P.RegularDec 14

Real question: how often are you actually sitting around watching him try? Because I felt like I was camping out in the bathroom constantly and it was driving me insane

JJosh E.RegularDec 15

What's your reward system? We did stickers and it was like hitting the lottery when he actually went. Not sure if that helped or if we just got lucky with timing lol

LLuca P.RegularDec 15

Sitting on it 5 times a day with nothing happening is actually progress though. He's building the routine. We did a lot of sitting and reading books together before anything actually happened