How to potty train a boy? (And tricks and tips))

[Pottysaurus]

Apologies if this isn't appropriate to ask and for the sheer ignorance but I'm not really sure who else to ask and i can't find any information online that goes into the details. Potty training dd a few years ago was easy but I'm wondering what are the technical (!!!) differences between potty training a boy and a girl. My little boy is 2 years and 10 months now.

1. I have read that boys should start peeing sitting down. So can he just sit down and start peeing or do I need to point his penis downwards? I assume if that is required he wouldn't be able to hold his penis himself in the beginning?

1a. Should he bend forward while sitting so the stream of urine is directed into the potty?

1b. Do I wipe or dab his penis with toilet paper or shake it or anything else to clean up?

1. Are underpants at this age (almost 3) unisex or do boys need a different shape? In the shop they looked the same to me and they weren't labelled as boys/girls pants so I guess it doesn't matter? I picked ones with dinosaurs and footballs on them to be on the safe side. 🙄😂

1. Do you recommend any particular type of underpants that make it either easier or are more comfortable (and more forgiving in case of accidents so nothing very loose...)?

1. When they are pooing do they pee as well so do I need to continuously hold his penis down in case he needs to pee?

1. There is no difference in the potty itself, right? I mean I couldn't find e.g. elongated potties that might make it easier for boys?

1. He's keen to start trying but he isn't showing any signs of readiness. He sometimes tells me after he has pooed but never before that or during. He doesn't go into a corner or anything else to show he is aware of what he is doing. I also dont think he is as "advanced" as dd was at this age in terms of comprehension and language. I'm still tempted to try because I'd like him to be mostly potty trained before he joins pre school in September.

1. Are there any good picture books particularly for boys? We've got the princess polly and the Lulu one and have read them to him. Both of them are great but are aimed at girls. I saw there is a pirate equivalent to the princess polly one but does it talk about technical differences or is the only difference that pirate pete is a boy?

1. Did you use pull up nappy pants for any length of time? With dd i used the pull ups for going out for the first few weeks and in the night but I've seen that people dont recommend them as it might confuse kids.

1. Any other tips? What method worked best for your ds?

Thanks so much.

We stuck a potty in the bathroom pointed and said 'wee wee' then left him to it

I did wonder if I might be overthinking the whole thing.😂

Please tell me your method worked. I so want it to be as easy as that!!

Following as I am in the same boat

We were straight on toilet.

Yes to pointing Willy down as it will go over the seat. I only had t show DS once or twice then he knew to do it.

We also dabbed with toilet roll for a little bit he soon realised to sit for few moments longer.

Sometimes, not always he'll wee whilst having a poo.

No idea about underpants tbh, I picked some fun ones though from boys section.

Only use pull ups for night time

One comment I would say is that if your son isn't showing signs of being ready I might hold off for a bit. We had to give up on potty training for our son on our first try as he generally wasn't interested and wouldn't sit still on the potty - it was quite stressful for all concerned! We had felt a bit pressured as relatives were commenting about him still being in nappies and continued to do so but for us it was better to wait a bit. When he was ready - about six months later - it was very quick and easy. By that point he had grown too big for our potty and just used the normal toilet with a trainer sear and step stool.

It doesn’t sound like he’s ready to try yet. It’s great that he’s interested but it’ll be frustrating for you both if he doesn’t have that awareness yet.

We haven’t had to do any pointing down, he does it himself. He’s pretty good at it. Usually pees standing up but can happily do it sitting down too, and always sits if he’s pooing as well. It took him a couple of days to get it, now he’s solid.

Pull ups at night are fine - he’s unlikely to be able to be dry at night for a while - but not in the day. You’ll confuse him about when he can pee and when he needs to hold.

You can try a potty like this

amzn.eu/d/89bocEK

The green bit flips up so even if they wee a little up it goes into that and it goes back into the bowl. You just tip out the green insert.

See how you go and deal with issues if they come. Some don't want to sit and go straight to toilet for wees, some will sit happily. Roll with whatever and just see what happens

Sorry, I think you're overthinking it quite a bit! Yes, sit him down but no need to do anything else with his penis. Take a square of toilet roll and pat him dry (get him to do it - my son loves going pat pat)

Would really recommend Pirate Pete. I haven't read Princess Polly but I would assume it's pretty much the same. It's my son's favourite book, months later.

We use nappy pants at night, but make sure you call them "bed time pants" instead of nappies

I followed Amanda Jenner's Potty Training Magic - it's a pants-on method instead of half naked. Worked really well for us.

Best of luck!

Thanks for posting this!
I'm in the same boat also. Except twin boys. They're showing no signs of being ready but I'll absolutely save this post. God help us 😂

Don't overthink the penis. You'll find out if he needs to push it down or not. Sitting down is more for convenience for you. IME they get wildly excited about being able to do a standing up wee and want to try it out all the time, so vv useful for cajoling reluctant ones. For DS1 we used to "do a wee on a weeto" because they float and flush harmlessly, gives them something to aim at.

DS3 (2.9) has become a bit phobic of the idea of going nappyless after having 2 perfect potty training days just before Easter so we have left it for a bit but recently DH has managed to get him to try for a "bath time wee" and then a "bedtime wee" and then in the last week also a "morning wee".

Nursery are keen for us to send him in in pants so we are going to work on the idea of a "nursery wee" next

IME girls' pants are a bit thinner and close-fitting, whereas boys' ones (brief style not boxer style) are quite loose and slightly thicker fabric. In Primark they have separate sections. Favourite characters/letting them choose their own pants can be quite good. It is useful to size slightly up so they aren't too tight to pull up and down.

With my boys I saw a tip to put cheerios in the toilet and let them do target practice - they have a great aim! I have never had to wipe the toilet after them, so it must have worked 😁

Re wee and poo at the same time - adult men also sit to wee if they are pooing.

Re potty - that big bit at the front stops wee accidents.

Re loo - it’s tricky, but if you have any sort of child loo seat on loo they are usually shaped to help protect from directional accidents

Re sitting in general - you’d be surprised how many boys and men don’t bother with standing up to wee

Girls vs boys pants - they are always different as far as I remember l. Different shape completely and style and colours

Just done this at a similar age (for the second time) and I found the following helpful

Couple of days at home, no pants. There was too much screen time but older one was ill and younger spent lots of time sitting on the potty in front of the TV and "accidentally" doing it in the potty and getting the hang of how that felt

We told him that wees and poos go in the toilet and flush away to play with each other in the sewer. He loves this. He's particularly keen on going to the potty when someone else is using the toilet so the wees can flush together 😅

We have a wee dance song and a poo dance song and when he did one on the potty or toilet we had a happy dance and high fives

He had a special toy promised for a whole week of no accidents

Lots of positivity for getting it right and try not to get frustrated with inevitable accidents - they often have a few over the next months.

Thanks everyone. He kept asking so we put him on the potty yesterday. He looked at us very excitedly and asked if he'd gone yet. He seems to think thst the moment you sit on the potty a wee or poo happens and he hasn't figured out thst it's actually something he controls. I don't think he's ready yet.

I'm not sure if we should still go ahead or wait a bit longer. I'm worried he won't be potty trained by the time he joins pre school.

These are brilliant. We'll definitely do the dance and tell him about wees and poos playing in the sewer.

Did your son show any signs of readiness before you started potty training?

Nice day in the garden, water the roses, etc. put potty on the grass too, praise greatly.

Get him to sit on the potty backwards. The back of the potty is higher. Therefore will cover more splashes! It comes out with force!

Also no you don't need to hold it down for him.

Books - no more nappies

We never used a potty with DS. We targeted a BH weekend when both DH and I were off work and the weather was good.

We spent the 3 days in the garden with DS who had just turned 2. At first he kept wetting himself as he couldn’t get to the toilet in time but soon learned what needed to be done.

After that long weekend I can’t recall him ever wetting himself again. It took him a week or so to get used to having a poo on the toilet sitting on his trainer seat but nothing too stressful.

Google the 3 day potty training method. It worked a treat for us although I do appreciate we may just have been lucky as we only have 1 DC so no idea if works in all cases.

@Pottysaurus not really. He was fairly happy in a nappy or pull up. But we went for cold turkey and put the date on the calendar and counted down to it and he was getting really excited to be a big boy

Once he started wearing trousers again after "the nudey days" as they were called 😂, we made a big thing of how special it was, so every time we were going out the house we'd do a big performance of "I need to pack the nappy bags .. oh hang on, I don't, you're wearing pants! Yeeeah" and he'd be all proud of himself. Just all part of making it positive 😉

With both my ds's I had to wait until they were ready, but once they were they were potty trained within a couple of days.

With ds1 he was almost 3 and the lure of being able to wear Thomas the Tank Engine pants if he kept them dry was enough to convince him to I use the toilet (we used an insert on the toilet seat with both rather than a potty as they seemed to like it better).

With ds2, he was about 3.5 and it was the idea that he needed to be dry before he could go to his friend's house for a play-date. Again, he was dry within a couple of days.

Don't stress it. They'll all get there eventually. You're not going to have a teen still in nappies 🤣😂

There's far too much pressure on them reaching certain milestones by certain ages.

My son was exactly 3 and it took 2 days. My twin girls were exactly 2 and it took a couple of days too. It's all about readiness. So if you wait a couple of months, he's more likely to be ready and you don't need to be worried about it taking months (ie until September).

I don't know if this is the case for all boys, but with my DS we did have to make sure his willy was pointing down before he started peeing. He won't have to hold it down once it's pointing the right way! The Pirate Pete book is exactly the same as the Princess one but with a boy.