Potty training - DC won’t sit on the potty

[ToddlerTornado]

DS is almost 2.5 years, shows the following signs -

Wants nappy changed when full from wee or poo, tries pulling it off and willingly lets me change it.

Saying “wee wee” “poo poo” and pointing down the toilet.

Hiding when going for a poo

BUT he will not sit on the potty, iv tried doing nappy free time and plonking him on it afterwards, to build the potty connection. But he often arches and wont be put on it.

Should I persevere or does he need more time and not quite ready? Having spoken to others with toddlers , nobody else I know is experiencing the not wanting to sit on the potty.

I have tried with the potty and the toilet

Advice needed please!

Try putting a seat on the toilet instead

@casualcrispenjoyer the same applies to the toilet, he wont sit on it

Have you tried a sticker chart, we had one that had a row for sitting down too? Read any potty books or watched some videos?

Have you tried putting the potty infront of the TV or letting him watch something on your phone? It’s recommended in the Gina Ford potty training book, well actually she says to record programs off the TV onto a video because it’s so old, but I figure Netflix is the modern equivalent. Regardless, it worked!

Iam not sure he would understand what a sticker chart is. He is a little behind on communication, which does not help. We have read potty books and watched videos. He hasnt yet made a connection

Surely he can point into the loo for a wee? My ds's loved that bit of potty training.

Our little girl was so distressed about the thought of sitting on the potty or toilet, she screamed and screamed so many times. We did always give up after a pretty short time.

In the end she almost toilet trained herself soon after she turned 3. It happened with very little prompting from us.

Iv had the tv on and potty infront, I have not tried on my phone

He’s not quite ready.
I had this with my second - she stayed at this stage for a few months (2.4 - 2.7) but then started sitting on the potty quite happily from 2.9 months.
Give him time and he will take the lead when he’s ready.

I had this with my middle child. We basically had to go cold turkey on nappies and be really strict that if she wanted to do a wee or poo it had to be on the potty or toilet. We had a few temper tantrums, but she was fully trained in about two days. She understood what her body was telling her, so it was purely that she was worried about using the potty. After the first couple of times it was fine. We made a big fuss of her every time she did a wee or in the potty, so she quickly became proud of herself, which really helped too!

I tried to force it with DC1 at 2.5 years and it was hell but we were told to persevere, regret that now as they weren't dry reliably until much older. DC2 waited until just over 3 and they were dry day and night in 4 days. Id wait OP, don't put them off just encourage them to continue to let you know and when they are ready they will sit on the potty/toilet.

Thanks all , I will give him more time

Definitely if he won’t sit on the potty/toilet he’s not ready. The main sign of readiness is they actually want to do it. Give it 6 months. Keep the potty around. We had it in the bathroom so before baths it was there if they wanted to sit on it. No pressure. It was just an option. Eventually they did. Lots of praise. Eventually they did a wee too. Lots of praise. And then eventually they asked if they could wear pants. We went to the shop and picked some out and they were excited about them and off we went. 2.5 is still quite early for boys. Mine was a bit past 3.

I don't agree he's not ready. My son trained at 27 months and wasn't keen to sit initially, but did hate nappies and I was fed up of battling him to get them on. It sounds like he's well aware of the concept of poo/wee. Has he seen you use the toilet and what comes out?
With my son I took him to get a potty and pants and explained at the weekend you won't have to wear nappies, you will wear pants and all your p/w will go in the potty. We bigged it up a bit, you'll be like your grown up cousin, what a big boy etc. Then the weekend came and he was excited to put pants on. I suggested potty regularly first day, no potty use, I didn't force it, just cleaned up saying calmly every time, p/w doesn't go on the floor, it goes in potty, oh dear look what a mess of your lovely new pants. Second day, I got a bit more firm when there was an accident, asking him to tell me where does p/w go. And we did absolutely everything to encourage potty sitting, in front of TV, with a new book, a new sticker book, a snack. Not rewards for doing it but more a distraction whilst you're doing it- 'ok let's go sit on potty and ooh here's a fun toy whilst you're on it'. Each success we cheered and reminded him how much he was learning and teaching his body to do. By day 3 he'd cracked it no trouble. Though obviously accidents still occurred for about 6 months, mostly when too involved playing and not wanting to listen to me prompting, before he got better at self initiating.

@HiCandles has some really good advice.

There’s no guarantee that he’ll want to do it any more at 3 or 3.5. It might go the other way and he becomes more stubborn. If you’ve given it a really good go for a week and are not getting anywhere then yup he’s not ready but I wouldn’t quit before you’d begun over a reluctance to sit.

We did the TV, and that was the only time they were allowed during potty training so it was pretty persuasive, combined with a basket of random fidget toys. But by all means also try your phone. Also offer the toilet with a seat + steps as an alternative and make sure he sees you using it and bonus points if you have any slightly older kids in the family or amongst friends that he can watch and emulate. He sounds really aware so I bet once you’re over the initial hump of sitting on the potty he'll actually train quite easily.

I had a similar thing with my DD @ToddlerTornado - she didn’t like the potty and never sat on it. We went straight to using the loo with a smaller seat on top. There was something about the instability of the potty she just never liked!