How to make him want to actually sit on the potty?

[AlexanderPandasmum]

DS is 2.1 and we've been reading his potty book for some time - he knows it off by heart and loves to read it. He has been pleased when I bought him training pants and I give him rewards for sitting on the potty, but in order to have a chance of catching anything in it I think I need to get him to sit on it for a bit longer than 2 seconds. I wonder if it's possible that he finds the potty uncomfortable? He also refuses to sit on it.

I was hoping to get somewhere during the Easter hols as I'm a teacher and I work 3 days a week normally (he goes to day nursery). I suppose what I was asking is if anyone has any ideas for getting him to sit on it for more than a few seconds? SO far I have tried bribery (sticker/chocolate button), books, tv, praise, and praising teddy for sitting on the potty.

Any advice gratefully received!

he's still very young - he may not be quite ready yet

It does sound young, they have to be physically ready as I'm sure you're aware. I read about a theory, from the French I believe, that when they can walk upstairs one foot after the other, as opposed to one step at a time IYSWIM that they are physically ready for no nappies. Bizarre it may seem, but I noticed that dd starting walking up the stairs this way around the time she pretty much potty trained herself (didn't really try and it was all done and dusted within a week). Once he is physically ready, let him decorate the potty himself with stickers etc? Some children prefer to miss out potty and go straight to special seat on big boys/ girls toilet?

ooo I don't know about that YumYum - that means I'm about 3 months later getting DS3 going - he's 22 months and has been walking up stairs properly since he was just over 18 months old

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear, wasn't suggesting its as soon as they can do that - just that the theory its an indicator that until then they won't be ready. My dd was a alot later than 2.1

my DS1 was just short of his 3rd birthday (wasn't really ready and took us weeks) but I had DS2 due a few months after and I didn't fancy potty training in winter with a newborn baby.

DS2 was about 2 1/2yrs old.........

Don't know when DS3 will be - although I'm making the rash decision to buy a potty tomorrow -

Make it fun, give him a little chocolate when he sits on it and make a little game thing where you say "quick sit on the potty" and both run to the potty and he can sit on it and get a chocolate. Took 2 bags of chocolates to train my boy (and I ate most of them). Needless to say, you have to make it the funnest thing in the world, sound like you're going to burst with happiness when he sits on it.
I also upgraded the potty to a baby bjorn one that was almost like a seat. It looks so much more comfortable, he actually sits on it sometimes and watches tv. The success coincided with its purchase.
Don't put him in clothes on the bottom half if possible. There will be accidents so put the potty where there's no carpet.
IF you see him doing a wee say "you're doing a wee, quick, sit on the potty!" in a super happy voice. Give choc. Praise. I would also walk the potty to the toilet and flush it away with him like that was great fun.
He is old enough, it will start to look worse before it gets better but don't give up then, it's like the final test, if you go back to nappies you'll slow it all down a lot. Daycare should be really supportive and willing to clean up accidents if you get them involved.

ds never sat on the potty for more than a couple of seconds but would pee into it standing up if you held it under his willy. He never ever pooed on it either as we also got him used to the big toilet and he started pooing there instead. He was using the toilet for pees and poos by the time he was 2.

I never did the bare bottom half thing as then you have to get them used to having clothes on again. I did use pull up nappies so they were esy to get up and down and never went to pants until ds was telling me he needed the toilet even while wearing the pull up. (I didnt use them as pants as such and they were still regarded as nappies)

Hi alexanderpander's mum. We're a cult of "early" potty trainers now at the BLW forum so if you venture back there and do a search for BLPT you'll find tons of posts and we won't tell you Alexander is too young!

For wees you can try letting him stand up and aim for something -- a bit of toilet paper, a small handful of cereal, etc. For poo I found timing a treat when starting out. As soon as he made his poo face we'd suggest he did it on the toilet and if he didn't object, we'd scoop him up, drop his drawers and he'd poo while we read him a book.

There is a lot of evidence that gross motor development and potty training are related, but then there are also people whose children are late walkers who have tremendous success with "early" potty training (pre-12 months with poo, pre-18 months with wee).

We used to bribe get dd to sit on the potty by blowing bubbles it seemed to work .

YumYumMummy, Hmmm, I guess there might be a correlation between better motor skills and increased chance of being successfully toilet trained but the link would be increased age of child not between the bladder and leg muscles.

My DD was clean at 9 months and dry from 12 months and she still struggles to walk up stairs one foot after another at 2.7 years old.

To the OP, sounds like you are doing fine, just keep on going. You could try a training seat on the toilet your DS might find it more comfortable. Try putting him straight on the potty after naps and first thing in the morning and you are more likely to catch a wee.

Good Luck.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

I have seen the BLPT section, Ches, and read it with interest. However, his main stumbling block (even with timing it) is that he physically hasn't wanted to sit on the potty for very long. I really wish I hadn't bought 2 of the same type of potty as he does seem to have difficulty sitting on it (lowering himself very slowly as it slides away from him).

I have had some success this morning and yesterday with lots of praise and putting a short (10 minutes) programme on CBeebies (recorded) and giving a chocolate button. He did not do anything but he did sit there for quite a few minutes.

I am not sure what to do now as I don't want to do pants until he is sitting well and reliably. If I don't get too far over Easter I suppose there's always summer.

Another idea, because I did the "pantless" way, as soon as he was able to run with me to the potty I would prompt him to say "wee wee" so when he wore his undies, if I heard that i'd run with him to help pull them down. I'm sure you've thought of all this, as a teacher break all the steps down, and plan accordingly!
When he sat there watching tv I'd call that a huge success, from that stage my DS caught on very quickly. If you think you'd prefer to start pants now, I'd go for old fleecy bottoms without undies so he'll be very aware he's wetting himself but wont be cold in between. You'll go through a few pairs so it'd depend on his wardrobe and your washing!