DS is 4 next month and is not potty trained AT ALL!

[nikki1978]

Help! I have tried on and off for the last 18 months to get DS to potty train (only tried about 4 times altogether as with DD I left her to it and she got there in the end so I thought it would be the same here). He is a bit stubborn about sitting on the potty but I can get him to sit on it ok. If he goes around with no bottoms on all day and I tell him to sit on the potty once an hour he can go with no accidents. But he still hasn't managed one poo on the potty and he won't do ANYTHING on the potty of his own accord. Earlier he did a poo in his trousers and I asked if he had felt the poo coming and he said no. He doesn't seem to care when he is wet or dirty and can stay that way for ages. When he does do a wee he just does a dribble and rarely seems to empty his bladder even if I ask him to sit back down and try to 'get it all out'.

He starts school in Sept which I am very concious of but I am not pushing him. I have been very laid back about the whole thing and will try for a few days and if it doesn't work he goes back into pull ups and it doesn't get mentioned again.

Nursery are ok having him them there in nappies but keep mentioning when will I try him again and giving me leaflets and print outs on it.

This is getting really frustrating.

I have heard the advice just take away nappies and leave him to it entirely but I honestly think my entire house would be covered in wee and poo and he just would never get there. He just doesn't care!

HELP!!

Well I definitely can't take two days off work as have no holiday left at the moment but my MIL and mum have him the days I am working so I can enlist them. They have a lot more experience than me with 3 children each

Thanks for the comment about the rewards. It feels like you HAVE to give them something sometimes but of course that is not the case really :)

That sounds like a plan.

You will get there in the end - try to keep that in mind when it all seems awful. :)

rewards just don't work for some of them. Dd would move heaven and earth for chocolate but ds just isn't bothered by anything much. Getting the grandparents to do it sounds like a good plan!

I'm sure he'll be fine for school though, September seems really close but it is a fair while away.

Just to add another suggestion about rewards which may or may not help. We had a problem with getting DS to do a poo on the potty/toilet. Eventually I bought a few bits of plastic tat (small cars etc) and put them in a bag, which I showed to him. I told him he could choose something everytime he did a poo on the toilet. He was so desperate to have the toys that he used the toilet. I think it helped that he could see the reward and that it was within reach, rather than being a promise of something later. The bribery approach may not be to everyone's taste, but it worked for us!