Won't wee on potty or toilet after three weeks of potty training

[eatabix]

Help! I'm beginning to loose it! My DS, holds on to everything (1s and 2s) for hours until he lets everything go in his nap time nappy or night sleep nappy. We've be going at this three weeks and he'll happily sit on the potty for ages but nothing happens.

My DS at 2.5 decided, since we'd bought some rather cool fireman pants that he wanted to get cracking with wearing them. The first few days went to be expected, mostly wet accidents and one muddy one and lots of trips to the toilet where we read stories, sang songs etc. But no success.

After a week i bought a potty, deciding that perhaps the toilet was a bit ambitious and he managed a dribble and then a couple of days later I was so excited as he finally did a wee but that was two weeks ago and since then nothing. He just holds it to the point at which he's hopping about - he can go about 5 hours. He asks for the potty so he seems to understand it's purpose and occasionally he asks for a nappy but he just can't let it go. It's heart breaking watching him sit there saying 'Come out wee wee' and then getting nowhere.

Any advice? I'm wondering if we should just go back into nappies? I've heard people say one day it will just click for him but... I don't know. I'm feeling low, like all I've succeeded in doing is making him more dependent on nappies not less.

He's still very little. My antenatal group of ten babies are all roughly 2.9 and only three are toilet trained, and only one boy of those.

We tried at 2.5 with no luck. Four months later DD is now dry, she 'got it' almost overnight.

I would go back to nappies for now.

Ah that's good to know. I feel like such a failure! Thank you for the support. All you ever seem to hear from other people is how quickly their child potty trained, nobody ever seems to talk about the false starts they had.

He was a nursery today and went almost 6 hours holding it all in. I'm beginning to think he only wees in his sleep - it can't be good for him!

That said I asked him today whether he preferred pants or nappies and he firmly told me pants... he may take a dim view of going back to nappies.

Oh it's so difficult to know what to do...

Have you tried reading to him when he's on the potty? Perhaps a potty book - we've got the Princess Polly one but there is a boy's version too - it may come out if he's distracted?! You hang in there too!

3 weeks is nothing especially when he's quite young. I would go by his lead. He could start by putting on a nappy while sitting on the toilet so he gets used to the feeling of letting go happening in that place?

I started potty training at 18 months (all down to him, no persuasion here) he wouldn't wear nappies at home and would use the potty (like your son would hold it for hours though and ended up severely constipated) but couldn't wear pants or he would forget and wee them then at 23 months he put a pair of pants on to go out refused a nappy and that was that! Hasn't had an accident and now totally clean day and night at 2.4, it does just click! Follow them and don't push for anything

That post sounds big headed I was getting at it took some months but one day it did just click