Nearly 5 year old

[Mumofsend]

My nearly 5 year old is approx 12-18months behind so 3.5-4 developmentally

I have been utterly tearing my hair out re toilet training him and feel I have tried so many things I've lost the plot on basics

We have finally got to the point he will sit on the toilet but hasn't yet done a wee nor a poo on it. He has weed on my floor and on the sofa today instead and literally doesn't care. It took a year to get him to sit on the toilet.

I was going to start taking him every x minutes but wasn't sure how often or how long to leave him on the toilet. Any ideas on times?

The best thing to do is to make a note of when he eats/drinks and when he has an accident so you can get an idea on his timing and work to that schedule.

For the time being I would do a 3-5 minute potty trip every half an hour. Make the potty trip fun and take his mind off the job in hand/help him relax enough to 'let go'. Reading a story each time is good, blowing bubbles is fun and can help relax their muscles, let him have a screen for the time on the potty if needed. You want to make the potty time enjoyable. Don't push it too hard, if he needs to get up before time is up/doesn't want to go every half hour don't push it.

When we were training DD we used to get her to clean up puddles and wet patches to show her that it took longer that way than if she went on the potty. Not shaming her but getting her to wipe up with a cloth, take wet clothes to washing machine etc, saying oh dear we have to stop playing to sort it out, we could have used the potty quicker'. Basically making it boring for her. Don't know if that helps!

I really struggled to potty train ds. In the end I set the cooking timer for 15 mins and after that he had to sit on the potty. I worked out fairly quickly that was too often and I think 90 mins was about right. By day 4 when he heard the timer he got himself on the potty, by the end of the week almost all wee was on the potty. We did have to stick with the timer for a couple of weeks