Question
4 year old
my four year old will not potty train. and the only advice i get is she will do it when she is ready. That is a problem because she could not start preschool and now can not go to summer camp which cause alot of problem and issue for me. So I need other advice,=. I tried not to make an issue about and read count less books and watch so many vidoe. I also tried letting her run around without clothes for a week . I tried reward. Nothing is working. can someone help please.
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5 Answers
Have you tried telling her she wont be able to do fun stuff at summer camp let alone preschool. Has she seen the places, so she can connect what exactly she will be missing?
I hear you, it was hard for me too because my son wasnt potty trained until he was 3 1.2 and I was freaking out last summer when he started getting ready for school in August, I knew that he had such and such time to get it together on the potty training if he was going to school.
It did happen.
What I did was took away the pull-ups and he had to wear underwear during the day. They need to feel the wettness if they go in their undwear. I had hom go every 2 hours even if he said he didnt need to go. I also had a potty chart, he placed stickers on the chart, Evertime he went, telling him what a big boy he is, tell him that this what mommy and daddy do.
To make you feel better, he still needs help with wiping his butt and he is 4 years old also he still wears a pull up during the night. I hope something works for you. Good luck!
mom to Alex 4 and Haley 1
mom to Alex 4 and Haley 1
Ohhhhh.... how well I know your pain and feelings right now! My little boy didn't fully potty train until he was 4.5 years old. For me it was simply unacceptable but the more I harked on it, the more determined he became to buck me. In the end, what worked?
Well... a combination of a couple of things...
1. Benefiber (almost 15 tablespoons a day - advice from our gastroentronologist) Rivers became impacted because of holding the poop to enrage me, well that is what I thought he was doing. The doctor determined he had no medical reason for not going to the potty. He said it was all psychological and I was most of the problem. He said, "back off, he will go in the potty if you stop with the anxiety." He then told me we need to train the bowels from the brain. Hence... #2
2. A trip to the store to purchase any and all snacks and drinks he wanted for the next 3 days. We had a burial of the pull ups in the backyard and then began drinking and eating ALL DAY! I would tell him how food makes us pee and poop. The message was clear... "we are going to stay clean and dry!" On the first 2 days, I prompted him on the hour to go with me to the potty (no asking). It wasn't hard to go pee and poop because he had a lot of waste in his body to remove. By the third day, he was running to the potty on his own without telling me he had to go. At night, we still pick him up out of bed (sound asleep) and hold in on the potty. He pees and then we put him back in the bed - AMAZING!
3. Finally, back to the Benefiber... Doc says you have to give him the large doses of it between noon and six to train the body to poop at regular intervals. The goal is three to four poopies in that time frame or until about 8pm and NO poopies between 8pm and noon the next day. It really did work. After about 2 months, his poopies started becoming regular and we both knew to get ready for them. He could feel it and I would know to be near a bathroom.
I still give my little one Benefiber (a daily dose - nothing like what I was giving him to cleanse his colon and teach him to feel the poopy sensation at a specific time) to keep him regular because his diet doesn't always have enough fiber.
I hope this post helps you. I know exactly how you feel right now!
Tracey Stuckey
Chief Creative Learning Officer
www.wigglegigglelearn.com
Come Learn and Grow with Us
Tracey Stuckey
Chief Creative Learning Officer
www.wigglegigglelearn.com
Come Learn and Grow with Us
I also let my son wear underwear during the day and that seemed to do it. He did not like feeling wet. I also set a timer for every 15 minutes.
We had a chart in the bathroom and he received a sticker each time he went to the potty. For every 5 stickers he got an m&m. Once he was getting 5 stickers consistently, I moved the amount to 10 stickers etc.
I hope this helps!
The only advise I can give you is do not give up. Keep trying. I know that is not much help but if you give up she wins and just continues to potty in her pants. I agree with the not freaking out about it or getting upset about it because the anxiety can make it harder on the child but if you just keep taking her to the potty and only let her sit there for a minute or two if she does not go no sticker no prize. If she goes reward her of course. I also have used the if you do not go potty on the potty then you do not get to do someting fun. It does not always work but that has been good motivation for my youngest.
The underwear thing works for some but I have one that it did not matter what she was wearing. She new we she went cause she would tell me but she would not go to the potty. And when I would ask her if she had to go she would tell me know and a few minutes later she would wet her pants. So I started taking her to the bathroom every so often most of the time she would fight me and not go and then a few minutes later she would wet her pants then one day she looked at me and ran to the bathroom. Now most of the time she can tell when she has to go and will run to the bathroom only an accdent every once and a while.
Also what has the doctor said? My middle child went back and forth with the idea of going on the potty and when I took her in for her two year check up and she was not potty trained the doctor told me (and I have never heard a doctor say this before) She is two and needs to be going potty on the toilet now. I told him to tell her so he did and with in a week she was trainned day and night. No more diaper and no more pull ups since for her. I think it was just that someone that mom went to and took direction from was telling her this so she knew it must be the right thing to do.
I hope things work out for you soon. It sounds like you are a determined mom and determined moms get things done even if it takes a little longer than we expected.
easy one--- set her on the toilet, give her a magazine- or her favorite book when she s goes potty - hi 5 her .... in 1 week- she be potty trained