Question

How can I get my 3 year old son interested in the toilet and out of diapers?

I've been trying to potty train my 3 year old son since he was 18 months and no matter what I try he doesn't seem interested in getting out of diapers and using the toilet instead.

I keep telling him that if he uses the toilet instead of pooping and peeing in his diapers then he'll be much more comfortable instead of having to poop and pee in the diaper and wear it until it's changed.

But he doesn't seemed bother by poop and urine filled diapers at all and in fact even when his diaper is dirty or wet he refuses to get his diaper changed and it's a struggle.

He screams and throws a fit when it's diaper change time and would wear the wet and dirty diaper forever if he was allowed too.

How can I get my 3 year old son to use the potty so I can get him out of diapers?

Answer 1

At 3 he still may not be exactly ready and no amount of forcing the situation will help him further to get out of diapers.

He'll eventually get it and want to be out of diapers soon.

My brother didn't fully potty train or become interested in the toilet until he was 4 and 6 months of age and that's okay too but eventually he decided he wanted to go to the toilet instead.

My mom never pushed the issue and just let him lead the potty training.

If he isn't potty training after 4 then you might have to push the issue and remove the diapers completely and not let him wear diapers at all.

Disposable diapers today are very absorbent and he may not even feel wet even though the diaper is saturated and some kids actually like the feel of poop in their diaper so that could be it.

If his dad is around maybe have him try to teach him the basics of using the toilet.

When you change his diaper leave the new diaper off and set him on the toilet and tell him that he should be using the toilet for peeing and pooping instead.

You'll likely deal with messes but never give in and put the diaper back on because that just reverses things and makes it harder to potty train him.

Answer 2

It's no wonder kids today don't really care about wearing diapers even when wet because the diapers today are so absorbent that the kid is unlikely to feel wetness and only feels the swelling of the diaper.

When you change his diaper next when wet put your finger onto the absorbent part of the diaper especially if it's Luvs, Huggies or Pampers and feel for wetness.

Your finger will likely not feel the wetness of the diaper and that's what your son feels.

Your son has no incentive to be in dry underwear because he's already basically dry but just wearing a swollen diaper.

Now for the poop yes some kids enjoy the feeling and texture of the poop on their bottom so that could be another reason.

What you need to do is remove the diaper from him and never put another diaper on him again and just put him in regular underwear or those cloth training pants where he'll feel wet.

When he does feel wet then he'll have more of an incentive to potty train.

When I was a baby I wore cloth diapers and was potty trained at 18 months because the old cloth diapers actually felt wet and not dry like the disposable diapers today.

So for those parents who worry about a wet diaper at night it's really no problem because the baby or toddler isn't really feeling the wetness anyway because it's locked into the SAP super absorbent polymere which is what those diaper crystals are.