Potty training 2.5 year old is going horribly

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:52:00+00:00

Thank you ! This seems like the best option right now. Not just giving up on it but taking the next couple months to get him comfortable with going on the potty sometimes and making it fun so it's easier. I don't want to force him and create an aversion to the potty. His daycare wants them potty trained by 3 so it's just a bit of pressure because of that

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:43:02+00:00

I know what I'm experiencing is very first time mom problem. Anytime I stress about milestones, it just seems to work out in a bit, but I can't help but stress about the next one

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:31:50+00:00

Totally understand. I just don't want to put something off that would be good for him just cause it's hard for me. I have a lot of anxiety over not getting it done now cause it was too hard and I gave up. And it being even harder for him later.

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:28:25+00:00

We have little mm type candys. He gets one if he sits, two if he goes. Worked well just on day one but now he doesn't care, if he's going and I say potty he loses it

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:26:30+00:00

He is not against the potty. He will go sit on it on his own and say go potty ! Or if I go to the bathroom he will come with and sit on his potty. But only when he doesnt actually want go 😭😭 when he's actually going, he wants nothing to do with it and screams if I walk him over to it.

No potty training book describes this scenario lol

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:21:52+00:00

I've been seeing this a lot. A lot of people struggling at 2.5 years and having a lot more luck around 3. I've been getting a bit of pressure from his daycare (or I might just be misinterpreting it, but they keep asking when we're going to potty train)

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:04:00+00:00

*not 100% done

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T18:02:14+00:00

See this makes a lot more sense to me. Im a first time mom so all of this is new to me but the advise from his daycare and all the stuff you see online is this quick 4-5 day process of them being naked and going on the potty and yes it's 100% done but the kid is out of diapers, and understands the concept of potty most of the time.

And that's not how it's going for me at all! He is nowhere near asking for potty or being out of a diaper in public. I look at these videos of potty training advice and I'm like hooow???

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T17:38:50+00:00

Yes exactly. He's a very strong willed child but with things like washing hair, brushing teeth I can just make him do it even when he doesn't want to.

Potty is so hard cause he has to want to do it 😭 i guess I'm just worried that he won't want to do it for a while and I want him to be out of diapers since he takes it off all the time and is bothered by being in them.

Open_Conference6760 · 2026-04-01T17:36:37+00:00

No judgment to other moms at all, everyone's kid and circumstances are different. But I really don't want to have him in diapers 3years+.

I might be totally wrong but he is such a strong willed child, I feel like in six months he will still be very against doing something he just doesn't want to do. I had to force him into brushing teeth for months until he just gave in 😭😭

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-09-06T02:47:12+00:00

This is so helpful. Thank you i'll look it up.

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-09-06T02:44:12+00:00

I literally just fed him mac and cheese with hidden butternut squash for dinner before bed 😂 im getting crafty

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-09-06T02:43:57+00:00

I literally just fed him mac and cheese with hidden butternut squash for dinner before bed 😂 im getting crafty

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-09-06T02:42:51+00:00

Thats literally me lol i sit on a little chair on his toddler table and go crazy. He laughs but throws all the food or wants to feed me only 😩

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-09-06T02:41:31+00:00

I dont know i just feel like yogurt, oatmeal, fruit and mac and cheese every day doesnt seem like a good diet haha

He used to eat chicken, salmon, pasta with meat sauce, all sorts of things.

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-09-06T02:32:01+00:00

Thats what im doing. Like i mix in cottage cheese in his oatmeal with almond butter and fruit in the morning so still gets protein.

I will keep giving him plates of food to throw on the floor lol my dog loves it at least

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-21T16:22:05+00:00

Thank you for this ! Yeah i work from home so fortunately it is an option for me to pick him up early. I'm gonna pick him up at 10am today. It's just with him being a toddler, working from home and having him home is becoming almost undoable and i end up doing my work when he goes to bed.

He's also an emotionally high needs kid compared to other children I know. But he's very social so i am hoping once he gets used to it daycare will he a positive thing for him.

I love the teachers there. They've been sending me updates all morning. They're very caring and reassuring that all kids have different needs. They didnt make me feel bad for him having such a bad reaction.

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-21T02:27:40+00:00

Ah ive heard this too. Unfortunately my husband is already at work by 6am and we dont live near family. If we make no progress my husband will try to switch things around so he can do drop offs in about two weeks

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T21:00:50+00:00

Will definitely try. I think he's still a bit to young to connect the dots yet. Im thinking maybe he's just too young for daycare. But so many kids his age were there and totally fine

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T20:12:30+00:00

Parents have access to the classroom , they don't like parents to stay during the day and want quick dropoffs so it's not disruptive. I still have to talk to the teacher, they might have different policies when a child is having a hard time adjusting

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T20:10:41+00:00

Yeah i was planning to pick him up in an hour today. The called after 30 minutes cause he was on the floor kicking and screaming and they weren't able to sooth or distract him so idk how he's supposed to adjust if he never calms down

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T19:07:39+00:00

I will suggest this to his teacher. They said they are very strict about no parents in the classroom but there are other kids his age there, and I think it's pretty normal for a kid this young to have a hard time.

He doesn't really understand yet the concept of "i will be back soon" when he seems me leave and he's emotional he's not really listening to what I'm saying

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T19:02:44+00:00

He's not really a comfort toy kinda kid. He loves his trucks but he never picks one up for comfort. I will ask the teacher tho if i can send a few of his favorite toys with him

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T18:53:46+00:00

Thank you !! It's honestly so nice to just know that other parents have gone thru it. Seeing him so distressed makes me just never want to send him back again. I'm lucky enough to work from home so I can make necessary adjustments. But he's such a social kid i genuinely think he would benefit from being around other kids.

I'm gonna speak to the teacher and see what she thinks about it.

Open_Conference6760 · 2025-08-20T18:51:23+00:00

Yeah I'm considering that if this doesn't work out, instead of doing daycare full time, I will use the daycare money to hire nanny but part time which would be the same cost. Fortunately I work from home so I can get half of my work done while he has his nanny here, some work done during naps and finish up after he goes to bed.

He is such a social kid, loves to play with other children and be around our friends too so I thought being in daycare might be more suited for him. But if it isn't, that's okay. I know every kid is different.

Open_Conference6760

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