Comments on: Potty Training, x2

By: lknoxie

lknoxie — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 04:41:51 +0000

I have boy/girl 33 month old twins and we are “pee deep” in potty training! My daughter pretty much started it herself and has done great with only a few accidents. My son on the other hand….hmmmm…..that’s another story. He needs to be coaxed and reminded and has accidents (two today!) unless there is a lot of “d oyou have to use the potty?” going on. I think he can physiologically handle it because he can go all night with a dry diaper but, it is just too much for him to stop playing to go use the potty. We originally started around 21 months when there was some interest but, they both quickly lost interest until a few months ago. We started then with the musical potty and the novelty quickly wore off, where they are hard pressed to use it today. It is now an “I’m first…No, I’m first” battle for the “big” potty. We do have two bathrooms, but they of course want to use the same one at the same time so the logistics, especially first thing in the morning, do get tricky. Good luck!

By: bmiad

bmiad — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:32:28 +0000

My boys were very different. They were both peeing on the potty a lot by age 2, but O was totally reliable by 2.5. On the other hand, he JUST started pooping on the potty regularly a couple of months ago. N has been pooping on the potty exclusively since early 2′s, but still has a urine accident at least once a week. He poops at about 9 AM like clockwork, whereas his bro does it whenever. One approach is to read to them when they’re on the potty – my boys were so book-obsesses that always worked. That at least saves on diapers, and gets them in the habit. I think 2.5 is a touch age to start -0 so oppositional. Maybe it’s better before or after that period?

By: Mel

Mel — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:18:50 +0000

My twin girls have hit milestones differently, but not dramatically differently until just after 2 years old. “M”, who hit milestones earlier in the first year (turning over, crawling, walking) now seems to be the one who is further behind at many things, verbal, cognitive skills and potty training. “A” wanted to wear big girl underpants and use the potty and has been pretty fully trained (in the daytime) for about 6 months (they are about 3 years, 3 months). “M” absolutely refuses. She does not want big girl underpants and insists we put on a diaper. Our son who is 1 and a half shows more interest!

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:55:20 +0000

I have boy/girl twins who just turned 3 last week. They are as different as could be right down to how they eat, sleep and play, but they hit all the milestones together. . I was actually hoping that with my daughter so excited that my son would at least want to see what she was doing. He didn’t care at all. She practically trained herself. He didn’t care until a few months later his sister kept asking him why he liked diapers. She took him and showed him how it all worked ( I stayed back) and from then he just sort of did it. He did have accidents (oh boy he had accidents) but eventually he caught on and (I’m searching for wood now) hasn’t had an accident in months. They were both trained by 2 1/2. I was so happy it worked out cause this and switching to big beds were the 2 things I had been dreading from day 1!
My older son was really hard to train too, I think it just has to be a boy thing. I think too that generally girls like to be cleaner and that just helps out with potty training. good luck with your little ones. It will all happen in time!

By: LauraC

LauraC — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:09:51 +0000

Lucky! Self-potty training!

My boys have always hit milestones at different times. Alex is more physical and Nate is more verbal. Alex was crawling at 6 months, walking to 10 months while Nate was crawling at 9 months, walking at 13 months.

I expect potty training will be the same. Alex shows great interest in the potty and wants to wear underwear while Nate cries if he has no diaper on and realizes he needs to pee.

By: kj @ where my boys at?

kj @ where my boys at? — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:41:20 +0000

My twin boys (nearly 3 years old) were early for their walking, very late for talking, and still good for their height and weights.
(My older son was trained just before turning 3 and I don’t remember it being that hard…)
I’m struggling to start potty training with the twins because the task seems soooo overwhelming to me. I’m a sahm and I still don’t want to attempt this. The mess! The accidents! ugg. Maybe it’s my subconscious telling me that they aren’t ready… maybe I’m just a big chicken.
-Matthew seems ready, will hop on potty whenever asked. But does not mind diapers.
-Eric wants nothing to do with the potty. Nothing.
Hubby wants me to start with Matthew to get him trained and hopefully Eric will want to do it too. I just can’t get myself to start….

By: Kerrie

Kerrie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:01:41 +0000

My dear, sweet Godchildren, S. & Z… (boy/girl twins) reached all early milestones within days of each other with the exception, like Maddie & Riley, of potty learning. S. (girl) just took things in her stride at about 26 months, instigated using the potty and never missed a beat. Z. (boy), behaved similarly to Riley, just wasn’t interested one scrap and couldn’t care that his sister was doing something he wasn’t. Their Mum wasn’t at all perturbed, didn’t mind a bit, didn’t make a big deal of it at all. Their older brother had been around 3 when he began and “got it” straight away so that was what she was ready for.

I believe that in general, boys are a bit slower. I have worked in childcare and paediatric nursing for many years and mostly it’s the case. One of the reasons put forward for that is that their urethra is much longer and therefore harder to get the signals to their brain and gain control over. If there is no pressure then Riley will get it, if he feels he is in control he will probably just move seamlessly into underwear. You seem pretty relaxed about the whole deal and Riley will pick up on that from you. My friend found the greatest “problem” with S. using the potty and Z. not using it were the comments from people in the playground or the shops. She soon gave them what for.

From then on though their milestones were quite different. Their Mum’s biggest dilemma came when it was time to make a decision about school. S. was very much ready to start school, she really needed to be there. Z. wasn’t nearly as ready as her. They turned 5 in January and the school year here starts at the end of that month. Children in Australia are required by law to start school by the time they turn 6, so she had a year up her sleeve if needed.

In the end they both went to school and Z. struggled for the first couple of years…more socially than academically, and still struggles occasionally even now and they start high school next year. Had they been singleton babies then S. would have gone when she was 5 and Z. would have begun when he was 6 but my friend felt that she could not do that to them, could not give her son the idea that some how he was “behind” his sister.

Oops, I digressed…am good at that. Interestingly S. & Z. look nothing alike. Their Dad is Mauritian and has very dark eyes, black hair and olive skin (his mother was French, fair & blue eyed). Z. is the image of his Dad where S. is white blonde, has pale, almost translucent skin and pale blue eyes…(like both of her grandmothers). They don’t really look like siblings at all but I guess being fraternal are no more closely alike genetically than brother & sister.

More digressing…

Twin stuff is fascinating…a geneticists dream, lots of fun.

By: silver

silver — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 05:09:26 +0000

My boys have hit all milestones together, crawling withing 5 minutes of each other and walking at the same time. They are 3 and not potty trained. They aren’t interested so I am not sure what to do, icky messes sound like less fun than diapers.

My daughter will be 18 months in December, maybe I will just train them all together! HA HA!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:56:46 +0000

My oldest son who is now 5 was potty trained at 2-1/2 years and just happened to be easy as pie! No accidents, totally interested and out of diapers at night within days! So Im crossing my fingers for the twins to be that easy! At least one!!! haha
But my b/g twins couldnt be more different as far as milestones! They were about 6 weeks earlier and Carson is doing a lot of things before our oldest son Chad was at his age! He surprises us all!! He’s always done things before Abigail by at least a month or more! Abby just finished up PT for rolling, sitting up, and now crawling. She seems to be doing things more at her adjusted age. I have to admit it is a little hard to see her so far behind him. I just have this feeling of her being ‘left out’. They’ll be 1 on the 15th and she still hasnt mastered crawling! BUT socially, she’s my little talker and mimics like crazy! I personally think she knows how to do these things like crawl and is just a lot more stubborn and wants to do it on her own time! : )

By: haillow

haillow — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 02:20:44 +0000

I have twin girls, and we waited until they showed interest at 3. Hailie decided she was ready first, and she was accident-free very quickly. Willow wasn’t ready until she realized that Hailie got to wear underwear all day. That was enough to get her going on the potty training, and a few weeks later she was trained as well.

It seemed to work out like everything else with twins… they always want what the other has!