adhd/potty training | ADHD Information

My son, adhd AND sensory integration, had a hard time potty training. It took my putting y foot down to get him to even wear underwear. I finally put an end to bowel movements in a pullup when he turned 5, on his last day of preschool!

Once I put my foot down and made him understand that I was serious, we worked it out together. He has never turned back. He is 10 today and is potty trained.

I believe it was his sensory issues that was getting in the way.

I had someone also tell me to let them be. Noone has ever graduated high school not potty trained. When she is ready, she'll do it.

My son, I still believe, had sensory issues getting in his way, and I didn't realize it until afterwards. I did use a lot of praise and rewards, and even just cuddling and hugging him up!! That always works with my son

My dd with no-ADHD was easy to train at age 2 1/2. I used a method I found on line-potty training in a day or something like that. She loved it. My dd with ADHD at age then 5.5 was still having issues as a result of being in an eastern european orphanage for the 1st almost 5 years of life. The training helped her, too! She started doing much better with not soiling during the day. Try a google search for "potty training in one day." It was really kind of fun. It is very intensive training for a day or two, but it worked! I have had the diapers taken away for almost 2 yrs now and she still doesnt grasp the concept of it. I also kept the potty chair with us. If she was watching tv, I had it in the room. If we were in the yard, it was on the deck. I'd keep trying.  Give her LOTS and LOTS of opportunities to succeed. Try one persons suggestion for two weeks, if it isnt working, stop, take a break for a month or so, then move on. If she is just not ready, you cant make her be ready, but at 4 it's time to keep trying each child is different and they allget it at some point.

Help!  My daughter is ADHD and 4 yrs old and just will not potty train at all.  I do not know what next step to take for her.  I tried the reward system, praising her as if she won the lottery or somethin.  Nothing is working, and I am at witts end.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Dstarr

Have you tried just taking the diapers away and dealing with the mess until she decides to use it?  That's what I ended up doing with my son.  You can't really leave the house for a couple of weeks, but it worked.  I told him that he knew how to use the potty now so he didn't need diapers anymore, then told him I knew it would be hard to remember at first, but I knew he would get the hang of it.  After that I didn't say another word about it except to praise him when he made it to the potty (or even made the effort to try to get there). 

I also put the little training potty by the backdoor near the kitchen so he didn't have to go all the way upstairs at first. 

Potty training my son was a nightmare. No program or method worked,
and he quickly picked up on them and got angry and resentful. His dad
got him to go #1 at 3 3/4 by telling him that if he wasn't old enough to
pee in the potty, he wasn't old enough for a ride on dad's new quad. He
ran straight to the bathroom and never had an accident for the next two
years. No other incentive on earth would have worked. #2 he did in his
pants once or twice a day, and I or his preschool teachers made him clean
it up himself, which was a fight every time. (Did I mention he LOVES fruit?)
   Due to other problems, we started him on meds at 4 1/2, and the day
we got the dose right he made it to the potty on time, and since that day
he rarely has an accident. I feel terrible about all of the fighting, when he
just needed this tool that I could provide him. But even if I had known
that it would work, I don't think I would have started meds just for that
reason. I say this now, but I may have felt differently when my life was full
of poop.

Just remember, Dr.Phil never dealt with OUR kids... hang in there!

I feel for you. I really do. It's hard having a 4 year old not potty trained. I got so many rude comments and questions that I felt like I pushed my child more than I would have if I had just worried more about my child than what other people thought of me.  I generally would respond back with - "Well, I don't worry too much about it. He won't go to college in diapers." And then STAND BACK because you are getting ready to get a earful about how their Granny's Brother's, Uncle's Cousin had problems with their 1 1/2 year old child and they just spanked them when they went in their pants. My, how nice - Nah, I think I'd rather just let my child decide when he is ready, but , gee, thanks so much for that great childrearing advice, did you get that from Dr. Spock? Yeah, I didn't think so. Until you are an expert avoid giving unwanted advice!

Even so my child still did not potty train until about 2 weeks from his 4th birthday. I'd much rather just take the time and change a diaper than beat my child.

I think there is just too much pressue for everyone to be like everyone else. All kids are not created equally. And don't feel bad. Who cares what other people think. Is it more important than your childs feelings? No.

Take him to a doctor. There might be an underlying problem. if all is okay, then maybe push him a bit more, but just go with your gut. Only you know what is best for your child. Just tune out everybody else. They don't matter.

I wish you luck! My child finally trained at 4 years of age.

Oh, I also want to add that I like what BethAnn had to say. Sometimes, there is a real issue at hand...Sounds silly, but my son didn't like sitting on the potty. He thought he would fall in...And to a small child that is scary, even though we as adults know there is no real fear. And as we know, most 'typical' children just do as they are said, no bones about it, but with an ADHD child...They will question everything, including potty training. Their minds are just so different, not bad, just different. So just try to tweak it out of your daughter why she is having so much difficulty.

I am just happy that you have connected the ADHD and the potty training. It gets better with age! She is getting distracted and not paying attention when her body tells her that it is time to go. A urologist told me that bladder activity is tied with the neurological system, which is not developing at a normal pace, which is a second factor. My son trained at 5 1/2, and I started at 26 months as instructed by my ped and did not stop. It was a daily theme for over 3 years. What a mistake. I wish that I remained extremely laid back about it until he was 4 1/2, and then found one of those "how to potty train an autistic child" books on the internet, and used that as my guide. Granted, my son is not autistic, but the degree of difficulty potty training him was at an intense level.

I bet putting her on meds would solve the problem.

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