Potty training day 1 - am I doing it wrong?!

[poppy283]

DD is 2.4, she likes to do a wee in the potty before bathtime, so we're p;otty training.

But ... she doesn't want to wear knickers after the first accident, won't tell me if she needs a wee and says she wants to wee on the rug, not on the potty.

We've just had accident number 4 (none on potty so far) and now she says she'll do her next wee on the potty. I've promised a chocolate star when she does. Didn't want to go down the bribery route so soon but she seemed to have no motivation to go on the potty!

Thanks in advance for any advice :)

[kw13]

There will be lots of people with more advice and experience along soon I am sure. My DS was a bit older than your DD is but I am firmly in favour of bribery. These children are very young - and it's quite difficult to explain why going on the rug is different from going on the potty! I gave a chocolate star or similar for every wee on the potty. I had to physically put him on the potty myself - done every hour, before every meal, after every meal, before every trip out, back home from every trip etc. It is a slow process but they do get it! Good luck!

[poppy283]

Thank you! Running low on rights - will start putting her on the potty myself but don't think she'll like it!

[poppy283]

Tights not rights!

[vickyannsmum]

Hi! We've been there with my DD, she's now 2yrs 8 months and this is our potty training no.2. We've tried before - 2yrs 2months as she totally understood what it is about, but no success - she didn't see the point back then. Had very similar day to yours and it was her decision (or frustration not to go on the potty). We stopped as day two was no different and she became even more stubborn and I could see - very distressed. I think it was a good decision to stop and reintroduce potty training later, but that worked for me/us. We even had a chat with her in the evening of day two and asked her if it was too difficult for her and she admitted it was. Following months, dd time to time surprised us with few nappies down and potty successes of her own (we left her potty in her room) - praised her but that was it.
This time round - potty training no.2 - the evening before the start, we talked to her about not having nappies all the time and that we have to try again as she is a big girl now and not a baby (Peppa Pig v helpful :-) Next day without a nappy - had several accidents, but it was 50:50. Day two 80% success, all number twos into the potty from day two. Just finished week 2 and dd trying really hard not to have any accidents at all - if she has (every other day maybe) - it's connected with playtime (when she realises what happened is very sad about it). When we go out - I always give her a choice of nappy or knickers - she prefers knickers, but occasionally asks for nappy, as she might sleep in the pushchair - most of the nappies (9:1) are dry before next toilet break though.
I don't know if this is helpful, I'm not going to give you advice - surely you read all possible books etc. - I did, too - but let's be honest, they have a mind of their own :-) and none of the books had a chapter - your child might say no to potty!
And no... You're not doing it wrong - nobody knows your daughter as well as you do - so whatever is your gut feeling telling you - stick to it. (chocolate stars are good, too - my DH used those, but after day five none of us, including dd, cared)
Good luck - if it happens this week or in three months.
PS I left it six months btwn potty trainings only as we were moving countries and neither of us was able to deal with it on top of everything else what was going on

[Forester]

If bribery works go for it. I agree with vickyannsmum that if you don't start to see improvement after a couple of days then it's best to stop and start again a while later. Good luck.

[NaturalBaby]

I let my boys run round in just a t-shirt till they could use the potty well enough, then put pants or padded pants on, then when they could manage pants the trousers went on.
I started quite young with both of them so chose the easiest option! I also did part time potty training so they had a nappy on to go out but no nappy on at home, or padded pants on if I had to get on with a few jobs.

[poppy283]

Thank you all, we had a wee on the potty and she was very proud, think she gets it a bit now, we'll see how it goes tomorrow and decide whether to continue.

[forevergreek]

I always put straight on the toilet. But potty or toilet, take them eveRy 30 mins at first. Maybe even set a timer