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Behaviour/development

Potty training day 3 advice

4 replies

NeedaDiscoNap · 13/07/2016 13:56

Looking for some advice on potty training please. My DD turned 2 at the end of May and has recently been showing readiness for potty training. We started on Monday, which was an unmitigated disaster with loads of accidents and very little in the potty.

Yesterday was so much better - six pees and two poos in the potty, only two accidents, and she asked to use the potty herself twice.

Today she has had three pees in the potty and one accident. However, she has not asked to use the potty at all and is all but refusing to sit on it, and getting quite upset. When she got up from her nap, her nappy was very full, so she's obviously holding it in.

I have a sticker reward chart, chocolate buttons etc. but nothing seems to be working. Is this common? Or does it show that she's not really ready?

Any advice appreciated!

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skankingpiglet · 13/07/2016 21:38

She sounds like she's most of the way ready but maybe worth waiting another month? The older they are the easier it is, and when they are at the younger age it needs to come from them to avoid becoming a frustrating battleground IME. I say this as someone whose DD1 decided at 21mo she wanted to do it, I wanted to wait until this September when she'd be 2.3yrs and we had adjusted to the arrival of her sister (born last month). I held off as long as possible until it actually seemed cruel to keep her in nappies. I did a month of letting her use it whenever she asked (and rewarding success) and switched her to pull ups to make fast potty access easier. By the end of the month we had virtually everything in the potty so decided to take the plunge, bought her some knickers and went for it. Perhaps you could try the same? Takes the pressure off...
We've had mixed success: she'll have a couple of perfect weeks, then a spate of accidents and I have to remind myself she's doing ok for her age. One thing I've learned though is once you've decided on knickers, then stick to it (we still use pull ups for sleeps however, as she's a way off night continence). I put her back in pull ups for a couple of weeks after DD2 was born as she had a few accidents and I'd had an emcs. I just couldn't keep getting up and down to change her clothes. It's made her really lazy, and we've definitely gone backwards a few paces. Now she's back in knickers she'll often start a wee forgetting what she's wearing, stop as soon as she realises it's soaking through, and ask to use the potty. It's very frustrating as she knows when she needs to go, knows she shouldn't wet herself, and gets very upset and embarrassed when it happens. I wish I'd been able to wait as even with her determination it's been a PITA.

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NeedaDiscoNap · 13/07/2016 23:29

That's really helpful, thank you! Things went rapidly downhill this afternoon - after holding it in for over three hours in obvious discomfort, she had a massive wee on the floor and then another one an hour later. Total refusal to use the potty and got really upset. Think waiting and trying again in a month or two is the answer x

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LeftoverIcing · 14/07/2016 15:59

I could have written your exact post last week OP! We had a lot of initial success but it was mainly due to me sitting her on the potty loads and it wasn't really coming from DD-she wasn't asking to sit when she needed to use it. Day 3 we had lots of accidents as she started holding it in as long as she could and then peeing on the floor. She didn't poo all day and as soon as we decided we would try again in about a month and put a nappy on her for the evening, she filled it immediately!

I am very hopeful that this attempt will help next time as I've seen what she responds to and can rethink my approach a bit. Also it will seem familiar to her and things may click for her next time.

Good luck with your next attempt!

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NeedaDiscoNap · 15/07/2016 09:34

Thanks icing! We put the nappies back on yesterday and she and I had a lovely day - back up her usual self. One good thing - she seems far more aware of when she's doing a wee now which is brilliant. Hopefully things will go better in a few months!

Good luck with your next attempt too!