How do you potty train?

[thirtysomething]

My dd aged 2 and a half has been interested in the toilet for ages so we decided to try to potty train her - we've ditched the nappies and just put her in pants, so far we've just had loads of accidents (after 2 days) and one wee in the potty which was more luck than judgement I think! She seems a little stressed and upset by it all even though she's understood the process for ages. I was wondering whether to just persevere for a week or longer or whether to give up and try again later in the year - she also often gets constipated so I'm wondering if all this will just make that worse as I can't see her doing a number 2 on the potty! Should I put her back in nappies when I sense one coming?? How does everyone else go about it? Thanks!

[SoupDragon]

Give her a few more days and see if there's an improvement. If she's not getting the hang of it or seems to be getting more stressed and/or upset then leave it for a month or 2 and try again.

You seem to be going about it the same way I did with DS1 - he wasn't ready at 2.5 so we left it about 4 months and he got the hang of it virtually immediately.

[mammya]

I've just potty trained my dd, the first few days were hard, lots of accidents but within a week she had cracked it. We still have accidents of course (why only today...). I agree with Soupdragon, persevere for a few days.

I don't know if the constipation would make things more difficult, but have you tried giving her a kiwi fruit every day, with breakfast for instance? It would help her not getting constipated.

Also, have you tried getting her to sit on the toilet (with an "adaptor seat", don't know what they're called) rather than the potty, I found that my dd was much more keen to use the "big one" as she calls it rather than the potty. In fact she didn't want to use the potty at all, she use to say "no!" and kick it if I only suggested she sit on it...

[Bozza]

Put DS in pants from Easter Monday and he is doing really well with wees after a shaky start. I'd maybe try for a little bit longer and see if it just clicks. Have had major traumas with poos thought because of tendency to constipation and DS's holding it in. This was a problem before potty training but has definitely got worse. To the point where he will go 3/4 days and then get really bad wind and be on and off the potty maybe 40-50 times in the day before eventually performing with much crying etc. Sorry this is not making you feel better but there is no way we could go back to nappies now - DS is dry through the day including naps. DH has taken him to the doctor's this morning and been given a YEAR'S prescription for lactulose. Doctor agrees that it is 50/50 psychological and physical so maybe consider this before you get to the stage we are at. So persist another few days and then give up. This is our second attempt and I was just about to give up when bingo he cracked it (wees that is...).

[thirtysomething]

Hi-question for Bozza- how old is your son? Thanks for all your advice everyone, definitely given me a clearer direction!

[thirtysomething]

Hi-question for Bozza- how old is your son? Thanks for all your advice everyone, definitely given me a clearer direction!

[Ghosty]

Thirtysomething ... I tried to potty train DS at 2 and a half and after 5 days gave up ... when he was a month off his 3rd birthday we tried again and he was dry within 24 hours ...!! We have recently come out of night nappies too ... hurrah! He is now 3 and a half.
Bozza ... your post is very interesting to me. Although DS is dry and no probs there he has always had an issue with poos ... he used to save them until he had his night nappy on but now he is out of nappies altogether he holds on and on for days. EG .. he last did a poo on Saturday ... and now it is Wednesday. He gets a tummy ache and when he finally goes it is a drama ... crying that it hurts etc ... maybe I should take him to the doctor do you think??

[Bozza]

Thirtysoemthing DS is 27 months (ie started training at 26 months).

Ghosty - DS is the mirror of your DS at the other side of the world.... His last poo was also on Saturday. So I can guess that we will have dirty pants when he gets home from nursery today. I can tell he needs to do one because he kept insisting on getting out of the bath last night to sit on the potty (having already done a wee) and also kept on at DH to let him down from the table to sit on the potty at breakfast time (in fact same thing yesterday morning also). Also much jigging about etc and the drama you describe will eventually happen.

Hopefully once he's done this one the lactulose will kick in and there will be less pain and over the course of the next few weeks we can get him to see thats its OK to go psychologically which I think is half the battle. I will then try to reduce the lactulose and do my best with his fluids/diet. So I would definitely recommend you go to the doctor with him. After DS has done a poo he is a changed child and your situation sounds very similar. HTH

[Bozza]

Ghosty - just a further update. DS started on hte lactulose and what a difference. It took a few days to kick in but the last 3 evenings he has sat on the potty and done a poo just like that. No drama apart from a few fake grunts - hmmm who taught him that one... I'm going to give it another week or so and then slightly reduce the dose. But what a relief.