Sorry in advance for epic post. DS is 3.1. We are on day 3 of potty training. It's not going well. So far we have had 0 wees or poos in the potty. There have been several accidents or he stores it up and goes the moment his nighttime nappy goes on.
This is actually the 3rd time I've attempted to train. I've tried every other month I.e. Leaving a decent gap between attempts. The first time I did the relaxed approach, leaving the potty out, explaining what it was for: he didn't ask for it and we had loads of accidents so I concluded he wasn't ready.
Second time I tried a sticker chart and putting him on regularly: cue outright refusal to sit on the bloody thing and more accidents. Again, concluded he wasn't ready.
But now he is 3, and people seem to assume he should be trained by now. I'm also going back to work in 6 weeks time and our childcare arrangements are such that it makes sense to train now while he is at home with me and we can get a consistent routine going.
So this time I've been putting him on the potty every 20 mins, for two days. I set the timer on my phone, when the music comes it's time to sit, he gets to choose a special potty toy to play with while he's on it. This has at least got him to sit on it. But still nothing has gone in it. Loads of accidents. The fact that he waits until his nappy is on suggests to me that he does have sone degree of control.
I'm reluctant to stop again as this needs to get done, and I already think I've ballsed it up by sending mixed messages with the previous attempts. But this is sending me over the edge, I've been in tears with frustration this morning. I also have a 10mo old who is getting zero attention while this goes on.
Help!
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Potty training
Do I admit defeat? Or keep going?
Innocuoususername · 31/03/2015 10:04
the lure of the golden underpants and light sabre turned out to be stronger than the attachment to nappies...
I think i remember that, your daughter panted a pair of white ones didn't she? 
Op try opening a nappy up and putting it onto the potty, have him pee into it. then try and get him to wee in the potty without the nappy there. you might have to go through a few stages of hole cutting first, so he slowly get more pee in the potty each time.
Thanks everybody. Glad to know iris not just me that has a stubborn one .
He is remarkably resistant to bribery. I've told him that when he does a wee in the potty he can keep the special potty toys to play with, but that is clearly no incentive. Will think if there's something else that might motivate. I am doing a cheery "never mind, try again" for accidents but it is wearing thin....
The nappy idea is an interesting one, I do wonder if part of the issue is he has no concept of wee and poo as it just gets wiped and chucked up til now? The last poo accident I wiped it and put it in the potty, then showed him how we flush it away. Putting a nappy on the potty might help with that. One positive though is that he hasn't asked to go back in nappies (as he did on the previous attempts).
It's just so frustrating as so many of the pieces are in place, he just won't bloody do it!
Just thought I'd update in case anybody in a similar situation is reading. The afternoon after I posted we had a breakthrough: it turns out the issue was privacy. He did a wee and poo on the potty in his playhouse 
and since then we've been leaving him to it in the bathroom with the door pulled to. He also likes Grandad's shed .
A week on he's by no means perfect, the excitement of Easter Sunday meant it was a bit of a backward step re accidents. And he has only just started asking for the potty today, up until now we've had to prompt him. But we are getting there! So thanks again to all for your advice.
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