Does this mean I HAVE to do potty training now? And does that mean I'm stuck indoors for days/weeks etc?

[somethinganything]

Right, posted on here before DD1 2.6, thought I ought to be training her. Had a couple of cracks, felt like a lot of hard work, decided to follow the seeker school of thought and wait until she decided/was ready.

Well, this morning she took her nappy off. I put another one on. She took that off too. said she wanted pants. Then she didn't want anything at all. Trouble is, she's not all that interested in the potty either and gets really cross if I ask her if she needs to go. So far this morning we've had one hit (only because I saw her starting to squat) and one miss. She definitely gets it i.e. has been known to say on past PT attempts "I'm going to go and do a wee on the potty" and then done just that. But often has accidents I think partly as a way to get attention because I have a DD2 who is just 4MO (she, DD1, climbed on our bed and weed and pood all over it a couple of weeks ago). I'm not very patient and don't want to get irritable with her hence deciding to wait until she was really ready.

But, since we're in a position where it seems I should have another go, what is the view on the 'once nappy is off it stays off' school of thought? Am I not allowed even to put her in one for outings? Just feel I'm going to get a bit isolated and frustrated by the whole thing.

BTW, have been doing the sticker chart and lots of whooping and cheering for every wee thing too. Any other suggestions gratefully received.

[mumoffourgirls]

Try telling her she is a big sister now (make a fuss about big sis) and she has to teach the baby all about being a big sister and show her how big she can be by going to the potty/toilet and not needing nappies anymore..

[Rockbird]

Same boat really. DD is 2.5 and has been ready for about 6 months. She merrily used the potty from about 13 months (in conjunction with nappy obv) but doesn't now. She takes herself off to the toilet quite happily. But this happens when she is wearing pull ups and if I try to put pants on her she asks for a nappy so it's like she's emotionally attached to the nappy.

We've got two holidays coming up and I guess I'm reluctant to have a newly trained toddler out and about. But she starts nursery in the autumn so I need to get a wriggle on...

[flo136]

Hi. I am day 7 into toilet training and I have felt crazy for most of it!!! But we continued with my son's activities because that is what he knows. We do babygym, swimming, speech pathology and day care twice a week. We have done them all. Daycare made me feel sad when they said they ended up putting him in nappies all afternoon. But I have so much support and sympathy off strangers. I makes me feel better and we are getting the hang of things. So I recommend carrying on with activities. You need your sanity, and things do eventually get better.

[SherbetDibDab]

Go for it. I did the nappy off technique with my eldest two - and tbh I think they'd still be in nappies if I hadn't.

She's clearly ready. She'll get there and it it's only ever taken me a couple of days. It does always start by me running after them just trying to catch wee in a potty.

Do you have good bribery material.

[somethinganything]

thanks, all - I actually had to leave her with the childminder for a few hours on Monday and when I came back she was back in nappies because she'd gone through all 5 pairs of dry pants! (Though she had also managed two more wees on the potty as well). So we're back to square 1 again. I just don't know what to do, whether to leave it for a bit then try again. I know she is able to do it because at times she's so controlled about it but she just doesn't seem that interested.

Sherbet thanks for your thoughts - really interested to hear what you say re the fact that yours would probably still be in nappies otherwise. I keep thinking one day she'll just decide and that'll be it but maybe they just start getting two comfortable in nappies? She obviously likes the idea of wearing pants but not the effort involved in going on the potty!

flo wow, well done you! good luck going forwards.

rockbird I feel your pain - good luck...

[somethinganything]

thanks, all - I actually had to leave her with the childminder for a few hours on Monday and when I came back she was back in nappies because she'd gone through all 5 pairs of dry pants! (Though she had also managed two more wees on the potty as well). So we're back to square 1 again. I just don't know what to do, whether to leave it for a bit then try again. I know she is able to do it because at times she's so controlled about it but she just doesn't seem that interested.

Sherbet thanks for your thoughts - really interested to hear what you say re the fact that yours would probably still be in nappies otherwise. I keep thinking one day she'll just decide and that'll be it but maybe they just start getting two comfortable in nappies? She obviously likes the idea of wearing pants but not the effort involved in going on the potty!

flo wow, well done you! good luck going forwards.

rockbird I feel your pain - good luck...

[somethinganything]

sorry - don't know why that ended up posting twice

[somethinganything]

sherbet sorry - one more question, what make good bribes? Is it a bad idea to introduce sweeties? I've tried star stickers and strawberries, which she loves to begin with but then seems to lost interest in

[MistyBell]

She does sound like she's ready but might need some time to adjust to the next phase.

I used the EC (elimination communication) method with both my girls. When we were at home I would take their nappy off and have the potty hanging around. I would make a concerted effort to focus on them so I could note any funny peculiar signs that might help alert me when we went out. More info here on EC wp.me/pS00T-3n.

Our problem was getting them to sit on it for more than a second. Then one day (and this happened with both girls) they just sat down on the potty and did a pee. From that moment it was pants and no nappy. We hung out at home for the first week and then ventured to friends and the park the following week always laden with change of clothes.

Now is the time to do it, it's warm, if you have a garden let her run free outside (saves on the constant clearing up of misses) Bet you have it cracked within a couple of weeks but it will take more of your time and attention, not easy when you have 2.

[lovechoc]

I wouldn't limit yourself to staying indoors, it's very restrictive. Carry plenty extra clothing and a potty and you can't go wrong. We've been all sorts of places whilst toilet training DS and he hasn't been phased by it. He just got used to using potty anywhere we happened to be. Sometimes there were accidents but that's okay, they learn from this quick enough.

[Bumperlicious]

We are just in the middle of this, though not a concerted effort as such.

DD is just three and has had absolutely not interest in potty training till now, but we have literally just moved into a house with a garden and she has spent much of the week with no nappy on. She is finally weeing and pooing in the potty while we are at home (with the help of some chocolate buttons - how the hell do you put a stop to that!). Going out hasn't really been an issue so far, though we sent her to nursery in nappies as last time she refused to wear a nappy she just kept weeing in her pants. I think we have turned a corner a little bit. We went out today to the allotment and then to some shops, she had a little accident at the allotment but was fine in the shops. I think we will be carting a potty around for a while.

[FreakoidOrganisoid]

Well I had a nightmare training dd so decided not to train ds.

He would always strip naked at home so just let him, reminding him to use the toilet (he will NOT use a potty), then put a nappy on to go out. Did this for a couple of months, then he got dressed in pants and said he didn't want a nappy on to go out so let him. That was 2 weeks ago and he has had 4 accidents, 2 of which were in his buggy when he'd just woken up. (he is 2.6ish)

SO much easier than training him, having a nappy on to go out didnt seem to confuse him at all and took away the stress of worrying he#d have accidents whilst out.

[mummytime]

If she doesn't want to use the nappy try the toilet. Neither of my DD really used a potty, first wouldn't but was potty trained in 2 days using the toilet.

I'd still use pull ups etc for trips out, especially if they are likely to fall asleep. But there is no rush 2 1/2 is still youngish.

[mckenzie]

this is what I did with DS, rightly or wrongly, when he was 2 and 3/4.

We stayed home the first day and I washed, that night, about 7 pairs of pants and tracksuit bottoms (it was winter time and he was in the garden playing in the snow).

I didn't rush to change him when he had an accident, I didn't leave it ages either though but just long enough for him to register that it didn't feel very nice when his pants and trousers were wet/pooey. I then changed him with no comments at all.

We then carried on our usual routine and I followed the same pattern of not rushing to change him (I would like to stress that i never left him for ages, it was always only a matter of minutes) and making no comment about any accidents but praise when he used the toilet (DS never used the potty, he liked to wee standing up and pretend to be a fireman )

Whether I was just very lucky, got the timing right or my way worked I don't know, but apart from that first day, DS hardly had any accidents.

[mooki]

I've read a lot about the no going back thing with nappies around here but with DD 2.9 I decided I wanted to give it a try but my CM thought she didn't seem ready.

So I bought princess pull ups (and DD was happy to accept these as being different from a nappy - 'no it's a pull up' grandma, she told my mum) and I started to introduce the potty at times I knew a wee or poo was likely - after breakfast, before the bath etc. so successes were greatly praised and accidents didn't matter.

It took about 2 weeks of pull ups for her to start saying she needed a wee and taking herself off to the potty. Since then we've gone into pants and so far this week she's only had one wee accident (I think she just totally forgot she was wearing pants).

This has been a week of holiday so I've been about with a potty no more than 3 ft away at any time, but we have a travel potty and many many pairs of primark pants so I think we're going to stay the course now.