Sticky : Potty Training

[wrongdecade]

im starting soon

help!!!!

[familyfun]

how old is child and are they ready?

[MogTheForgetfulCat]

With DS1 I initially was plopping him on the potty every half hour or so, and he was doing...nothing. After a while, I just left him to it but asked him about that often if he needed the potty. Mostly he said no. If he said yes, I had to be v quick, so found this a good time of year to be doing it (luckily, that coincided with him being the right age (for him)). DS2 quite similar.

Am lucky in that they both have pelvic floors like steel traps and have been able to go quite long between trips to the potty even from the very beginning. But I think that was primarily because they were both ready and had been showing signs - knowing they were doing a wee/poo and telling me, able to pull own trousers/pants up and down, willingness to sit on the potty etc. This makes me think that if the child is ready, the amount of 'training' required should be fairly limited. But am prepared to stand corrected and to be told I'm being a smug cow .

[wrongdecade]

22 month keeps hididng when he poo's appaprently its a sign?

[MogTheForgetfulCat]

I've heard that can be a sign, too. 22 months is quite young for a boy (as I understand it) but have a friend whose DS started before 2 and has done really well, now just 2.1 and pretty reliable during the day.

I guess you will be the best judge of whether or not he is able to understand when you tell him that he's going to be wearing pants and using the potty from now on, and to respond when you ask him if he needs the potty. Also, whether he is sufficiently articulate to tell you that he needs to go (am not casting aspersions on your DS, btw - just that DS1 grunted his way to the age of 2 and probably couldn't have told me at 22 months that he needed a wee).

Has he used the potty at all? Is he willing to sit on it for any length of time (I used to read stories to DS1 on it, to keep him on there for more than 10 seconds at a time)? Do you think he understands what it's for? If so, then I don't think it can hurt to try. 'They' say that once you start you shouldn't go back, which could potentially lead to many months of mopping up accidents if it doesn't go well at first. But I have friends who have started quite early, realised it wasn't working and their DC didn't 'get' it, and put them back in nappies for a couple of months before trying again later, successfully. So if you try and it doesn't work, that's always an option.

Good luck with it .