Potty training HELP

[lepetitchoufleur]

Hello all, my DS is potty training at the moment. At home for me he's taken to it like a dream, with the help of some chocolate button rewards. But I work Monday through Thursday, and at the childminders today he happily sat on her loo but refused to do anything. Held it all in until 4:30pm (!!!) whereupon of course he had an accident, which I don't think bothered him too much really. We have potties at home and she uses a child's seat on the loo which might be the problem. I've got a child's seat for home on order so hopefully getting him used to that at home will help but when we chatted about it this evening he said he didn't like her loo because of the funny water. I'm worried he's frightened and would love some advice / reassurance on how to get him happy and relaxed with loos outside the home?

[whitepuddingsupper]

My DD was fine on the potty but wouldn't try the toilet until she saw another child her age doing it, would that be a possibility at the childminders'?

[Oinkmooquack]

Maybe suggest that she takes him at regular intervals to the loo/potty, so he makes it part of routine...e.g. Before snack time, after lunch etc. then he'll get used to it and relax hopefully

[lepetitchoufleur]

Thanks for the replies guys :) unfortunately she takes the kids to the bathroom in groups so he's seen other little ones using it. She's also tried taking him on his own incase he's shy. Still no joy. And I think she does take him pretty often, but I'll check that. Just heard from my hubby whose home alone with him at the moment and he's not doing very well for hubby either. I'll just keep repeating the mantra "it's early days yet..."

[mummyxtwo]

Can you give her a potty and he use that at hers instead? Ds1 preferred a loo seat to a potty from the outset but they are all different. You could also give her some 'peepee balls' which you can get from Amazon - small blue balls with smiley faces on - you throw one down the loo and it lasts a good number of flushes, they aim at it and try to hit it! Made toilet training lots of fun for my ds1.

[bberry]

I think anything you can do to make its similar as possible would help, so a potty and similar words used... He may feel a bit pressured if others do it differently to you ....x

[deelite72]

MY DS, now 12, was a potty training nightmare. He started out fine at home, but would hold it at nursery or with the childminder. It just turned into a huge problem and there was a lot of anxiety around the issue. Eventually I found out he was terrified of the toilets at his nursery because early on when he first started, the toilets flooded the nursery bathroom and scared the living daylights out of him. I suppose from his height, it must have felt like he was living the 3D Noah's Ark experience. Home was fine, but any 'foreign' toilet was just a no-fly zone. Eventually his nursery teacher- bless his soul- plastered pictures of Thomas the Tank all over the nursery bathroom and made it a safe haven. When my son sat on the loo, Thomas was everywhere, looking back at him. The teacher was awesome to do this. Looking back, he went to great lengths to help my son get over his anxiety. Maybe you can ask the childminder to try different methods. Maybe your son needs to go it alone without all the kids around, maybe he needs the childminder nearby and feels scared if she leaves him alone, it can be all sorts of reasons causing the anxiety. It can even be the type of potty seat the childminder is using vs. the one your DS is used to at home. My other child, DD who is now 4, was a breeze to train. BUT... we did need to find the right seat. We got a soft-padded, froggy-shaped one that sits on top of the loo with a little stepping ladder and never looked back. She named it 'Kermit'. Also echoing the poster who mentioned pee balls: We bought ping pong balls for DS- they were great when he got to the stage where he was standing up to pee. But he still doesn't aim well! I'm still down there with the Dettol wipes behind the toilet. But the pee balls certainly add to the positive experience of going to the loo. :-)