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Potty training

What to do - DD thinks she's ready, we're not convinced!

8 replies

TheBookofRuth · 08/01/2015 14:04

DD is nearly three and decided on Monday - literally just announced it when I went to change her - that she wanted to stop wearing nappies and start wearing "big girl" underwear.

Great, we thought, how fantastic that she's made that decision herself, and we duly popped her in pants, got the potty out and put the training seat on the loo (we've been prepared for a while, and talk about it a lot, but have been waiting for her to be ready before trying) and readied the stickers and chocolate drops.

But now it's day 4 and we've still yet to get anything in the loo or the potty. She'll sit on them happily enough, for quite a while, with nothing happening...then wander off and wee all over the floor. She just looks confused when it happens and doesn't to know what it is.

She's still really keen and decided to wear pants to nursery today, but they didn't have any luck either and seemed to be hinting at pick up time that she's not ready. So I'm torn between thinking let's just leave it for a while, and not wanting to discourage her when she's so keen.

I should add, we've been very relaxed about accidents and have given her lots of praise for trying. She's very bright mentally but has always been a bit delayed physically - didn't stand unaided till 20 months or walk till 22 - so maybe she just needs more time? But how to persuade her of that?!

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Piratejones · 08/01/2015 14:40

Could you put her in a pullup and kind of do a very relaxed apraoch?

That way she's in a nappy but thinks she is in pants and you have the best of both worlds?

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TheBookofRuth · 09/01/2015 13:04

Yes, we could give pull ups a try, thanks.

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a2011x · 09/01/2015 13:18

Pull-ups are most definitely not the answer in my opinion! Stick it out, put her on toilet/potty as soon as you see she's gonna do it on the floor. Persist and it will work, won't take long once it gets going

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Piratejones · 11/01/2015 19:12

How are things going?

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TheBookofRuth · 11/01/2015 20:12

Eh, they're not really. We've been out and about doing things and visiting people a lot over the weekend, so she's been back in nappies.

I've ordered some pull ups. Thinking I'll try again tomorrow morning, see how we get on, and if we have no luck send her to nursery in pull ups in the afternoon. That way I can ask them to keep encouraging her to try without them getting arsey with me about the number of accidents she's having.

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CatWithKittens · 12/01/2015 09:59

Terry lined trainer pants? At least at home - they are pants, not nappies, leave a child knowing they have had an accident and save chairs, carpets, shoes, socks (often, though not invariably) and a lot of Mummy's hassle IME.

Good luck

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Minisoksmakehardwork · 12/01/2015 10:15

As your dd wants to try, I advocate the use of pull ups during that transitional period. Whilst they are a lot like a nappy, in my experience they don't hold half as much before they need changing.

A lot of people don't like them but for me they were a godsend. My eldest was desperate to potty train and got wees really quickly. She just couldn't recognise a poo for a bit longer. Pull-ups helped her as she was wearing 'big girl knickers' so could do wees with a little help on the potty. But saved both of us the effort and upset of soiled clothes. Once she recognised the feeling of the soiled pull-ups with the action she had just done, and decided she didn't like it, she potty trained successfully.

Ds1 was a tricky one as he was quite simply lazy or would soil himself on purpose (some additional needs) Plus at 3+ years old, it was easier to change him standing up using pull-ups.

It took him quite some time and in the meantime he got distressed at the thought of being babied by wearing nappies. So pull-ups helped us both out again there.

Now I have twins and at 2y 9months, both are asking to use the potty, telling us when they've done a poo and sometimes before. I honestly can't be doing with the hassle of trying to clean up two lots of accidents however many times a day so have once again opted for pull-ups for daytime use. It also helps preschool too as there's not the constant changing of clothes (I'd run out I'm sure).

Whilst they may be young, they may also be ready and I prefer to give them an option which is comfortable all round as a transitional period before going to choose their big toddler pants (chosen once we are successful more times than not) and then moving on.