Is my toddler ready to potty train ?

[Mummydee9263]

My nearly 2 year old runs and hides when he needs to toilet. I’m not sure if he’s ready to potty train because he doesn’t tell me he needs to go and he also can’t pull up his own trousers. He will sit on the potty for about a second! Is it too early to start potty training? Any advice greatly appreciated.

That would be too early for me. I’d expect it to take a long time for him to ‘get it’, based on what you’ve said

We trained at 26m, DD had been running and hiding for bowel movements for many months by then and was also telling us "go away", "need a poo" etc. She trained without too much difficulty at that point. I'd maybe give it another couple of months but on the other hand there's never any harm in giving it a go, as long as you have reasonable expectations and are ready to abandon it after a few days if it's going nowhere/causing your child any worry.

Have you noticed if his nappy feels dry for a couple of hours then feels wet in a short space of time? It gives an idea if they have the control to hold on for longer periods of time.

A friend tried toilet training her DS when he had no bladder control and she quickly released it was like following a drippy tap around. She gave up and left the toilet training a few months.

Why not keep the potty out and encourage using it regularly to see if he is interested in trying. We found sitting on the potty whilst we read a short book meant they sat long enough to relax enough to go.

Every child is different for toilet training.

He needs to be able to pull his own trousers up and down, understand the difference between wet and dry (just on hands) and be able to tell you want he needs/wants. Work on these skills first.

Thank you. Sounds like he might need abit longer than, he doesn’t really have dry nappies atm. I agree need to work on him telling me first. When he is ready, how would you suggest starting the potty training?

I used the 'oh crap! Potty training ' book which recommends taking nappy and trousers off for the first few days and having potty in the room with you. You then build up to wearing pants and trousers. And it advocates going cold turkey - so no putting a nappy on if you're going on a car journey or to the shops and you don't want to risk accidents. Because this is confusing, it's better to be clear that nappies have gone. Nighttime is the exception to this.
It worked for us and we had very few accidents. This was at 2.5 years.

Why not wait for warmer weather, when he can just wear pants?
Both mine were trained (daytime) at soon after 2, not at all unusual a few decades ago, but we were in a warm climate, so they could just wear pants. It took a week both times.
They were girls, though, don’t know whether that makes a difference.

I just stuck pants and cheap leggings on mine on the designated day at the start of a school holiday/national lockdown and told them nappies were now for sleeping only. We stayed at home for a week, did a lot of laundry and sat on the toilet every hour or two and also if they said they needed to go. Sticker or sweet for a wee in the toilet, little presents for a poo. They wet their pants a lot for a couple of days, then within a week they were fully trained, never had a daytime accident again. I didn’t really have a particular method in mind, but I wanted short “cold turkey and it’s done quickly” - absolutely no potties in living rooms, running around in bare bottoms, lengthy processes, months of accidents etc. They were over 3 though.

Going cold Turkey sounds risky! How does that work out don’t you get a lot accidents everywhere?
I agree it’s probably easier in summer without all the clothing hassle. Do you think boys need to trained to wee first?

We loosely followed the Oh Crap method too, I got the book. Also my DD didn't have dry nappies for any length of time prior to training but her wee habits changed as a result of training I think. The first few weeks she would often wee very very frequently and soon reduced frequency. It wasn't a problem for us. We did have some accidents but not tons to be honest and none prior to getting clothes on her, she was always fine bare bummed even without prompting but all kids are different.

What worked well for my daughter and is now going ok with my son (29 months) is offering the potty every night at bathtime. They can usually manage to do something in the potty. We did this for about 5 months with my daughter. We showed her that we had underwear for her and got out the potty whenever she asked. One day aged 27 months she announced she wouldn’t be wearing nappies any more. 2 accidents that day, 1 the next and dry ever since. Waiting for that click with my son and I won’t be pushing him unless we start approaching school age.

Thanks so that I will give that approach ago seems like something that might work for him :)

Lots of accidents for a couple of days, but we have hard floors and a washing machine and I just bought a big multipack of character pants and some cheap leggings. And then it was all done. The only way they learn when they need to stop and go to the toilet is by having accidents/pushing their limits - I genuinely don’t think you can potty train a child without a fair few wet pants. As I said though, they were 3 and very ready. They have never wet themselves after that first week or so so I was happy with that trade off.

There’s lot of perfectly good ways and ages to do it though - I think the main thing is just to pick something, be consistent and stick at it for a few days. The rest is mostly just parental preference - and preferences of your kids.

I’m going to wait a little bit longer until I’m sure he’s ready. I think I’ll keep him in one room when I do start the training so I can keep on eye the accidents!

Yes the oh crap method recommends watching them like a hawk for the first couple of days so that at the first sign of wee you sit them on the potty - and you learn the signs they need a wee.

The first 3 or 4 days were exhausting but we only had a couple of accidents in that time - always when I left the room for a minute!
After that I ventured out to this shops building up the time and we didn't have any accidents at all. It just seemed to click.