2.5 year old no interest in toilet training?

[Bells3032]

Wondering if this is normal. my daughter will be 2.5 this week. She is showing little to no interest in toilet training - she doesn't tell me when she's done a poo (very occasionally she does but often she does and she hasn't), rarely goes 2 hours without a wee, She has a potty which she likes to play with but won't wee on and absolutely refuses to sit on the toilet even with a Peppa pig seat on it. She used to like coming to the toilet with me but now doesn't. She was born at 34 weeks but emotionally and mentally seems to be in line if not slightly ahead of her peers though she does seem to be slightly behind with physical milestones (she didn't walk til 21 months etc).

I am also due another baby in a couple of weeks so I had thought maybe waiting til the august bank holiday and using that (and hopefully nice weather) as a weekend at home to bond and get it done once she is settled into having a new sibling etc.

I started to read "oh crap toilet training" at the recommendation of my friends and it basically said it's so much harder to do it after 2.5 and don't bother waiting til they're "ready". It's making me panic a bit.

Should I be panicking or is it just do it in her own time thing?

Totally normal in my experience, and they’re all different. I first tried potty training with DS at 2.5 and he simply wasn’t ready. Had a few tries over the year, same thing. He’s 3.5 and on this go it’s just clicked. Don’t worry about it, she’ll get there

Try again in a few weeks. They change so much at this age.

Are you actually trying to train her or just waiting until she initiates this herself? She's certainly old enough for you to give it a good try if you haven't yet.

You can try being home for a few days and tell her it's time to learn to stop needing nappies. Have her bare below the waist or wearing new cool big girl pants, set a timer so she sits on the potty every 20 minutes or something to start with. Big praise for wees in the potty, just clean up accidents without making a big deal about it. If it starts well, lengthen the timer and go from there.

I didn't wait for my toddlers to ask to be potty trained or anything. I just picked a weekend when I felt they could understand what I was saying well enough to know what was happening and what we were trying to achieve. It didn't happen overnight but we made progress. And then it was just a case of building up until they fully got it.

It's definitely worth a go. She may surprise you!

When you think about it the words ‘don’t wait until she’s ready’ seem counterintuitive. Don’t worry, 2 and a half is still very young!!

I'm not really expecting her to ask but i also don't really want her screaming if i try and put her on the toilet or on the potty without her nappy on. More expecting her to be able to tell me when she's done a poo etc. I don't want to risk scaring her off doing it either.

Have you spoken to her about it much? Like for a while before we did the first proper potty training we would talk about how this is something they need to learn soon.

Not in a high pressure way, just conversationally oh soon you'll be big enough to wear pants like mummy and daddy and you won't need to wear nappies anymore. You're getting so big and clever, I think you could learn to wee in the potty soon. That sort of thing that sets it out as an expectation and tells the child that you believe they are capable of this.

Obviously you know your child best and if she's very resistant it's completely fine to wait a bit, but you can certainly push the issue a little bit.

No we havent. We will try that thanks.

Thanks everyone..will try not to stress too much.

I didn’t think my daughter was ready at over 3 years but was surprised by how little it took once if committed. I don’t have a huge amount of advice but really don’t think you should stress at all. Lots of children train at 3+. There is certainly morning to worry about

I think I knew with all mine when they were ready and they trained at just 2, nearly 3 and God knows, it was the third kid so I wasn't paying attention respectively.

The signs you are looking for - knowing when she has done a poo, weeing less often, interest in the potty are all good. Once mine were showing an interest it only took a few days. I don't know the book you mentioned but I don't agree it's harder at 2.5 or later. It's hard if they aren't happy or you are worried but provided they are keen and looking forward to wearing Spiderman pants or peeing up trees (careful with this, once DS mastered tree wees untraining it took years) it should be fine whenever.

Just a little update..literally the last few days she's suddenly started taking an interest including asking to sit on the toilet and yesterday she told me she needed th toilet so she e put her on it and she did a poop on the toilet and today she did wee. I'm so confused compared to a week ago.

Baby is due in a few weeks and my daughter came the equivalent of tomorrow!!! So not sure whether to push before baby comes or wait. 😜

I'd try for 3 days and if it works great. But be prepared for a relapse when baby arrives.

Follow her lead. She's giving you clear signs. I'd just go with it.
If you've got 6 wks (assuming you go full term) that might well be enough time.