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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to use a high traffic board for potty training Q?

23 replies

HandMini · 02/07/2013 13:58

So, I know you're supposed to wait until DC is ready to potty train, but I just don't know with my oldest DD.

She is 2.3. One day she loves the potty, wants to wear pull ups, shows loads of interest in flushing loo, then the next day she wants a nappy, lies about when has pooed/weed etc.

So, to try and get a gauge for whether I just go for it or not, two questions - (1) do you have DD or DS and (2) how old were they when you did potty training?

OP posts:

DespicableYou · 02/07/2013 14:00

I have two DDs. I trained one at 2.6 and one at 2.5.

Based on what you've said I'd give it a (no pressure) go. Seeing how far you get with rewards stickers/praise/chocolate buttons (controversial I know) and see if that encourages her to stick with it.

1Veryhungrycaterpillar · 02/07/2013 14:24

Two DDs one was 2.1 and the other was nearly 3 (we did try earlier but couldnt crack it so left it and tried again)

NightScentedStock · 02/07/2013 14:43

I have 3 DSs. Trained at 22 months, 2.3 years and currently potty training ds3, at just turned 2. Ds3 has been a bit erratic but I am perservering and he is pretty reliable now, after a week without nappies.

JedwardScissorhands · 02/07/2013 14:58

Yes, YABU.

WileyRoadRunner · 02/07/2013 15:15

YABU to ask such a boring potty training question

Who cares how old other people's children are when they can shit in a potty. If you think your child is ready try it. If they don't get along with it then put them back in pants.

Simples.

themaltesecat · 02/07/2013 15:29

I think it's good to wait until they can speak clearly.

Our daughter was slow to talk so we didn't start till she was two and a half.

They're all different.

Emsmaman · 02/07/2013 15:36

DD 2.3 potty trained recently. A lot of advice on here and other sites was the "try and see how it goes" variety. A lot of people seem to advise giving up after a few days or a week and waiting a bit longer. I'm glad I didn't listen to that advice as DD first asked for the potty on Day 7 and had her first accident free day on Day 10. She is now having about 1 accident a week (wee) when she's caught up in what she's doing and forgets. I found pull ups made it worse as once she had one on to go out, she didn't want to take it off, and she often had more accidents when we got home and she was back in knickers. So I braced myself for lots of washing and went pull up free. Strangely she has never had an accident outside the house, she seems to hold on even if we are out for 2 hours (not keen on the travel potty although i do take it with me).

afussyphase · 02/07/2013 16:28

YANBU. I found all the threads on the potty training board boiled down to "wait some more, they may well not be ready until nearly 3, or 3, or older". DD (2.3) wants to wear underpants, and wants, in theory, to do it. She can hold on for ages, to the point that I'm worried she'll make herself constipated or get a UTI. She knows exactly when she needs to go, but she just won't do it on the potty or toilet! She'll sit briefly, get scared, and get off, and eventually she'll have an accident. She's not bothered about the accidents. She'll ask for a nappy just to go in, and have an accident if we don't provide it. If she does get one, she wees or poos in it, then wants it off right away. We are at a loss and advice is conflicting: wait until they are older and more ready, don't go back to nappies, don't give mixed messages, don't stress them out, obviously you can't force them... all true but it adds up to totally conflicting advice for us. And nursery wants her to do it. Grrr. DD1 was potty trained at about this age, 27-28months, and there were ups and downs but it wasn't like this.

Emsmaman · 02/07/2013 16:31

afussyphase we had to use every trick in the book to get DD to sit on the potty long enough to do something. She would just jump straight off and then wee on the floor if I didn't distract her by reading a book or playing her a little video to watch on the ipad.Thankfully now she doesn't need the distraction or would have burned through my download limit...

Original poster

HandMini · 02/07/2013 17:18

Ok, thanks all, so a straw poll of 10ish, suggests that 2.3 is not an unusual age to start. I haven't got friends with children of comparable ages so I've no idea what the norm is. Don't want to out up with another year of nappies if I can avoid it! The potty will be out and proud tomorrow!

OP posts:

kelda · 02/07/2013 17:25

dd1 was two years
dd2 was 19 months
ds was 2 years, possibly a bit before.

I disagree with waiting until they can talk clearly. My ds is nearly five and still can't talk clearly, and wasn't saying anything much when he was potty trained at age two.

The typical advice on mumsnet does seem to be wait and wait ... and then they are potty trained as if by magic.

In my experience, it did take a bit of effort, and the odd accident, and we used pull ups for car journeys etc, but overall, it wasn't particulary stressful.

Just another stage of development.

Original poster

HandMini · 02/07/2013 17:29

Wow, 19 months, good going Kelda. I'm at home at the moment on mat leave with DD1, so I have lots of time to out into it.

OP posts:

kelda · 02/07/2013 17:48

HandMini I didn't do anything, she just copied her sister. We were on holiday as well, so we broke all the so-called potty training rules!

The other two children were a bit more effort.

Original poster

HandMini · 02/07/2013 18:15

Ok, in between postings just been at the swings and was told by a random mum that anything under 2.6 is "very young". Still going to give it a crack.

OP posts:

Sanjifair · 02/07/2013 18:16

My DS was 23-24 months and dry at night at 28 months. We tried with no expectations of success, but he got the hang of it. Would have stopped and started again later if he hadn't got it, but he did. According to my MIL I was late starting as my DP was trained at 18 months.

kelda · 02/07/2013 18:28

If you had to hand wash towelling nappies, then I suppose 18 months would seem a long time!

arethereanyleftatall · 02/07/2013 18:54

I didn't bother potty training. I waited till ready every day, not one off, one on. No accidents ever. Both girls were 2.5 .

wigglesrock · 02/07/2013 19:07

I did dd1 at 2.6, dd2 at 2.8. Both were done and dusted within 3 days including long trips in the car. Dd2 was dry at night from then as well.

Dd3 is 2.4, I think I'm going to leave her until 2.6, but that's just based on my other 2.

NightScentedStock · 02/07/2013 19:09

Yes indeed kelda

Ds1 was in cloth nappies, it was a great incentive to potty train asap

Good for you Handmini

Hope it all goes well. I am so glad I perservered with ds3, today after 8 days has been his first accident free day

Original poster

HandMini · 02/07/2013 19:10

arethereanyleft - what do you mean, "not one off, one on". You mean better to wait until they're totally ready than stop and start?

OP posts:

arethereanyleftatall · 02/07/2013 19:32

I meant one day wanting to wear nappies, the next day knickers. my dd2 did this at around 2.3 too. She knew full well when she needed the loo, but for some reason, still wanted to wear nappies occasionally. So I kept her in,nappie.s then about 2 months later she said she didn't want to wear nappies any more. And she didn't.

afussyphase · 05/07/2013 16:32

Emsmaman, so what happened? Did she get the hang of it once you'd succeeded a couple of times? I might give this a real effort this weekend. So far it's been almost 3 weeks and there's very little change: she holds it in, says when she needs to go, knows what she should be doing, but won't actually do it. Then she has an accident. Or she holds out till naptime and gets a pull-up. It's the exact same every day.

pointythings · 05/07/2013 18:53

With DD1 I made the mistake of training because my friends were all training their DCs of similar age. That's theonly reason I can think of not to train - peer pressure.

Apart from that if your gut says it's time to go for it, it probably is. I ended up waiting until DD1 utterly refused a nappy (she was dead on 2 1/2) and she was dry and clean, going on the toilet not the potty independently by the end of the week. So we did the same thing with DD2 and the same thing happened. You'll soon know if they're ready.

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