To potty train early

[Dinosaurrawr]

Just to run in tangent with the other potty training thread...

I have the opposite dilemma. DD is 20 months, fiercely independent, determined, headstrong. She will not keep a pull up on. After another instance of removing a dirty one and ending up with poo everywhere at the weekend I reluctantly decided to try potty training this week as I just can’t see what else we can do.

(FWIW otherwise I have zero interest in forcing this issue, I was quite happy to wait until next summer if she was ready. It’s a terrible time of year with lots on and washing is a bloody nightmare in this weather so this is a real last resort)

Day 1 - lots of encouragement, lots of accidents. Two successful pees in potty, one completely unprompted. She just went over, pulled pants down, did it and informed me.

Day 2 - no successful pees in potty. The day started ok, she was realising when she was wet and coming to me, happy to sit on potty at that point but obviously she had already went. Had no choice but to leave the house for school run & appointments, obviously this was a disaster. Really tough day and I felt she wasn’t ready as she was starting to get resistant and grumpy with it so pull up went on that eve. She removed pull up to do a poo on the carpet while I was in the next room then called me to tell me.

Lovely.

Day 3 (today) Pull up on. Encouraging her to sit on potty & try etc but with security of pull up. No pees in potty but she will not keep the pull up on. Every time my back is turned she has it off. She’s in bed for a nap and I’ve had to go in 10 times to put it back on - it’s now off because I just can’t can’t carry on and she’s clearly uncomfortable.

I honesty don’t know what to do for the best. I don’t know if she’s ready, I don’t know if I just need to persevere and give her time to get it or if she’s just too young.

Help!

YABU - not ready, continue with pull ups (please tell me how the flip to keep them on her)

YANBU - stick with the potty

If she can keep herself dry for an hour she is ready. Go to the website eric potty training it is very informative.
www.eric.org.uk/guides-to-childrens-bowel-and-bladder-problems

You really dont need to buy a book. The eric website has every thing you need. I work along side a toilet traini health visitor who always recommends and uses this website. Also loose the pull ups. They are just a nappy and dont really help at all.

My three dc were all dry by around their second birthday. Although they wore cloth nappies and I seem to remember reading that children In Cloth generally are dry earlier than those in disposables.

But it’s certainly not unheard of to be dry that early and none of mine regressed at all, so don’t be put off.

If she won’t wear a nappy or pull up, it sounds As though you are going to have to master pants pretty soon. Can you reason at all that she can wear no pull up at home, but out of the house she must wear one, just to make it slightly easier when you have to leave the house?

And I agree with the chocolate button for every successful potty trip, that works wonders for the first few days!

Did DS at 23m and honestly could have done it a month or two earlier but waited for the holidays when I had 2 weeks off. He had only one regression 8 months later when his sister was born & I was in hospital with her for 2 weeks and he started preschool at the same time. It involved a lot of "damp patches" and lasted about 3 weeks.

I'd try it OP..probably need to give it a straight week to see results.

Back for a quick update - unbelievable potty training success. The oh crap book was super, as was the website shared by @Spacerader so thank you all.

DD is doing brilliantly, toileting so independently and dry through naps and most nights. Her bladder control has genuinely shocked me.

She just “gets it” in a way that DS definitely didn’t so hopefully we won’t have any regressions.

This is not going to be a popular post but - delaying potty training is a peculiarity of modern Western world. Not seen (so far) in the Middle/ Far East, and didn’t used to be the norm here either. I would personally recommend Oh Crap! Potty training, take the training pants off and grit your teeth and go for it! We started at 15 months, was tough going but at 18months now it’s done, morning and night. I would definitely train this early next time round.

‘Oh Crap! Potty training’ is the name of a book, I should clarify

I thought you were going to be talking about under a year old. Twenty months is absolutely fine.

Ack sorry didn’t RTFT, fail! Also cannot figure out how to delete my messages. Fail!

I used oh crap and my son was done at 21 months and dry at night 2 weeks later. Everyone told me I was unrealistic as a FTM, I knew, I knew my son.

It really is a good book to get you in a great mindset for training. Well done your DD