Wedding with potty training toddler

[BethLocke4]

Hi all, next week my sister is getting married! I am very excited for her and really looking forward to the day. DD who is 3.5 is currently going through potty training. We are at the stage where we haven't been leaving the house as we are having far to many accidents. I am unsure what to put DD in for the day of the wedding. I think it would be a real shame if she had an accident and ruined her dress and I know she would be very upset. Do I put her back into nappies for the day? AIBU

How long have you been potty training? If it's over two weeks, and she's still having so many accidents that you feel you can't leave the house, I'd revert back to nappies and try again in a few months.

I would, remove all the risk and stress. It’s one day, if she’s still having that many accidents then she’s not going to be set back by it.

We have been training since the beginning of December

How often is she going on the potty? I’d be taking her every hour to avoid accidents in the house.
For the wedding I’d put her in pull ups if you don’t think someone can take her to the toilet every hour.

I put my son in a pull up for a family wedding when he was part of the wedding party. I couldn’t bear the thought of him having to change to jogging bottoms with his little shirt and cravat!

She doesn’t sound ready. A lot of children will be day dry within a couple of weeks at that age but if she’s still having regular accidents, I wouldn’t risk it. Just let her wear a pull up, you’ll all be less stressed and it won’t put her back.

About every 45 minutes but she is not getting the hang of it and is holding her ooo until her nappy at night which is frustrating

Taking them to the potty regularly makes it worse. They don’t learn when they need the toilet.

Stick her in a pull up for the day.

We did this for a day during potty training and it was fine - keep a potty handy and keep encouraging her to use it.

As a separate point, my DD withheld poo until nighttime as well - we got her out of that by letting her have a nappy on for a poo during the day then switching back to pants. But I agree with PP - it doesn't sound like she's ready yet with that many accidents after 3 weeks.

I think so as well! We have some pull ups leftover from before training so will use them and then if she does have an accident at least it's all contained.

We are taking a buggy for the evening in case she gets tired and wants to sleep so will put a travel potty in there

Yes agree, pop her in a pull up. It doesn't sound like she's quite ready, they usually get in within a few days if they are.

Look on eric website for guidance on how to gradually transition away from wanting a nappy to poo in. There's an example with steps to follow it.

At 3.5 she should easily be ready. It is probably the poo withholding causing her to have wet accidents.

Put her in pull ups for the occasion but also take her to the toilet during the wedding. I did this when travelling and said it was emergency pants in case we couldn't find a toilet. I took him to toilet in the airport, before he napped on the plane and after he had woken up and he was dry and even forgot he had nappies on saying he needed a loo in the passport queue so we had to get out the queue and find a loo.

Yeah this is a good idea. Unfortunately she isn't at that stage I don't think, if I don't remind her at the wedding she will most likely just the use the pull up as she would a nappy.

Will take a look thank you

Sounds like you need to pause and restart in a few weeks. Shouldn't take more than a week or two for them to be reliably dry during the day

Yes definitely nappy pants. My little one is recently potty trained but will use a nappy for travelling or events etc

Shouldn't take more than a week or two for them to be reliably dry during the day

With older toddlers who are very habituated to pooing in a nappy it can take a long time to break this habit - late potty training means they have effectively been trained to poo in a nappy for years.

You can buy washable pull ups now which might be better as she would feel the wetness so will be more incentivised to use the toilet.

Not answering your question really, but I agree with the posters saying she's not actually ready for potty training. I know it's hard when they're 3+ and lots of their contemporaries are out of nappies but it really isn't worth persevering against the odds. My DD tried several times with my DGS, then it suddenly clicked when he was just over 4 and he was literally reliably clean and dry in 48 hours.

There will be an element of this yes. Younger they are the less inhibitions they seem to have about it.

I had three attempts with DD - one around 3 and another two within the next 6 months at 3.5 and she then got the hang of it within a week. Its inline with her personality tbh - she's very careful and meticulous even at the park she likes to suss out what shes stabding on and look at all the equipment before choosing where to start. We still had a few accidents whilst she grew to recognise the feeling of needing to go. For the wedding i'd put her in a pull-up. She'll feel secure and you'll have peace of mind. It won't set her back. GL!

How is your LO getting on at home with my eldest she potty trained a couple of months after her 4th birthday. We tried at 3.5 but was always requiring our input at home and we always had to use pull ups when out for the day to avoid accidents. We stopped after about 3 weeks and tried again in summer and she got it in less than a week!

She's now 7 and has never had a daytime accident since, just isn't dry in the day yet.

With that in mind I'd definitely use a pull up for the wedding day, but I'm wondering as others have said if you want to hit pause on potty training for the warmer weather?