To ask when you potty trained and how you did it?

[Pottyyy]

Ds is 2 and 3 months. He says if he has done a poo and has done since he was around 20 months. He is in full time nursery so I don’t know how to actually start potty training? I also am really anxious about hygiene and wondering what to expect in terms of accidents, does any child just get it fast with no mistakes? How long did it take you? Do you still use nappies at night just in case?

DS was 2 years 8 months when he decided to potty train. The potty had been around in the house for a while so it wasn't a surprise. I set a 20 minute timer and conditioned him to go try for a wee every time it went off. Every successful wee earned a chocolate button. We had one poo on the carpet and then every other one went in the potty.

After a couple of days, we upped it to 30 minutes and used those potty training pants with the absorbing liner. If we made it to my mum's (a 10 minute walk from where we lived) and his pants were dry then he'd get another button. And slowly increased it over time/decreased the chocolate buttons.

Nursery were amazing with potty training. He had a few accidents when he started trying to be dry at nursery because he was so busy playing but he soon realised that there were little toilet trains every so often and he'd join the little line of children to go for a wee and after a week or two, he was reliably dry and everything was good 😁

But that's my experience, I fully expect DD to be completely different and your little one might not like that method either. Open mind and lots of exploring options! Good luck!

DD had been doing poos on the potty for a while as she didn’t like them in her nappy. She was 2.5 when we potty trained for wees during the summer. Had potties upstairs and downstairs. I took a week off work and from nursery during summer. Bought some cheap knickers.

There were accidents but she got it and was ready to do so. She could get her own tights or knickers off etc. she soon wanted to use a proper toilet and we go a seat with a smaller hole option and some steps upto toilet and it was great not cleaning out potties. Most difficult part was out and about, I had a portable potty that was a life saver. In the early days when she wanted to go I had about one minute notice, then it got longer and longer.

Nighttime she was in might nappies for a good number of years. She was a heavy sleeper sleeping 12 hours a night. I would lift her at like 10pm and put her over the toilet but that just didn’t deal with all of it.

I never did any particular training. When I changed my kids' nappies I would tell them that one day they would stop wearing nappies and do poos and wees in the toilet. If they followed me into the bathroom I told them what I was doing. I bought pants for them and every so often asked them if they wanted to try wearing them. My daughter asked to try at 2.5 but had an accident and got very upset so we went back to nappies for a while. Just before she turned 3 she asked to try again and got it straight away. I can only remember her having one accident - we had been in the car. She ran to the toilet when we got home but didn't quite make it. My son took a bit longer to get it and sometimes had accidents if he was busy playing but not many. He was out of nappies a bit later, a couple of months after his third birthday. I know some people will say that's late but it was totally stress free because they were ready and so got it really quickly. I'm glad we waited. Everyone I know who tried earlier dealt with a lot more accidents.

You can't train for night time dryness. It's hormonal. I waited until they had woken with a dry nappy a few days in a row and then suggested they sleep with pants on. With my daughter this was a few months after she was dry in the day. With my son it was around the same time. Neither of them have ever wet the bed.

Honestly don't overthink it and don't rush to do it before your child is ready. Don't be afraid to go back to nappies for a while if they aren't getting it. Much better to wait than have them (and you) upset by lots of accidents. People get so stressed over nappy training - staying home for days at a time, potties in every room and making the child sit on one every half hour, sticker charts for every wee/poo they get in the potty... There is no need for any of this. Everyone I know who trained closer to 2 years old found it stressful. Wait until they are ready and it's easy. I'm generally quite child led with my parenting so would go with when they want to try wearing pants rather than when I decide it's time.

As with anything parenting related, you will get people saying the exact opposite. People who had their kids in pants at 18 months and are horrified at waiting until 3! But the earlier you try, the more "training" and input from you will be required. If you don't mind that then it might be worth it to you to be done with nappies sooner.

My twins were 2.5 when we started – one showed all the signs of ‘readiness’, the other didn’t – ‘readiness’ is a myth anyway.

We did the Oh Crap method which worked brilliantly. Both were trained within a week. Night time is a different element, so leave that off the table for now and stick to nappies at night. One twin was out of night nappies immediately but the other twin wasn’t until closer to 4. For some kids it takes up to age 7.

I don’t recommend potty trips on a schedule – it interferes with their ability to be able to tell when they have the urge to go and their training to hold it until they get there.

It would be exceptionally rare for a child to go through potty training with no accidents. I’ve never heard of one who has. So the hygiene thing is something you’re going to have to grit your teeth and get through.

Oh and just to add, we ended up not using potties. My kids didn't really like them. They used the toilet right away with a child seat on it and we had a foldable seat for when we were out and about.

I waited until one of mine could consistently tell me he'd done a wee immediately after he had done it and then he was fully trained in a week night and day, with the occasional wetting the bed in his sleep for a while. He was 3.5. Absolutely no faff involved whatsoever. Straight to toilet no potty.

One of mine started showing an interest much younger but I also waited until she could say she had done a wee because then they have the best chance of learning to recognise then verbalise then need a wee, moving onto being able to hold a wee to get to a toilet. This child much preferred the potty and it took a little longer (about 10 days) to get it at just over 3.

Skip the whole potty thing, who wants to wash out a shitty potty? Get a step and a seat for the toilet and use that instead.

Second the Oh Crap potty training book. In there it says ideal time was between 20-30 months. Mine were 2 years and 2 years 5 months. Took a little time but both got it fairly quickly.

Agree with a step and toilet seat - let them see mum/dad using the loo and how it's natural. Mine were 2 (but years ago with towelling nappies which must have been really uncomfortable so they wanted to be out of them!). I still took a potty on outings for a while which they never needed but I felt there was less pressure. I trained my GC when they were 30 months - in the garden with a potty or indoors on the toilet. I also bribed all of them with chocolate buttons which certainly helped! I think the trick is to be positive about it and don't lose your nerve at the first fence - commit to it for a long weekend if possible, plenty of praise and buttons and 'won't it be exciting when we can do stuff/buy stuff/show granny etc. Oh, night times I used to lift them when I went to bed for a few nights but not for long. Good luck.