Potty training essentials...

[AliGrylls]

I think DS1 is ready to be potty trained - he sits on his potty of his own accord when he does not need to go for a wee; talks about wee wee and poo and knows what it is. However, despite my extensive reading on the subject I actually feel like I don't know where to begin. On Monday I sat him on the toilet after his bath however, he burst into tears and said he wanted "nappy on". Yesterday we had a repeat experience. I am interested in hearing from people who have done potty training and did not find it too hard to find out what they did. What is the best way of starting? I feel I am actually doing something not quite right.

my son wouldnt let go of his wee to begin with -i wipped the dry nappy off first thing in the morning and thought thats it eventually he'll have to let go -but he didnt and when it was nap time early afternoon -i put a nappy back on and yes he peed in it. we went to no playgroups for that week and it didnt get any better, he ended up really unwell with a U.T.I.
had to wait another month then he just seemed ready to let it go
although no one other than me was allowed to empty the potty
good luck

Could it be that the toilet was just a step too far?

Perhaps some semi-naked time during the day to begin with or just underwear and nothing else on the bottom so there's less washing and less to change. See how it goes but if he ends up holding it in or continues to get distressed you might need to re-think.

Maybe it was a step too far. He tried potty this morning before his nap which he usually loves messing around on and within a couple of seconds of having his nappy off he started crying for it to go back on again. It's weird - I asked him if he wanted to for a wee and he said yes; he was happy to pull his trousers down and take them off but as soon as it comes to the crunch he starts crying. Does this mean he is not ready?

How old is he ? It does sound like he is not ready. They shouldn't really start crying IMO.

Just keep a potty lying around in the bathroom or something and talk about potty related stuff often and the idea of wearing pants one day soon etc etc. That is how I started.

my ds is 2 and a half and i thought he was ready for potty training but i have given up! He knows when he is weeing or pooping and even tells us when he wants changing. He has a potty lying around so he is used to it and does sit on it sometimes when he is playing.. I have asked him if he wants to sit on his potty when he is doing his business but he says ' no gone now' whilst he is still obviously doing whatever he's doing. I do put him in pants sometimes during the day but he still won't use the potty then gets really upset if he has an accident. A few of my friends have kids the same age and they're out of nappies, I know he will learn eventually but how do you know when they are really ready? And how do you start?

I bought a potty when DS was 2y1m and the very first time he sat on it he did a wee! Easy :) Then we would just talk about it, and sometimes he'd sit on it, and sometimes he wouldn't.

I wasn't in any rush to potty train; DS had (has?) language delay and I was much more focused on working on that, and I didn't think he had the capability to communicate with me about needing the loo etc.

Plus we have moved house twice in the last year and have had quite a lot of other change. So I didn't want to start until we had a period of calm.

So last weekend, with DS at 3y2m I started, and after the first morning of 8 changes of wet pants , and then a poo in his pants which shocked him, he quickly got used to the idea that the potty/loo was the way forward.

Helped enormously by his Thomas obsession; every pee and poo on the potty/loo got a gold star on the Thomas reward chart, and a Thomas sticker. Every 10 stars got a new Thomas train (thank you toyshop.com for being half price at the moment).

He's had no accidents for 5 days, and even more amazingly has had dry nappies in the morning 4 out of the last 5 days when prior to last weekend his nappy would be bursting in the morning, often leaking out to wet the sheets etc.

So whilst it's early days I'm feeling really pleased that I left it relatively late and it's clicked so fast. I know all children are different and for many reasons may not "get it" so fast. But from what you describe I would say your DS is too young/not ready.

PS some children have a fear of the loo as it's so big, we've used one of those portable potty/training seats . It's worked well.

Good luck.

He is 2 yrs and 2 months. I will keep on asking him and doing it in a casual way for a while longer (he is due to start nursery in January so I would like him to be trained by then).

I wasn't really sure where to start either!

For a month or two we left a potty in sight in the house and started gently explaining that DD could use it for wees and poos if she wanted. She didn't. We sat her on the loo before bathtime a few times. Sometimes she weed sometimes she didn't...

When I decided she was ready to actually train I explained to her the evening before that the next day she would be wearing pants instead of a nappy and she'd use the potty and/or loo.

I never did the 'sit them on the potty every so often' thing as DD just wouldn't sit still, so I had to wait for her to tell me she needed to go. We had quite a few wee accidents for a week, but no poo accidents.

After about a week she learned to ask for the potty/toilet and the accidents have stopped. She uses both potty and toilet happily although I think prefers the toilet.

Things that have helped:

• going completely cold turkey on nappies during the day and not even having them in her sight or reach. No nappies or pull ups on trips out either. Just take spare clothes. Have rarely needed them.
• special new (hideous) Peppa Pig pants
• a bag of mini-chocolate fingers in the cupboard as a reward - one for a wee, two for a poo
• a travel potty for out and about that fits in my handbag and has disposable bags in it
• going to the loo together when in cafes/restaurants. She likes the novelty (a bit too much sometimes!)

Things that have hindered:

• difficult for her to understand why she still needs a nappy at nap time and bed time
• having a 4 month old DS who is still in nappies. DD gets jealous and sometimes wants to be the baby

I potty trained ds last month when he was 2yr1m. For a while before when at home he'd been taking off his nappy for ages, then asking for one on and weeing or pooing straight away, so if he could do that why not use the potty instead? We went cold turkey but He''s very strong willed so for the first 2 days he would only go on the potty when it suited him so we had a few accidents. I bribed him to sit on the potty every half hour by offering him a galaxy button . About 3 days later we tried just using over the top praise, clapping etc which worked just as well. By a week and a half he was telling us when he needed a wee and not having any more accidents . Unlike others, I found that he had MORE accidents if I let him run round with no underwear on as he seemed to think he was then free to spray away lol! So I always at least put his boxers on straight after he uses the potty now.

When we go out I take his potty as ge won't use the toilet, but he'll only go in a proper toilet cubicle lol so it's lucky he can hold it in. Luckily he's never ( yet) had an accident in public.

About 2 weeks after starting he decided he no longer wanted night time nappies, so I'd let him go to sleep then sneak one on him. however, one night I fell asleep on the sofa and forgot about the nappy whoops! He's not worn a nappy since so I'm quite proud he only took 3 weeks to become potty trained morning and night , with only one poo accident ( at nursery lol) and a few wee accidents.

I think the key is that he was ready as I'm no supermum and he's just a normal 2 year old boy.

Sorry it's long, potty training us just fresh in my mind.