Gina Ford's 'Potty Training in a week'

[LadyP]

Has anyone used this book and has it actually worked in a week?

Tx

Started potty training a la GF yesterday. Result 5 accidents 2 wees in potty plus when she got up from the potty once there was a little poo around her bum.

So far this morning there has been 3 wees in potty and 3 accidents.

I think that dh is making it more stressful, I thought it would be easier with both of us here but he seems to think progress should be faster and when he is watching her he doesn't keep track of how long it was since her last sit on the potty.

Well I asked dh to put dd down for her nap but she didn't go to sleep for ages, she kept shouting and talking but eventually went off at 2pm ish.

I have just gone in to her and the poor little dear is fast out, with her pants pulled down, soaking wet. Dh forgot to put her nappy back on for her nap. She has managed to pull the change mat into the cot and is lying on that.

MEN!

Started dd today, not following tbe GF routine, we have one hit and one miss, she got so excited when she filled the potty and wouldn't get off it. DH has just walked through the door, things are bound to go pair shaped now, sometimes we are better left to our own devises aren't we, a bit like childbirth!

My profuse apologies to dh, he didn't forget the nappy, she took it off herself.

She woke up really grumpy and crying becasue she was wet and wouldn't let me sit her on the potty or do anything to her, she just wanted t osit on my knee so guess what she had a wee there and I got wet. At this point I was about to give up and put her back in a nappy

But that was the only accident of this afternoon and she managed 3 more wees in the potty before bed.

Update: it's actually been progressing really well the last couple of days! Yippee!

Today we've had: 2 completely successful trips to the potty (i.e. everything completely dry), 1 semi-successful trip (i.e. pants only very slightly damp, he then managed to hold it then sat REALLY patiently for 10 minutes until he'd managed to wee a "proper" wee), and 2 accidents (1 was a poo - but then he hasn't sussed that yet really, so that's fair enough and 1 was my fault really - I was upstairs cleaning and wasn't around to ask).

I'm really pleased with the progress he's made - it just suddenly seemed to click with him yesterday and we've made huge progress now. Haven't been moving the potty into the bathroom quite yet (as Gina suggests) - but am going to try and do that gradually over the next week and by next weekend introduce the big toilet.

I so didn't think we'd get this far this quickly at the beginning of this week!

That is so encouraging Georgina. I was on the verge of giving up but I think I will continue.

Today I have been at work but dh reported equal wees in the potty and accidents. She does seem to be going a lot longer in between now though.

JulieF: it's embarrassing, I swear ds has better bladder control than me The longest he's gone between wees so far is 4 hours (although 3 is more usual) - I usually make it to about 2 hours before I need to go

Do stick with it - half and half sounds good progress to me, especially if she's going longer between (that shows awareness and ability to "hold on" surely?)

Well I'm 5 and a half months pg so it son't be long before dd has better control than me too!

This morning she seemed to rebel against going on the potty, she started off well then shook her head the next time I asked her and went straight up the corner to wee.

As I went upstairs ro get clean pants she had a poo on the carpet but knew what she had done saying mummy poo potty.

This afternoon mil reported 1 poo in nappy during her lunchtime nap, and 2 wees on the potty, the last one she went to the potty herself.

You know in the past I always laughed at people who were obsessed by their children's bodily functions!

Well he still seems to be doing well. Still having accidents when he's distracted but most are completely on target grin. Poos are going straight in the pants though and I'm not sure he's even aware (when I smell it he swears blind he hasn't done one) Hopefully he'll twig that one this week as I don't fancy having to change his pooey pants daily...

We have decided to call it a day and try again in a month or 2. For one thing she seems to have a bit of a tummy upset but the main reason is that she seems to be unaware when she needs to wee and doesn't even seem distrssed at being wet.

She knows when she wants to poo and tells you when she has done one.

I had wanted to try and get her trained becasue I am having another baby in February and know I won't have the time then, also if she is tarined by the spring she can go to playgroup but maybe she just isn't quite ready yet.

JulieF

Still, as you say, best to wait a bit until she's more ready if she's not really noticing she's wet.

We've had a bit of a set back this weekend. Been trying to move the potty into the bathroom but ds keeps forgetting and having accidents (although they're still quite widely spaced apart). I'm hoping he'll twig soon.

We're supposed to be visiting someone's house on Tuesday, I'll be mortified if he has an accident on their carpet!!!! Hm... maybe I should put that trip out off. Then again, I'm getting a bit fed up of putting things off "just in case".

Update and a plea for some advice.

Daytime is good now - hardly ever any accidents (with the exception of poos still, but he has managed to get one in the potty this week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed). We have run into a few problems though, so I'm hoping someone with experience of all this can give me a few tips!

We've tried to introduce a "special" toilet seat as GF suggests, but he's really not interested and once when we were out and I had to perch him on a "big" toilet he almost screamed the place down, so it looks like it's potties or nothing. Is this fairly normal? At what age did you introduce the big toilet to your kids? Is a portable potty a good investment or a bit of a waste of money (i.e. should I resign myself to carry around the normal potty instead?)

Nursery days (two afternoons a week) really throw everything out. He can be perfectly dry all morning, go to nursery and then refuse point blank to go on the potty there. He hasn't had any accidents there, and manages to hold it all in for hours (despite drinking tons of juice there), but the second we get in the front door once I've taken him home, we don't even get a chance to take his shoes and coat off, let alone manoever to a potty - everything just gets soaked! Am at a bit of a loss to help with this one? Should I just go for outright bribery - "I'll give you some chocolate when we get home if the nursery staff tell me you did a wee on the potty while you were there"? Any ideas why he might be doing this?

The final problem is a bit weird. Despite being in a (pull-up) nappy over night, he's still treating them as pants and wakes up to ask to go to the potty. If he does have an accident he demands a fresh nappy. Now, I'm fairly pleased about this as it shows he's got the idea, and that was the point we got pull-up nappies - didn't matter if he had an accident but gave him the option. The problem is it's about 3 times through the night and we're suffering! Whether we allow him to take a drink to bed with him or not (he normally has a little bottle of water) seems to make no difference in frequency or volume of wee, but if we do ban it we get a very crotchety thirsty boy in the morning. Help! I don't really want to tell him that he should just do his wees in his nappy, but at the same time we're not really expecting him to be dry at night anyway yet (wasn't planning on even thinking about it until he was 3).

Sorry, this is a really long post, but hoping for the benefit of mumsnet wisdom.

ds was not keen on perching on the big toilet until he was about 3.5 so we used a ToodleLoo portable toilet seat from Tommee Tippee that folds into 4 in a sachet. dd at just 2 will perch happily so they all differ. Never travelled out with a potty as wanted to get him to asking for and using toilets when were out.

Can you persuade him to use the toilet at nursery with you before you leave. Perhaps risk not going straight home (to the park etc) so he learns he should go then or use a "reward". Is there something about the nursery toilets/potties that bothers him which they could accommodate to encourage him in the short term. Hopefully once he does it a few times it will cease to be an issue.

Friend has just been through the nighttime disturbances with her dd although also never set out to night train. It did pass reasonably quickly but was a pain for a few weeks. She refused to wear a nappy or anything so it was either get up or have a wet bed ! ds just decided he would be dry so we missed that bit out, although now he will shout when he needs to go in the night, just to let us know - thanks

Sounds as if your ds is really getting the hang of it now. Good luck you are nearly there !

Sounds like your ds is doing really well.

Re portable potties - absolutely brilliant and worth the money. I've got a Tommee Tippee one that the sides fold down on and they have plastic bag insert things... think it's called a Pottee or something. I got it in Mothercare and it's great. You can just whip it out on request and don't have to use dogey toilets if you don't want. Difficult to predict what toddlers want to do. Sometimes dd loves the potty, sometimes the "big girl toilet". I just go with the flow. (so to speak!)

Re. going at nursery - I'd be tempted to use a reward for going before you leave for home if thats the only chance. (a few little sweets for sitting on the potty?) Also, maybe get the staff to try his own potty if you think he just doesn't like the nursery ones. FWIW, we also used "rewards" to sort out poos - dd got it right for a few weeks and then reverted to doing them in her pants. Chocolate/sweets (just a few) for getting it in the potty sorted it within a couple of days. We then had to keep up the rewards for a month or 2 but it was well worth it.

Can't help with the nighttime wees from any personal experience. DD still in nappies at night. However, friends and my mother swear by "lifting" child before you go to bed. So he'd have a wee straight before bed, then you'd lift him and put him on potty in the dark before you go to bed a few hours later. Should cut down the wakings at night. Over those few hours, maybe he'd have pretty much emptied his bladder?

Good luck!

I never had any problems with potty-training my 3 - and I'm sure that's down to waiting until they are ready!

My friend took her childrens nappies off as soon as they hit 2 - and then had 6 months or so of weeing/pooing everywhere and mountains of washing.

I left mine until they were 2.2yrs (DD1), 2.6yrs (DS1) and 2.8yrs (DD2) and they were all dry in a week. I can count on one hand how many accidents they have had. Night-time took a bit longer - between 3 & 6 months after they were out of day-time ones.

I never bothered with any of the "pull-up/training pants" things - it was straight from nappies to knickers.

Agree with the Portable potty - handy to keep in the car.

Georgina how is it going?

We have started again and it is entirely different this time. For the last week ddh has been asking for her potty (a bit embarrasing when she started to take down her trousers and try to sit on one of the displays in the middle of Mothercare though)

We are on day 2 and she has only had one accident (whilst I was on the phone) I could have sworn she would have been too excited/distracted when her frineds came round for an open house but she had 3 wees on the potty whilst they were there.

I do have to watch her though as she won't always ask, sometimes she just goes to the potty and sits on it forgetting to take her pants down.

Georgina how is it going?

We have started again and it is entirely different this time. For the last week ddh has been asking for her potty (a bit embarrasing when she started to take down her trousers and try to sit on one of the displays in the middle of Mothercare though)

We are on day 2 and she has only had one accident (whilst I was on the phone) I could have sworn she would have been too excited/distracted when her frineds came round for an open house but she had 3 wees on the potty whilst they were there.

I do have to watch her though as she won't always ask, sometimes she just goes to the potty and sits on it forgetting to take her pants down.

Georgina how is it going?

We have started again and it is entirely different this time. For the last week ddh has been asking for her potty (a bit embarrasing when she started to take down her trousers and try to sit on one of the displays in the middle of Mothercare though)

We are on day 2 and she has only had one accident (whilst I was on the phone) I could have sworn she would have been too excited/distracted when her frineds came round for an open house but she had 3 wees on the potty whilst they were there.

I do have to watch her though as she won't always ask, sometimes she just goes to the potty and sits on it forgetting to take her pants down.

He doesn't take his own pants down yet (but I haven't really been encouraging that tbh - he's started to turn taps on to wash his own hands though, so I consider that progress towards self-sufficiency!) but he hardly ever has any accidents - I'm so proud of him.

Most of the accidents are of the didn't quite check all bits were inside potty first variety (and only about 1 incident a week) so perfectly understandable. Poos are still a bit iffy (mostly he'll use an overnight nappy, sometimes in the potty, occasionally in pants), but he definitely has the idea.

He tends to use the pull up nappies like pants so we've started lifting him at 11pm which seems to mean a peaceful night's sleep for us all (he really gets stroppy about being woken up though, and BEGS us to let him go back to bed poor mite!).

Was particularly impressed this weekend - we got stuck in traffic after visiting relatives - a 2.5 hour journey turned into a 4 hour journey and he stayed dry throughout.

He won't use big toilets at all, so I've been carrying a potty out with us when we go out which he's happy to use, but I haven't been brave enough for any major town trips yet - need to get a proper portable potty really.

Still, I really can't believe how smoothly it all seemed to go once it had clicked. Rereading my panicked posts of the early days seems really weird!

Oh, and bribery with smarties fixed the nursery issues

Thats great.

We had our first trip out today. The only problem arose when we went to a pub for lunch. She loves sitting on the toilet at my mums so I assumed she would be OK elsewhere. Not so. She asked for a wee but refused to sit on the toilet and had an accident on the floor.

So this afternoon I bought a travel potty.

Aww... poor mite! Mind you, I don't blame her considering the state of most pub toilets