potty training day 3, am I going wrong already??

[kelloo1]

I started potty training my DS on sunday, he is 2 and a half. He always tells us when his nappy wants changing and was showing interest in his potty so I thought he must be ready. First day on sunday went really well, he told me when he needed to go and managed to hold everything in until he got to the potty. We didn't have any accidents all day. Yesterday went well too, no accidents just a few dribbles. Today though he is just not interested, he is making no effort to go to his potty. He will just wet himself and say 'more pants please' . If he does sit on the potty he holds it in and wants his pants back on. I am trying not to change him too quickly after he wets himself hoping he will realise it's not nice to have wet pants and might make an effort to go to the potty next time but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Have I gone wrong somewhere or is he just not ready yet?

I'd say he's ready - it's great that you waited until he was able to recognise and tell you when he needs to go. The fact is, the novelty has worn off for him now - it was a new experience - now it's not - 2 days is a long time to a 2 year old! :)

I'd say where possible leave him in just pants and a t-shirt - no trousers (to save you a lot of washing and to make it easier to pull down) Maybe take him shopping to buy some 'big boy pants' of his choosing - whatever he likes - y-fronts? dora the explorer? sure! lol as long as he's chosen them all by himself. Then explain to him that these pants are special - if you buy them for him, he must try not to wee wee or poo in them - ask him what he needs to do when he feels like he needs to go i.e 'tell mummy, go to the potty' etc and ask him regularly. Maybe also buy him some stickers or a marker pen to decorate his potty so it feels more personal to him. When he has an accident re-iterate the question "oh no, what do we do when we need a weewee/poopoo?" so he can start making connections.

Also....people used to think I was crazy at work when I did this but it worked brilliantly and the kids LOVED it - I made up a song and it went a little something like this....(say for arguments sake, the child is called Freddie)

Freddie did a wee wee on the toilet
Ohh sugarlumps (they found that bit hilarious and would join in)
He also did a poo poo on the toilet
Ohh sugarlumps
He did it on the toilet like a big boy
Not in his pull up or his pants
big cheer at the end

In an american accent and with a little dance too lol - sounds crazy but honestly, they love it and would often say they needed to go to the toilet and just do a dribble so they could help me sing the song :)

good luck!!

Thanks for all you tips! With the pants shopping i did let him choose his own, we got lots of pants with cars, trucks, bikes and fire engines on and I told him Fireman Sam wears pants just like his! I also let him choose which pants he wants to wear in a morning so he feels a bit more involved. I haven't thought about decorating his potty tho, might let him have a go at that. And a good idea just to let him just wear pants no trousers. We also have a potty song and if he does use it we get very excited and he gets a sticker on his chart. I think maybe I was expecting too much too soon after a successful first day! I will keep at it!

Sounds like you've got it pretty much covered :) it can take weeks for it to become a normal part of his routine, just keep on with it. Another thing I forgot to mention is maybe start taking him at certain times during the day i.e as soon as he wakes up (once you've taken his nappy off), after breakfast, before you go out anywhere, before lunch etc etc because sometimes they get so engrossed with what thy're doing - watching tv, drawing etc they 'forget' that they need to go or ignore the sensation because they want to carry on with what they're doing but by taking him regularly - even when he doesn't particularly need to go, it can encourage him just to empty what he does have in his bladder, rather than waiting until he's full and either having an accident or a mad dash to the potty. Usually wees come first - the pooing can take a little longer to crack - unfortunately!

You can also buy musical pottys whereby when it gets 'used' it plays a tune - not sure where they sell them but may be worth a shot although I'm sure it won't come to that, your boy seems like he's doin very well so far and has a mummy who knows what she's doing :)

Hello,
Well, sounds like he is ready, but can't be bothered! Not surprised as it does take a lot of concentration for them when they start. You could up the bribes- as well as a sticker he could have a chocolate button each time he does a wee on the potty.

Then of course loads of praise as well and ignoring accidents- just straightforward moping up and a reminder to go next time. I think we had a similar pattern- DD was great on day 2, then day 3 went backwards so I started taking her to the potty again every few hours (rather than waiting for her to say which wasn't happening). Then by day 5 I think she was in charge again.

See how it goes, he seems ready, but if he fights it there's no harm in waiting a bit, he's still young and personally I wouldn't want a fight, just makes it harder. They need to be mature enough not to fight it- or for parent to cope with fight anyway!! DD was 3 months off 3 when trained and she was very quick- DS was 2 months off 3, also quick (but not as quick as DD, think boys often bit slower).

With the bribes you do them for a few days/week or two even until they are on track then you say you have run out- we just had stickers for wees for DD that we just had for week one as she was really good by then, but I had to bribe her with ice-cream for the poos!! Then it became chocolate buttons after ice-cream and then nothing (well, lots of praise). I have to say it worked a dream though as some of them get hung up on poos. We also had a poo book- very useful!

Good luck!

I have been potty training my dd1 for two weeks and she has good and bad days. We have had more good lately so stick with it

Yes it does sound like he's ready - don't go back now as he's showing good promise! I went with LOTS of bribes/rewards. 1 smartie and sticker for every success .

He has become bored and has the normal attention span of a 2.5 year old, which is to say, a gnat.

I suggest a little bribe for successfully keeping his pants dry -- focus on this aspect as opposed to performance in the toilet to prevent performance pressure from interfering with the development of the habit, regular checking of undies and reminding, practice runs after an accident and participation in the clean up. The whole point is to have him take full responsibility eventually for every aspect of the business, hence the participation in cleanup (mopping accidents and putting wet underwear with the laundry).

Boys like to aim at floating items in the toilet so when his interest is flagging you could throw down some little 'fish' of some kind -- maybe coloured tissue paper cut in little shapes to provide a target? Maybe reserve this element for the last pee before bedtime?

Thanks everyone. Will try on the sweet bribes and see how that goes! I know boys tend to take a bit longer but after the weekend I thought oh this will be a breeze. I am off work this week tho so have the time to work with him. If it becomes a struggle by the end of the week I may wait a few weeks and try him again. I think he is just been a bit lazy to be honest, he knows what to do but will only do it when he feels like it. I get a bit of pressure from his nursery saying oh so and so is out of nappies so he (my ds) should be by now. i don't want to push him too much tho cos it will make him want to do it less.