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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

potty!! does this sound like progress or not? opinions please!!!!!!

9 replies

megamummy111 · 21/12/2011 12:40

my son is 2 years 6 months. we are day 5 of him wearing pants and have gone for it absolutely cold turkey, straight into pants, no going back to nappies (daytime, obvs)

Here are the positives: he does seem to have quite good bladder control as he can go 2 hours, even nearly 3 hours without weeing (not always). When he does wee it seems like gallons. I think without this level of control, ie 6 months ago he would have been weeing and dribbling every 20 minutes or something. Am i right in thinking this?? Is this a good indication of readyness?
There have been no dribbles.
We are at about a 60% success rate with the potty. He sits on (with my prompting) is happy to sit 5 minutes or so and sometimes he wees and sometimes he doesnt.
He has pooed in the potty a few times.
He seems happy to wear pants.
He has got SLIGHTY better each day but there has not yet been a big improvement or breakthough day.
The whole process so far has been quite low key, ie, no major tantrums, no strong aversion to being in pants, no screaming to be back in nappies or anything like that.

Negatives: He needs my prompting. I have to instigate getting him to sit on the potty. Sometimes it takes bribes of sweets or chocs (!) He has not yet said anything like 'i need a wee', he is not taking the initiative in that way at all. When he has an accident sometimes he seems bothered by it and comes and tells me but equally sometimes he just carrys on playing, happy to be in soaking wet trousers. He seems completely surprised sometimes that he is weeing meaning he feels no prior warning.

A typical day (yesterday) he did 4 wees and 1 poo on his potty and had 3 accidents (one was a poo) like a say this is Day 4. Does this all sound encouraging and should i continue? Or does it mean he is not quite ready an would be better to try in a couple of months? Would appreciate some feedback, particularly from those who have experience of potty training, not just first time mums of lo's who are in the "wait untill they are really ready" club (sorry, no offence intended!)

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Mip · 21/12/2011 15:59

Hi I'm afraid I waited till my son was ready ! We had introduced a potty and once he did a poo but we waited till the summer holidays when he'd just turned three and like you did cold turkey. He had one poo accident on day one and then never again, has had two not get there in time pee dribbles. Was very scared of doing a poo in the potty but bribery (two choc buttons) worked as well as lining the potty with loo paper. It was stress free for him and us and he felt only proud not humiliated. We felt it was important he was able to articulate the need to go.

Sounds like your son's doing really well so you should absolutely carry on if you want but for us it worked waiting till he completely understood the whole process. My mother (who had my brother and I out of nappies earlier as was the way then) said to me that she believes children will be potty trained when they're ready ie if they're ready in July (which obv you wouldn't know till afterwards!) then you can start in February and slog for months or start in July and let it take a week or a day. However I have friends who wanted their children trained earlier and the children (often girls) showed interest, took a few weeks and a lot of accidents but worked for them. So I don't mean to tell you to give up, just that for us waiting really was the best thing!

Good luck and hope this was helpful rather than just a waffle!

BusterTheDonk · 21/12/2011 17:25

I think he's doing amazing... we too went cold turkey (but in summer) so started on bare bums...

I promised myself a full 2 weeks - no wimping out and if no significant improvement I'd leave it for a while... thankfully had it pretty much mastered by the end of the 2 weeks...

I think you need to keep up the good work!!!

mrspepperpotty · 21/12/2011 20:14

I went cold turkey with my DS when he was 2 yrs 2 m. As far as I can remember his progress by day 4 was very similar to what you describe. His first completely dry day was day 10 I think. He didn't start saying he needed a wee or taking himself to the potty for ages - at least 3 or 4 weeks - but it was so obvious when he needed a wee (wriggling about etc) that it was usually easy for me to remind him.

I'm sure it would have been quicker if I'd left it till he was nearer 3, but I really wanted him out of nappies - I hate changing nappies! If you're the same as me and don't mind dealing with accidents for a bit longer then I'd say stick with it - he'll get there in the end!

Original poster

megamummy111 · 21/12/2011 23:53

thankyou all so much for yr replies, that is all really encouraging. i am deffo going to give it 3 to 4 more days. (which takes us to xmas!) i think i will be using a pull-up on xmas morning and over dinner time as with all his new toys i just know he is going to be VERY hyper and distracted, and i just want to enjoy the morning with him. i think if i aren't seeing improvement after 10 days i will be very tempted to go back to nappies and wait 6 weeks or something and try again. mip i think your mum is right, starting sooner does'nt mean you'll finish sooner. if it is going to be months rather than weeks whats the point? might as well wait. I'm so in two minds about it its doing my head in!!

OP posts:

AngelsfromtherealmsofgloryDog · 22/12/2011 00:00

DS has had that kind of bladder control for several months (he's 24 m.o. now) but is definitely not ready for proper training yet, so I'd probably not see that as a sure sign he's ready.

Original poster

megamummy111 · 22/12/2011 21:06

well day 6 and DS stayed completely dry today! he did only 4 big wees all day, all in his potty, all 2 or 3 hours apart. Thats the good news, bad news is he pooed twice in his pants and seemed completely oblivious that he had done both times, and in complete denial. I thought LO's usually are clean before they are dry? Looks like DS is going to be the other way round.

OP posts:

scummymummy · 22/12/2011 21:09

Yay! Sounds like he's doing brilliantly.

ladderinmyxmasstocking · 23/12/2011 10:56

Hi, megamummy, sounds like your ds is doing great. Definitely give it another few days before deciding whether to go back to nappies.

I took 2.6 yo DD out of nappies about 8 weeks ago. She's still not very good at telling me when she needs a wee and is scared of pooing on her potty (she asks for a nappy, or does it in her pants if it comes too quickly), but it is still far better than having her in nappies.

Bribery has worked very well for us as well. DD gets a gummi bear or a smartie if she tells me she needs a wee (at the beginning she got one for any wee in the potty and I often had to bribe her to use the potty at all like you have been).

I have definitely got a lot better at recognizing when she needs to go and is holding on, so like mrspepperpotty I can remind DD before she has an accident most of the time.

Hope it's going well today .

Purplehonesty · 24/12/2011 08:04

Do you have carpets or wooden floors? I found what worked best was bare bum so they can feel what's happening at the slightest dribble. We Pt DS at 23 months and he has had a handful of accidents but never a poo.
If you crank the heating up and leave him bare down below that might help. Took us about a week but the only accidents he had were when dressed.
We also made a huge song and dance of it when he used potty and spent the whole week laughing like loonies!!

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