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Potty Training - should I give up? (for now!)

7 replies

ellee · 29/03/2012 10:52

Ds will be 3 in June. He's a lovely bright boy but has delayed expressive language. He can communicate but is quite unclear and gets worse when tired. We also have 1y dd. Busy house! Ds was showing signs of being ready, shouting about poos esp!

Anyway, we started potty training two weeks ago. My husband and I took some time off to get started and well, the going is very mixed. Basically, he's quite keen for the poos to go in the potty but doesn't seem to give a flying hoot about the wees wees. Occasionally, he shows discomfort when he has wet himself but mostly not, you notice a puddle on the floor or a wet patch. We encourage him to sit on the potty but we've tried not to insist or create a battle about it. If he does sit, he will generally do a wee happily enough. He is pleased with himself when he does this.

We've tried showing various toys saying they want to use the potty (he enjoys this and now does it himself including sound effects!), we've talked about how uncomfortable he must be when he wets himself and how he should try and do it in the potty, but essentially, my read is he just doesn't care enough.

Now all that said he does sometimes say he wants to do a wee wee.

I'm tired of it. My feeling is that if he was really ready for this he would be doing bettter by now. I'm a bit stressed by it too (unnecessarily so I know!) and possibly I'm projecting my own stress and tiredness in wanting to quit it. My husband and childminder think he is doing ok.

Any views much appreciated.

Thanks.

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 29/03/2012 11:10

If you are stressed and tired then stop the potty training and try again in a few weeks when you are all feeling more relaxed.

You might want to wait for some more nice weather and keep him outside as much as possible with a potty, that way it doesn't matter if he wees on the floor Smile.

Can also recommend this book. Its not a "how to" but full of useful information and lots of stories of other peoples experiences. It filled me with confidence and have lent it to lots of friends who have all loved it too.

silkenladder · 29/03/2012 12:57

At DD's kindergarten (in Germany) they potty train by doing what you describe, except they leave the kids' nappies on.

You say he is already capable of producing a wee when he is taken to the potty, so just plan plenty of potty visits into your day and reward him for asking to go at other times. Once he is consistently asking to go/has dry nappes almost all the time then leave them off.

If it's difficult getting him to use the potty, making it part of the routine before meals or before going out may help, plus bribery with smarties or gummibears. After a while you switch to only rewarding when he tells you he needs to go.

kw13 · 29/03/2012 14:23

I went with the whole bribery thing! Chocolate button for every wee done in the potty and some very smart big boy pants (they had Ben 10 on!). Good luck!

ellee · 29/03/2012 14:25

ok, some good ideas there, he is getting half right, maybe we should keep motoring on. We have done some bribery (buttons) but a consistent approach might work better.. thanks everyone for your thoughts!

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 29/03/2012 14:43

If you want him out of nappies at night try sticking him in cloth nappies. Both of mine were dry at night earlier than there peers just because they didn't want to feel the wet nappy at night.

naturalbaby · 29/03/2012 16:19

My ds has been at this stage of potty training for months - his big brother is only 15months older than him so he started sitting on the potty and forcing out a week a year ago but is only dry if he's half dressed at home. From going through it with his big brother I can see he's nearly there so I can see I just have to wait for him to get more independent. Till then it's nappies or half dressed!

ellee · 08/04/2012 11:36

Update, we're taking a break. There's just no progress and I've come to the conclusion he's just not quite ready. We'll give it few weeks and try again.

Thanks everyone.

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