when did you start potty training....

[theweathergirl]

and what did you find to be the best system? My DD is nearly 18 months, and I want to start thinking about it, especially as she's more aware - pointing at her nappy when she does a wee/poo etc. I'd appreciate hearing your experiences....

I'm trying atm but dd is already 31 months. She was similar to your dd at that age, showing signs of readiness such as understanding what the potty/toilet is, ability to remove clothes and nappy and identify body parts. The critical thing is whether she is going to be able to tell you, sufficiently in advance, that she needs to go when out and about.

dd is quite stubborn and despite the odd success which may have turned into something more constructive given the right circumstances it is only now that we have the real opportunity and will to succeed. We've had a potty around for about a year to get her used to it.

We're using big girl pants and intermittent reminders from a timer approach with stickers for successes. She held on all morning only to have an accident within minutes of "trying" and a smaller one an hour or so later . Yesterday we had one minor accident and a couple of successes but she weed in her pull up when we had to go shopping.

Good luck

dd is 2.6 and has been wearing 'big girl pants' for 4 days now - it's going well so far.....! I loved the tip on the homepage about the double set of waterproofs and fitted sheets, will try that one out
Last summer I thought we'd start just before her 2nd birthday and she was getting the hang of it ( we were away for nearly 2 months elsewhere) but once we were home again, she didn't want to go near her potty. I'd ask her and I'd get a resounding NO! from her if I suggested a pee in her potty or on the toilet. Seeing bigger childen lately going to the toilet and not wearing nappies has turned things around, so hopefully we're not too far away from cracking it.
If your dd is aware of her funtions I would try it out and see how she gets on. People do say that the longer you leave it the quicker it takes, but you'll just have to see. DD is loving the whole choosing panties/wiping/etc etc side of things and I've made a big deal that she's a big girl and big girls wear panties not nappies sort of thing.
Good luck!

DD was dry day and night at 18m. It wasn't a deliberate strategy to be "early", she was just ready and her nursery was very encouraging. We'd had a potty given to us so she was used to playing on it, would occsaionally do a wee (used to have nappy free time before her bath to air her bum!) and so on before we got serious. We also bought a DK book "The Potty Bok for girls" which she lived as it had pics of real girls using a potty. We went cold turkey (no pull-ups) at nursery's suggestion and she was fab. Took me a while to stop taking her to the toilet every 10 mins though. I think if you do start early you eed to be prepared to take them to the loo without prior consultation, so if they have a big drink pop them on the toilet 30 mins later, even if they aven't asked.

Personally, i think it is actually easier to train them early if they show the sort of awareness your DD has. I have friends who have waited until 2.5 plus and they seem to have really had a hard time, perhaps because the little darlings have more of a mind of their own at that age?

Ds1 was nealy 3 before dry at nite ds2 dry at nite at 21/2

My dd's varied, but I found the best strategy was to wait until the summer before they were 3 and then take their nappies off so they can toddle around. Obviously I encouraged them to tell me when they wanted to go to the toilet and after about 3/4 weeks they were dry during the day and shortly after dry at night. I never wanted to lift at night (laziness) so I tried to wean them off the comfort that the nappy provides.

My 4 yo still likes to pee in the garden though

I'm with you goodkate - never seen the point of lifting at night or risking a wet bed if forget. ds decided that he was going to be dry at night suddenly with no problem at all at almost 4.

Friend and I were both trying to potty train our dd's (both 22mo) over the last couple of weeks. Both seemed to be showing the same signs of readiness.

I put her in pants, sat her on potty every 30min, made a big fuss if she wee'd, gave her star stickers. Over a week we progressed from not having a clue, to understanding what the potty is for. She starts a wee, says "oh, wet" and runs over to finish on the potty. Or if she decided she wanted a sticker, she'd sit down, concentrate really hard, and wee. But she doesn't recognize the "about to wee" feeling, and was starting to get upset about me asking her to sit on the potty the whole time, so we've stopped and gone back to nappies. (She was really proud of her pants, but after a week when I suggested a nappy, she cheered!). We'll still have some no-pressure nappy-free time each day though. And try again in a few months.

Friend's dd got the hang of it after 3 days - as in, she says she needs a wee long enough beforehand for my friend to help her get to the potty. So they're carrying on.

So my tip is, try it, and be prepared to stop and try later if it doesn't seem to work!

To be honest, I think theres too much pressure on us mums about potty training. My mum was a nightmare at nagging me with the first dd. Children tend to do it when they're ready no matter what age. I think as long as they are out of nappies before they go to school then its fine.

I always remember my nephew at 4. He used to put a nappy on and then go stand behind the curtain to poo. It was hilarious, he's 16 now and I'm glad to say he's grown out of it 0:

:0

3rd time lucky

My second baby is due in August when dd will be 22 months. What I want to know is do I wait until the baby is born and the first exhausting few months are over and try then OR do I try and train her now before baby arrives? I have heard they have relapses and want to be babies again, don't fancy that on 2 hours sleep and sore boobs.

Give yourself a break POP, you've enough to think about I'd wait another year. What's the hurry? Unless she wants to herself. Your dd's only v.young. My first dd was 2 and 6 mths, my dd2 was nearly 3.

Good luck!

Good heavens PopeyesPiece - wait! It's so much easier to train an older child, and, bar the extra cost in nappies, it's really no hassle at all to have two in nappies at the same time. When a child is first trained he can often only give a few second's notice that he needs to go to the toilet, and will almost certainly need your help to do that. Definitely something to be avoided when you've got a young baby to juggle as well.

We had a stab at training ds when he was 20m (and I was 5-6m pg). He understood exactly what was expected of him, wanted to co-operate, tried hard and was improving, but we gave up after 3 days because he was upset at not succeeding. We tried again a year later and he got the hang of it immediately.

PopeyesPiece snap! No 2 due in November and DD will be 2 in September. I am planning to spend the summer potty training (fingers crossed!). I figure if we have a nice summer and she spends a lot of the time in garden minus nappy, it may be easier than trying to do it, perhaps in the winter.

Obviously, if it doesn't work, i'll leave it.

Would be nice not to have 2 in nappies tho!

x

A lot of advice I heard was the benefits of potty training in the summer months when they can wander round the garden nappy free. Well dd was 2 in the June and although she wasn't particularly showing signs of wanting to be out of nappies I thought I'd give it a go. Big mistake. We don't have a garden so wanted to be out and about in the nice weather and after a couple of days trying to find loos and changing clothes endless times I gave up and concentrated on having stress-free fun. A few months later, the weather wasn't so nice and dd showed signs of wanting to be trained. So we picked a week with few activities, didn't stray too far from home and bingo, done in no time with very little anguish.

With my boys I started training them at around 2yo and they both got the idea within days. I left my two dd's until nearer 3yo and they were a blummin nightmare; it took several false starts and then some weeks before it clicked. I agree with Marialuisa that some children can have more of a mind of their own when they are that much older!

Started potty training today with DD2, 29 months, born 2 months early and she is doing well, she had two accidents all day and ran to the potty to go, even sat on the toliet after me and weed...

I started putting dd on the potty from about 5.5 months, just to give her another alternative to doing wee/poo in her nappy. For us it was very obvious when she was going to go and it just seemed daft to have a nappy on, when you could tell the signs of needing to go.

She started signing potty and doing nappy sign from 13 months. I took her out of nappies at 17months and she is in knickers and has always been dry at night and dry during the day.

I started the day DD refused to wear a nappy, i.e we were led by her. She woke up one morning and declared "I'm not wearing that nappy" so we put her in pants, DH ran to Tescos and bought a potty (completely unprepared for her statement) and we ran with it. 3 days later she was dry in the day and at nap time. She was 24months.
I believe that your child will let you know when they are ready. I'd rather spend 3 days training thanhave 6 months of an unready child.

I recently trained my twin charges at 2.5y exactly (both boys)... it was SUPER stressful for the first few days, mentally exhausting, but we have definitely cracked it now! We did it during half term week when there was no nursery, and no drop in classes to miss, stocked up on loads of £2 tracksuit bottoms from primark, let them choose pants (Thomas and emergency vehicles!) and went from there! We also bought a little oven timer with a bell, as they have a bit of a thing about 'listening out for the bing' on the oven/microwave/toaster etc, to help remind all of us (including me!) over the first few days that it had been a while since they'd been, and did they need to go again? One of them cottoned on after about 3 days and has been dry virtually ever since, the other took slightly longer and still does have the odd accident (about 6 weeks in) but its more that he gets caught up with whatever hes doing and forgets he needs to until its too late. Ive noticed a definite shift in the last week tho and hes being very pro-active in asking for the loo whereas earlier i had to persuade him!

We also bought one of the Potette Plus travel potties from Mothercare/boots, that have special disposable bags with nappy liner type stuff in it, which we take with us to the park, etc as the bags can be tied up and binned like a regular nappy after use, and the legs also fold out to make it into a child sized seat to go on top of the loo. It makes my life a bit easier and i dont have to worry about whether there will be a loo where we're going, or about how disgusting the park toilets are!

Good luck!

I think a good rule of thumb is if they have dry nappies for long periods i.e. control of their bladder, can communicate the need to go and understand where they go to do it have a go.
I tried dd1 at 18mths because she was fully aware, could communicate well and knew where to go. She hadn't got enough control though and eventually succeeded when she decided to do it at 22mths.
I would try for 3 days with no pants on. If she isn't getting to the potty more than missing she isn't ready.
Once she reliably gets to the potty put knickers on for a few days, then full clothes. Take the potty everywhere. No pullups as they confuse them. Toilet before going out, use a bed pad in the car seat just incase and always have spare clothes. Good Luck!

ooh i'm glad i've found this thread as we're in a similar position with dd (now 19m)

we are planning to try potty training in the summer with lots of nappy free days with us going nowhere. We always give dd nappy free time at bedtime before her bath and she will often poo in her potty (without us reminding her, or even being near her!) but weeing is a different matter.....she definitely holds it in ok, becuase her wees are HUGE. But more often than not goes all over me or my bed .

will watch this thread with interest.

I really think that the best thing to do is leave them in nappies until they are able to say clearly "I don't want to wear nappies any more" Then you say "OK - here are some pants and there is the loo/potty"

That way you go from nappies to not-nappies in ten minutes with no accidents, no stress, no wet carpets........They may be in nappies a few months longer that their grandmas would like, but who cares? Anything's better than spending months saying "do you need a pee? Are you sure? Shall we just try? Oh well done you've sat on the potty! Oh dear, wet trousers. Never mind, let's get you changed. Do you need a pee? Are you sure? Shall...." and so on.

Agree with seeker

ds 2 years and 4 months - no preamble, no sign that he was ready, but I decided to give it a go and within 3 days that was it, sorted, practically no accidents ever.

dd - first brief attempt at 23 months as she was chatting about it, saying she was wet etc, second attempt at 2.3 and then about a month or six weeks where she wore pants at home and nappies out and about. Then at 2 years 4 months (same age as ds) she just decided the time had come and that was her - hardly an accident since.