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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

Starting potty training tomorrow....... any important beginners advice?

14 replies

juicychops · 28/12/2006 16:47

ds is only nearly 2 but he's showing signs that he's ready so i want to give it a go. any words of wisdom??

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

DLI · 28/12/2006 16:57

make sure you have plenty of potties about and kitchen roll handy. I am currently potty training my son and have been for the last couple of months!!!!!! he is very lazy

jellyhead · 28/12/2006 17:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

platypuss · 28/12/2006 17:02

Start a sticker chart as a reward each time he uses the potty - I stuck a`picture of a little boy on potty on my chart to make it clear.

Original poster

juicychops · 28/12/2006 17:41

thanks everyone. Im not looking forward to it but im sure it wont be as bad as im imagining it to be

OP posts:

JoshandJamie · 28/12/2006 17:51

I wrote this short article on the subject - just given 10 tips on getting started. It might help. here

JoshandJamie · 28/12/2006 17:51

Sorry, that should be giving, not given

twoisenoughmum · 28/12/2006 22:54

Don't wish to rain on your parade - but imho it would be better to leave it until he's a little bit older. Listen to what Jellyhead has to say. I only have two children but both were an absolute breeze to potty train (both at 2 years 10 months). Everyone but everyone I know who tried to do it when the children were younger had a lot more tears/ frustration/anger and mess to deal with.

By all means, buy a potty and have it nearby wherever you are in the house. Suggest he might like to try doing a wee or a poo on it, or point it out to him and tell him that's what its for. He may well surprise you and actually perform but, honestly, you can't take that as a sign that he wants to be potty trained. It can take months and months of nightmarish frustration if you try and do it before the little darling is ready.

Having said all that, I am fully aware that you will now receive loads of encouraging posts from people whose DC wore their last ever nappy at 22 months and never looked back!

Hopefully that will be the case with you and yours ...

Good luck. Its great when its done!

colditz · 28/12/2006 23:12

Honestly? Don't bother. He's too young. Knowing what a potty is for, and having the bowel and bladder control to use one persistantly are two different things, as I found out.

colditz · 28/12/2006 23:13

If you start when he is 2, he will be reliabley trained at 3.

If you start when he is 3, he will be reliably trained at 3.

Peridot30 · 28/12/2006 23:32

I tried with dd at 2 but was not ready tried again at 2.4 months and was off day and night nappies within a month. All kids are different but i wouldn't push it. I had a potty upstairs and downstairs, had plenty and i mean plenty of pants and we also stayed
in for a couple of days till they get used to the routine of the potty. Also take them to toilet regularly. We went every 5/20minutes and singing and books keep them occupied while sitting on potty. Good Luck.

oliviasmummy · 29/12/2006 00:09

i really stressed out about this and got some brilliant advice here, I tried because I was under pressure from relatives, nursery etc when dd was 2 but it was a disaster. At 2. 10 she informed me that she wanted to wee on the toilet (we got her a mini toilet seat thingy) and we have never looked back . There is no truer advice about potty trainig than WAIT UNTIL THEY ARE READY! I could have saved myself loads of angst if I had accepted this, hope you can too !

sleepysooz · 29/12/2006 21:53

Don't be put under pressure from anybody, children are ready when they are ready, wait until they are dry for a few hours, you can generally tell when they are ready, I have dts and the little boy was dry at night, so I tried him, it took 2 weeks then DD wanted to try, no turning back, they were brilliant! Most children are about 2.7 when ready properly, mine were a bit younger but average age of friends children are mostly 2.7

When you try it, lots of praise, I have always said 'oh dear nevermind' if an accident occurred, they hate wetting themselves! saying that I have been lucky! prepare to stay in for a couple of weeks so they feel more comfortable and not under pressure themselves!

Good luck!

chocolatekimmy · 29/12/2006 22:13

My first daughter showed all the signs about 8 weeks before she was 2 so we started her and she was trained within 2 weeks with the occasional accident. She was dry at night by 4 and a half.

My second daughter showed all the signs at about 4 weeks before she was 2, even getting the potty herself most days at least once and going to poo or wee on it, but we delayed it as i was expecting at the same time as her second birthday (early July). We held off and held off becuase of the new baby and when we did start her in October it was a nightmare - I was sure she was having accidents to wind me up, it was awful but i felt that once I had started it wouldn't be fair to go back to nappies as we had been giving her all the big girl praise etc for wearing knickers. I reluctantly started to use pull ups which i vowed never to do and i regretted that. Eventually after about 7 weeks i stopped using them and just perservered.
The turning point was one day when she weed all over the floor and playdough and toys with the potty right next to her after i had just asked her if she needed to sit on it and said no. Then within minutes of finishing cleaning it and her up she pooed in her clean knickers. I lost it and ended up crying my eyes out for about an hour but something seemed to click in her then and she was fine within a week!
I think one tip is to make sure that YOU are ready as it can be stressful and frustrating. I think i expected it to be as easy and quick as my first as she was definately more than ready (or so i thought). It may have had something to do with the new baby's arrival. The bizarre thing was that she was virtually dry at night from the time we started!

Frostythesurfmum · 29/12/2006 22:23

If he's showing the signs then go for it. My dd was dry during the day within 3-4 days of starting potty training a week or so before her 2nd birthday, so it is possible earlier.

My tips would be:

Introduce the potty and get a book to read to him about what it's all about. We used Molly's potty book - I've seen it and a boys' version in Asda.

Make a big fuss of going to buy big boy pants and let him choose some.

Go cold turkey - don't use pull ups at all, pants or nothing. Well, I don't mean nothing, I mean don't mix and match pants/pull ups.

Heaps of praise when he does anything on the potty. Whooping, cheering, clapping from you and anyone in the house at the time. Plus some sort of reward - I used stickers, one for her, one for the potty.

Plan to stay in for 2-3 days while he gets used to it. And be ready to mop up!

Good luck!

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