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Original poster

Potty training twin boys in 4 days - can it be done?

29 replies

speedymama · 01/08/2006 10:02

Well, it is time that I took plunge (plus I am fed up with spending a fortune on nappies). The boys (29months) quite happily sit on the potty and last week, DT1 pooed in his potty 2 days running. They tell me when they have done a poo or wee-wee so I guess they are ready for the formal training. The problem is that I have only been putting them on the potty first thing in the morning after breakfast. So it is time for a concerted effort on my part.

I will be at home Thursday to Sunday so I want to go for it. My plan is to sit them on the potty every half hour until they do something. Question is, will my strategy work? Also, I'm interested in hearing the experiences of other Mums or Dads of multiples.

Wish me luck!

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MarsLady · 01/08/2006 17:34

Oh boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the words of a woman that's just been there

ARE YOU MAD???????????????????????????????

4 days huh? You're setting yourself a short time frame. They may or may not do it in 4 days. What happens if they don't? You can always continue on and wait for a couple more months. They are more likely to just get on with it then. I don't think I would rush what you've got so far. At least give it a couple more weeks to see how the daily poos are going. DT1 is completely potty trained, but still has accidents... bless her cotton socks. DT2 is a lot less potty trained. He prefers to poo in the garden, though at least he wees in his potty (though he prefers to wee in my plants if I let him).

I found that the first few days were quite a novelty for my two and then came the revolt which took a lot of stubborn patience on my part. So if I were you.... I'd wait just a short while longer to make it a shorter training iyswim.

Other than that! Good luck, God bless, hang on to your hat and all that!

TwoIfBySea · 01/08/2006 22:19

I have to admit that I decided one day to completely stop the nappies and it seemed to work pretty much immediately. Now is the time to do it as I let dts run around in just their pants. Letting them go naked doesn't work as it is more uncomfortable to have wet pants and the idea gets through quicker.

I also didn't use the potty but the toilet with a seat and potty beside it incase both needed at the same time! Which happened more than you would think!

It can have you screaming inside but stick with it. Unfortunately, over a year later they are still in night-time nappies and the whole trying to let them sleep without isn't working at all! So I am pulling my hair out over that! See, the little devils get you one way or another.

TwoIfBySea · 01/08/2006 22:21

Oh and I went to ASDA to buy cheap pants so any accidents of the poo kind could be disposed of. Those are pleasant, you have that to look forward to, enjoy

MarsLady · 01/08/2006 22:29

DT2 doesn't poo in his pants or potty. Just the garden. I do hope he poos in his potty soon cos when winter comes he's gonna freeze his bits off lol!

Original poster
speedymama · 02/08/2006 09:04

Gulp! What I have let myself in for? I will definitely purchase cheap pants that can be disposed of in case DTS deposit malodorous stools!

I have just acquired a book by Gina Ford called "Potty Training in a Week". I plan to read it tonight in order to appropriate some Dutch courage

I will be positive..... I will be positive....

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throckenholt · 02/08/2006 09:13

in a word - NO !

my twin boys took much longer than that (they were 2.5 when we started - now at 3.5 they are pretty reliable).

Bribery works - eg one dolly mixture for each success - but beware - it is amazing how many times they can use the potty in one day when they try too (until the novelty wears off) !

TwoIfBySea - pants made it worse for me with all 3 of mine - going naked seemed to make them more aware of what was happening.

Night nappies is a whole nother story - ours are still nowhere near being nappy free at night. It is slowly dawning on me that it is largely a physical thing - ds1 was dry by 3.5 at night, but the DTs are nowehere near. Being identical twins has really highlighted how much of it is "genetic" for want of a better word - their bowels work in almost idenitcal ways (almost syncronised pooing sometimes , and totally differently from their older brother. Just one of those things I never wanted to know really .

Good luck !

Original poster
speedymama · 02/08/2006 09:23

Mmmm, can I take it that this book by Gina Ford is complete nonsense then?

OP posts:
throckenholt · 02/08/2006 09:27

no idea - never read it !

But each child is different (even id twins - although not when it came to potty training ) - all you can do it give it a go - and abandon it if it is too traumatic for all concerned (hopefully it will be a doddle).

Original poster
speedymama · 02/08/2006 09:37

I'll report back on Monday

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MarsLady · 02/08/2006 11:09

Shall we pray...................?

LOL! Sorry SM... I just feel that you're gonna need it. I wish you nothing but success.

Bozza · 02/08/2006 11:16

I started off with a 4 day window with DD and she was just 2. What happens on day 5? For me it was pack a huge bag of spare pants, skirts, socks etc, send her off to nursery, come and sit at my desk and breath a sigh of relief!

DD is ready for night training (seems to have dry nappies on alternate nights) but we are going on hols in a fortnight....

TwoIfBySea · 02/08/2006 19:31

Throckenholt, my friend's dds potty trained naked which is why I tried it first that way. But my dts hated that feeling in the pants so it is whatever works for each child. I worked on the whole thing that they hate when their clothes are wet anyway.

When I was talking about it to my friend (why is so much conversation as a mummy centred around pee and poo?) we thought maybe it was because girls pee down the leg, so know they have done something but boys can pee away from themselves so the pants acted in keeping the pee closer to them where they could feel it. If you see what I mean! Great topic, haha!

MarsLady · 06/08/2006 11:53

How's it going SM?

Original poster
speedymama · 07/08/2006 08:44

Well, I have had a rude awakening. Aspiration is one thing but reality always brings one back down to earth.

DTS are having none of it. At least I can smile now but by Friday, I was disheartened and irritated with my inability to persuade my darlings that the transition from nappy to pants would signify their passage from babyhood to childhood. They quite happily sit on the potty but 9 times out of 10 they would wait until they were in pants to do their business. On Thursday morning, both of them did 3 poos each between 9am and 11am . I persevered but by Friday afternoon, I had had enough and by Sunday, the potty had been banished!

This, I think, is going to be my biggest challenge so far as a mother of twins. Maybe it is because I am a first time mother why I am not succeeding. Even my mother says that I have to try harder! According to her, we (5 children) were all out of nappies at this age. She does not appreciate the challenge that I face (2 against 1). DH is having nothing to do with it and thinks that I should leave it until they are older.

I'm going to leave it until October when I plan to try again. In the meantime, I will keep putting them on the potty but I will be more nonchalent about it this time.

OP posts:
throckenholt · 07/08/2006 08:56

sorry it didn't work out as you planned !

The key is to stay calm - not easy - and accept they are not doingit deliberately to wind you up, despite what it feels like.

Now all I have to do is take my own advise - struggling with my two pooing in their nappies 10 minutes after going to bed .

MarsLady · 07/08/2006 13:11

Speedy, it will come! Don't worry about what your mother says. Apparently we were all born singing, dancing, talking 7 languages and using the potty. Memory is a selective thing.

It's bloody hard potty training twins. If mine hadn't kept taking off their nappies I would've waited as well.

Sorry it didn't work out... but it will do (you don't see many adults in nappies now do you?)

Much love

throckenholt · 07/08/2006 13:26

you don't see many adults in nappies now do you?

not even twins

Original poster
speedymama · 07/08/2006 13:50

That's true (lol).
I was going to mention the book that I consulted but considering the message from MN HQ, I will keep my opinions to myself.

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Rachele · 09/08/2006 07:56

Help! My twin boys are nearly 29 months old but neither of them are able to say anything (comprehensible) yet as we live in Italy and they are having to learn 3 languages simultaneously (I speak to them in English, my husband speaks to them in his regional dialect and my husband and I speak to each other in Italian....). Is it possible to toilet train twins if they can't even say pee-pee? (N.B. they seem to dwarf the potty so I'm trying the toilet with a trainer seat)

Original poster
speedymama · 09/08/2006 08:38

Bumping this for you Rachele and good luck!

OP posts:
throckenholt · 09/08/2006 08:41

I am sure they understand when you say it to them. If they are coping with all the languages you talk then I think they would have no problems picking up the right words for toilet etc - even if they only stick to one language (maybe try that to begin with).

I would think the physical side of it will be much more challenging than the linguistic one .

Good luck.

Rachele · 09/08/2006 13:16

Thanks for the moral support; it's easy to feel isolated when living in another country and I don't know any mums of twins nearby. I know what you mean Speedymama; my mum - from a comfortable distance in the UK - tells me that we young (38) mums don't have the same incentive to toilet train our children as they had, with all those nappies to handwash...

I'm trying to stick to Italian for poo and wee and related stuff as they should be going to nursery in January, but it just doesn't come naturally to a mum to speak in another language to her children and I sometimes forget and use English...

Original poster
speedymama · 23/10/2006 11:03

Decided to try again with DTS last week (2years and 8months). Yesterday (Sunday) DT1 had no accidents and did both poos and wees in potty. DT2 however is being defiant. He will happily sit on potty but will not do anything. He waits until he has his nappy on for his midday nap and for bedtime. However, this morning, I sat them both on the potty at 0630 hours and DT2 did both a wee and a poo! Hurrah! Maybe he was still waking up and forgot to keep it all in.

Anyway, I know that at this stage it is still potty timing (I put them on potty every 30 minutes) but with any luck, they will be fully potty trained by the end of the month (8 days and counting)!

OP posts:
sandyballs · 23/10/2006 11:08

Well done! I trained my twins separately, found it too stressful trying to do both together and decided one wasn't really ready anyway. Good luck.

KellyKrueger1978 · 23/10/2006 11:12

rachele, my ds was three when he trained and couldn't say poo or potty or anything much at all really, due to developmental delay. I just left the potty where he could get it when he wanted and he showed me when he wanted to use it.

I am dreadign training my dts, at least I have another year to go yet!