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Parenting

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Original poster

Can a child potty train themselves?!

12 replies

littlelamb · 08/10/2005 23:03

I am posting this as I am genuinely puzzled by what my dd has been doing for the past couple of days. She generally has two dirty nappies a day, but for the past four days she has got me the potty, sat on it, and done it in there. She is only 15 months old, and I have not begun to potty train her at all. I keep the potty in the living room, just so she gets used to it being around, but htis has really amazed me. I'm not silly enough to think potty training will be this easy, but wow! She does go to nursery while I'm at uni, and I have asked them if they've been sitting her on the potty and they've said no, although she does watch the slightly older ones do it. Do you think this is just a fluke, or is she telling me its time to potty train?
TIA,
(off to bed now, BTW, just wanted to get htis off my chest, and hopefully have some replies by morning!)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

flamebat · 08/10/2005 23:36

If she is wanting to do it, then go for it. From what I can tell, a lot learn from watching bigger children. If she seems to know what to do, then do a little celebration dance

Hattie05 · 09/10/2005 00:14

YES!! thats the best way to do it! I hate using the words 'potty train' because i don't believe we should pick a time and go, ok lets get training then.

This is exactly the signs that she's on the way, i'd just keep praising her and let her go with the flow. From about this age my dd did a regular evening poo in the potty, and by the time she was 2 she was in dry all day and wearing knickers.

I was the same as you, not really intending to 'train' and in fact didn't do any training. Just let the children lead the way!

Chandra · 09/10/2005 00:23

I should not read this thread, otherwise I will end up hoping and waiting until he is 15 yrs old for it to happen spontaneously (dream on Chandra, just dream!)

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Hattie05 · 09/10/2005 00:40

How old is your son now Chandra?

I really believe (from my nursery working days) that most children will do it themselves with the right prompting rather than specific training. Potty left about, watch parents use the toilet, opportunities to go nappy free and realise what happens when you wee without a nappy! and praise when you get it right. I think setting a date and expecting something to happen doesn't work.
I do think that children attending nursery for several days a week tend to train later than those at home more with one-to-one attention. At my nursery the average age of a child being in pants was 2 3/4, but for sure it was not unsual for them to be 3+ and still in nappies. I think this was a combination of, less one-to-one, toilet being out of sight/out of mind and too many distractions.

Original poster

littlelamb · 09/10/2005 09:12

Wow, thanks for all the advice! It's a bit of a relief to hear people say there's no need to train as such, I've always thought its best to just let them go with the flow, glad I'm not the only one! Hattie05, I am very excited by the thought that nappies could soon be a thing of the past! Thanks a lot everyone x

OP posts:

Stilltrue · 09/10/2005 19:56

A friend's dd was reliably dry at 16m. Like you, she hadn't planned to train her so young, and she thinks the little one was keen to copy older siblings. It all went well; the little one seemed to know what to do and just got on with it.

liandme · 09/10/2005 20:23

my dd was dry at 2.3, i had the potty around for show for ages and she used to play with it, but she was the one who did all the work because i was told not to push her, but she did it and i was so proud, she did go to nursery so maybe this is where it started

albosmum · 09/10/2005 20:26

Little lamb - i have a similar thing my ds sits on the potty with his nappy on and has poos/wees he has been doing this since about 15 months. The potty is in his bedroom so he tends to do this in the morning when i am dressing him - i keep mening to get a potty for the lounge but i am not daring enough to take nappy off

mrsflipmode · 09/10/2005 22:14

We keep the potty in the living room for convenience when ds gets caught short (he's 3 & 4 months) and since she was about 12 months dd has been sitting on it. A couple of months ago she started obviously trying to poo/wee when she was on it. So I tried her without a nappy and hey presto - she weed in the potty (then did a poo next to it but what the hey). Now at 15 months she also brings the potty and asks to use it and reliably poos/wees in it. Now I just have to get up the guts to put pants on her .

Chandra · 09/10/2005 23:37

Hattie, he is going to be 3 in february. We tried to potty train him for a couple of weeks and failed! But I believe that you are right about being eaiser when they are all the time at home or all the time in nursery. DS attends nursery some afternoons and a couple of full days and the change between home and nursery made him clean but not at nursery at the beginning and later, in none of the two places! So I'm up for a second try in the next few weeks.

RTKMonherBROOMSTICK · 09/10/2005 23:41

I saw on TV last week about new babies being trained by mad american women

I mean little babies

Deffo brill for your toddlers

jennifersofia · 10/10/2005 00:00

Ya, I have a friend whose son just announced one day he would use the toilet, did so then and there and has been dry since. He is nearly 3 though. (I was !)

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