Potty training - how?

[Snozberry]

I have googled the basics but how do you begin? How do you know they are ready?

DD will tell me when she has done a poo, says poo and points to her nappy and heads towards changing area. Sometimes when she does this her nappy is only wet so I think she may be noticing wees aswell. I don’t know how to tell if she is aware that she needs a wee though?

What would you do from here?

I have no idea what I’m doing.

Hiya

There's no need for training as such. Children go through 4 stages in their physiological development.

1. Recognising they have done a wee or poo

1. Recognising they are doing a wee or poo

1. Recognising they will need to do a wee or poo imminently but not in time to do much about it

1. Recognising they will soon need to go, and telling you or making their way to the toilet or potty in time.

You will know when she is ready, it will be obvious as she will have reached stage 4! Any attempts before this are likely to result in accidents aplenty, also remember she has no control until she has control - the brain pathways don't exist yet - so no point in reward charts or punishing (not suggesting you were considering it!) it will just make her sad if she fails and it's pointless if she can do it anyway.

Good luck.

Thank you Rooners I think she is somewhere around stage 1 or 2 so I'll leave it for now.

Should I put a potty out for her though, so she knows it's there when she's ready?

Oh yes - do whatever you can to make her aware of the options! There's nothing wrong with that, she might find she really wants to use it and any positive associations are great.

I think the issue with potty training as such is that it can be perceived as something you have to teach them or they will never learn, this then gets confused with their behaviour, and somehow everyone ends up in conflict and frustrated with the accidents. It can be very counterproductive.

They all learn, it's a natural instinct, even children who grow up in a fairly neglected environment will find a place that is private and make that their loo. (there was a study I recall about this)

Ds1 went straight for the toilet (sitting on it backwards ) and that was it for him. He would have been just 3.

Girls are often earlier than boys for some unknown reason.

The Gina Ford potty training book is fantastic IMO (don't care for most of her other books). It is straightforward and concentrates on consistency.

With each of my DD's I did potty training during time off from work. No other distractions and stayed in and around the house for the week (we ventured out to friends with potty towards the end of the week!).

My DD's were all a bit older when I started it, DD2 was nearly 3 but all were pretty much dry at night at the same time too. I didn't use pull ups as mine found these confusing.

I have just finished housetraining a puppy, that was harder and more messy
Good luck

hey, i've just been through the process of potty training my twins and i know how hard it is specially when it's your first time attempting. I don't know if you've heard of it but there is an ebook which is available online which helped me get through this as stress free as possible! i was a little nervous to do it to start with but they offer a 8 week money back guarantee so figured i would use it then just claim a refund after but it worked so well that i would of felt bad exploiting it! here's a website where a lady called Claire Baxter gives a good review on what to expect from it and there is a link somewhere on there to go to the authors website. pottytraining.ismartpurchases.com
If you do decide to try this then let us know how you get on! It worked for me but i understand everyones child is different!

Mary

hey, i've just been through the process of potty training my twins and i know how hard it is specially when it's your first time attempting. I don't know if you've heard of it but there is an ebook which is available online which helped me get through this as stress free as possible! i was a little nervous to do it to start with but they offer a 8 week money back guarantee so figured i would use it then just claim a refund after but it worked so well that i would of felt bad exploiting it! here's a website where a lady called Claire Baxter gives a good review on what to expect from it and there is a link somewhere on there to go to the authors website. pottytraining.ismartpurchases.com
If you do decide to try this then let us know how you get on! It worked for me but i understand everyones child is different!

Mary

If I were you I'd wait till stage 4 mentioned above. It makes life so much easier for you & is really empowering for the kid. They should get them hang of it in 3 days if they're ready.

Ds decided to do it at just under 3 cos his best mate was doing it. He even put his pants on himself! Poos took an extra week (& a bit of bribery to get over the fear of doing one on the potty) but he basically had 3 wee accidents & got the hang of it.

DD1 has just gone through it aged nearly 3, the thing with 'noticing' when she needed a wee happened very fast, literally 2 or 3 days of accidents before she started noticing when she needed to go. She hops around and usually we have enough time to get to the loo, she has learnt to hold it in. Mostly success with pops too, though we have had a few accidents.

If they are the right age, it really can happen quickly. Still using nappies at night though.

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

She is only 22mo so no rush, I will wait and follow her lead. I’ll have a look at the books reccommended in the meantime