WHAT'S YOUR TOP TIP ~~~ For starting potty training......What worked well? and what didn't!

[blueamema]

HELP needed! Have brought the potty! dd is 15mths and have been sitting her on it for few minutes when doing nappy change and before bath. Am in need of some advice from all you experienced mummy's!!

What your top tip to successful potty training?
OR more importantly what?s your top tip for a mum just starting potty training!

I am sure different things work well for some and not others, but at this stage I am looking for any helpful advice.

HOPE YOU CAN HELP!

Some things I have been thinking about?..

Should I put her on first thing in the morning? As I know she has already had a big wee from the weight of her nappy.

How can I encourage her to let me know when she needs to go?? (we have mastered the word, but she has no idea what it means!!)

Do I read to her to get her to stay on potty? Or is this a bad idea?

How can I get her to not tip over the potty every time she gets up!!!

My biggest suggestion would be to attempt it when you have a quiet week ahead, not loads of visits or visitors, just at home. Have the potty around in the room so she gets used to seeing it.
Will think about your other questions!

Bribery...

buy loads of cheap pants from asda or somewhere similar and if they poo them just bin them

Message withdrawn

just re-read your post - and in all honesty i would WAIT.
ds1 was trained at 3 years 8 months and had one wee accident and no poo sccidents and was also dry at night in less than a week
ds2 is now 22 monhts and I have no intention of training him until the summer hols at the earliest
you make a lot of work for yourself by doing it too early imo

i suggest that you dont try until at least the spring!

my 15 month old charge is unlikely to even think about potty training until next spring /summer 2008!

whe they are ready its much quicker and less stress ful for all!

ih god ds1 was 2 years 8 months not 3 years 8 monhths!!1

Potty training tip 1: Buy Pampers disposable bed sheets (or similar) and put them between your sofa covers and the cushions so that if there is a potty-training accident you can at least wash the covers knowing the cushion bit is wee-free. Also very useful in their car seats.

Potty training tip 2: If at first you don't succeed then give up and try again in a couple of months.

Potty training tip 3: bribery is a good thing (DD's got a smartie for every 'hit' and after they'd got the hang of it the smarties packet magically finished).

thanks for quick response!! should I even encourgae her to sit on it all then? or just wait till she's a bit older?

As from reading some other threads on here some have said the earlier you get them on it (some said 7 months) the better??

AND i suppose my other BIG BIG question is... How do you tell your mother in the nicest possible way that she needs to stop telling me to start potty training!!! and stop reminding me that my bro and I were both inpants by 18mths!!!

ENCOURAGE !

IN PANTS !!

sorry, been a long day!

I think you just have to grit your teeth when the older generation start commenting how we were all born potty trained!! My grandmother still comments how her children were toilet trained from 3 months!

With dd1 she could use the potty at around 17 months, but only if she had no clothes on, and could get to it within 5 seconds - and she needed to go alot. So although, she understood the concept and could act on it (of sorts) it wasn't very practical when we needed to leave the house. We left it for 6-8 months, and then she was fine, although still had to have a loo within 90 second dash wherever we were and many atime had to pull over on the hard shoulder (but that's enough of my incontinence problems ).

Encourage is good but absolutely no pressure until you decide on P Day.

to your mum: 'As soon as there's a warm day next spring, I'll get cracking'

The last worked for me, both as a putoff to grandparents and as an actual strategy.

Unfortunately although P Day itself was warm, it was followed by that freezing May! But it was still worth forging ahead and not giving up.

What worked:

throwing nappies away (except at night)
excessive praise with or without smarties
DT1 being a clever wee thing.

What didn't:

DT2 being a dirty wee boy and rubbing his poo into the carpet before, during and after ingesting it!

Agree with other that I think you should leave a while, but here's how dd potty trained.

Keep the potty around so it isn't suddenly introduced as something that needs to be used. Dd played with hers putting things in & taking out, wearing as a hat (all stopped when she used it, btw). Eventually she used to sit her toy cat on it & say 'like mummy'

which brings me to my next tip

Be as open as you can with your toilet habits. Our bathroom was off dd's bedroom, & I would leave the door open & talk to her. We used to talk about what I was doing there (not in graphic detail, tho) hence why cat was being 'like mummy' She actually used the potty for the first time at 16 months. Wee & poo, several times, then just got bored, but she was never out of nappies at this point, just happened when she was running around, getting dressed etc. This actually co insided with a trip to Oz, so it wasn't pursued.

No pull ups etc, just go straight to knickers/pants. I found that pull ups confused dd, no point in telling they were 'like knickers' because she knew they weren't.

Lots of praise, singing, dancing etc. We made up a song that we sung every time she did something. Clapping & cheering, I didn't use anything to bribe her, she just didn't need it & it never occured to me anyway.

She was self potty trained a week after her 2nd birthday, she just decided 'no nappies mum' & sat her self on the potty. I had knickers so got them out & have never looked back. Just ditched the nappies (apart from naps). For the first week I only went to places where I knew I could get to a toilet quickly, just in case. The nap nappies were ditched a week later, after realiseing that she has a huge capsity bladder!

Haven't started night time yet, but no hurry there.

What helped -

teaching ds to just 'relax' sitting on the potty - not expecting ANY result whatsoever. That comes later.

Staying in a lot - cancelling a lot of outings.

What hindered -

Rushing it.

Comparing with others progress - they're all different really.

Good luck - I found it easier than I anticipated - and my ds is quite difficult in general about anything new or challenging.

gosh she seems very young to start. I'd just let her use it at bath time etc and leave her till the summer or when she shows signs of being ready

Frosty DT2

sandcastles~ have been giving dd the free run of the bathroom whilst i've been going to the loo, which is how she picked up the word wee or rather... 'weeeeeeee' followed by a sort of gushing noise!!??

(no farting noises as yet though!!!!although she does do those after standing outside the door when daddy's in there!) TMI

thanks for all the advice... am taking it all in.

blue, I think it deff helps if they see it, as they learn by seeing anyway, & they love copying too. DD used to flush the toilet long before she used it...

blue... that isn't the worst of DT2. Not by a long way! lol

(Won't tell you about him trying to eat DT1's faeces... though I did start a thread on it about a year or so ago!)

ROFL Frosty

You're welcome to my DTs... though maybe not tonight as they are sleeping. Praise God and hallelujah!

My top tip is to wait until they are 2yrs 4m, they understand a massive amount of vocab and they usually know when they are about to go, communication is the best way i found potty training, both of mine understood at this age and also found it fun and rewarding with stickers

My top tip is to make it enjoyable so your DD doesn't mind sitting on the potty or loo - reading is a good one- we used to leave DD sat there with a book for 5 mins or so. Bribery (yogurt raisins) worked well too when we had "difficult" phases.

We put DD on the potty regularly from before 15 months, and put her in pants from 16 months (we were following the "baby whisperers" approach to toilet training). However, we weren't totally consistent, sometimes using nappies/pull-ups when on a journey or at other people's houses where we didn't want to worry about accidents. She is now nearly 2, and no accidents for 2 weeks, so think we are there finally. Its been a long time coming, but still the first of her peer group to make it, so still worth it in my opinion.

It may take her a while to let you know when she needs to go- you probably just need to keep asking and take her when you expect her to need to go.

If you want to train quickly, then you need to put her on first thing, and after every meal/drink, before/after naps etc and make the transition to pants and not go back (nappies are ok for sleep times). Letting them see you on the loo and wanting to copy is good too. We had a potty training book too which DD liked to read.

DD has never tipped up the potty, wanted to touch her poo etc, so can't help you there. She does sometime want to help get it into the loo, but we usually take over at that point!

I agree with those who say wait. 15 months seems very young, and I think it's good once you start to not stop, so waiting until they are older may be better.

Top tip is to wait until she's ready and showing interest, or even asking to use the potty/toilet. I did this with DS1 and he was in pants at 26 months with very few accidents - because he was in charge. He didn't tell me he needed to go very often for a while, but does now (31 months).

If I were you, at 15 months (very young imo) I'd just have the potty around, let her play with it, sit on it to read, perhaps sit on it after naps, just whenever you feel like it.

Before DS potty trained himself I worried about all this, and actually it was a piece of piss (ha ha ha!!!) when it came to it. Once you do start, go straight for pants and just take lots of clothes everywhere. Avoid tights!!!