HELP! AM I TRYING TOO EARLY

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My little boy is 2 years old. I started potty training him yesterday and am already having second thoughts!! He was showing interest in the toilet, indicating when he was wet or soiled and did a wee in his potty a few days ago so i thought i'd give it a go... he stared off well yesterday, weeing in the potty and only had a couple of accidents on the floor. But he did a poo in the potty yesterday - after i quickly put it under him as he started doing a poo - and now he's pretty freaked out. As he's about to do a poo he says 'I don't want it' and starts asking for a cuddle like he's really scared. Is this normal? he wouldn't go on the potty this morning and eneded up doing a big poo on the carpet - nice! i have tried bribery with chocolate but every time i mention poo and the potty he says 'I don't want it'. Have I stated too early or is it normal for them to be freaked out by poo? I'm guessing it must be pretty traumatic for them. He's even struggling with wees this morning too. I feel like giving up and getting out of the house! If I stop now and start again later on when he's a bit older is that bad news? Sorry, so many questions... Help!

sounds like it is a bit too early to me....put him back in nappies and try again. if he gets frightened now it could take a while to 'undo'

hi i would prob back off and try again in a couple of weeks. My ds is 2 and a half and is nearly there but not quite. i generally find if you turn this sort of thing into a battle, they tend to win!

god it is very early! I would stop, personally. how many months is he past two? it seems to me like he is absolutely not ready tbh. you could just leave the potty around and see if he will use it in the garden and encourage him to go in the morning or before the bath maybe.

Hello, I have a friend whose DS was freaked out by poo, too. She ended up having to explain to him that everyone does poo, his poo is completely normal, and showed him her own poo! I guess it is pretty strange for them to see poo that just came from them, having never dealt with it before.

He's not ready and he's getting stressed - go easy on him (and you!) and leave him a bit longer.

Let him look at his pooey nappies, then it won't seem so odd.

yes, imho, too early. wait a while and it will all be so much easier for you both

My dd is 2 years and 3 months and kept saying 'want pants' and 'potty training'. Not the greatest timing with a three week old baby, but I gave it a go. After two hours and a big poo on the floor she asked for a nappy back on and we plan to try again in a month or two. (top tip don't let them wander around the house completely naked as at least pants catch the poo, so obvious but it took a big pile of poo on the floor before I twigged!)

my dd was 2 last week and has been wee'ing on the potty/loo for a while now, but got totally freaked out when I grabbed her one day and put her on the potty as she was starting to poo. I eventually just let her get on with it in her nappy (or pants ugh)for a few weeks then gradually told her to go stand in the bathroom when she was "busy". finally after a few weeks of doing that and then showing her the "results" she seems to have her confidence back and so far we have managed 2 days of pooping on the potty. I'd say give your little guy lots of reassurance that its ok to poo and take the pressure off re the potty - he'll get there in the end good luck

I would leave is a couple of weeks, for both your sakes! When you've both had a bit of a breather, take him to a shop and let him choose some pants to wear. Once mine was in Bob the Builder and Postman Pat pants we told him that they didn't like getting wet so he was to ask for the potty and it seemed to work a little.

Has he got a book to read when he is on the potty? We bought one from WH Smith called My Potty Book for Boys (there is one for girls too!). Its all about a boy who is beginning to use the potty and it came with stickers. The other thing we did was to put him on the potty with his book first thing in the morning and just before he went in his bath. We also left the potty in the living room so that he was used to it being around, or outside if we were in the garden.

The NCT Book "Successful Potty Training" by Heather Welford is also good. It has lots of tales of potty training from other parents so you won't feel like you are doing something wrong or you are the only one having problems.

My best piece of advice would be wait until we have a few days of good weather, slap a sun hat on him and loads of suncream, especially on any "sensitive" areas and let him run around in the garden naked with the potty near, less washing for you and no mess on the carpet!

Good luck.