Tried around a week of potty training in the early summer, loosely following Gina Fords potty training in a week. We had him in proper pants the whole time. He took to it fairly well, and after three days was using a potty for most excretions. However later that week it all fell to pieces whereby he began using the potty time to gain our attention from his younger brother, messing around, refusing to actually go, and seemingly weeing himself deliberately. We abandoned it at that point. It felt a shame for us and him to have abandoned it because he seemingly took to it so well and because he completely understands all of the concepts, and is otherwise very ready for potty training.
We tried it again in September, and right from the start the attention seeking behaviour started. It was exhausting. We persevered for two days and then gave up.
Since then he has asked for the potty occasionally and is happy to sit on the potty and wee whenever I suggest it but requires 1:1 to stay focused on using the potty, so, for e.g he’d act out if I had to see to his brother or do something else.
He’s also developed an aversion to pooing in the potty. Since the last training attempt whenever I can see he needs/is about to poo (its definitely a sixth sense) I have produced a potty and either popped him on it (if he happens to be nappy free) or suggested he sit on it. He’s pretty reluctant, and has now started to tell me to leave the room if he knows that I’ve noticed he needs a poo and I’m suggesting he sit on the potty.
I just feel he’s regressed.
Shall I just put the potty away for a few months, literally away in a cupboard and completely forget about them, so he unlearns these behaviours, or can anyone suggest a way around it? He is only 2 years 5 months so we do have time. I’m just worried that his attention seeking behaviour is never likely to just go away because his younger brother is never just going to go away.