Potty training - will it happen naturally?

[Lizbiz89]

My dd is 2.4 and is still in nappies. I've tried to take her nappy off and encourage her to use the potty but she gets very upset and starts crying. I've also left the potty out and keep saying to her would she like to use it, which she always says no to.

Can anyone let me know who has been through the potty stage whether you let it happen naturally or did you have to give your child the extra nudge? I would ideally like to start encouraging it more but equally don't want to upset her by doing so.

What's the rush ?
I let my dd do it naturally
She was 3 years 2 months
Barely a accident after one day
Has had maybe 3 accidents in 3 months now

Thanks @Emmabryant123. How did you know she was ready to transition? I just don't want to miss any blatant cues that they're ready.

We waited for a sign that she was ready before bothering. Nursery actually were the ones to tel us she's become more interested in the other kids going to the toilet so we got some potties. We just left them in places she could see and mentioning them and once she showed a bit more interest we gave it a go. A couple of days nappy free and she was sorted. Poos took a bit longer to suss (took a potty that looked like a mini toilet to make her use a toilet/ potty).

The princess polly potty book was good too.

We did it naturally too, we’d tried a few times when DS was 2.5years but lots of accidents over a couple of days meant that we gave in.
Nursery advised us just to let him take the lead and let us know when he was ready. He was 3 years and maybe 2 months - he came home from nursery on the Friday said he wanted to wear big boy pants like “Zack”, we said we’d have to use the toilet. He said he needed a wee and boom potty training was done. One accident a few months later when he was poorly. It was literally so so easy!!

He was dry and night about a month later

It's good to get them sitting on the potty for a while now and again without any pressure to perform. I found it happened naturally and easily though I may just have been lucky.

Not sure. My DD1 was potty trained at 1 year and yes, we've had accident s here and there but I think most children have accidents for quite a while (even adults do). When she refused to go for a week when she was around 2 I used to put watercolours in the potty so it was exciting to see 'which colour pee came out' and it was sorted very quickly. So I personally would never wait until they're 'ready'

If she’s upset about it then she’s not ready yet. My dd was like that, it was only when she turned 3 that she decided she wanted to wear pants not nappies and be a big girl, then she did it pretty easily. My ds is 2.9 and has just done it of his own accord, wanted to use the toilet and not wear a nappy anymore and it’s been really easy, it was his choice. So much easier than battling them and having tears over it. It will happen when she’s ready don’t worry.

I don't believe in letting them do it naturally, I didn't want my child sitting in their own mess for any longer than necessary, I wanted to encourage their independence and he absolutely loved it.
I feel that parents who want to wait until the child does it themselves naturally is quite a lazy approach and don't want the hassle of it.
We are having a problem with children starting schools still not trained, which is just so sad for the children, one way to completely destroy a child's self esteem, not potty training them.

Op If you read the book "oh crap" it is brilliant

I don't believe it happens naturally for many children - you have to proactively make it happen. That doesn't mean you need to do it now if you feel she isn't ready, but it's unrealistic IMO to think it will just happen.

There's nothing wrong with waiting until they are naturally wanting to do it themselves, if that works for you, but in my experience many children are ready to train before they express an interest and can be trained successfully if you take the lead and are proactive about it.