Is DS ready for potty training?

[strawberry]

DS is 2.5 and shows no interest in being wet or even dirty although he has done a few poos on the potty.
I am thinking of going cold turkey at half term when have no childcare so have a good 10 days at home with him.

Any tips on doing this? Do you think he's ready if he shows no interest in being wet? Star chart any use? Thanks

strawberry,if he isn't bothered about being wet or dirty, and doesn't come to tell you that he needs changing, then I would wait a bit. It's easy enough to get poos on the potty if you sit the child on it after a meal- it's a reflex- but being in control is quite a different thing. I have a girl, but I understand that boys can be more difficult, so why not save yourself some bother and wait till he wants to do it?

Strawberry, he's still quite young. He may not even recognise yet when he needs to wee or poo and if he doesn't then there's no point forcing the issue. He'll let you know when he's ready.

on the same subject - ds is 2 years 2 months and started to SOMETIMES tell me before or after that he needs/has had a poo. Not all the time though. he also says he has had a wee if i change his nappy before bed and he wees before he gets to bed IYSWIM
Thinking of going cold turkey at half term too
he hates the potty though
what do you think?

strawberry - we're also trying to decide whether dd (26 months) is ready to potty train. She never tells us that her nappy is wet, though will sometimes report on poos. But she is absolutely fascinated with the loo! She always wants to come and watch and at the childminder's she has started to ask to go herself, just because she is copying the older children. So on the prompting of the childminder really we are giving it a tentative go - the childminder is doing a bit and I really need to clear a couple of days to stay at home with her myself.

If we get nowhere we'll just wait and try again in a few months. My instinct is to wait until she is good and ready and can pretty much train herself.

I'll be interested to hear how you get on if you do decide to give it a go.

Popsycal, your's sounds ready, strawberry, your's doesn't. He's only 2.5, boys usually do it much later than girls and take longer, and it will be much easier if you wait for the warm weather to come round when he will be 3 and ready. If he'd actually noticed or indicated any interest whatsoever, I'd say do it, but if not, then you might find half term a complete nightmare and still not have a potty trained child afterwards!

Thanks for your responses. He's getting to the age where people are asking if he's potty trained yet and lots of his friends are so I guess beginning to feel the pressure a bit! Also I was wondering if nappies are just so absorbant that there is no sensation of wet?

I think that's true of modern nappies. I guess you could try buying him the cheaper ones, to see if that makes any difference. But don't feel pressurised by other people. If they want to come round and potty train him for you, that's fine, but otherwise people really ought not to comment on potty training - it is so individual to both carer and child, and you should only do it if both you and your DS are ready for it.

First of all, don't be pressured by anyone else. Lots of my friends all tried training their boys at around 2.5 and it didn't really work for them - it took a long time and they stopped and started. Lots of them tried I think because it was a bit driven by nurseries who wanted them potty trained before moving them to the 'next room'.

I'm SAHM so not an issue for me. DS didn't really show any signs but I waited till holidays and visits to relatives in London were over and until I had a stretch of time where I was home and so was dh (though this probably doesn't matter too much).

We started on New Years Day this year and DS was 2 yrs 9 months by then. We just took his nappy off, put his pants on and had the potty downstairs and just went for it!! He screamed blue murder at having pants on at first - you should have seen it!! He weed everywhere BUT the potty for the first day but, contrary to modern day advice probably, we bribed him with chocolate buttons!!! By day 2 he did a couple of wees on the potty and by day 3 did almost all of them.

Waiting till this age meant it was really quick and relatively painless and he was there in about 4 or 5 days. We had no problems with poo either - he just did that aswell (until he got constipated once but that's another story....).

With regard to the bribery. We only needed it for the first couple of days, then after that when he said 'I've done a wee, can I have my buttons?' we'd say 'well, if you do that all day you can have them after tea' and just phased it out.

HTH - I'd wait a bit if I were you.

Yes I think I will wait and see. DS starts nursery in January but not essential to be dry and expecting baby no2 in April so plenty of time. Anyone who mentions it will be invited to have ds wee all over their house!