Potty training - how long til they "get it"?!

[LolaLollypop]

My 2.5 year old DD has been potty training for a couple of weeks now. We've had mixed successes - some days are better than others. She's generally good with wees, if prompted she will always wee on potty or toilet and sometimes can be completely dry. She's just started saying "I need a wee" on her own (I.e not prompted).
Poos seem to be much harder, we've managed to catch a couple when she's been put on the potty in front of the tv (when I suspect a poo is due) but more often than not she's soiling herself as she's not telling us she needs a poo. I've just had to shower her down yet again as she's walked in covered in turd from the waist down!
I know it's all baby steps but just wondered how long from people's experience it takes their toddlers to realise when they need the toilet? My friends DD apparently learnt in 3 days and it's a bit disheartening.

I only have experience of ds1 (I need to start with ds2 asap) but he did get it really very quickly. No accidents at all really. One poo in his pants when I think he just forgot, and went off to hide then suddenly realised he hadn't got a nappy on. That said, 2 years on and he's still in pull ups at night. They're all different, it sounds like she's getting it gradually. Can you offer a reward for telling you she needs to poop?

We did 4 days intensively where I set a timer every 15-20 minutes all day and then she was mostly okay to go to nursery and only have a couple accidents a day. I would say it was 2 weeks before we could really leave the house so 2-3 weeks.

Pops are much harder and you really just need to watch for signs and shove them on the toilet.

Are you doing the oh crap method? With that by day 3 they should recognise the urge to wee.

DD picked it up quite quickly but I think that was helped by the fact that it was her choice to do it. She was 2.5 and literally just got up one morning and refused to wear a nappy, put knickers on and that was it. We did have accidents for 3/4 months but mostly just wet ones.

To be honest, all kids are different. We really struggled with Dd6. She would become really upset and stressed whenever we tried to toilet train her. She was almost 4 and still in nappies. A good friend suggested not making a thing out of it. Just get up one morning and say 'ok, no more nappies, they've all gone away!' And it bloody worked! No rewards, sticker charts, we just treated it as normal thing she had to do, and within 24 hours she had got it. I do think that at 2,3 years old, alot of kids are too young to understand. And making it a big deal can be overwhelming for them.

4 days intense training with both of mine, lots of bribery and potties nearby, sitting them on regularly. I left it later though, just after 3rd birthday. Kept pullups on overnight until they were reliably dry, few months.

Thanks all. I'm not following any program at the moment. I kind of went into it initially just to see how it goes.. DD is actually only just 2yrs 5 months so she's still quite young. Baby no2 is due any day so I was quite keen on only having one in nappies and thought being on mat leave I may as well have a crack at it.
I think in hindsight she's doing ok- we had a successful day today so far. All wees in potty and also her morning poop. I did have to stand guard over her though to make sure she done it!
I might try and leave her a bit longer and see if she prompts herself for her wees.
I think yesterdays poo-nado just almost topped me over the edge! If she's still struggling in a few months I'll look at going back to basics with a plan once baby no2 has settled down a bit.

Oh crap method- no charts no rewards, v easy process 2.5yr old got it in a wk

Ds1 got it straight away with the exception of overnight. With ds3 after 2 weeks of no success we stopped for a while till the following school holiday. He managed to learn it with a lot of accidents. He got the urine quickly (three days of no nappy and lot of accidents) and poo were much harder. In the end I bought him a potty that looked like a toilet and he needed comfort when he was pooing and lot of praise. He appeared scared of it. Stay on the potty son, you are doing an amazing job, I said a lot. After three weeks he was going by him self. He just needed to see it is ok to sit on the potty when poo is coming out. Poo won’t hurt you. Finish what you started son! Was my catchphrase for a while.

my eldest was doing poos in her pants for weeeeeks after wees clicked. so you need to decide if you're gonna persevere or not.

Really depends on child... We did with first at 2 years 8 months and he honestly got it in 3 days and was dry at night too from them onwards.
Youngest same age... Didnt work. We left it after 10 days.. Tried 6 weeks later... Better but still took just over a week and then odd mishap.

I would carry on, she sounds as if she's half-way there.