Should I go cold turkey on nappies to potty train?

[LeedleLee]

Hi all. DD was three a few days ago and isn't yet potty trained. She can use the potty if prompted but not consistently.

Part of the problem I think is that DH and I both work full time, and most of the tips you see online seem geared towards stay at home parents (take them to the potty every few minutes, let them run around without any nappy or trousers on all day ect). Because of us working full time it's been hard to get a consistent routine going.

I have now decided to bite the bullet and go cold turkey on nappies over the weekend, and then send DD to the childminder on Monday with no nappies but loads of spare clothes (childminder is on board with this).

DD went nappy free after work yesterday afternoon and we had no accidents and two wees on the potty, so I think she's ready to at least give it a go. Although, she's starting nursery next month so I don't know if to wait until then?

Did anyone else go cold turkey on nappies to potty train? Did it work and how long did it take? Any tips?

Thank you

DD was a bit younger, about 2.5, but we did three days at home: first two days naked from waist down, then we introduced pants on the third day. Then she went off to nursery with a bag full of spare clothes. There will be accidents, especially when she's outside of home - the first days at nursery, she had a lot of outfit changes, because it's adjusting to somewhere new and there was a lot going on at nursery too. At home she was 90% reliable from about the end of day 3.

I think ditching nappies is important as if she's wearing one, then she's probably less inclined to bother about going to the potty because there's no 'negative' consequences to just peeing in the nappy instead, unlike if she was in pants (getting wet and requiring to be changed, disrupting play, etc.) It's more convenient really for her to wear a nappy, so if she has the option, I think it makes potty training more difficult.

DS was nearly 3 and showed no interest in potty training. However he would have dry nappies for hours then an enormous wet one and I realised he was holding onto his wee therefore had part of the control needed.

So we decided to try no nappies, with nursery's support.
In the first day he did 2 wees only (on the kitchen floor mostly) when he could hold it no longer. Regular sitting on the potty did nothing.
On day 2, he learnt to let his wee go (in the potty) and was pretty much sorted.
Within a week he was also out of nappies at night.

I say go for it. Good luck!

Yes, its the only way really. When worked with DD1 I did it over a long weekend. Easter is only few weeks away.

Yeah I would. Just put pants on and take her to the loo frequently. Worked for both of mine at 21 months. Things like nappy pants and pull ups are just confusing because they're still nappies.

Yes, I cleared the washing backlog and then went for it. One day with a regular announcement of "acc-dent" the wet things were dumped straight into the WM and dry bottoms put on. The first day wasn't great, but she was brilliant the next day and onwards, I think only one accident the next day and then all clear after that. Not long after she announced she didn't want to wear nappies at night. We put a potty by her bed just in case but she didn't need it.

We were lucky as just before dd was 2 we were on holiday in a gîte with tiled floors. Also she chose pretty knickers in the supermarkets. We did have a few days of 'knickers closed today' but she took to it fairly quickly. She'd already been weeing in her potty after a bath.

I took three days off work for no nappy time and it was time well spent. Really focused solely on that and by day 3 she was pretty much dry during day. Poo took a bit longer but that’s to be expected. It is worth putting the focused effort into it in my experience.

I’ve just done this a month ago with DS, who has just turned 3, I took a day off work (I don’t work Fridays) so that I had 4 days in the house to sort it out.

To be honest it was nowhere near as awful as I thought, wee wise. He had a few accidents on day 1 but on the second day he was fine, we had maybe one or two. We started going outside that day, and then on day 3 he was pretty much fine. No accidents on day 4. I figured out that he generally needed to go every two hours so would take him. It took him a while to ask himself and he does now, although I still just take him at set times.

I had a potty in the living room, and used bed pads on my sofa. I have a fold up potty seat that I take out with me for public toilets. He’s had one or two in the woods! I had a paw patrol sticker chart for the first week.

I will say that on his first day in nursery he was dreadful and went through all 7 changes of clothes that I sent him with - I actually posted on here about it. They suggested we put him back in nappies! But we persevered and the next time he went in he was fine and now a couple of weeks later he just takes himself off for a wee and rarely needs a change.

We haven’t sorted poos yet, he has had a couple on the toilet but most of these have been in his pants , however he only goes two or three times a week so it’s not particularly stressful. He understands and will do it in his own time.

I actually feel like overall, it was nowhere near as dreadful as I thought it was going to be. However - they are all different!

We got rid of daytime nappies the same day we introduced the potty. We followed the method in the book Oh Crap Potty Training. She was 2.4. I took three days off work leading into a weekend and we stayed home and in the garden (it was Summer).

We just did this with DS 2.5. Worked like a charm. There were loads of accidents the first day, none the second day and one on the third. It's been a week now and he's only had two accidents.

Being stuck in the house for the best part of three days was awful - I hated it, but it was worth it.

Definitely do naked from the waist down for a couple of days, try to ensure potty nearby and show DD where, then you can scoop her up and put her on it if she starts going randomly. I found also no nickers and loose leggings worked well after the no bottoms phase, easier to get down in a hurry (not so good for poos though!)

We took annual leave to potty train DD1 & I will be doing the same for DD2. I took Thurs, Fri & DH took Monday. It just gave us a run of 5 days to have no nappy on & to focus solely on that. It was a bit soul destroying & I needed lots of wine 😂 but it worked. DD was doing really well by Monday. Still had accidents, particularly at nursery but we got there in a few weeks. At home, she was dry in a week..

I think no nappies is really important. Oh Crap Potty Training also suggests no pants/knickers for a while as well as they can feel a bit like a nappy in terms of hugging the bum. Personally, we found it was fine after a week but the book suggests longer!

Hi all, thank you for all of the advice and support. Thought I'd update you all.

We're on day 3 now and she's doing brilliantly! One accident yesterday and none so far today! She went to the childminders today and I fully expected a fair few soggy clothes, but no I picked her up in the same clothes I dropped her off in!

Pleasantly shocked at how easy it's been so far. Of course I know she will still have accidents.

We went cold turkey for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year when nursery was shut. We knew DS was ready though. He was basically dry within about 3 days. Very occasional accident when he was too busy playing (definitely less than once a month). We were super lucky with him