Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Potty training help

4 replies

BlueBritish · 19/06/2022 21:01

Hi all, my DD turns 2 on Friday and I believe we are truly ready for potty training but I just don’t know where to start. Has anyone got any tips and advice/ personal stories please? I’ve been dreading this stage for a while now.

TIA

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Wnikat · 19/06/2022 21:07

Read Oh Crap Potty Training. Ignore the night training.

2 is quite young. Kids I know who potty trained at that age quite often went on to have regressions. But if she’s ready she’s ready I guess.

Paddingtonsmarmlade · 19/06/2022 21:13

Oh crap book

be consistent and don't give up too quickly

You will need
kitchen roll
1001 spray
wine

don't start unless you've got the time to give it a good few day/week worth of attention.

mrsfoof · 19/06/2022 22:25

I trained two of my kids at that age. Ignore the people who tell you it's too young. It might be, it might not - you'll soon know!

The way we did it:

Week before, went to shops to choose big girl / boy pants (buy lots!). Got a potty book (for the kids) out of the library. Bought some stickers and chocolate buttons. Clear diary to be at home for the week without interruptions.

We didn't have a downstairs loo so kept one potty in upstairs bathroom and one close to hand downstairs in the kitchen-diner (lino flooring so easy to mop up accidents). Offer regular drinks to ensure lots of wees.
Sit on potty every 20-30 mins for a couple of minutes max. Stickers as a reward for sitting. It's highly likely that the first few wees will catch them unaware when they're playing / walking around as they don't recognise the signal. When that happens, whisk them to the potty ASAP and if any ends up in the potty, make a big song and dance about being a clever girl and doing a wee in the potty.
By day 2, they were starting to feel and understand the need to go for a wee and would ask for potty (although not necessarily in enough time!).
By day 3, we were down to just one or two accidents.
By day 4 we braved a trip to the park (very close to home!).
Poos were much easier to anticipate as they had a regular time to go so we just got them to sit on the potty after breakfast. Use chocolate buttons as bribery if necessary.

We used pull-ups for car journeys (just in case) for the first few weeks but worn OVER their pants (so they still feel wet) and never told them that they were absorbent like nappies. We called them 'travel pants'.

For naps, I used bed mats / a towel and got them to wee before the nap and as soon as they woke. I don't think that either of them wet during their naps.

At night-time, we continued wearing a nappy but both were spontaneously dry within 2-3 months of being dry in the day.

If no progress by day 2/3, leave it and revisit in a few weeks.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

BabyBunnyMama · 19/06/2022 22:27

Before we started I got my DD a few books introducing the idea of going on the potty. Bought her some 'big girl pants' with characters she liked on then on the day we started we made a sticker chart together and I gave her the pants and a few packs of stickers so she was really excited.

Ditch the nappies straight away and don't go back because of accidents, even when going out, if you chop and change when they wear nappies and when they don't it will just confuse her (for bedtime we switched from pampers nappy pants to pull ups so they looked really different and she doesn't associate it as being a 'nappy' and doesn't consciously go in it)

Keep an eye on their queues and encourage them to go to the potty regularly. They usually need after eating and drinking so we always went after snacks and meals and always before we left and when we arrived somewhere. Make a big fuss out of having tries and if she is reluctant to sit on the potty for long enough to go maybe have a book or something handy to encourage her to stay sitting (we also used to look at the stickers to get her excited about which one she would get if she done a wee/poo) and obviously if they do go make a biiiiig fuss about how great they are!

Don't make a big fuss about accidents, just clean up and carry on. Make sure if you are going out you have a lot of changes and maybe put some extra blankets down on the sofa etc incase she has an accident there.

Oh and finally if she goes to a nursery, speak to them about it. I was nervous and thought I'd have to send my DD in pull ups to nursery and worried about confusing her but they were really supportive and actually were a massive help and she came on leaps and bounds with them straight away!

Good luck :) Also don't worry if she doesn't take to it straight away. We tried once and had to stop as my DD wasn't getting the hang of it at all at first, so had a break for a few months then went back to it. They say if they are ready it shouldn't be too difficult, and generally she should start catching on within a few days! We were accident free by day 4 :)

New posts on this thread. Refresh page