Potty training day 1

[SamanthaVimes]

So we’ve had our first day of potty training today. DD is 2.5

We’ve had a couple of false starts recently where we’ve said “No nappy today” and she’s gone so mental we’ve given in but today and yesterday I noticed her night nappy was dry when she woke up and I thought… fuck it, let’s try some old fashioned bribery.

So the deal was every wee/poo into potty = 1 chocolate coin (they’re “hers” anyway from Xmas but normally wouldn’t give so many together)

Started quite late this morning as she had a late sleep/very early nap (bit tired still from being under the weather in the week) today has gone really well, had her bare bum under her dress and caught 3 wees on potty/toilet and no accidents. Possibly a bedtime one too but I’m stuck with the baby so not sure yet.

No poo but not unusual for her to skip a day here and there so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

planning on carrying on in the same fashion tomorrow but wondering at what point you can introduce pants / drop or reduce bribes? She’s not at nursery until Tuesday but is one of the younger ones in her group so lots of others using toilet for her to copy there.

Anything I should be aware of / watch out for?

[CoalCraft]

We started with pants and trousers here - too cold to go without! So I'd say you can put them on whenever suits.

As for bribery, we had a similar system with milky buttons. Basically I bought some stickers and when I gave her the last milky button I told her "treats are all gone now, next time you'll get a sticker". She remembered this because after her next wee she said "treats all gone" and happily accepted the sticker. Thing is she cares a lot less about stickers and soon just stopped asking for them after a wee/poo.

Sounds like your doing great so far! For our DD it took her until day 3 to "get it" and start asking for the potty at the right time, then another couple weeks to be reliably dry all day. She was 25 months.

[HS1990]

We started in October but Still not completely there yet. My DD is 3 in March. I used stickers.as she loves them. She is fantastic with her wees unless distracted, but we are still having poo accidents. She deliberately does them in her pants unless.i seat her at the right time and let her watch some cartoon on my phone. Not proud of it but nothing else really works tbh. They all do get it eventually. We'll done on your progress x

[Reugny]

Make sure nursery know she is being potty trained and where you are with it.

It's odd but update them every week as she isn't at nursery from Monday to Friday. Make sure you get daily updates from them. You both need to know what signs to look out for that your DD needs the toilet.

Also make sure you send more full changes of clothes plus extra knickers and socks than you think she needs with her everyday. Oh plus carrier bags and nappy bags to put soiled clothes in. You will need to do this for the next year or so because they can have accidents when they are too busy doing something.

I was lucky and due to peer influence our childminder pointed out DD was ready to be potty trained and started it.

[SamanthaVimes]

Thanks all, very helpful!

Stickers are a great idea and I’ll definitely load up the nursery bag with clothes / bags

I am a bit nervous about poos as she usually does them standing up, not sure she’ll like squatting to do them but we’ll see how it goes! Like you say, they all get there eventually!

[YoBeaches]

Definitely lower your expectations on the poo's. Children have learnt how to do poo in a nappy and what that feels like, it's a massive change for them to do it down the loo. My 3.5 yr old still only likes to do poo's at home and not at nursery etc but she does at least do it. Some accidents now and again.

The week's though she mastered in about 2 weeks fully with lots of rewards. And if you put some smarties in her nursery bag then they will reward her too at nursery in these first few days which is really important.

Also she will be distracted at nursery so expect the accidents - she will forget. So lots of focus on her recognising she needs a wee and telling someone. Verbally call this out with lots of praise when she does it.

[MrsSamR]

We're also on day 2 of potty training properly (we've had a few stop/starts where I've relented and put nappies back on!) She's doing so well - no accidents yesterday and all pees and poos in the potty. I tried pants on her today and she's refused so I'm leaving her bare bottomed again today rather than upset her. I keep saying she needs to wear pants tomorrow and she can't go to nursery/outside without pants. Really hoping she'll remember to use the potty/toilet when she has pants on and not just use them like a nappy!

[SamanthaVimes]

We had an ok day today. Couple of accidents but that’s all part of the learning. One was definitely as much on us as on her as we hadn’t prompted her for a while.

We went out to the garden centre and she managed to stay dry in the car (had a puppy pad underneath her just in case) and we got to the bathroom to use the travel potty successfully so very happy with that!

No poo yet, she looked like she might be trying to do one a couple of times today but when we’ve put her on the potty she hasn’t managed it. I think there might be an element of withholding so we’ll see how we go with that 😬

On the bright side she’s at grandmas all day tomorrow so it’ll be their turn to ask 500 times a day 😅 I’ll send lots of spare clothes!

[CoalCraft]

With our DD, if we saw she was about to poo and plonked her on the potty it invariably interrupted the process. She wouldn't go on the potty, nor for a few more hours afterwards. We just had to let her have the accident, then show her us putting it in the potty, "that's where it goes", "tell us if you need to poo", etc. She took longer to be reliable than with wees but not by much.

[SamanthaVimes]

@CoalCraft I think we’ll have to take that approach too, thanks for sharing

[HS1990]

With poos I have observed with my DD...

1. Usually go after a mealtime, first thing in the morning or before bed.
2. They need to relax on the toilet so it can take a good 15 minutes sometimes. Make sure they are comfortable and give privacy if possible.
3. Usually go same time/s everyday
4. Watchout for straining and grunting...there's Usually a tell.
5. Be careful of long periods of seated times like when watching TV as this relaxes them and can result more likely in accidents.

[MrsSamR]

Day 3 of potty training and my daughter us now refusing to wear pants/anything on her legs. She's supposed to be at nursery tomorrow and I have no idea I'm supposed to do! She screamed and cried I don't want pants for a solid half and hour this morning so I just gave up!

[SamanthaVimes]

@MrsSamR I think we’ll be in for a similar battle. Such a lot of aggro getting her dressed anyway at the moment!

It’s not called the terrible twos for nothing 😂

[MrsSamR]

@SamanthaVimes I feel grateful that she's doing all her wees/poos on the potty and the big toilet and not had a single accident but I can't keep her half naked forever...it's January and I want to leave the house at some point soon! Slowly going insane!

I've called her nursery and explained that she's been accident free but won't put clothes on so are they happy to have her and they've said yes so we'll see how tomorrow goes! Going to be a battle to get clothes on her in the morning!

Why did I do this during dry January?! I need wine!

[SamanthaVimes]

We had a potty poo today! I’ve never been so pleased about someone else’s bowel movement in my life 😂

couple more accidents today but more successes as well. Fingers crossed for nursery tomorrow!

[SamanthaVimes]

Thought I’d come back and update for anyone who searches through and reads this.

I think we’re “trained”! Only one accident in the last week and we’ve cut right back on the rewards.
She’s been really good at saying when she needs to go and likes wearing her little pants.

All in all I feel like it’s gone really well

[MrsSamR]

@SamanthaVimes that's great! Well done to you both! My DD is also trained and I'm so glad it's done and that I waited so it was relatively stress free. She still won't wear pants but I'm treating that as an issue to tackle later!