Potty training timing

[Katiebb24]

Sorry a bit of a long post…

DD1 is coming up to 3.5yo and still isn’t potty trained. I planned to start over last autumn but work FT and fell pregnant and couldn’t manage (anything) with terrible morning sickness/ tiredness; followed by a few months of every weekend being full of events which meant we were out of the house a lot; then over 6 weeks of back to back awful illnesses for DD and me over Jan/feb. DD shows some willingness to sit on a potty VERY occasionally (very briefly and as you’d expect nothing happens) but in general has shown zero of the signs I’ve read are indicative she is ready.

As you might expect almost all her nursery friends/ similar age family members are PTd and there’s been increasing questioning / raised eyebrows over the whole thing that make me feel anxious I’m doing the wrong thing leaving it so late.

Im now due to have DD2 end of March (pretty set date- either induction or elective C-section) so my question is - am I completely mad to clear a weekend and try to start DD1 potty training at the start of March? I think from what I’ve read that she might immediately regress on birth of her sister and it would just add to the drama if we are also trying to sort that out with a newborn. So alternatively should I just leave the whole thing to later in the spring (Maybe end May?) once we have all (hopefully) adjusted to new arrival, I have physically recovered and with any luck the weather won’t be as cold?

TIA for any wisdom!!

Is she at school in September? Personally I would start now.

@RuthW No she was an oct baby so we have another 18 mo at nursery. (And they are very relaxed about whether she is PTd or not)

I'd try it now. We didn't properly start DD until after her 3rd birthday and she was dry within 4 days. If it doesn't work now then start again in a couple of months once you're settled with the new baby.

I honestly think you don't know until you try. We deferred potty training with our boy until 3ish and turns out he was ready and "got it" pretty quickly. He hadnt been showing any of the typical signs beforehand though. Good luck!

Do it.

DS1 was potty trained just before DS2 was born. He didn’t regress at all and it was so much easier than having 2 in nappies. Take her out to chose some knickers that she likes, something with her favourite character on for example. Use a reward chart or chocolate button every time she uses the toilet, too.

Good luck.

Talk to nursery and come up with a plan and start now. My son was dry by the third day. When they're older they get it much quicker, but the risk of leaving it later can mean a power struggle. There's never a perfect time, so just go for it!

Thanks for the replies so far! Sounds like I’m overthinking it all and should just bite the bullet!!

@Katiebb24 I think it’s really easy to get a bit “in your own head” about it - I know I did!! Completely agree with everyone here that you should start asap.

Personally we found it easiest to set aside a couple of days where we could just be at home and DS took to it really quickly 😊 1 pee accident on day 3 and apart from that he was dry!! He did go through a month long regression after about 4 months which didn’t seem to be for any reason at all and was a bit of a nightmare to be honest because we’d been so used to him being dry by that point! But once we were over that he was fine 😊

Take her to the shop and let her pick pants! You might find having the new baby actually helps! “Nappies are for little babies. Big girls like you get pants”