potty training disasterous

[lacarte]

think I've already posted about this, sorry if I have. ds is nearly 3, bright (are you allowed to say that about your own children without being annoying?), good communicator, aware of when he is weeing and pooing and all that. We took him out of nappies to go cold turkey, he really seemed ready, and it's a disaster. He managed a few wees on the potty the first few days, though not many, and he managed to start pooing in pants and then finish off on the potty. But nothing since.

Have been going overboard with praise, sticker charts etc when he gets it right and trying my best to ignore/ be neutral when he gets it wrong - which is pretty much all the time. He hasn't used the potty successfully in about 3 days and is just treating his pants as nappies, and doesn't give a hoot when he wees himself - I have to keep checking whether he's dry because he doesn't tell me if he has an accident. What can I do?!

he does keep congratulating me when I successfully use the toilet though, so that's nice.

sorry should be 'disastrous'. Oh the shame.

my 3.1 yr old ds wont use a potty or toilet at all even though he knows when he needs to go, he still uses his pants/ the floor instead of anything else! we too have used all the praise I can think of, and have never had this problem before have 3 older ds's sorry I know that doesnt help, but just wanted to let you know it isn't just your ds!

that does make me feel better! I ask him where he should wee and he says 'on the floor' just to wind me up. it doesn't, fortunately, but there are times when all these bodily functions are a bit much!
how do you cope with outings 137wallis? do you put a nappy on?

glad that it helped! yeah, we get wee goes on the floor too! I do just put a nappy on to go out, as otherwise i'd be mopping up all the time! I know thats probably not the best thing to do, but i don't know what else to do. I have tried pull ups, but he still thinks thats a nappy.

Just to let you know you are not alone - my DS is 3.1 and we have had one serious potty training attempt 2 months ago which went worse than yours and lots of half hearted attempts when he takes a notion to wear pants (and then promptly wees in them). He just doesn't seem to get it but I live in hope that one day it will click and he will train himself overnight. There are lots of stories like that on these boards so fingers crossed for both of us. In your situation I would go back to nappies for a while until either he says he wants to wee in the toilet (and shows you that he can) or you can face another intensive few days of trying.

Hello - I tried training DD who is 3.1 a couple of weeks ago. My experience the same as yours or maybe slightly worse. She did one wee on the potty each of first 2 days and the rest accidents, then it just became all accidents, poos in pants etc. After 5 days I could bear it no more and put her back in nappies. My daughter can also communicate well but for some reason doesn't seem able to wee on the potty...she can hold wees for 2 hrs or more but then wets herself. I think the reason she can't poo on the potty/loo is that she likes to poo standing up. I admire those that can leave their children in pants for weeks on end with these type of accidents..I keep wondering if I did the right thing or not in putting her back in nappies. I'm just hoping she will suddenly wake up one morning and want to use her potty or the loo! Sorry I don't have any advice but wanted to let you know you are not alone.

thank you! we are still trying, managed one wee but that's all so far!

hi i thought we had had a break through this morning too, ds did his first ever wee on the potty!

10 minutes later, a massive poo apeared in his pj bottoms that he said he didnt do!

we've been out all day, first day without older bros, so have visited his friends, but we are now trying again without a nappy! fingers crossed!

i found that chocolate buttons did the trick (although still at least 2 accidents per day).... she has had no sweets at all until this so maybe just teh novelty but 1 per wee in the potty made the difference between no interest and lots of interest- stickers just were not cutting the mustard!

had some success - and chocolate has helped! he has managed three wees on the potty and finished of a poo (no need for detail really but anyway ...). I think part of the problem is that he's not used to turning on the tap as it were ... have been getting him to try to make a noise with his willy so he gets the hang of it! the nursery are going to think he/ we are completely insane.

more success - just thought I'd let those of you in the same situation know! we haven't had a weeing accident over the past 2 days and ds is really getting the hang of it - though I have to ask him when he starts wriggling about, he hasn't asked me for the potty yet ...