Starting potty training - shall we have a support thread?

[sweetkitty]

Thought it would be a good idea if we had a support thread for us lovely people starting potty training to share tips etc

I'm on Day 3 of potty training DD2 (2.4yo) so far it's been completely horrendous nothing in the potty so far.

She pees on the floor (sorry am Scottish so a wee is small, pee is wee IYSWIM) and I'll say "DD2 where should that pee pee be" "in the potty Mummy not on the floor" she sits on her potty fine but pee going in potty is not happening for us yet.

do you know what? i think it's us that's letting her down, iykwim? i think she's having more accidents cos we're not asking her enough (because we are lazy and distracted). so it would be going better, were it not for the fact that her parents are useless. two accidents today, both my fault!

Great thread, Very useful. But Help!

About to start with DS 2.11 tomorrow I think Have pants he chose, chocolate stars an dmaltesers in case needed, potty and comfy loo seat plus two a little two setp thing and a simple foot stool we use around other places in the house.

So the question is how does a boy use the proper loo for a pee? Do I get him to walk up steps, turn and sit on loo, put him on sitting, or do I get him to stand at loo like a bloke but on a foot stool and do I still use the loo seat thingy?

And have pulll up pants things, but how much to they cope with and how do they differ from nappies?

they don't, imo. they're just nappies. good luck. (don't know anything about boys really but my mum taugth db sitting down at first).

Is it too late for me to join in - been half-heartedly trying ds (2.11) with no success, but would really like to get stuck in.

Help!!!! I've been trying to potty train our 2.10 yr old DS since Monday afternoon, with very limited success and I'm getting a bit peed off with it all. If you put him on the potty he'll sit there and declare he doesn't need to go but then wee on the floor 5 mins later!!!! Since Monday pm we've only had two wees in the potty and many, many accidents including poos in pants .

Could it be that he's just not ready?? How do you know wether he's truly ready? Really contemplating going back to nappies. Have been offering small sweets and stickers in return for successful pees/ poos on potty.

Any advice or info would be gratefully received.

Hello... I am new to Mums Net - I googled you all a few days ago after hearing it mentioned on radio 4 and seeing it in the Observer a few times. Please excuse me if I make any blunders! - I am in my L plates...

So - What a good idea - to have a potty training support thread!!!

My dd of 2yrs (thank goodness I found the acronyms list - it took me a while to realise who anyone was talking about!!!) is also in L plates. But not for Mums net, instead, for toilet training! On Tuesday we tried out a toilet day and I got a taster for how patient all us parents are going to have to be when it comes to toilet training... and I think being patient is so much easier when you have the support of others. So... can I join too? This could end up being quite fun!

Hey... Roijalover75 (ha ha ha - I love all these crazy nicknames - feels like being in the army or back at school!)... We are going to go out today and then I work at the weekend (ug ug ug!)

I was thinking though - We could do this... maybe you and your ds could have a break from toilet training (- it isn't cool if you are feeling stressed) .... but then, if you are free on Monday we could toilet train together... keeping in contact through mn??? I think it could be quite funny!!! What do you think?

Rioja dd was like that too but suddenly something clicked and she started to use the potty-It might have been the chocolate buttons!

We're still trying to convince DS1 who is 3.3 of the merits of using a toilet or potty, but he's a tricky combination of being extremely sensitive and yet smart enough to see the merits of having us do everything for him. We'll see about that, LOL!

He's interested in flushing the loo, but not sitting on it, and trying to force the issue just made him hysterical.

It's all a bit guilt-inducing that we aren't there yet - it's hard to keep your nerve and not feel the pressure to try to hurry him.

Next stop - bribery. A trip to Chessington might be just the reward!

Good to read all your comments. Very reassuringly similar. My dd (2.5) is going great guns on wee wee but refuses point blank for poo and is v distressed when she needs to go and is not in a nappy. We have tried lots of encouragement, also said it doesn't matter if she prefers a nappy and she has seen us go but to no avail.

Any experiences like this/advice gratefully received.

Sorry not read all of this but I will do ..Boosaloo my dd is EXACTLY the same. She wees fine and trots off to the potty. WHen out and about she is not so good and says after she has done it but working on that. She only poos by accident in the potty. Most of the time it is in her pants or on the floor it is like she forgets.Any suggestions oh wise mumsnetters?

Hi ladies. May I join you?
DD is 2.2yo and I'm hoping to start training on Monday as we have a busy weekend and have very little planned for next week. I have a potty (we've had it for ages as my mum bought it for dd when she was about 15mo ); 2 Thomas the Tank Engine seats (luckily we have 2 loos); about a million pairs of knickers; a packet of pull-ups; a whole load of stickers and a bag of cheap toys that she chose for herself the other day.

I have a good friend whose DS1 is nearly 4 so she is a big help with these sorts of things ... she had a sticker chart for him that was in sections and when he'd filled one section he got to choose a toy. The sections got gradually bigger; so first he only had to go to the potty 5 times to get a toy, by the end it was about 15 times...

Something else that she did, which might help those of you having trouble with poos, she put a nappy on loosely and sat DS1 on the potty then took the nappy off before he stood up; as time went on she started putting the nappy in the potty without fastening it onto him and then finally he went without the nappy there at all. Don't know if it would work but it might be worth a try...

Hope everyone has a dry weekend and I'll be back with an up date on Monday - probably begging to be allowed to quit

I'm a dirty rotten quitter!! It got to half ten this morning after three wees on the carpet and I caved, still I managed four days with him. It just doesn't seem to bother him that he has wet pants and it's me that's getting stressed wiping up after him.

I'll leave it for a few weeks I think and try again another time.

Dull but important question... I'm just about to start potty training and I'm after some top tips for cleaning up accidents on carpets...

Hmmm. Day one three hits four/five misses, all pee. Like many others here all follow me having aske dif he'd like to sit on the potty etc and sure enough a few minutes later there's the wet trousers. Washing machine's on already and it's not even six o'clock. No sign of poo yet which I find daunting.

To add to radio4play's query, what about shoes?

Hello,dont quite get all this DD1 ect talk as Im new!!! my 3year old daughter gets upset when I sit her on the potty or even mention it so we are struggling with potty training!! today she would rather have her baby nappy on than her big girl peppa pig knickers because I said if she had her knickers on she will have to wee on potty. Think she just lazy. Glad Im not the only one whose child is 3 and still in nappies!!!

Blimey- Day 2. We've been up two hours and have already been through three pairs of pants. Oh god... I'm finding it hard hanging on in there. I thought ten pairs of pants would be enough and I'm running out already and it's only 8.30am!

AGGGHHHHHH

Can I join? My dd is 22 mo and is obsessed with sitting on her potty.

I was going to start in the summer, but she wants to sit on her goddam potty ALl the time. She can get her cothes up and down and tell me when she has done a pooh. She also says she's done a pooh when she hasn't , just to confuse me.

Her favourite time for pooing is about 10.00pm when she is asleep in bed

2 days in and no sight of anything in potty (except Upsy Daisy and Iggle Piggle getting very cosy)

Am I too early? Ds did it in 3 days at 2 1/2

Wow this thread has blossomed

Finally feeling 99% confident that we have got there- DS now asks for the toilet, can wait for a couple of minutes until we locate one, and we've had no accidents since Monday (which was day 10, although he hadn't had any accidents before that since day 6). Having only been through potty training successfully once here are my (limited experience) tips:

1. Wait until they seem "ready"- this concept is a hard one as you can never be really sure so it still might not work out... The usual must be able to communicate, attempt to pull down trousers etc. and understand what poos and pees are... In our experience when DS was finally ready (having thought he was from about 2.6 yrs onwards periodically!), he actually started to tell me he needed to go poo before he did it and as soon as I then suggested he sit on the potty/toilet he obliged happily and actually did the deed. I found making him sit there for ages in the hope of "catching" something in our previous attempts never made any progress. However, he still needed lots of encouragement to pee- we found watching the whole process intently, asking him to make the "water pee" come out of his winky and asking him to make sure it's in the potty not on his legs or his pants helped- but this needed lots of "go, you can do it- there it is- well done, keep going....any more? ooooh there's a bit more.....you are such a clever, great boy etc etc" was required everytime for the first 4 days. BUT we had very few accidents (less than 3) each day at the start whereas in previous attempts we had tonnes of accidents, so this time he really was "ready".

1. At first you will need to lightly "suggest" they might need a pee/poo every hour or more frequently as some kids seem reticent to tell you. If after a couple of mins of sitting on the potty and lots of encouragement nothing happens asking them if there's no wee or poo to which you get a negative then let them up again. If they do something in the potty go overboard with the praise- leap about in happiness and cheer them on! If an accident happens just try not to make a big deal of it but explain what's happened- "oops you must have needed to pee/poo and mummy didn't realise so it's now on your legs/pants/etc and it's all mucky! we'll clean it up now and next time try to get it in the potty so we don't make any mucky patches" etc.

For some kids sticker charts/physical rewards work wonders but I'm a stingy/lazy mum so just go overboard with praise whenever we had any successes and luckily my DS was won over with that! Now DS tells me everytime he uses the potty that he's a very clever boy....!

1. Letting them run around in the garden with bare bottoms helps enormously- less mess for you and they can see what's happening more easily. Getting a proper visual seemed to really help my DS. We spent 2 days in the garden even though ours is tiny! Just keep smothering on the suncream...!

1. Make sure potty/toilet is always VERY close by for the first 4 days or so and don't attempt any trips out unless you can take & use said potty with you at all times!

1. If after 3-4 days there is NO improvement in no. of accidents etc. then give up IMO and try again in a month or so unless they start asking to use the potty beforehand.

1. Pull-up nappies IMO don't help training at all! It's pants or nothing! (but pants with fave characters on them do help a bit I think- e.g. "you don't want Thomas the Tank Engine to get wet do you?")

Have to say am mighty relieved we've got there and the hermit stage is over.... Whatever you do don't take your LO swimming on day 3 (like my DP did)- had a bit of an accident of the visual variety walking to the pool from the changing rooms !!

GOOD LUCK! xx

Now any tips for getting them to stay dry at night? DS still in a nappy overnight and definitely pees in his sleep.... Not sure how to tackle this?!

PS. My other tip is to make sure your LO does get used to using both a regular toilet without a special seat on it as well as a potty etc. as otherwise you may run into probs when out & about.... I help DS up onto a "big" toilet and he takes his weight on both arms on the toilet seat and manages to sit so his "winky" is pointing down into the toilet bowl....seems to work just about...

Do people feel strongly one way or the other about the relative merits of boys sitting to wee vs standing and aiming along with Daddy?

I trained my ds in the summer with no pants on outside.

When he wanted a wee, I got him to hold his willie in a big boy way over my mum's best bedding plants! It worked fantastically. He loved it, then he was persuaded to do it in his potty etc

I bought dd her first little packet of knickers yesterday - what an exciting purchase they have turned out to be! She thinks they are simply great... She slept in one pair last night. I am informed, by dp, that she has spent this morning running up and down our appartment with them while I was at work. Now she has crashed out on our bed wearing one pair as a necklace! What a sweet sight to come home to... and... I think I can guess what she is dreaming about! Can't you?

Hello can i join in please?! My dd is essentially potty trained she is 2.3yrs and has been dry for about a month, it took a week of keeping her in pants and not having any success and when I was just at the point of defeat something clicked in her brain and she started to ask when she wanted a wee. So all good so far however we are still struggling with going for a poo, she point blank refuses to go on the toilet and will hold on until she has a nappy on at bedtime by which point she is constipated and going becomes a trauma, she just finds the whole process really traumatic. So I am now feeling guilty that maybe I trained her too soon. Nothing seems to help, she eats really well and lots of fruit, we have tried bribary, lots of encouragement etc to no avail so I think now it will be a case of wait and see and hope she comes round to the idea!!! xXx