Potty Training

[treetop122]

Hi everyone
i am feeling really deflated, not sure what I’m after really..
have an almost 2yr 8 month old son. Amazing weather this week so I thought I would give potty training a go. He’s been showing a few signs he was ready. Hiding for a poo. Telling me to change him, good communication.
He has used the potty successfully a few times too.. so I thought potty time.
well after two days, no wees or poos on the potty. All accidents. Spent both days at home in the garden. Much of it naked from the waist down.
he’s started holding his wees now and no poo today.
shall I stop and wait a few more weeks?

I have two DDs who potty trained at 2yrs 2 months and 2yrs 6 months.. but for some reason, I am doubting my capabilities and feel like I have confused my son somehow. Maybe he is just not ready?! My middle is only 5 so it is in my recent memory. Both girls cracked it straight away really… only accidents and no success. I have one more day tomorrow and have to work Thursday & Friday…

shall I stop and try again in the future?

I understand the feeling but have no real advice as we haven't cracked it yet either. We tried to potty train my DD (2 yr and 9 months too) over Easter and only had accidents even though she does a wee and often a poo in the potty before bed every night and wees in it when she gets up. She just couldn't tell us before she needed to go. We are going to wait at least 2 months to try again unless she really wants to sooner.

We took an unusual approach to potty training in that we gradually increased her nappy free time over the course of 2 months.
My daughter is one that likes to know how things work before she does them so I tried to find a method that mimicked this. We started with an hour on the days we were at home building up to 4h and she would get a choice in the morning and after her nap whether she wanted knickers or a nappy and once she asked for knickers more often than not we commited to potty training. We first tried it at Easter and she flat out refused the knickers. We tried again a few weeks later at the may bank holiday and she did really well.

@Superscientist that’s interesting that a few weeks made so much difference! I let DD have some nappy free time the week after Easter as she requested to wear big girl knickers but we still had accidents.

I don’t believe children are “not ready” for potty training. In many parts of Africa, for example, children are often potty trained by the time they’re one year old, simply because diapers aren't readily available. I was potty trained by 15 months myself—only cloth diapers were sold in the country where I grew up, and my mum was understandably tired of washing and ironing them.

I think it's often more about the parents being ready. They expect their child to have no accidents and use the potty consistently within just a few days of starting. But it doesn’t usually work like that.

When I trained my daughter when she turned 2, she had accidents for more than two weeks. The first three days, she didn’t even make it to the potty once. I laid down puppy training pads and stayed calm. I never made a big deal out of it. I think parents express frustration or disappointment, which can cause the child to hold back or become anxious.

I simply said: “Oh, no worries! Next time, let’s try to get to the potty. Want to help me clean it up?”

Personally, I would just keep going. You can pause and restart, but in a few weeks, you might find yourself in the exact same place.

What helped us was having a second potty for my daughter’s favorite toy—we’d pretend it needed to go too. It made the experience more fun and less stressful.

I potty trained my DS at around the same age and he had hardly any successes for the first 6 days, then cracked it around day 8. So personally I would persevere.

Thank you everyone..
you know when the doubt creeps in. All children are different of course, but third time around, this one is throwing me a curve ball!!!

thank you for taking the time to reply. Very interest hearing everyone’s approaches!

I think after two days it's very common to get resistance, try to stay consistent and keep going. One DD only put up a day or two of resistance and was trained in a week. The other took weeks but it was worth it.

Absolutely agree with this. My son likes to take his time too. We did it at just turned 3 and went with no pull-ups at home but pull-ups out and about. After a couple of weeks he cracked it at home and was confident to be in pants 24/7. Best way for us. I don’t like the all-or-nothing method, it would just stress my child out.

I'm going to Starr potty training my just turned 2 year old on Friday. 3.5yrs old is 8 months in and still has accidents several days a week, tho has gone 9 days no accidents twice. Both girls. Hope youngest is easier...

But I'm not sure how to do it time around with it being mid spring and the UV being high! Went naked bottom half for ages first time. Can't really do that this time, if in the garden!! I can't suncream up her bits surely and if not she'll obviously burn!! Eeek..