Potty training a larger toddler?

[Lavender14]

So I'm planning to potty train ds who is approaching 2.5 around the end of the summer. Ideally I'd have tried it sooner as he's been asking a little bit I'm taking him on holiday alone in August and I'm worried it might just add a lot of pressure. So I'm aiming to do it when we're back.

My question is, he has a potty which we tried on when he turned 2 (wasn't ready) but he's really big for his age (about the side of a 3.5/4 year old) and when he sits on it he's not in the right position for peeing into the potty. I also have a booster seat for the toilet which is a bit better but he really wants to sit on the potty and I don't know how realistic that is for when we're out? Any recommendations? I just want to be prepared when the time comes.

We never used a potty, just straight to the loo.

It was straight to the loo with my 2.5 year old. He didn't feel comfortable on a potty, and anyway he wanted to copy his big brothers. It only took about three days.

I potty trained my DS when he was 2.5.
We bought This potty from argos as it was a bit taller than some others - 24cm.
I think the Nuby one is also a bit taller.
He used the potty at first but we also got him an adapter seat for both our toilets at home and after a week we tried him on them with a step stool.

Ps, if you don't already have one, get a travel potty. We did 2 full days at home and then ventured out to the park on day 3 and the travel potty was fantastic.

It’s quite a while until august and if he’s asking already I would just get on and do it, my kids (when they were ready) were all pretty confidently trained in two weeks. Waiting another 4 months seems like such a long time if he’s asking about it and therefore probably ready.

If you think he's ready, I would go ahead now rather than waiting such a long time.
If he's ready, he will grasp it quickly and should be reliable and fully toilet trained four months down the line.

The Nuby one that’s shaped like a mini toilet is a good height for my tall 2.5 year old. We also use a seat for the main toilet and I have a foldable one for out and about.

Portable potties are more tricky. We have a My Carry Potty one but it’s way too low. We failed at our first attempt anyway and will be trying again in a few months.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm not convinced he is ready yet. He's still very hit and miss with telling me what's in his nappy and has only told me once when he's actually been doing a wee. He's only just the last couple of days started to ask to sit on the potty again.

My main worry was starting him potty training but then trying to juggle that while travelling as its just me and him if he was having the odd accident still.

If he really wants the potty, I found boys anatomy works a lot better on potties if they sit the other way round - facing the back.

If he is asking to start then now is the time. How would you feel being told you have to use a nappy when you wanted to use the toilet?

Do you have a step for your loo? If so just rank him up with a big drink and run the bath while he has a go in the loo. Honestly if he’s asking he can probably do most of his pees in a normal toilet.

Start now, 4 months is a long time!

My 2yr7 month was slow to learn, but 4 months in we visited family abroad for Christmas and there weren't too many accidents - mostly by the toilet as had left it a little too late, so easy clean up accidents

Put pull ups for travel day / airport etc, we still do that & likely will next time when she's 10 months in, as there's often not a toilet to get to quickly and queues in the airplane etc.

If he’s showing signs he’s ready now you should go with it as otherwise you’re likely to miss your window of opportunity and it’ll become much more difficult when you try in August

I wasn't sure he was quite ready. Especially since we had the false start before I wanted to be really sure this time. He's only in the last week started telling me what's in his nappy and in the last couple of days asking to sit on the potty, but sometimes he'll ask for it and then when I say ok let's go he'll refuse and start to get a little upset so I think he's still working up to it.