Right......what do I need to start?!

[sammysam]

I'm thinking about starting potty training dd (2.2).

What do i need to get?
We've had a potty for a while but she doesn't like it so was thinking we'd just go straight to using the toilet-which are the best ones?
How many and what kind of pants do you need?

Please help me-i'm feeling especially stupid at the moment !

You need a mop, some disinfectant, the patience of a saint...

Seriously though, we started with a toilet seat - for a girl it really doesn't matter, but for a boy it needs a big hole so the fire hose can at least pretend to point down - and a lot of books and toys.

We just let him sit there as long as he was happy to, and with good timing, he learned how to wee and how to poo. Sure we spent a lot of time in the bathroom, but we had a lot of fun and he learned a great deal. We left him in nappies until he was always pooing in the toilet and then put him in undies with some stuffing to catch wee accidents. We were not fans of this all-of-a-sudden potty training and it went brilliantly.

We got one of the wooden two in one seats, you can lip the toddler bit out of the way, and a little step from mothercare.

To start with we used a padded seat with handles for reassurance.

You can also buy board books with pooty /toilet themes which we'd sit and read, for hours, I can recite the damn things word for word.

You should take her shopping for pants, let her choose them, and buy as many as you can. We also let them choose their own plastic box for wet wipes, and box of tissues (DS chose pink flowery, lol)

A reward chart with stickers or a big jar of sweets may help too.

Thanks-there are some great suggestions there ches and thedevilwearspriark! We're aiming for a slowly does it technique i think as she is very strong willed

So a padded seat with handles to start..lots of pants-how many are we talking? How many accidents can you expect a (bad0 day? Silly question i suppose

Dont know if this helps but we had 'naked time' between 5.30-6.30 each evening for weeks. The potty would be putinfront of the TV and she just sat on it and watched TV. We didnt even refer to it particularly.

Once she did a wee we just went wild and after a few of them she was ready.
She was dry within 2days.
it didnt even feel like training!

we got a padded seat with handles and dd still prefers it. we did stickers (obssessed with princesses so got loads of those!)as a reward as dd isn't too bothered by sweets and she got to choose one for every performance. we got about 15 pairs of kniockers and went through about 7 the first day and then less and less. she had been in pull ups for a couple of months though. We just got character pants from woolies that she chose.
good luck!

Junebug-that sounds like a great idea-worth a try! How old was your dd?
olivo-how old was your dd? How long do you think it took and did she ask or did you have to keep taking her every x amount of time?

sammy - my dd had just turned two. the first week we had to ask her or just take her to the loo every about half hour or 40 mins.she was dry on day 4, and has only had the odd accident since. by the end of the first week, she was telling us that she wanted to go and is able to hang on if we couldnt make it immediately.

Agree with olivio,...soft seat toilet seat with handles with a front guard as boys scoot up when sitting.

Stickers,...far more interesting than chocolate. I bought a little box of sticker books at one of those chaep stationary shops and they have all sorts in them. DS really LOVES to pick the one he wants.

Would also get a potty or two as LO's find it easy to hop on and off...so you can eventually tell them to go and have a wee and they just do without the danger of falling off the toilet!!

Good luck.

Thank you everyone, will try the stickers as well-wasn't sure before but looks like it has done the trick for lots of people!
just need to make a trip to the shops to make my purchaces!