How long should it take to potty train?

[fuddymeers]

My son is 2yrs 5mos. I know he's still fairly young I have been potty training for just over two weeks. I make him go to the potty every hour or a little longer and always goes so he has that connection which is great. However, if I don't instigate it he will rarely ask for the potty/toilet and wet himself. He also has only had one poo in the potty. he poos himself 3 times a day and I can't get him to do it in the potty. He doesn't even hide to do it.. he does it without you knowing he's doing it. I've tried rewards but he's too young to understand about that. How long in peoples experience can it take for their child to initiate wee's and poos themselves.

My friends little boy was 2yr 9m before he would poo on potty although wee was fine. My son is 2yr 2m and brings potty into bathroom to use it whenever I go to the toilet or the 'mammy potty' as he now calls it. He will poo/wee on potty but never asks for it at other times.

DS was about 15 months old when he started asking to wee. Then nursery started taking him on a schedule and he stopped asking.

As long as it takes. Don't stress. He'll get there.

My DD was 3 when I started potty training (after trying at 2.5 ish and realising her brain was not yet connected to her bladder!). It took a couple of days (straight onto the big loo)...except for poos, for which I put a nappy on her for her to poo into. She then decided a day (about a month later) when she would poo in the loo, and from that day on, she never looked back.
But I was a lazy sod, and couldn't be bothered with asking every other minute if she needed a wee, and then cleaning up after accidents etc. (I had DS by then too)
I did the same with DS - trained in a couple of days at 3 years 3 months.

I didn't even start potty training until my DS was about 2yr 7mo and we had it cracked it a few days (day & night time - although I know I was lucky in this respect). Agree with Shells, they are ready when they are ready. It causes so much stress to try and force them too early. They all get there.

xx

I don't think your DS sounds ready. I would give up and go back to it in a couple of months.

Thanks for your replies, Soupdragon - You say I should go back to nappies as he's not ready even though's doing wee's perfectly even though he's not asking (???!!) well we had A BREAKTHROUGH.. today.. we were out and he asked for a poo!!! so glad I didn't give up!!! Prob a fluke but I do think he ready just a little young to get it right all the time. good days bad days... we have them and so do our kiddies.

What's with the "???!!"? You asked for opinions and I gave mine.

Based on the information you gave, I don't think he's quite ready. You were clearing up pooey pants 3 times a day and I don't know how many wet ones with no apparent progress after 2 weeks. That said to me he wasn't ready. Each of my 3 have been clearly not ready on the first attempt at training and then trained within a very short space of time on the second.

I'll know better than to offer you any help or advice in the future.

I agree with soupdragon. Both of mine cracked it with no accidents at all after a couple of days. dd was 2 and ds 3.4. I never needed to put them on the loo they both just took themselves after the first week.

Why give yourself so much washing? (3 poos a day would do it for me!- grim!)

Just try again next month. It will just click one day and everyones life will be much easier.

Well....dd has taken 8 months and counting! But IMO she was too young (20months) and definitely not ready when we started-which we did only because she refused to wear nappies anymore. Actually she got the basics within a couple of days and we have had very few poo accidents (none for a good few months now) and she was almost fully trained but then regressed. At the moment we have one accident a day most days which usually happens when she is busy doing something and just forgets.

What rewards are you trying? DD understood them at 20 months so I'm not sure he is too young. She used to go and sit on the potty then demand a chocolate button . Are you doing lots of praise and exaggerated clapping etc? Makes a huge difference to dd (I stopped bothering after a while but have started again now!) and we have just started a sticker chart to try and get rid of those last few accidents.

I am hoping to leave ds in nappies as long as possible though, don't want to go through months of clearing up accidents and carrying 10 changes of clothes with me again!

Oh and if she was pooing herself I think I would be forcing her into nappies, can just about cope with wee accidents but not poo-yuk!