What do you think of starting a relaxed, getting used to the potty time with DD?

[CharCharGabor]

She's 17 months which I know is young. I'd like her to get used to the potty though so it's all she remembers having and it's not a big shock. She's very mobile and can follow basic instructions. She says 'poo' a few minutes before pooing and 'poo' just before weeing. I was thinking of just putting the potty wherever we are and giving her nappy free time a few times a day. Then just see where it takes us. What do you think?

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I'd highly recommend it. From about 18 months I often had DD2's nappy off at home and the potty in sight. V occasionally we'd catch a wee or poo, generally she just leanrned not to wee or poo everywhere and became pretty safe if her nappy was just off for an hour or two.

A few months later I started regular potty trips (first thing in the morning, after naps and meals, before bath), I rarely caught anything (and if we did - more luck than good management) but she got very used to the potty being part of her routine. I just potty trained her (22 months) and it was a pretty painless experience following an initial hicup. I'm sure the fact she was used to sitting on the potty really helped.

I'd suggest you buy a couple of 'potty books' to read her as well (you know the type that explain about sitting on the potty etc - DD would get me to read them to her over and over again).

Thanks for that Nelly, it's really helpful. I'll get a potty on payday and have a look for a few books. She's had a sit on a potty before and she seemed quite keen on it, saying poo and pointing into it. She didn't do anything but I think it's a start. I'll have a go and see how she gets on.

Definitely recommend it. I casually put ds on the pot for a few minutes after meals from the age of 6 months, as he always filled his nappy after a meal.

From 15/16 months he has been telling us when he needs the potty, and I have changed maybe a dozen dirty nappies in the past year. If I put a bit of effort into it, he would probably be fully potty trained, but I'm not pushing anything just yet.

It really does help though, to get them used to the point of the potty at an early age.

Thanks Torya, I'll definitely get going with DD then. I just want it to be a relaxed, normal thing for her so it isn't such a jump when she's a bit older. Would be nice to avoid the dirty nappies too

It's what I did with DS - from 18 months or so we had the potty out, and had nappy off time for 45 minutes a day. If he started to wee, I would sit him on the potty, and he soon would catch himself weeing and go to the potty to finish. As he got better and better, we extended the nappy off time so that eventually all the time we were at home he had his nappy off, and then added pants to see how he got on with that. As soon as he moved into toddler room at nursery they offered the potty at each change too.

Two weeks after DS was 2 I moved him into pants full time as he had chicken pox so we had to be around the house anyway, and he's been fine since. No bribery etc needed, and no pain at all

Thanks cmot, glad to hear a few positive stories of doing this. DD told me she was doing a wee in her nappy today, she normally only knows when she's bare bottomed so she seemed to be becoming a lot more self aware. Was your DS ok with poos too?