potty training, how long does it take?

[tiredAli]

I know this is a how long is a piece of string question...but

We are on day 4 of potty training ds (2½). Lots of wees and poos in potty and on toilet but only because we put him there every hour or so. Does the fact that he's not telling us or even responding to the 'do you need a wee/poo?' question mean he's not ready - or is he still learning what we want him to do?

And, if I go back to nappies will it scar him for life as my mum seems to think?

Bumping for you.

I potty trained from boxing day (dd is 2.1), and we seemed to make slow progress, but after 3 weeks we got our first 'I need the potty' from her. Up until that point we'd been going to timetable because if we asked if she needed to go the answer was always 'no', even if the wee was trickling down her legs!

I persevered because she liked her knickers and I found clothes easier to wash than nappies. I wouldn't say we're out of the woods yet (still mostly parent-led rather than dd-led), but we're definitely making progress. Even is she does have an accident now, it'll tend to be small enough to just wet her pants and then she'll tell us her pants are wet so that she can go to the potty and let loose the rest of it!

My DDs at the stage now where she is going a wee and poo on the toilet by herself but if were out and shes gota nappy n then she will just go and not say anything,guess the next stage for me is to grow the balls to take her out in knickers!!
I started potty training her about a week b4 xmas i think.