Potty training - am I going about this right??? (longish)

[JimJammum]

Ds is 2.2 yo. Was inspired by a friend's relative success with her similar age ds to try potty training and left Granny in charge of getting ds to sit on potty last Weds (expecting tears and drama). All went well, as did CM efforts on Thurs & Fri - rewarded with stickers for potty sitting, although no results. Over weekend, sat him on every couple of hours while we read a book which seems to be all the incentive required (no more stickers), and although he seems happy to so, still no results. Today we bought pants (he is currently in pull ups) and he refused to take them off, so went to bed after lunch with nappy over top!! When he got up, nappy was wet but put him on potty anyway and was rewarded with wee.....cue much praise and sticker.

So, do I just continue putting him on every hour? 2 hours? or do we need to do it more often? (don't want to put him off by doing it every 5 mins!!!!)as well as looking out for "poo cues" which I've missed as he has been playing in another room so far? Should I do pants under pull ups so he feels the wet, or stick with just pull ups? - don't want puddles everywhere. Bit stuck on where to go from here.

I started with DS doing it every hour which worked well. He had a special toy he was allowed to play with when he went on the potty and a book about potties. It meant he would stay there for as long as he needed to do a wee.

am interested in this, have started with dd, a she's 2.5 a few potty sits but no results and quite a few accidents, wearing knickers which she loves!

Lots of puddles though, as I thought the wet accidents were part of the learning. Give her a sticker everytime she sits on the potty for more than a few seconds. Not going v well though!! gets up and has an accident.

Beginning to despait at her ever being this elusive ready!

I think it is a bit early tbh. We had about a week of small successes with DS1 when we started Potty Training at about 2.8, and then the novelty wore off about a week later!

If you are going to do this seriously, my opinion is that you will have to bite the bullet and ditch the pull ups.

We started PT again on DS1's 3rd birthday with more success, but saying that, having being dry for months, he is currently back in nappies (he is now 3.8!) - as over the past week or two he just keeps wetting himself (even when he goes to the toilet!).... Changing and washing 7-8 pairs of trousers and pants each day is hard bloomin work I can tell you and pretty demoralising for all concerned.

My response was regarding boys btw - I know of girls who have mastered the art at a much earlier age

Communicate, communicate, communicate! Put poo into toilet and let him flush it away. Talk about what the potty's for, let him come in when you use the toilet, etc. Also time toilet breaks to when it's likely he'll need to wee (success breeds success). Good times are waking up in the morning, after naps, 30 min after a big drink. Another good habit to form is toilet breaks before going out/as soon as you get in. (Don't be disappointed if they can't squeeze a wee out.) Boys can stand and have something to aim for (cereal in the toilet) which is far more of an incentive than a sticker. Do pull-up changes in the bathroom, etc. Trust me, they can feel when a pull-up gets wet and it gets uncomfortable, particularly for boys, who run out of room for their boy bits, especially when the boy bits jump to attention. DS wakes every night after doing a wee. (Unless he has a dry night, when he wakes anyway, but with less screaming. ) I didn't go to undies until DS was reliable with poo, and then I had something padding the undies to catch wee accidents. We went to just plain undies when he was reliable.

Thanks all. Had a chat the HV today at 2yr check (delayed) and she said put on potty after 3 hrs with no accidents, but prompt to go every hr or so. They shouldn't be having accidents regularly, and if they are, their bladder isn't holding it for long enough for them to be ready. Also found GF book and says in there to just sit them on potty for 1-2 weeks to get them used to it, and then graduate to pants and deal with the accidents. Don't mind wet pants, but pooey ones......Nice to see at least ches didn't use pants until he was reliable!!!

No wee in potty today, and when I caught the poo cue, he said he didn't want to do it in potty. I think we will carry on as we are for another week and see how it goes.