17 month old DS tells me when he's pooing

[HensMum]

For the past few days, DS has been telling me when he's pooing by saying "poo". If I don't catch him doing it and ask if he's got a pooey nappy, he'll say yes.
He's also waking up from naps with a dry nappy.

Is this normal?! Is it a sign that he's getting ready to potty train (I hope not!) or do all children do this?

I don't think he sounds ready for full on training, but you could ask him if he'd like to sit on a potty when he wakes from a sleep and at nappy changes, also if you can catch him when he starts pooing. He is starting to make the connection between the sensations and what eventually happens, which is good! He can still wear nappies the majority of the time. If you start with this gentle approach, he may well take the lead at some point. I feel that you will have more success with a child who wants to be clean and dry of their own accord than one who has potty training 'done' to them when parents think it should happen.

My dd started doing this around 16 months and we decided to adopt a laissez faire attitude. She has a potty, she asks to use it, sometimes prefers the toilet, we ask a few times a day if she'd like to use either. I was conscious of not wanting to 'train' but allowing her to do what she feels she wants/needs to.

She's 22 months now, poos on the potty and is dry at night. She still has a nappy on as she wees and occasionally poos when she's busy and forgets to ask. I'm in no rush. If she decides she no longer wants nappies then fine and I always ask if she wants one on- nearly always yes- and in the summer I might approach it more seriously if she hasn't done it on her own.

I agree with all the replies. I think you should start bringing a potty into the situation, but not actually worry about if anything gets done in there, and not remove nappies. Then see how you go from there.

Just think of how much money you will save if you are out of nappies early!

We were planning to buy a potty soon and start talking about doing wees/poos on it, perhaps buying a story book featuring a potty, just with a view to getting him used to the idea rather than using it but I might try asking him if he wants to try.

I'm a bit nervous of early potty training as my SIL decided to start training my neice at about 9 months. She does use a potty but still wears a nappy. However, she won't poo in it so either they have to take a potty everywhere they go (she won't go in a normal toilet either) or she'll have a tantrum if she needs to go and won't. It just seems to have made all their lives more difficult than just letting her carry on in nappies for a while.

He needs to be able to know when he's going to poo not when he's already poo-ing to be ready, imo.

Mariasinger, you can put the poo from a nappy into the potty and show it to the child, telling them that when they need to do one next time they can do it in the potty instead! Put a sheet of loo tissue in the bottom first to aid cleaning afterwards.

You can also take the child with you when you go to the loo, and sit the child on the potty at the same time, telling them that mummy is doing a weewee or a poopoo. If you can bear it, show them what you've done!

The other thing that helps is showing them a child who is trained using the potty.

Always praise a success and ignore an empty pot, as soon2be says, at this stage it doesn't matter.

Mariasinger, you can put the poo from a nappy into the potty and show it to the child, telling them that when they need to do one next time they can do it in the potty instead! Put a sheet of loo tissue in the bottom first to aid cleaning afterwards.

You can also take the child with you when you go to the loo, and sit the child on the potty at the same time, telling them that mummy is doing a weewee or a poopoo. If you can bear it, show them what you've done!

The other thing that helps is showing them a child who is trained using the potty.

Always praise a success and ignore an empty pot, as soon2be says, at this stage it doesn't matter.

MarlaSinger, at 16mo we just told dd that the potty was her toilet just like mummy and daddy use the big toilet. She accepted it immediately. In fact she whipped her nappy off, sat down and shouted 'wee wee'. And er, did a wee wee.

And I agree about the importance of them knowing they need to go as opposed to knowing they are going or have been. DD tells us her 'bum is popping' (gawd knows who taught her that) and that means she needs the toilet.

Sorry about double post. Hensmum, it sounds as though your SIL is expecting a bit too much of her DD and so she is resisting. If a child sits willingly on a potty, fine. If they refuse you have to back off, because they can sense your anxiety. You have to be very relaxed and actually not care whether they do something or not, or even if they sit on the potty or not, and it's the same for older toddlers. You can't force them! Buying a potty and potty stories, sitting a teddy on the potty, or even getting a dolls potty for teddy to sit on while the child sits on theirs are all good preparations.