Considering Potty Training DS - How do I know if hes ready?

[SarahL2]

DS is 2.1 at the moment. I had planned to start potty training him over the summer when it's warm enough for him to run round without much on so it's easier to get onto the potty but I'm not sure how i'll know if he's ready for this plan or where to start really.

I've bought him 2 potties - 1 for upstairs and 1 for down (or one for him and one for teddy?) and he will sit on them sometimes for a few minutes at a time. He's wee-d on the potty once but I think that was more luck than judgement. If he says he doesn't want to sit on the potty, I don't force the issue and just let him be cause i don't want him to hate it/be scared of it. We got handed down 2 children's potty books (the kind with rhymes in about potties) and he likes to sit on the potty to read those...

I've even been taking him to the loo with me. He happily pulls out his potty and sit's down - should I try undressing him for this maybe?

He's becoming more and more obviously uncomfortable if his nappy is dirty, especially if it is a poo and will come and tell me that he is "stinky" (his choice of word) almost as soon as he poo's and even occasionally when he wees. He's even started bringing me the changing mat! But he has not told me in advance that he needed a poo or a wee so far.

So - does anyone think he's ready for me to start in a month or two?

And if he is ready, where do I start? Cold turkey with big boy pants or something a little easier?

Personally I would leave it until he can tell you he's ready. How about trying to keep a note of when he comes to tell you about poos/wees (which is a great first step) once you've noted when these are try a few days asking him to sit on the potty 10 minutes before then.

With DD we start at 2.5 and started it off with asking her to sit on the toilet before getting in the bath each evening. Then to sitting on in the morning after getting up. It got easier from then but it did take 1.5 years for her to fully understand it all. DS is 2.5 now and definately not ready although he tells me when his nappy is full sometimes, am going to leave it till the summer or even next summer as the only aim is to have it done by the time he starts school.

good luck it's never easy

It sounds like you've already started and are doing brilliantly! All you need now is a bit of timing to help him get the hang of it and then he'll start to ask when he knows he has to go. You really don't need to do that awful "naked from the waist down" accidents-everywhere-until-he-figures-it-out method AT ALL. (Don't you find success-breeds-success and failure makes you miserable?)

Really glad to hear the dreaded naked from the waist down bit isn't necessary ches!! What's the alternative though?

We're trying potty at bathtime at the moment but he keeps telling me that the "wee wee stuck Mummy"

Tried getting him to sit on it this morning but he said "no" so I didn't push it.

Will try making a note of when he goes and see if there is a pattern as that could help. Thanks for the suggestion paranoidmother

i would carry on as you are slowly introducing him to the concept. maybe when he goes with you to the toilet id strip him off and see if he does something.
CHES, i'm on another pt thread and dd is on day 8 in pants, you have helped me before with question, she has been doing really well wth plenty of accident free days, but today has been weeing more often and had 2 accidents where she didnt attempt to tell me/get to potty and wasnt upset but it, she normally gets upset and wants to be cleaned. people keep saying they often get bored of it, have you found this?

I would really recommend the Gina Ford, Potty Training in One Week' book.

I know her routines are contraversial but I thought this book talked a lot of sense.

There's a checklist at the front to see if they're ready.

I just used it when training DS1 (2.4 when we started )

It took longer than a week for him to become reliable, but the worst was over within a few days and by about 3 wks in, he rarely had an accident. He's nearly 2.6 now and he's had no accidents for over 3 weeks, so I guess we're officially trained!

And before he started, he had never done a wee on the potty, never told me he wanted a wee or poo etc, yet he was clearly capable of being trained.

Good luck

We do potty time in front of tv so can sit there a while. Strangely he LOVES potty time!! Has got to the stage now when the wee comes almost straight away instead of 20 mins and even had a couple of poos, but I'm waiting for summer to try pants.

ilovetochat I think that there's some truth to the getting bored thing (although perhaps more the novelty of the new skill wears off), and also their concentration span increases as they get older so they get "stuck into things" which they don't want to leave. But what I found mostly was that whenever the wee man was struggling with his molars, he'd have accidents. Pain free day he'd be dry, painful day he'd have four accidents. (Only ever wee accidents, though, and we have wood floors, so who cares?!)

Sarah just carry on as you are. It may take a bit longer, and you may get sick of the faff of undoing nappies. What I did was go to undies when the wee man was reliably pooing only in the toilet and stuff them with something to catch the wee. (Around here you get something called a "Diaper Doubler" which, folded in half, fit perfectly in the pocket formed in the Y of the Y-fronts.) It caught a wee and eliminated the need to change trousers if he had an accident, but was much quicker than undoing a nappy. The good part about doing it the "slow" way (as you've started) is that it's stress-free, so the child is not terrified of having an accident and you don't have the 2-second window on dashing to the loo. By 18 months DS was holding a wee in all the way on our 30 minute car journey (and holding a poo in all day because he only likes to poo at home!).

We're on day 2 of him saying "no" every time I want him to sit down at the moment.

I'm in no really hurry though so just going with the flow for now...

Thanks CHES, dd did fine all morning asking for potty, carrying it herself to be emptied, then just as i was getting ready t take her for a nap she said whats this and i looked and she was wetting and watching her trousers change colour, i said stop and she stopped sat on the potty and finished her wee, it was like she did it on purpose. she seems to have accidents when tired, she gets mischievous when tired anyway and she has a tooth coming so you may be right.

Hi Sarah,
I doubt he'll tell you he needs to go in advance for a while yet, but 2 is a great age to start training, and it sounds as though your son is already interested in the concept. Definitely go for it! Just gently carry on introducing him to the potty, encouraging him to sit on it without a nappy on, and getting him involved. Empty dirty nappies into it to emphasise the point. Let him run around without a nappy from time to time, watch hin like a hawk and plonk him on if he starts to go. Talk about wee wee and poo poo and potty lots and lots. Buy him some colourful big-boy pants and explain how they work. If he has a TV programme he watches, sit him on the potty then - if TV is a bit of a treat, you can expect good compliance! Or, if you are really brave - just go cold turkey. Put a pile of pants next to the nappies and explain to him that when the pile of nappies goes down - it's no more nappies and over to pants!
My son has just turned two and is out of nappies in the day now, both at home and out and about and at nursery. Despite the trend towards ever later training, it really isn't necessary to wait forever until they are 'ready', whatever that means. It is hard work for the first month or so and you think, goodness it would be so easy to just strap a nappy on - but before you know it you have finished with dirty nappies, and then with nappy changing altogether, and you feel so glad your perservered. Good luck!

Lastest update - he seemed to be really interested in sitting on the actual toilet over the weekend and even did a wee while on there!

Was backbreaking holding him over the loo though so we have bought a seat to go on the toilet.

But he hasn't done anything again since.

We had a very busy Monday and weren't in to try the potty for most of the day but this afternoon is free so going to try miffin's TV trick I think. Thank goodness for Roary the Race Car

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice. I really appreciate it

DS was dry (with a nappy on) for the whole 2 hours we were out a todller group this morning!! That's supposed to be a good sign right? Means his little muscles for holding it all in are working?

So, after lunch, I took off everything from the waist down (including a slightly wet nappy - must have gone while we ate) and let him have a run in the garden.

He loved it. I'm calm cause I don't mind if he pee's in the garden - rather than than the cat poo we sometimes get and apparently male wee is good at 'marking' a garden and fending off the cats anyway!

We had another dry hour before nap time!

I was aksing him every 5 minutes if he needed to go and he kept saying "no".

Towards the end of the hour he did ask to use the toilet - on his new Thomas toilet seat - but nothing happened.

Still, I'm encouraged. Not anywhere near as scared as I was now

miffin! It worked!! Sat Ds on the potty in front of Cbeebies after nap and he sat there until he wee-d

Made a big fuss and rewarded with Jelly Beans. DS very pleased with the whole situation. Hopefully this will encourage him to use potty more often.

Another question - what do you clean potty with? Went straight for antibacterial cleaner but now worried this might be too harsh on his little bottom