25 months - is it time I got a move on

[Eilatan]

with the whole potty malarkey?

Well, he is a boy! They're harder aren't they?

I sat him on this AM and he got up and pissed on the bathroom mat (could have been worse!!!). Does this mean he wants to pee standing up? I bought some pull up nappies. Are they a good thing? Forgive all the stupidity but motherhood came late/as a surprise (I'm still VERY VERY surprised!). Husband and nursery normally do all this care stuff, I just read the story and say "look there's Bob!" (or Pat or Winnie or Lunar Jim or whatever). But four days into the summer hols, I fancy BEING A MOTHER and starting with POTTY TRAINING. Any advice????

X

I think rule of thumb is to attempt potty training when they show some indications of wanting to.2 is still little and don't feel pressurised by people [MIL and dm] in my case who think that potty trainingshould be acheived at 1 or somesuch.

ds was 2.6 which is quite early really,but only because he showed signs and it was summer otherwise I would have waited.IIRC some research person has shown the detrussor muscle (which controls urine flow etc) is not fully able to work properly until 2.6-3 ish (this may be a load of cobblers,remember reading somewhere)

I found with ds it was easier just to go cold turkey and bought him pants with funky designs on,LOTS of pants.He showed interest in weeing standing up so I bought a little step so he could reach the toilet.I have read on here about some people putting a little plastic ball with a smily face drawn on in the toilet and gettingtheir ds to "Aim and shoot" to make it a fun game!I also got a potty for downstairs but in summer we spent a lot of time in thegarden which was better in case of accidents.

The main thing is perhaps to give it a go for a bit but if he is not ready after a few days try again in a few months,and most importantly don't stress.I think I used bribery at one point (stickers and choc buttons).Reading a book when he sat on the potty whendownstairs also encouraged actuallly keeping him there.

At the moment am having nightmare with training dd 3.5 (SN) AND GETTING NOWHERE,SO AM NO EXPERT!

good luck.

No harm in having a go and you sound like you have the right laid-back attitude to it. Boys IMO are easier because you can toss a hanful of cereal into the toilet and say "can you wee on the cereal?" or drop their drawers anywhere and say "see if you can wee on that leaf over there." Just remember that he's been weeing/pooing in a nappy his whole life and it's a bit like telling you from now on you can only walk on the ceiling -- it would take you a little while to get the hang of your new ceiling walking boots, etc.

Oh, research I've read (American Academy of Pediatrics) is that their develop bladder control between 9 and 18 months. I.e. weeing stops being subconscious (like breathing) and starts being conscious (like moving your fingers). When they can keep a nappy dry for 2+ hours and wake up dry from a nap they're holding in wee and consciously releasing it. Unfortunately they're not yet at the point of planning ahead, thinking through consequences, or really giving a fiddler's about making a puddle on the carpet. Still, DS was successfuly clean & dry by 18 months, but he has always been way ahead of the curve on physical development (walked before 9 months!).