I brought a potty for 20month dd, whats the best way to approach this?

[PuppyLoves]

I have no idea and no one I can ask really so any advice gratefully recieved

Leave potty lying around for a bit, let her play with it.

Let her run around without a nappy and try not to stress when she wets - just point it out to her and clean up.

Gradually get her to sit on the potty, while you read her a story. Lots of praise for sitting on it.

If she happens to wee in it, do a song and dance routine!

MN potty training guide

Is she ready to potty train?

My 3 were all trained in a week, night and day, but I left it until they were ready, I did have a potty sitting about and told them what it was for,
once they started using it we had a sticker chart and they got small stickers for pee's and big ones for poos, and also bought they're favourite character pants.

Try putting the potty beside the loo, when you go she/he can copy Mum.

I'm not the 'train them in 2/3/4 days flat' type, I see it as more of a process - like weaning. So, maybe this isn't what you're looking for, but, this is what I'd do...

I'd wrap it up and make a big fuss of her opening it. Tell her it's for wees and poos and let her just play with it for a few days (sit her dolls and toys on it etc). Make sure she know you go to the toilet, let her come with you and talk about it too. If you know any older children who could demonstrate potty use that would be fab!

Other than that, when she's familiar with it, I'd sit her on it at nappy changes. Most children wee when thye've just woken up so I'd try and 'catch' some wee that way too, just so she gets the idea. If you make a 'psss' sound when she wees you can use it as a cue when you want her to go.

Give her plenty of nappy free time to have the opportunity to use it. There will be accidents but IMHO that's a good thing, as long as you remain cool and calm it helps them get the idea

DD has had (and used) a potty since about 9 months old and at 20 months she's now dry at home. She still has nappies for naps and outings but they stay dry more and more often so I think it's nearly time for the next step.

Good luck!

I'm not sure if she is ready, but I thought it would be a good idea to introduce a potty to her now.

The MN guide is fab, thanks for linking to it fruitful

Some great advice on here, I think I'll place the potty next to the toilet for the next couple of days and see what happens. I'll also put her on it when she gets up

TBH I'm very dubious about this whole 'ready' business. It's a pretty new concept and seems to have been around about as long as the massive marketing budgets for disposable nappies... With every other aspect of child development we're happy to give our children the means and let them develop at their own pace.

I mean, we'd never dream of strapping a baby flat until he was 'ready' to roll or waiting until a child can competently use a knife and fork and ask for spaghetti cabonara before weaning, would we?

Just to be clear, I don't think pushing them into it is a good thing either though. It's just that I believe toileting is a normal developmental thing and that it's good if it's treated a normal part of life rather than a mission to be accomplished in the shortest possible time.

I would leave it casually lying about. I wouldn't make a big deal of it tbh - I never have with any of mine. IMO the more relaxed you are about it, the more it is seen as a non-issue, the easier and more 'normal' it is for the child.

JMO though

x-posted there norks - I totally agree, it needs to be a normal part of life

Being relaxed is definitely the key!

I feel like now is the time I should be teaching dd about the potty and introducing it to her even though I don't expect her to crack it anytime soon. Does that sound silly?

I just know that when I waited until they were ready
my 3 dcs trained very quickly night time included have never needed to wear night time pants and haven't had any accidents

dd1 was 2
ds was 3
dd2 had just turned 2, I didn't think she was ready but we went away one day and I completely forgot to buy nappies and she needed to do a poo and decided to do it on the toilet, when I kept putting nappies on her at night she took them off

Although both dd's were 2, I don't agree with people traing their children just because they have turned 2, some people think they have't to be trained at 2

Not silly at all

Just introduce it and see how it goes. Lots of nappy free time is great - you'll soon know if your dd is ready or not, but even if she's not, it's no big deal to have the potty hanging around

Doesn't sound silly at all. Having a potty hanging around and maybe sitting on it occasionally certainly won't do any harm!

There are a lot of threads on this topic about children finding the potty/toilet frightening or resisting training once the 'correct' age has been reached. A lot of children (most children?) start to be very aware of weeing/pooing at 14-20 months and are then taught (by default) to do it in their nappy because they aren't 'ready'. It's not surprising confusion arrises wheen they are then told to do it in a pot... Two is the age of defiance anyway!

As long as you follow your DDs lead then you can't go far wrong IMHO

I agree so wholeheartedly with norktasticninja I'm beginning to wonder if I had a psychotic moment at work today and registered another mumsnet account to post on this thread.

I bought a potty for my 18 month old about 6 months ago. It's been in the front room in the nappy basket since then and dd takes it out every day to play with it. She knows it's to sit on and I think has a rough idea about what it's for but that's all. I don't have any intention of doing anything like training for at least a year but I didn't think it would hurt for her to see it around and get to know it a bit IYSWIM

and it has Tombliboos on, which probably adds to its charm

DD used hers to put her dolly and bears to bed in for a long long time!!! Then she started to take her nappy off at about 2 or so, and run around, would wee on the floor but that did not fuss us as we have wooden floor in front room where she used to go so easy to clean up, and we would take the potty out and show it to her when she had no nappy on, and as mentioned before, lots of praise and cuddles and clapping when she did use it.

We were chilled about it. Some people do prefer the 'do it in a week' intense course and that works for some people well too. Just not us. She has never wet herself in the car, and only once out, and that was at the weekend as she had a million layers on and an all in one watersuit in the rain!