Hi All,
I have posted on here a few times regarding trying to toilet train my DS who is now 3.2.
Well he is now fully toilet trained but it has been the toughest think I have ever done and I know so many of you are frustrated by it on here that I wanted to post a message of hope and light at the end of the tunnel.
Brief history -
DS was showing all the "signs" in Sept 09 when he was 2.6 so we started training. 13 weeks in and we were no better than we were on day 1 with countless wee accidents everyday. So we stopped training and thought we would pick it up again later. I really did not want to admit defeat but was at my wits end with no improvement at all.
So in March this year, just before he turned 3 we tried again. He cracked wee's within about a week apart from the odd accident if he was totally into something or was in the garden and simply didn't want to go inside.
However for all these weeks we have had an ongoing problem with poo's. He just refused to do them on loo. We tried sweets as a reward, I tried being really firm, I tried ignoring it, I tried a lucky dip loot bag, bribery, everything!!!! But nothing worked and I was so convinced he was going to have a long term problem that I was going to see the Doctor after our recent holiday, where he still wouldn't poo on toilet despite us being with him 24/7.
However I couldn't get appt at Doc's and we were due to go to Cornwall for a long weekend so we went, thinking we'd get appt on return.
Well, whilst we were there DS had a funny tummy and as we were in an apartment he had nowhere to go and hide, and obviously couldn't wait to go so told me he needed a poo, I sat him on toilet and he went! We made a huge fuss and bought him a new toy that day and for the rest of the hol he told me he needed to go and he went on the loo. I thought we'd cracked it.
When we got home he reverted back and would go on the toilet if I happened to catch him (which was still an improvement as he wouldn't do that before( but if he could get away with doing it in his pants he would.
However in the two weeks since we've come back we have made constant progress and we haven't had a poo accident for 5 days now! He just takes himself off to loo and shouts me when he has done it and we pile praise on him.
We have had to keep refilling a lucky dip bag which he can choose something out of when he does one but we are just doing this till we are sure he has cracked it.
So, I just wanted to say that when people told me it could take months but he'd get it eventually, I really thought I was the exception and he was never going to get it. All in all it took about 9 months, but I want to say to you all not to give up and try to stay sane, because it will happen, and when it does, it feels soooooooooooo good!