Started potty training today - anyone else want to give / get a bit of moral support?

[Biscuitsandtea]

Hi, DS is 3 and we've started potty training him today. We were hoping to wait until he woke up one morning and said 'I'm done with nappies thanks very much Mummy - let's go wild with the pants', but this hasn't happened so we thought we'd just try him with nothing on at first and then pants and see how it goes.

Just wondered if anyone else was starting too and wanted to go through it together?

We've done various bits of nappy free time for months with varying amounts of success, but only ever an hour or two here and there with no consistency to see how he was doing and whether we thought he knew when he was weeing or pooing. It's only recently that I've thought that he actually does know hence deciding to give it a go today.

We had a quiet weekend so thought 'no time like the present!'

Now a couple of times in the week we'd had no nappy on and a fair bit of success in the potty. Wednesday = lots of mopping up wees but a few 'hits' at the end of the afternoon. Thursday was better with no accidents. but this was still doing everything bare bum!

Today we were doing pretty well this morning. Everything going in the potty and no accidents, so after lunch we thought we'd try adding pants into the equation. previously pants = accidents (I wonder if he would forget it wasn't a nappy?) so we never persevered with them, but we have this afternoon. Certainly more accidents this afternoon, which is I think a mixture of being tired and the 'pant effect' and we had a very rough few hours between say 3 and 5. Then we've had a few more wees on the potty and going a bit better this evening.

We're planning more of the same tomorrow but we have a birthday party to go to in the afternoon and I'm in a bit of a predicament about that in as much as I don't want to go back to nappies and confuse / demoralise him, but equally don't want loads of accidents at my friend's DDs party so as yet we're undecided. I think at the moment we'll be erring on the side of a nappy as it's just not fair if he has an accident in the middle of the party?

Anyway, anyone who wants to join me for the ride, please come aboard :-)

I'll have , and to help the journey go along!

Aww Rathlin you poor thing! Silly nursery people not putting him on properly . And dealing with all this while portly - not good!

Yes we thought after the first few days went ok that we'd be all sorted in a couple of weeks, but no such luck.

Today is going better, he's had no accidents so far and is asking to go when he needs to. He used to just take himself to the potty but since The Regression at the weekend he seems to just tell me, but that's ok, I just take him to the loo, so that means we're using the loo rather than the potty, which is ok. Will have to tell pre-school this afternoon that he might need a bit of extra prompting.

Shaz DH and I were just saying last night hat we find it really hard that he can do it fine one minute and then half an hour later has an accident without even trying to do anything about it. But I think it's just the way they learn. I think that when we adults learn something we either get something and remember it or at least remember that there is something we should know. But I've noticed it with ds learning letters or numbers or whatever. Some days he can do them and then the next day he doesn't seem to remember what he knew he day before so I guess it is just that? Hope the rest of the day gets better.

we had good day at home yesterday - no accidents except for hte library, also used toilet at her nana's house. I think the nursery thing is making her anxious - she wants to wee in her own toilet and have her mummy take her, not strangers in a strange toilet. So the nursery thing might take a while...but at least she is managing fine at home, so I assume she will get there in the end.

Today has been a complete disaster 3 accidents so far & I think I am going to pull my hair out if he has anymore

Sending you some calming Zen vibes Shaz

I can spare them for the next 2 and a half hours as DS is at pre-school!

Thanks biscuit today has totally blown up in my face numerous accidents all with the potty near by it feels like we have gone back to stage 1 again yet yesterday he was amazing & I felt like we were almost there but now ?

This was us on Sunday! Stick with it - calm and patient wins the race (hopefully! ).

We are making progress with our 'back to basics' approach and the sticker chart. One accident this afternoon which I would have been about a week ago, but after the last few days, I'm not too bad with! Overall it's been a better day, just that one wee accident. I think he tends to be having an accident when he's tired late afternoon (no nap). Would love an accident free day though (wishful thinking?)

Hi guys,

Have been away as had wisdom teeth out under general anaesthetic so have been recovering! Sorry to hear about the frustrations and the accidents - that is miserable for you and very frustrating.

Um, we have been very lucky I think and have been having no accidents at all during the week. She had one this weekend in her highchair (I was in bed recovering) but told her father and he took her to the potty where she finished off. She now only has accidents with him so I think he's such a novelty and so much fun she forgets to tell him every time (although one all weekend was pretty good).

She's spending the day with her grandparents on Sat (not my parents, my husbands and she doesn't see them terribly often) so will see what happens then!

Sorry - don't mean that to sound like I am boasting - just feel like we have been lucky with her (she was late to walk and talk!). She still can't manage her own trousers or pants yet though.

Ah Kings that's great news! So pleased your DS has got the hang of it! Hope your teeth are getting better too - what a nightmare!

DS seems to have been a bit better today - no accidents yet but we are smack bang in the middle of the witching hour for his accidents so we'll see. I wouldn't be surprised at all to go back in from typing this and boom! There it'll be! He's knackered today too which always makes it worse. I'm sure we'd be doing better if he still have a flipping afternoon nap. He's so shattered come tea time without a nap that I think it's all he can do to stand up - in fact even that's too much some days!

Kings thats great news
Today has been a good day 1 accident at nursery which was earlier on in the day but since being home no accidents & loads of trips to the potty hope it continues

That sounds great Shaz

Weirdly DS hasn't been near his potty since at least Saturday, if not before. He just shouts that he needs a wee and I have to take him to the loo now! I mean I'm glad that he'll use the toilet, but he never even seems to make a move in the right direction, whereas he used to be able to execute a potty trip entirely unaided! Still no accidents is no accidents - he'll get there I'm sure.....

Biscuit that's great at least u won't have to help him go from potty to toilet 1 less hassle

Kingsroadie & Biscuitsandtea - thanks for your replies (page 13!). Sorry for slow response, just haven't been on mumsnet much the last week or so. My DS is 2.5 now, so don't think it is really early, though not too late yet either .. I suppose! Still trying to get past the '18month' brainwashing by my Mum He's still a bit twitchy about walking on the floor barefoot .. unless distracted by something like the bath. Hoping time will deal with that, although will probably do a bit of both of us walking around barefoot too. Wish we had under-floor heating!

We've done a bit of sitting on the potty this week .. and he'll happily sit there for ages with a book, but no wee. Eventually realised that the reason he was fussing part way through and then howled when he got up was that he got pins and needles, and of course it's really uncomfortable when the circulation returns. I really should have worked that one out as he was sat on the potty for so long (30mins). Was so focused on maybe finally catching the first wee so I could go OTT with praise that I didn't think about pins and needles. D'oh! Really frustrated that we can't get a single wee on the potty. I suppose it shows that he has good control! Just doesn't seem interested though. I think I'll leave it a couple of weeks and then have another go as I don't want him to get fed up and then refuse to sit on the potty. Got the in-laws coming for Christmas (6 days!) so not much point trying then.

Was wondering whether to go back to cloth nappies, but he's outgrown all the ones I've got. Would need some huge ones :(

Wrt first wee on potty, I've tried him sitting on potty whilst I wee loudly, I've run the tap, plied him with drinks beforehand. Any other suggestions? Can't persuade him to stand up in the bath to try, probably because I've spent months telling him not to stand up in the bath!

Have got the Simone Cave book from the library. Any other books good for boys? Not convinced about this one yet. Has anyone tried the Gina Ford one with boys?

I have the GF book too - I read both that and the Simone Cave one ages ago, but never actually read wither of them at any time near the actual potty training . I like to think all the info was stored in my brain somewhere though?

I also have several of the 'dinosaurs love underpants' type books but have completely forgotten to read those recently too! We've had them for ages and have read them with DS lots but totally forgot about them in the last month or so!

Hi, I've started today.

DS has been nappy free for more than 2 hours without any accidents, he was only wearing a top, pants and BabyLegs. Unfortunately, as we needed to go to the supermarket, the nappy came back on. I'll take it off once he finishes his nap.

He only agrees to sit on the potty if we read a book at the same time - at the present we read Pirate Pete Potty

He has done one pee in the potty this week at nursery but I don't know if it was voluntary or a coincidence. He is however aware of doing a poo and will most of the time say poo before or during doing one, so I just need to be quick. He wees standing on the bath every day, so I've ordered a little step to see if he'll be more willing to wee standing up.

Good luck everyone.

So far 1 accident but not many wee or ? anyway

So the day was pretty good. DS was 10 hours u ptoday and spent 6 of them without a nappy and there was only one accident. He told me wee-wee and there it was, no time to pull the pants down and sit him on the potty.
But there has been nothing on the potty neither He pooed while wearing a nappy at nap time.
Let's try again tomorrow, the trickiest part will be Monday as I need to decide if I send him nappy free at nursery [risky]

hi everyone sorry haven't been on for a few days been busy we have had some good days & some bad yesterday was an ok day he was bare bum so no accidents until bedtime when he said he didn't want to wear his pull up & managed to wee over the floor late last night hope today is going to be better how's everyone else

Hi everyone, it's gone kind of quiet on here so I hope this means it's all going well. DS is doing a little better. Up until Friday last week he was still being weird about it, but then we had a better weekend. One poo accident about 5 mins after he'd been to the toilet and done a poo so I guess he just didn't realise there was more to come. Good day yesterday and we're out today as my car is in the garage so we have to wait in town until it is finished. All was going well. There's a little play area in out shopping centre so we did a pre emptive toilet trip before we went into it, then 5 mins in and he had a poo accident . Fortunately a nice contained-in-the-pants sort (phew!)

The good news is I don't think he's had a wee accident since last Wednesday (touch wood ).

Poos just seem to be hit and miss (well more miss really!) after previously going quite well. Mind you wees went well then worse then have been good since so maybe we'll get there with the poos (she says hopefully )

Hope everyone else is ok x

Ooh can I join? Just started DS on Sunday. He is 3.1. He's been holding his wee in all day and then letting go when he's very tired at about dinnertime and so not paying attention. He had 2 accidents and one wee in the potty on day 1. He went to the childminder yesterday and because she had the school run and I had to wake him up to leave I left him in a nappy but sent some pants with him. CM said he became interested in them at about 11am but because I was picking him up at 12 she didn't put them on him But today he's there until 3 so she has suggested I do the same thing and bring him in a nappy but let him put the pants on when he wants to.

I think he's struggling with poo a bit because last night he said he wanted some pants on to do a poo and then because it was nearly bedtime I let him have a nappy instead, but wondering if this was a bad idea now. He hasn't done one yet. He seemed to want to last night but didn't want to do one on the potty, even when I offered him a compromise of having nappy/pants on and sitting on the potty.

I think our problem is that if he could choose he would choose nappies. He says he doesn't want to use the potty until he is 7. If we don't give him a choice (we told him that the new size 6 nappies are special night time nappies and the 6 means they can only be used after 6pm) then he is perfectly happy to wear pants, but if he thinks he has a choice he gets really upset and tries everything to get me to change my mind and it makes me hesitate. And then I think he senses that which doesn't help!! I've never been a kind of "Do as I say right now because I say it" type parent so was hoping to just go for the method where they wake up one day and decide they want pants on but the later it goes on the more attached he seems to get to nappies.

Oh Bertie I would have loved DS to just wake up one day and have made his mind up!! My DS is a similar age to yours (3.2 today).

Do you have a spell of days together where you could go cold turkey? Or even try some bare bum time? I found that helped DS and we only bought pants in once he'd done a few bare bum? He seemed to have lea accidents bare bum (I think he pants confused him and he forgot they weren't a nappy?) but then it doesn't sound as if accidents are as much your issue as holding it in? No real suggestions for that - in a month (!) of training DS hasn't really done that too much.

But certainly happy to help and hold your hand through it!

Bertie I've just read your other thread - you've been through the mill with this already haven't you!! How's it gone today?

For what it's worth I think cold turkey is probably worth a try for you - it seems as though from your other thread the nappy changes were as stressful as the pants idea?

Anyway, hope it's been ok - fingers crossed

Not well today! He had one accident at CM's and then apparently was upset so she let him have a nappy on. And then I didn't see much point in changing to pants when we got home as would have caused more upset and he was tired. So we'll try again tomorrow.

Oh bless you both!! It's probably not helpful though if the CM lets him go back into nappies of he's upset is it? If he'd been with you and had an accident and then been upset, do you think you would have given him a nappy? Don't know quite what the answer is, but really feel for you .

It's difficult isn't it because once the CM has given the 'go ahead' to go back to a nappy, you're right that it then gets confusing and more upsetting to try and swap him back again when you get home.

Sorry I can't be more helpful - are you at home or CM tomorrow?

At home for the rest of the week now. CM is much more laid back than me over this and more inclined to let him go at his pace, and I do wonder to some extent if I'm stressing overly. She has an older child as well who is at school (and potty trained!), so she obviously managed it despite being laid back...

The thing is that I think cold turkey would work well if we could actually do it, but I don't see DS being okay with using any public toilets etc for a while, so we couldn't really do it while out. Which probably nukes the cold turkey idea, really. And that he wants to do poos in a nappy still. But since he doesn't even want to wear pants just at home if given the choice I don't know how else we can get started. Maybe I should just leave it (again!)