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!

Oooh good effort Monkey

And you're right too WE are doing a grand job ladies! We should congratulate ourselves!

Remind me how old your dd is Kings? If you keep practicing with the clothes she will get there soon enough. Pulling them back up is more difficult but she'll learn to yank them down given enough practice.

I don't know the answer to this but might trousers be easier than leggings as there is more 'spare' to grab hold of on the outside of the leg? I have no idea as DS doesn't have leggings to compare! Even if she doesn't look that stylish indoors!

I think maybe u should try trousers king & other loose clothing but no buttons poppers r ok or just elasticated waist I hope this helps

Every time I hear DS going to the potty I'm finding myself silently thinking 'please be a poo, please be a poo.....'

It wasn't :( Just another wee.....

Oooh we've started yesterday/today too. DD is 2.8 She is perfect in the morning, if we have accidents they tend to happen in the afternoon evening.

Today was a good day. One accident which was totally my fault. I asked her if she wanted a wee, she went to the toilet, I got distracted for a moment and she got in a tangle with her tights and knickers and promptly wee'd on the floor, not her fault at all I should have been there .

Our school run takes an hour and she coped brilliantly with both journeys today

Welcome Kellamity :)|

Sounds like your DD is doing great already! And coping with big school runs is tricky too! We found DS was more accident prone in the afternoon because he was more tired (having recently dropped his afternoon nap).

Have to say though - glad boys don't do tights

- good point!

Biscuit have u thought about finding out if ds is scared to go poo on potty I know some dc are, & have you thought about getting a potty book explaining what goes in the potty

Does anyone know any tips on how to encourage ds to pull his pants and trousers down as I have tried but he don't get it he gets pulling up but not down

Biscuits DD1 (now 8) had "poo" issues. She potty trained quite early and very quickly with wee but she used to save her poo until she was ready for bed, in her nappy and run off into the corner for a poo.

One night I waited for her corner dart and as she started straining whipped her nappy off and quickly put her on the toilet. I think once she'd realised there was nothing to be scared of she started using the toilet.

I know it's probably a bit tmi but it must be very strange having something solid falling away from you when you are used to a nappy.

can i ask what potties u are using for 3yo? i only have tommee tippee ones which are a bit small for dd who is just 3.

think she might struggle to get onto loo in time tho she doesn't mind sitting on it.

My dd is 2.11 and we just use an ordinary one from Tesco.

I have 2 one is bambinomio and the other is a cheap one from Argos

I thought about if it was a poo 'issue' but we talked about it and I really don't think it was - he has previously done them on the potty, but he said he just didn't know they were coming.

He isn't 'secretive' about doing them or anything like that. I genuinely think he just didn't know. I am sure it is only recently that he has known that anything is 'coming'. You know how you just 'know' when they're telling the truth?

AND - he has just done a poo on the potty . That makes one success and one accident today - which i'm ok with _just). Am hoping for more success tomorrow. He has certainly grasped hold of the idea of getting a treat for a poo - so obv I'm delighted to give him sugar right before bedtime.......

titferbrains we have this Baby Bjorn potty chair. It's blinking expensive but we had the basic mothercare ones first off and he just didn't fit in them! So I did a lot of research in the internet and this had really good reviews. His bits just don't fit in those with smaller holes! Anyway, this has plenty of room so he can sit down and everything fits in easily without being squished or needing to be poked in! We went for the potty chair because DS is tall for his age so I thought it might be a bit more comfortable (and he seems comfortable enough on it). Although now of course I'm going to want him to start going for the toilet :)

Yay well done Biscuit'sDS!

Ooh yay for miniBiscuit's poo on the potty!

Biscuits, she is 22, nearly 23 months. I only own one pair of cord trousers for her. The rest are leggings and tbh she wears a lot of dresses and skirts (but of course with colder weather and tights that would be even harder). Perhaps I need to try and get her another pair of slightly looser trousers. She just needs practice I think - obv she won't be able to do it straight away.
Think my new tactic will be to try and get her to tell me if she needs a wee so I can help her. I mean, our parents used to train us at much younger than these days - and so their kids couldn't have pulled their own pants down etc so they would have just said they needed a wee.

I was wondering about stopping but she really has got the hang of it - as I said above, coming in from being out, going straight to her potty and doing a wee (but obv failing to get the trousers down!) And tonight, she did the other wees in her potty and then after bath I had put her in a nappy and was about to get her ready for bed and she asked for the loo and so we went to the potty and she did a wee (tried to do a poo but nothing came out). So that shows that even with nappy on she is thinking about it. Spoke to my mother and she said that I just needed to get her to learn to tell me when she needs to go and also keep practising with pulling pants down etc. Also, perhaps I could use pull ups when out, unless going to someone's house (to save me being paranoid) and just keep on treating her like she has pants on - asking if she needs loo etc. It seems such a shame to give up now (even though it may take me slightly longer to train her as a result) as she really seems to have got the idea and is holding for a lot longer as opposed to the first 2 days.

Sorry - massive essay!

We have the baby bjorn potty chair too and she loves it - another reason am a bit nervous about being out - she loves her potty chair. But it's too big to take with us. We have one of these My Carry Potty which she loves carrying around etc and can sit on it but it feels a bit uncomfortable and small. So I am wondering whether to get this one Baby Bjorn Smart Potty to take with us instead (she is petrified of the loo)!

Well done to everyone today - keep on going!

That all sounds really sensible Kings. I'm going to ask my mil about this communication thing this afternoon for earlier training years ago and will report back. Your dd is doing really well though. And asking for the loo when wearing a nappy I think us a really good sign - as you say she is still thinking about it.

We got the potette plus for taking out (not that I've used it yet) but really because it folded up smaller as I don't generally have a pushchair with me any more to put a potty under (iyswim). If I do take our buggy we only use a quinny zapp now and that doesn't have a basket under it. The potette plus though does convert into a toilet trainer seat thing - would your DS be more comfy with one of those?

I though DS would need to use the trainer seat when our but so far he just holds himself up (but he is a lot older than your dd and big for his age too). I'm not sure he'd be able to poo though ad he must surely clench his bottom cheeks if he is holding himself up?

Good luck today everyone. We have a lot of time out today culminating in going to a fair later...... The travel potty is coming too

Morning ladies! Well done on all the progress - I feel we may be lagging a bit! He's "too quiet" in nursery (funny because he never shuts up and is constantly bellowing here) so has gone back a few steps, yesterday we reigned it back a little but only had 1 wee on the potty and that was with me holding his hand - he's a master of holding it in but I'm worried he'll end up hurting himself!

Very stressed this morning - he usually spend the day with my Dad tomorrow whilst I'm in uni, just spoken to Dad and he has all of these grand plans for going out doing x, y and z, I said I hate to break it to you but you'll have to stay inside as DS is still training - he huffed and puffed then said OK, in the next breath he's telling me I've left it too late as should have done it over summer - HOW?!? If he wasn't out with us he was out with them, we barely had a day in! Just winds me up so much, I just ended up saying "its easy for everyone to say he should have been done earlier but when it comes down to it nobody wants to help me - you want to take him to feed the ducks, mum wants to take him shopping, dh wants to see relatives - when exactly am I supposed to have single handedly trained this child?" To which he mumbled an apology and something about keeping him in and giving it a go - I felt like crying, its actually much harder than I thought it would be, ds is only 2.2 and I feel guilty making him train when I don't actually know for sure he is ready

Rant over - sorry! [Wanders off to grab her first shower in days to scrub the smell of baby wee off her]

Good luck everyone! Day 6 today!

Thanks Biscuits - nice to have some support - especially as a few people think I am mad. The thing is, I'm not doing it to try and "show off" about her being trained early (if in fact it works in the end!) or anything like that. It's because she seems interested and seems to get it. And we are thinking about number 2 next year so would be good if this were done now when I am not pregnant and tired... But I've got time so it's not as if I am pushing her. Besides - she has always been a bit of a late developer in terms of speech and walking (although v good fine motor skills - and perhaps potty training ) so I am not used to her being first at everything and want her to also be first at this. It's silly when people try and be competitive about parenting. They are what they are and there's no point competing with others as will just make you miserable.

Errrrm - philosophical much?

Yes I have looked at the potette but my thing with her is that she is quite a timid little thing and likes her "white potty" as she calls the Baby Bjorn potty chair. So I am wondering if we got the small version she might like that as it would be like her white potty?!

Fingers crossed for poo success for you today! I have just spoken to another friend who has potty trained one and is going to start her second son soon (he is a bit older but she said boys usually are) and she was really encouraging and positive. Which made me feel very happy!

Good luck everyone else!

Good luck everyone today so far we had a accident in pants so I put him on potty & he finished off & done a poo so far we have been dry other than that, but we have to put him pants as we have 2 pull ups left until tomorrow so I told my dh he was not that happy about putting him in pants but said we had no choice so the good thing about it I won't have him put ds in pull ups like yesterday keep you all informed

X post Chunky. Sorry you are feeling down and fed up - it IS hard especially when we are really the main trainers. If it's any consolation my friend who I was talking about above has trained one boy and is going to start on the second and she says she has heard that boys are usually, not every time, but usually a bit later than girls and that 2.4 is the earliest to start (to avoid a stressful time etc). However, my brother was taken out of nappies the day after his second birthday and was done in a week - so it's not necessarily the case. But if it's too stressful and more hassle than it's worth then maybe bear that in mind. Obv I have no idea though and you know your son - I just wanted to let you know what I had heard in case it helps

Well done Shaz!

To all you ladies do ask dc if they need a wee or do u just let them tell u they need a wee or they go on their own as ds is in pants today & I don't know what to do any help appreciated

Just a quick one - DS normally takes himself for wee's but I still remind / ask and prompt him in case he wants a poo (every time he goes quiet!!)

I would say though just do what you were doing when he was in pull ups in terms of asking etc.

Ok thanks biscuit