Do you HAVE TO go cold turkey for it to work?

[Bearcrumble]

Just wondering if anyone has managed to potty train in a slowly-slowly manner with pull-ups and go gradually when you/they remember to try the potty?

We bought a potty ages ago when DS started to tell us when he'd pooed - once we tried sitting him on when he said 'poo' he started lying and saying he hadn't pooed when he had because he wanted to poo in his nappy.

We left it out and would ask him/sit him on it now and again but he never performed.

Just recently (he's just turned 2) he will wee and poo in it when at home - either he'll ask or we'll ask him and he agrees. We made a big fuss every time and gave him a chocolate button but I don't take a potty or ask when we go out and I'd say he only does a quarter of his poos/wees on the potty.

I can't bear the thought of accidents and big boy pants right now (36 weeks pregnant) and would rather wait until the weather is better and I'm not dealing with a very tiny baby. Would it hurt to carry on as we are? Could things improve if we don't push him to move out of nappies in the daytime? Am I being lazy/unfair to him by holding him back because I don't feel ready to deal with going cold turkey at this stage?

I did it slowly with ds as he was just under 2 when we started. He had a pull up and we took him regularly to the toilet. When he got to the stage of saying he needed to go to the toilet and could hold it till he got there then we put him into pants. He had just turned 2 when he went into pants during the day.

i also did it slowly with dd when she just turned 2 (dd2 was 6 weeks at the time). i let her use it as and when at home but when we went out i used pull ups and encouraged using the toilet. This went on for about a month.

I also didnt want to have to worry about accidents out and about which less face it is hard work plus rude when visiting family etc as noone wants wee on their carpet no matter how polite they may seem!.

I think it works well as the child gets used to the potty and then the accidents become less frequent - no matter how much a child understands the potty - being outside is harder as it takes longer to master 'holding' it in!

Great! Thank you both.

And me :)

DS was 21 months and a good talker so I thought I'd give it a go.

Pull ups and we went straight on to the toilet (trainer seat). I just used to offer him a go whenever I went.

I think we ditched the pull ups just after his birthday, we had a few accidents but he was dry at night by 2.5 IIRC :)

It was painless really.

I am in the same situation. Daughter is 23 months and for about a month now she has been naked or in pants at home and pull-ups when out. She wee and poo happily on potty when I tell her to and she has gone and done it on her own while at home.

However even at home we still have 1x mistake per day, although some days no mistakes. And when out she never tells me she has to go. Only goes when I make her.

Should I be ditching the pull-ups? when? at what point did you decide to take them out in pants?