end of week one and seem to be getting nowhere.

[mummytotwinsss]

got twin boys who turn 3 in 10 days. bright, fantastic speakers, early with everything, crawling at 7 months, walking at 10 months. have thought they ready for potty training for some time and was only waiting for warm spring weather which is now here. i really dont want to go back to nappies, its the summer and they start at preschool in september

we are on day 8 today since i put them both in pants, take a look at progress (if you can call it that) so far and tell me if you think

days 1 and 2 awful, couldnt go bare bummed as too cold, went through 32 pairs of pants and bottoms, in 48 hours! about 7-9 accidents each per day, and only 1-3 successes on potty each, with much bribing and cajoling

days 3 to 5 the start of the hot weather so went bare bummed and one suddenly seemed to be getting it, started saying ' i need a wee' and then would go to his potty and just do it without being prompted. brilliant i thought! other twin didnt really improve that much. so twin 1 say 4-5 successes and only 3-4 accidents, twin 2 maybe not quite as good but all in all i thought they had made real progress

days 6-8 seem to have gone backwards. after initial enthusiam, and with bribery working well they now seem fed up with it all and are rebelling. they wont sit on potty as willingly anymore and are back to having more accidents and less successes. They are just being very difficult, stubborn and sometimes downright naughty. its been very hot and they seem unusually tired and cranky. feels like the whole process is upsetting them

Should i go softly softly and ease up my reminding them all the time (i have been on their case a lot and i think they tired and frustrated and i have to admit i lost my rag today which upset them) or should i get tough and insist on the potty and fight through the tantrums? i dont want to do more harm than good and end up with a complete rebellion, but i dont want them to feel in control of the situation either. its tough with twins as it feels like they can gang up on you and play up more. Help me please!

not sure if it can help - it's a good sign that they've both had successes so there is some awareness of when they need to go and what to do.

i do remember seeing some other comments on twins where it was suggested to train one at a time, esp if one is taking too it quicker than another. might be easier to concentrate on one, and hopefully the other one will pick it up quicker having seen his brother crack it? might also stop them ganging up on you?

Given their age I think it's worth perservering - but maybe you should take a break for a couple of days to regroup (and wash pants!). I don't have any experience of twins but a few things that helped with my DD: 1) a made a bit of issue with her knickers e.g. getting her to try and keep peppa pig dry 2) I didn't keep asking her whether she needed the toilet but made sure she knew exactly where the potty was at all times 3) I only used bribery re poos (chocolate buttons) as initially she seemed scared about doing poos on the potty and chocolate meant she overcame those fears. Good luck.

Hi, my DS2 has been training for around 5 weeks I think. He got it ok after an early phase of no success but started pratting about once the initial interest wore off. I got cross one day when he kept saying he didn't need potty but then weeing again.

So I had a long think and realised I'd backed off too far (DS1 had been simple with training). With everything else I have expectations (I expect him to get dressed when we have to or come to table at teatime, also accept as a toddler he sometimes kicks off at these things) but with potty training I was 'do you want to?'. So I put in a routine where I said we go on the potty before we go out, when we get home, before meals and before any dvd-watching. In addition I put in loo stops if necessary when out. I do not give him any grief if he either can't wee or has an accident at random time (it's been nearly a week since last one) but I do say 'we can not go out until you've tried on the potty, that's what we do'. I go at same times often. This has worked really well for me.

I realised I had expected him to be self-regulating too early. A friend who is a nursery nurse said they often just take their charges at fixed intervals, so I thought, why not? DS2 is now starting to say if he needs to go in between but seems to have good holding control so regular pit stops are usually enough.

Also went big on stickers for success etc.

Sorry that was long!

Have you done a lot of preparation? I did a lot of talking and leaving the nappy off for longer and longer after each nappy change to get them used to the idea so before we started properly we'd had months for them to get used to the idea.

I did part time potty training for a few months - nappy to go out and bare bums at home when we had time. That worked great for ds1 till he just clicked and stayed dry but it didn't work for ds2 who kept forgetting he wasn't wearing a nappy because he was too busy playing. He needed a sticker chart, it had to be with him at all times and I kept reminding him he could choose a shiny new sticker when he did a proper big wee in the potty (he has been able to squeeze out a few drops on command since he was about 12months so they didn't count). It was a nightmare for a couple of weeks then he suddenly got it and is now totally independent a few weeks later.

It took eighteen months of repeated attempts to potty train my DS.
I thought it was never going to happen. Then in June last year he said "when I go into the big room in nursery, I won't need nappies any more" (the move was due to happen in the following September).
He resisted all attempts to potty train over the summer holidays, but on day 1 in the big room, he chose a pair of pants, insisted he was going to wear them and never wore nappies in the daytime again. He was 3years 4mnths at the time.
Sometimes you just need to follow the child's lead and have faith that they will be in pants before school when they see their friends wearing pants.

Gosh twins, that must be tough. We're trying to potty train 2.9 year old DS at the moment, DC3 and it doesn't get any easier! I can see major rebellion on day 3 (which incidently was managed by grandma whilst I slipped away to work ) I think the routine is a good idea. My DS doesn't tell us before he needs to go but can hold on for a good few hours. Probably he is slightly de-hydrated due to hot weather and not drinking enough..So we've been bribing him with dolly mixtures for just sitting at set times as he obviously needs the reward just to do that. And trying the 'you need to try before we do XYZ'. Maybe you could have some kind of chart with the routine set out in a way they'd understand? Maybe pictures or something. Then a sticker each time they've sat at a certain time?