If day 1 is a nightmare what should you do?

[SummerExhibition]

Started training DS today. Has been utter nightmare so far. Nothing in the potty and a lot of wees in pants (he wees a LOT, it turns out - or at least he has done today) and 2 poos. And its only lunchtime. I am going completely mad already - I do not have the greatest patience levels at the best of times. Of course I have been lovely to DS 'Oh dear, never mind, let's try and get to the potty next time' etc. But tbh he really doesn't seem to know when he's about to go. Although he has told us he needs a poo in the past and occasionally a wee and we have managed to catch a few wees and poos in recent weeks and have given him loads of praise and reward. He's 2.6, so I know it's still early, but I really think he's ready for loads of reasons. I've been following the GF book, and Day 1 is basically sit them on the potty all the time. I've been doing that, for say 10-15 minutes at a time, and then weeing 2 or 3 minutes after coming off the potty. He normally poos at quite regular times so I was expecting to be able to catch that - of course he has also caught me out with that. Grrrrrrrr.

No idea what to do now. Can anyone help?

Give it a bit longer! I'd do a week at least before giving up. Ds was a nightmare for 3 weeks, then on the day I was going to give up he just got it. Hardly any accidents since.

Other tips - bribery (chocolate), potty in front of the TV or with a book.

As long as he was showing signs of readiness before you started the keep going. You should stick it out for at least a week. Have you read the MN potty training pages?

Thanks. Just feeling so disillusioned!!! Cooped up in the house doesn't help either! I can't bear to leave the house with him until I know he's capable of making it to the potty at least in theory (I know there'll be accidents but we had 4 in an hour earlier and if that happened when out I would have a breakdown!!!!). Haven't read potty training pages for ages - thanks for the reminder, will go back and have a look. He is allowed to watch telly when on the potty and choc buttons for a wee or a poo. Still nothing! Naptime now so enjoying a brief respite before round 2. Argh.

And yes, all signs there by the way - actually have been for ages but have been putting it off as have a younger DC and I wanted to get past the breastfeeding/no sleep etc stage before starting. Bit concerned I may have left it too late.

My DS was doing OK at home if we had him in no pants at all - it all went pear shaped if he had anything on his bum.

Anyway I told nursery and they said bring him in pants. Well the first day was just a disaster, he went through all the spare clothes I sent, plus 2 sets of nursery trousers before they put a nappy on him! However they were very cheerful and despite my misgivings they said we'll try again tomorrow. The next day he had 2 accidents (1 wee 1 poo) and the following day only 1 poo accident. He has been in pants ever since - 3 weeks and has only had the occasional damp pants when we haven't got to the loo in time. I even took him to a soft play on Monday and he was fine!

So I say, stick with it, they really can get the idea quite quickly. I think you need at least a week to be sure.

What worked with DS was getting a sweet every time he sat on the potty for a few minutes, then one for producing anything, even if it was just a drop. Then the second day he got half a sweet for sitting and half for producing a drop, but a whole one for doing a poo or a wee. When he made a puddle on the floor or messed his pants we told him that was a shame as if he had popped it in the potty he would have got X.

We weaned him off sweets by categorising wees (oh life is so glamourous) as trickletrackles, gushers or squirters and he got a quarter of a choc button for the first, half for the second and a whole one for the last. Then he got nothing for the first etc. He has been trained for about a month and is only getting a sweet for holding on for a toilet e.g. when out shopping, for large poos and for massive wees. He is dry during the day and night. Once we cracked the weeing he was a bit hit and miss with pooing, so he got a lollipop with every poo in the potty or toilet, but when the jar was empty that was that, no more.

He might prefer weeing in the loo standing up, DS found it easier to stand on a stool and pretend to be a firehose. We also put things in the toilet, cheerios etc so that he could aim at them. He found it much easier to work out what to do with weeing when it was right in front of him, rather than hidden underneath him in the potty. My oldest is a girl and she was much trickier to train, I carried a Potette for months after she stopped wearing nappies. DS has been so much easier, I don't even take a spare pair of pants out with me any more as he has never had an accident outside the house.