26m DD and No 2 on the way & house move - do we potty train?

[rachael2401]

Dear Mumsnetters,
I am after some advice and people's personal experience when it comes to potty training. I have a DD who is 26m. She has started telling us when she has done a poo (CM says reliably so but for us most of the time). Her fave book at the mo is Princess Polly's Potty!! We had always intended to try potty training this summer as we are both teachers so we thought having two of us around would be ideal plus we figured she'd be about the right age by now, which we think she is. Anyway since those fine plans were discussed we are now having a baby, due 11 Sep and moving house. Hubby will be moving to a totally new area from beginning of Sep and I will follow once baby is born. Hubby wants to crack on with potty training this week and I am unsure after reading Gina Ford and various posts on here and talking to friends. This is causing a lot of friction between us. Hubby thinks that if we get DD potty trainied asap it'll be less for me to worry about when baby 2 arrives. I am worried that we will get DD sorted fairly quickly but that she might regress with all the disruption that Sep will bring. Hubby thinks that I am giving myself extra work to deal with newborn and still have to do DD's nappies. He also says that the regression is not going to be definite so it might be fine. I am worried that it will be worse to deal with regression with new baby as would not want to put back in nappies so worried about the stress of cleaning up all the time whilst bfeeding and coping with new baby etc etc etc. I don't know whether to just go for it as hubby says and deal with whatever happens or whether to hold off and have marital disharmony about it! Please help!!!
x

I wouldn't bother if I were you!
I had heard of so many children regressing when number 2 comes along. DD was 22 months when DS came along and I decided to leave it even though she was showing some signs of readiness.
She did regress in other ways for a while (wanting to sleep with us etc) but when things had settled for a while she literally said one day 'i'm not wearing nappies any more' and that was it. She had one night time accident and 2 or 3 out and about (2 of them only a couple of minutes from home). She's never had a poo accident either (thank goodness!)

I have number 3 on the way and there will be the same gap between him and the next one and I intend to take the 'wait and see approach' with him too.

I think if you are doing most of the caring you need to be happy how you're doing it and TBH changing a couple of toddler nappies a day with a newborn isn't a big deal. They do look huge next to the newborn though!

Good luck in whatever you decide!

I would wait. Having a toddler, new born, moving house, and trying to establish bf is enough stress! Add potty training to the mix and you would need to be super woman! Dd may well get it straight away. She may not regress. She may not have accidents and that would be great. Or it could be the complete opposite. However, I speak from experience of the later. Ds pooing his pants or wetting his trousers while I'm in the middle of bfeeding ds2. Was very stressful.

However, you could try it. If it works out great. If its slow going, you could always put dd back in nappies for a while.

My honest opinion is its easier to change a few nappies than to worry about/clean up accidents!

I'm currently potty training my DD, as I'm a teacher & have #2 due in November. She's only 2.3 though, so figure if it doesn't work, then its not the end of the world & we'll wait until she absolutely decide to do it herself (she is doing really well however) or until well after the baby arrives.

We moved in June & that definitely upset her. She would wake a lot & want to be in with us at night. It didn't help that other aspects of her routine were also disrupted (Daddy off work, usual childminder unavailable etc). I didn't want to even attempt potty training until I thought things were settled.

I'm not even going to think about night time training at the mo either!!!

IMO you'd be better off spending your break enjoying your time off and playing with your DD one to one as much as possible, because new house (new bedroom) and new baby are MASSIVE changes for adults, let alone toddlers. Nappies aren't that much bother really, especially disposables, and they don't go through that many in a day at 2+yrs, compared to a newborn. Yes it'll be more nappies being changed, but as someone cleaning up wee puddles & emptying poo out of knickers, that's a LOT easier, particularly with a newborn latched on :)

Good luck with the move & baby :)