When will he ask to go to the potty?

[skihappy]

I have been toilet training my just turned 3 year old ds for a week now. We're doing quite well with only a couple of accidents a day, but this seems to be mainly because I take him to the potty every hour. He has not yet taken himself to the potty or told me that he needs to go. I'm starting to question whether he's really ready yet. I don't want to go back to nappies as he loves wearing big boy pants. How long does it take before he starts to recognise the sensation that he's going to wee? I also have an 8 year old ds that I toilet trained at the same age. He took months to become reliably dry & I fear that ds2 may be the same.

does he know that he should tell you when he needs to go?

He's a pretty good talker and understands everything. I've been telling him that he needs to tell us if he needs a wee and he tells me that wees go in the potty. He's also telling me when he's had an accident so is aware that he's wet.

Hi. I had the same issue with my 2nd daughter, daughter 1 was sooooo easy and got it in an instant at 2yr2month where as no2 is 2yr 11 month and only just getting it. I decided to go nappy less in the day and take her to the toilet regularly... She never asked to go but would refuse the toilet or potty the have an accident. I found leaving her longer, 4hrs was better as she was more likely to need a wee. Then it gradually got longer and she'd tell me if she didn't need to go, then suddenly I heard a little voice ' wee wee mummy' and she took herself off... It has take 3months but finally she is dry during the day...
However she won't poo on the toilet and either does it when her nappy is on or in her pants, that's a battle I'm on with now!!!

Keep with it he will get it x

This week we've had success in this - have been training DD (just 3) for about 2 1/2 weeks and gradually getting less accidents and more wees on potty, but only I thought because we've got better at telling her when to sit on it! Have been using a star chart.

Yesterday I decided to say to her (after 3 wees on the potty in one morning, so in a very positive frame of mind) that mummy wouldn't tell her when to sit on again, she was in charge of deciding when she needed to go to get her next star. I did remind her seceral times, but only that he mustn't forget to sit on the potty when needed, not telling her when to go. She managed to do this a few hours later, and got such an excited reaction from us she was really proud of herself. We said that was what she should do from now on, and fingers crossed she hasn't had an accident in thr 36 hours since (apart from poo in nappy at night, and wees in pull ups at playgroup, but we were expecting both of them).

I think she had got so used to us telling her to sit on potty, she hadn't tried deciding for herself, but now she really feels like she's achieved something. perhaps try that if you think he might be ready - explain it is his job. I'm glad we didn't do it to start with though, as last time we tried (a few months ago) we left it to her most of the time and she wasn't ready and had so many accidents she didn;t experience the success to motivate her, IFYSWIM.

Thanks for the replies. We are persevering with pants with a little improvement. He woke up this morning with a dry nappy and asked to go for a wee. He's had a couple of accidents every day at nursery this week. I think I'll try your tips over the weekend and stop taking him to the loo so often. I know he's getting pretty cross with the frequent reminders and trips to the bathroom.

You gotta stop taking him. Ask if he needs to go then if he says no say ok. You may need to start from scratch. Day 1. Stay indoors bare bottomed. Insist on sitting at certain times to 'try' for a wee. E.g after lunch, before bath, before going out. By day 4/5 you will hopefully have turned a corner.

Keep us posted x

A much better weekend. As suggested, I've stopped taking ds2 to the loo every hour. He's now telling me that he needs to go & today has been accident free, so far.