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Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

MNHQ

Now closed: share your potty training stories and win £100 of Random House books.

60 replies

RachelMumsnet · 07/07/2014 16:15

It's Prince George's first birthday on 22 July and author Nicholas Allan has made ready for the occasion with his hilarious book The Prince and the Potty.

To celebrate, we're offering you the chance to win £100 worth of Random House children's books. To be in with a chance to win simply share your potty training stories with us - we want to hear everything from your trusty tactics to the wacky methods you tried and tested. Was it a gleaming success or a downright disaster? We want to know.

We'll select our favourite story and ten runner's up who will receive all of Nicholas Allan's Royal Reads books. So, if you've got some cracking tales to divulge or some valuable techniques to share, post away - we're looking forward to this one! Here's more info about the book and the competition.

This competition is sponsored by Random House books

OP posts:
sharond101 · 07/07/2014 17:41

We are in the middle if potty training D's who let's out a beaming scream of "look at the size if that!" every time he does a poo in the potty!

BlizzardInWales · 07/07/2014 19:20

My son, who is two, insists on being read stories on the toilet and will sit for ages telling you he is certainly not done! He also yells "plop!" Loudly for each and every poo and asks me if I am pooing every time I go to the loo, loudly, and in public.

Today my newborn daughter poo'd all down my front and over my legs and socks. This was in front of the health visitor. My son exclaimed "wow! Mummy that's a lot of poo, toilet?" I think he wanted to have a go on the toilet to see if he could beat her on quantity... He gave it a good go too!

lottietiger · 07/07/2014 19:23

My little boy insists on reading zigby and the ant invaders on the toilet, no other book will do. Then we all have to wave goodbye to Mr Brown as I flush and it wizzes out of sight:)

melanieclare2002 · 07/07/2014 19:56

The only way we could get our daughter to stay sitting on the potty for any length of time was to read book after book to her - we've never read so many books as when we were potty training! It got results though, and also meant we had lots of extra reading time, bonus!

ShayT · 07/07/2014 23:57

Best advice I have is let them wear undies. Once they figure out that they have leakage they will want to go potty.

nerysw · 08/07/2014 06:46

I've been through it twice, had to examine poos in the potty to see what animal they looked like, watched my son sit for hours on his potty watching telly and gone through soooo many stickers as rewards. When we went to stay at the in-laws last year we forgot to take a potty so I had to make a mad dash round a town in Kent and finally got a hideous car shaped potty to solve the problem. My son loved it!

babyowl · 08/07/2014 10:12

Regarding potty training, the general idea I got from a mixture of reading around & my own experience was:

You can start training from when your child is around 2yrs+ onwards in 3 separate stages of wee, poo & night-time. BUT it has to be in your child’s own time & comfort zone otherwise you set both yourself & your child back.

Steps you can take in preparation for potty training include:

  1. Having a potty around and occasionally reading your child books featuring the potty/toilet.

    A couple of our favourites were:

    a) "Who's in the Loo?" by Jeanne-Willis & Adrian Reynolds
    b) "Have You Seen My Potty" by Mij Kelly & Mary McQuilan

  2. Taking your child shopping for their own Disney/animals/cars/whatever-themed underwear which they can try wearing them instead of nappies for short periods of time when you don't mind the risk of toileting accidents.
    (NB. Pull-up pants aren’t great as they don’t let them feel the wet.)

  3. If your kid goes to nursery/child minder, it’s worth trying to engage their co-operation with potty training (and/or at least warning them that toileting accidents will start happening.)

  4. It may be slightly easier to get potty training going in the spring/summer months and/or when your child sees other friends at nursery/childminder going to the toilet. Plus in the hot weather, your child may find underwear more comfortable than nappies to wear.

  5. Get used to carrying around spare knickers & tights/trousers + socks + a spare plastic bag (e.g. supermarket vegetable bags are great & lightweight) wherever you go just to be on the safe side.

  6. Praise your child for using the toilet and also trying to go to the toilet (especially before going out, etc). Better an empty visit than a visit that is too late.

Above all remember that as frustrating as it is, don’t freak or get mad when toileting accidents happen. This is NOT NICE for your child. They are only just learning after all and making mistakes (even lots of them) is part of learning.

mamato3luvleys · 08/07/2014 14:52

It was 9 year ago now when I was potty training my first son but every time he used it he used to quickly jump off it and tip out whatever he had just done! It was a good job we had wooden flooring which I have again in this house as I am starting to get my 15 month old son used to the potty but have my flash wipes handy for any mis -haps!! :)

WowOoo · 08/07/2014 15:08

It was relatively easy for my two boys as I left it quite late with both of them. After lots of talking and reading with them about it, I waited until i was sure they were ready.

We used a star chart to show progress and bought them some small treats.

I know some people will disagree, but allowing your child do a poo in a potty in the middle of a playgroup is not the way I'd do it.
I've witnessed this by two different mums on separate occasions. Yes, there were facilities very near. It really put me off my coffee and biscuits!

andywedge · 08/07/2014 18:09

Get a book called 'Potty Poo Poo Wee Wee' it's fantastic and a great way to teach the kids to learn how to use a potty in a funny way. My little girl now thinks she is the baby dinosaur in the book

ThemisA · 08/07/2014 19:07

Before I had my son I was a Nanny and successfully potty trained many children - I waited until they were developmentally ready and keen to give it a go. Lots of praise for trying and I tried to make it fun by reading to them if they needed a distraction. Some children need little incentive but for others I used star charts with a little treat when they had five stars or they could save up for a bigger treat at 10. It was, however, a whole different story with one child who just couldn't get used to going to the loo without a nappy and it took many months before we had success - it later turned out that he was on the autistic spectrum which explains why he found it so hard to change from a nappy, standing up, to sitting on a potty without a nappy. Sometimes one just has to be patient, creative or give it a rest for a while. I just want to reassure parents that some children are easy to train (I did one in a day) and others take much longer, it isn't always anything you are doing wrong. I found it important to make sure the child was ready and excited about moving onto this next stage. I also need to be in a positive frame of mind and able to clear up any accidents with minimal fuss. It is not a competition so who cares if other people's children have mastered it and yours have not, we all make it in the end!

tamalyn1 · 08/07/2014 19:45

while potty training my middle son, we noticed if he wore pants of any kind he would wee in them, so the trick was to not wear anything! unfortunately my younger son was in and out of hospital at the time, so we put my son in a long tshirt and carried the potty everywhere we went, it took about 10 days but hes been dry ever since lol patience is the key!!

Kikaninchen · 08/07/2014 19:56

My daughter used to get stage fright in toilets outside the home, she was worried she was going to fall in. I used to have to carry an enormous plastic training seat round with me wherever we went for months otherwise she wouldn't go when we were out - she wouldn't use the folding travel one I bought.

twinklenic · 08/07/2014 20:45

My older two children are 12 months 3 weeks apart and i was finding potty training my eldest (my son) really difficult, he was extremely lazy with it, but as soon as my middle child started potty training (my daughter) he suddenly did it too , it was like he didnt want to be beaten by her

catkind · 08/07/2014 21:02

We started potty training DD by accident at 3-4 months when we half-heartedly sat her on her brother's potty in the hope of getting a urine sample, and she immediately did a big pee. Remember how little babies always pee just when you're taking their nappy off to change them? Well, that instinct, transferred to a potty. From there we just kept offering a potty at nappy changes (when convenient for us) until DD started asking for it. By 1 year most pees and poos were going in the potty and she was dry most nights.

Probably the slowest potty training ever as we didn't take her out of nappies completely till 2.2. But mess free, stress free, bribery free, and so much easier than potty training DS at 3 years+.

ktmd · 08/07/2014 21:22

I was potty training my son in the summer and he was running round with no pants on. Next thing he slid down the slide....pooing as he went. It caused great hilarity, but I had to clean him and the slide.

mcgintys · 08/07/2014 21:25

When we were potty training my youngest we used to play with bubbles whilst she was sitting on the potty. she would sit and blow bubbles and this occupied her and we never had to wait long for her to have done her business.

BeCool · 08/07/2014 21:27

Make a huge fuss of buying new knickers.

Result in potty = chocolate button. Just for a week.

Don't be afraid to skip the potty and go straight to the loo. My 2 weren't keen on potty at all and preferred using loo. Yay!

pfcpompeysarah · 08/07/2014 21:44

Despite having a potty in the room wherever we were in the house, my son always used to go into the hallway and do it for some reason, drove me MAD!!

lhlee62 · 08/07/2014 21:51

Bribery and loads of Peppa Pig on the TV! I found some reward charts in the reduced aisle in the supermarket, only 18p so she gets a sticker every time she uses the potty. I also got her some pretty knickers, but so far we have opted for the bare bottom approach, luckily it has been warm and we haven't had any reason to leave the house.

It's been a bit hit and miss and the worse incident (she pooed, stood in it, then walked around the house, sat on the sofas (with a dirty bum!) and sat on the sofa cushions!!!) luckily I was out of the house so daddy had to deal with it Grin

barker99 · 08/07/2014 22:07

So far my daughter thinks the potty is a ride on toy. I'm not even daring to take the nappies off again

kateandme · 09/07/2014 02:06

mine went through a stage of thinking anything of the bowled shape would then be used as a potty,simply right why wouldnt we all think this!!
it came to a all new "oh no!!" when he started doing it in bowls.bird baths.and he then when told not to proceeded to ask wherever we were whether any of the bowl shapes we saw were pottys or not.

Chopstheduck · 09/07/2014 06:19

Three of mine were very easy to train, but then dt1 was a nightmare. He refused to poo anywhere but his pants. I never did find out while this was, but he would hold until he was as far away from a toilet as he possibly could before unleashing his bowels into his clothes. Lovely long walks to the park, plonk him on a swing, and he would unleash the poo! Thankfully he did eventually start using the loo, thought wet night times are still another matter!

DrFunkesFamilyBandSolution · 09/07/2014 06:27

I've had the potty since ds1 was one, he started paying attention to it when he was 1& a half, we only got him out of daytime nappies at 2 & he's been back in them whenever he's ill, aside from one time he had cold, and I wiped his nose whilst e was on the toilet & now he's convinced he needs one tissue for his nose & one for his wee every damn time!
I did start trying EC with ds2 but a mixture of two 18m apart and being pregnant again means We'll wait!

dragon60 · 09/07/2014 20:59

Simple bribery, sorry reward system, worked a treat. Started off with a new dinosaur every time there was a success on the potty, (which resulted in going from absolutly no interest and permanently wet pants to using it correctly in the one day) and now we are down to a dinosaur if he gets himself on the potty unaided. Jonnah is now the proud owner of many, many dinosaurs. I would recommend a bulk buy!