DS 2.5 seems pretty ready but seems to hate the potty!

[KatLovesCats]

Hello! Looking for some advice.

DS is 2.5 and starting preschool in September so if he was potty trained by then that would be great!

He's been showing signs of readiness for a while - takes himself to a corner to poo, points to his nappy when he's done a wee, dry nappy after nap! He will happily sit on the potty with his trousers on when I'm using the loo next to him, wants a square of loo roll to "wipe" etc, but if you pull down his trousers and nappy he refuses to sit on it, cries etc. Today I asked if he wanted to come with me for a we, got a vehement "no" over and over again. 2 minutes later, wee in the nappy! I tried cheerfully to get him to sit on the potty while I talked about wees but he freaked out when I tried to get him to sit without his bottoms on...

So he knows but seems very anti-potty. Has anyone's DC preferred the loo straight away? Any tips or should I just keep encouraging him? Or should I go for it?? Any help appreciated

Have you tried him on the loo with a seat?

We're not really training but it took DS a while to sit on the potty naked, we try and do it before bath and last night he bought me a book and he sat on the potty whilst I read to him.

We went out this morning to let him choose his own loo seat in the hope it would be better - he said no to every single one so we picked a slightly padded one in the hope it will be comfier for him and talked chirpily about how cute the octopuses on it are!

My DD prefers the loo to the potty if given the choice.

One distraction technique tip I read was to listen for the wee. So he listens for your wee when you go (no chance for privacy!! ) and then you could see if he wants to listen to his wee in the potty. Sounds random I know but it was a bit of a distraction for DD in the early days and seemed to help her relax!

Good luck!

Both of mine skipped the potty and went straight to the toilet on a comfy seat.

That's good teaandbiscuits thanks! Will give it a go, definitely saying goodbye to toilet privacy for the foreseeable

ExplodedCloud that's what I'll aim for but we'll keep giving him the choice in the hope he gets into the idea!

Picked him up some character pants with his favourites on this morning. Plan is:

• this week, read him potty training books and really big up the idea
• starting next Monday, bare bummed for a few days with potties in the living room (hopefully if it's nice weather the garden too!)
• if he gets the idea, then add pants and star chart!

Does that sound about right? I'm totally winging it

I'm no expert having only trained DD but I read the Oh Crap book which recommends naked (too cold for that!), then tops but no bottoms, then tops and bottoms but no underwear and then a few weeks into it, introduce underwear. The thinking is that underwear can give them the secure feeling like having a nappy so they're more likely to wee. I know most people seem to go straight to underwear but I just wanted to mention it in case you introduce pants and then feel like it goes a bit wrong!

That's really helpful, thank you! Will try that way then :)

Don't forget a snazzy stool for his feet. They need to feel secure to 'perform ' on the toilet!

Well today I put the potties in the living room to get him more used to them. He did a poo about 9am and after cleaning him up I chatted away about how poos go in the potty etc and he refused to let me put a nappy back on him!

He held his wee all morning naked on the bottom half. I could tell he needed to go ("suspicious willy!") but before I could persuade him to sit down he started weeping on the floor. He was right next to the potty so I sat him on it and he stopped weeing. Cleaned it up, few minutes later he finished his wee on the floor so clearly has bladder control! Then after he willing sat on the potty and read his training book and did a tiny dribble of wee. Much praise, and a sticker! It was then nap time so I put a nappy on him for that which he immediately did a massive wee in

So I know he's able to hold it - if we persist it's likely he'll get it in a few days yes? This is already stressful!

Afternoon: multiple accidents with cries of "wet!", a few wees while being coaxed on potty, and finally - one intentional wee on the potty where he got the hang of pushing it out! Fingers crossed for tomorrow