Firstly I’ll start by saying I had a nightmare time training dd1 and it took well over a year to have 3 dry days in a row and she still now at 4.5 has the odd accident. I have washed a lot of urine and poo soaked clothes, carpets and sofas in my time.
I want to avoid any of that with dd2 but I also think part of the problem with dd1 was perhaps missing the boat and mixed messages. We stopped and started a lot really.
Dd2 is 2.4 and very articulate and wants to do everything her big sister does. I would happily leave her in nappies for a long while yet as it is far easier than cleaning carpets but she yesterday declared she wanted to wear pants, helped herself, put them on, had a massive tantrum when I dared try and put nappies on. Yesterday we had one success on the potty but today we have had none. Not a single wee on the potty. She’s been sitting on it every sodding 20 mins and sometimes in between and every single wee has been on the floor or sofa. Now I am well happy to just put nappies back on and be done with it but if I force her into nappies am I making it harder in the long run? What do I say? No sorry you’re too little to wear pants? Or just keep going and hope it gets better?
How do I know when to start in the future? Surely it’s not great to keep stopping and starting?