Potty training a 3 year old who has never wee'd on a potty

[SnowWhite26]

Hi
As above really. My lo is 3 at the end of the week. We have bought a potty and knickers. She has sat on potty but today is first day in knickers.she has worn knickers and had 2 accidents since getting up.1st one she told me she had done a wee Second one she told me she needed one but then had done a tiny one on the floor. We put her bk in nappy coz we wana go out and until she actually does a wee on the potty we are going to wear a nappy out and knickers when in. I hope it doesn't confuse her! I just feel going from a nappy straight to knickers but having no success with her actually doing anything on potty will be little success. She shes she has done a wee on the potty or poo after sitting for about 30 seconds to a minute. Do you think it will confuse her wearing nappies out anf knickers in just until shes got to grips with going on potty? Any advice? X

Also have a 6 weeks old baby. Hasnt made much difference to her.

Don't mix and match - no nappy unless she's asleep, but you are going to have to stick close to the house for a few days to give her a chance.

Also ditch the knickers. They're too confusing because they feel tight like a nappy. No bottoms at home, loose bottoms when out (loose pjs, joggers, leggings). Give her a couple of weeks then introduce knickers.

I've stayed in with my kids for a couple of days whilst getting to grips with potty training - ie not left the house and garden. Didn't use nappies at all except in bed once we started. Worked well here. I think going out / being back in a nappy on day 1 is probably a bit confusing. Hope it goes well whatever you decide.

No, once in pants you should go with it. It clearly won’t be instantaneous but if you sit her on the potty every hour and encourage her to wee with lots of praise, she’ll soon get the hang of it. It might be easier to stay in but if you really can’t stick with hourly potty trips.

We used pants at home pull ups when out. Took about a week to ditch the pull ups no confusion.

One tip I picked up from here was if using pull ups, put them over the top of the pants. That way the child still feels being wet but no big accident to clear up. I tried not to use pull ups much because I do think they’re confusing but DS and I use public transport a lot and at the beginning when he wasn’t reliable I couldn’t risk accidents on the bus etc!

Thanks for your responses. Shes due her daily poo and obviously wants to do it but is asking for ger nappy and getting a bit upset. She had also done lots of wees but not in potty and seems upset. I dont quite no what to do. I dint want her to hate it all lol x

With my older two I heeded all the advice about chopping and changing between knickers and nappies being confusing, but it just meant I kept delaying things because t was really hard to get even a day to stay all day near home, let alone two or three.

With my youngest I had no option but to put nappies on for school runs etc and then we did no bottoms at home initially, unless he demanded a nappy or wanted pants. It worked fine - he spent a few days weeing on the floor and wanting to put a nappy on to do a poo, but after he got the first wee in the potty he got he hang of it and was all fine from there on in. Dropped pull ups for naps after a week or so of no wees during nap time, so he was fully in pants within a few weeks of starting.

So I would say don’t worry too much about doing it a certain way - certainly any added stress isn’t helpful for them or you. just try and do what seems to work for you and keep praising her efforts/being calm about accidents and fingers crossed it will all click soon.

I used the Mothercare training pants for outside. They look like knickers but are a bit padded to soak up a bit of the mess and apparently contain poos (never found out if that's true). We called them her outdoor knickers and other knickers were for indoors. We were able to ditch them after a couple of weeks.

Pull ups were for bedtime only

She was really begging from for a nappy i put it in the potty but no luck so i gave in. We go out all the time so its generally quite stressful keeping her in. I need her to wee on the potty then maybe she will get confident with poo? X

Yeah I think wee is a good place to start, can sort the poo later! Well done and hope it all keeps going ok for you.