Doesn’t like not wearing knickers...

[R184]

My daughter is 3 and we’ve recently started potty training her. She is doing amazingly well and I’m so proud but there a few areas that I’m struggling with...

1. She hates not wearing knickers. When it comes to bedtime and we get her pjs on she is constantly asking for her nappy on (nappy goes on at last moment before we leave the room). It seems she hates just wearing pj’s/leggings etc with no underwear? I think she likes that underwear is similar feeling to a nappy?

1. She tells me every 2 minutes she’s desperate for a wee, even if she’s just been. She sits on the potty and low and behold nothing happens. I’m not exaggerating when I say she say on it 20 times before we left for nursery this morning!! I’ve tried explaining that we only use the potty when we need to wee etc. Any other suggestions?

Thank you - from an exhausted mama!

Are you trying to make her go nappyless at night? That’s surely too much. No wonder she feels anxious.

I'd say you need to tackle day time potty training before bed time - I think we left it about 6 months between the 2. But if you are going for it then just let her wear pants instead of nappies. I can imagine it feel strange for her to go completely without at this stage. Or change to the ultra light ones which do have a bit of absorbency in case of accidents and are a cross between the two

I've potty trained lots of toddlers and I've always had them wearing pants. The going commando/naked from the waist down thing seems to be a recent thing which came with the Oh Crap book - it is entirely possible to potty train with them wearing pants if that's what she prefers (especially at three years old, more so than much younger toddlers, respect for their privacy and dignity)

I've always worn underwear with pyjamas on by choice so I presume this is what she wants to do too.

I also think at her age having just started on days you're expecting too much with even thinking of nights. I would leave a good gap ie six months and come back to nights when days are sorted.

I would hate being knickerless under my pyjamas too!
Let her wear her underwear!

As an older child potty training rather than a young toddler, she will possibly be more body conscious and 'embarrassed' about having nothing on her lower half. At 3, she should easily be able to pull pants up and down to go to the loo, so let her wear them!

If she wants to wear underwear, put some on her, easy fix. As pp said the Oh Crap method of no underwear does work great for some, but others don't need/don't want to do that. My dc went straight to underwear, getting to wear character themed pants was part of the draw.