When did they finally get it?

[febbabies2023]

Son is 3 in July and we have been potty training a week today.

He's doing so well! I'm taking him every 20 mins or so at home (he drinks A LOT) but when we're out it's less frequent and he seems to be able to go 40 mins to an hour or so

Each time, we're telling him it's wee wee time or using a timer which he is responding well too.

How long did it take for your little ones to tell you that they need a wee or poo on the potty?

He will occasionally tell us it's wee wee time but that's maybe once a day or so.

Usual problems with poo that he doesn't want to do it on the potty but we're managing to get him too with lots of reassurance and cuddles whilst he does it
(He tells us 'it's a bit scary' bless him)

If you're taking him every 20 mins, I don't think he's having the opportunity to tell you he needs a wee. As he's doing well so far I think you need to start increasing the time between trips to give him a chance to recognise the feeling himself. Keep increasing the time until eventually you ditch the timer altogether.

@GoalShooter I'm doing every 20 mins only if he's had a lot to drink!
Yesterday I said to him - do you need a wee? He said no, stood up and did a huge wee on the floor.

So I'm not sure he recognises when he needs to wee and I'm not sure how to get him there. The poos are different, he tells me he's going to hide and I can get him on the potty quick enough

He needs to learn the feeling of a full bladder, even if that seems counterproductive because it might result in more accidents while he’s learning. If he can manage 40-60 minutes when out then there’s no need to take him every 20 minutes. You’re getting in there before he really needs to go so he’s never learning what that feels like, so it’s highly unlikely that he will just start initiating. I’d only take him if it’s been over an hour or you’re about to leave the house.

And my DD only ‘got it’ once we completely backed off and let her initiate. Turns out she can hold it for hours and hours so we were definitely over prompting.

We've just been through this. The first two weeks were me initiating potty time, with regular potty breaks (every 30 mins) and then it just seemed to 'click' and my dd has been initiating it since. With my son though, he happily used the potty and had nearly no accidents because I was regularly popping him on the potty, but it took him longer to initiate going by himself or telling me he needed to go so it can vary.

I'd keep doing what you're doing for another week or so and then when you're at home, make sure the potty is close by and then tell your dc to tell you when they need the potty and sit back and see if they do. If they keep having accidents, go back to initiating using the potty and then try again a few days later.

Also, if you put your dc on the potty and they don't go, that's a good opportunity to say 'well tell me when you do' and see what happens.

Mine never got the potty and were in nappies until 3y 10m. Then randomly, DS decided he no longer wished to wear nappies and started going to the toilet, DD followed shortly after because she didn’t want to be beaten by her twin.

We’d tried toilet training on and off over the years but they didn’t get it until they’d decided to do it!

My 2 kids drank loads too so it's Hardwork!

My first it was day 2 she started telling me. The first day was sooo bad I was ready to throw in the towel and by day 3 she was dry, hardly ever had an accident. She was 26 months.

My second I tried just after 2 it was an absolute disaster. She wouldn't tell me at all and started refusing to go on potty or toilet 🙈 then wld take herself off and pee-poo wherever she wanted to.
I tried for 3 days but she just didn't want to. She was showing all the signs unlike her big sister where I kinda took a chance.

We tried again at 28 months and cracked it this time. She started telling me probably at end of day1/2. Still had some accidents though. I was probably asking her constantly though so it's hard to tell. We had issues with poos for a few weeks though. Told her if she wld poo in the toilet for a full week I wld get her a light up mermaid Barbie (she really want it so it worked).

I wld imagine that he shld be telling u more by now. I wouldn't go bk now though, it's tough, he will get better.

Thank you everyone for the advice

I will try to ask him more rather than telling him he's going for a wee. And if he hasn't been for a long time then I'll take him and see how we get on that way

Like I said he's so good when he's out, but at home if he has a drink he has to drink the entire thing there and then like he's never been given it before - which obviously then results in lots of wee!

He has been fairly good this afternoon to be fair! At home I scrap the trousers most of the time, who needs the washing!

The main reason we started was because at nursery he was asking to go to the toilet with the other children. At nursery he's having almost zero accidents so he's definitely ready!

DD is 3 - has been dry in the daytime for nearly a year now but STILL struggles to tell us when she needs a wee 🙄 she'll always tell us when she needs a poo but is a nightmare with telling us when she needs a wee - she'll usually start running around like a headless chicken then suddenly stop and we know that's her "cue" 😂