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Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

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Original poster

Nearly 2 year old did wee on potty at nursery

42 replies

PurplePetalPip · 26/07/2023 06:47

DS is 2 in August so not far off. I hadn't really thought about potty training as didn't think he was ready yet... planned on waiting until he was about 2.5 and booking a week off work to stay home and get it done. As such I've not really read up on it or planned much.

He's quite switched on and his language is developed enough for his age but he hadn't expressed any indication he was ready as far as I knew. I'm a first time mum so maybe I'm just missing the signs!

At nursery on Monday they went to change his nappy twice in the morning and it was dry so they decided to offer him the potty to sit on, after a while he did a small wee. Great! This was his first time using the potty but that's fine, they obviously know what they are doing.

He continued to have wet nappies in the afternoon so I picked him up and thought well we will continue as we are until I've read up on potty training and am certain he's ready. I did mention to him how he'd used a potty a couple of times in the evening.

Next day he went to his grandparents for the day as they have him every Tuesday and soon after getting there is telling them about how he used a potty at nursery and asking for a potty. So I take the potty over but say they are under no obligation to use it as obviously it's not their job to potty train! As it happens he didn't do any wees on the potty.

I picked him up and since then he's been asking for the potty a few times and has done a couple of wees but also had some accidents when I've decided to leave his nappy off and see how we go.

I feel like I've had potty training thrust upon me now and I'm not ready even if it seems he is! I'm off with him today but we are off out and then he's at nursery again for the next two days. So I don't know how to proceed. I don't have the time right now to commit to potty training but he's asking for it and seems keen to try so maybe he is ready.

What to do! Just go with the flow? Keep his nappies for now but if he asks for potty let him sit on it? Can I do any damage if we start doing this now?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

TheFairyCaravan · 26/07/2023 08:32

It sounds like he’s telling you he’s ready and leading you on this one @PurplePetalPip so I’d go with it. It’s exactly what DS1 did when he was 22 months old.

It is true that in the nineties children had to be trained by 2.5 otherwise they couldn’t go to preschool, and if their names weren’t down at least a year before then they had no chance of getting in.

I worked in a preschool in the early 2000s where they could come at 2yrs9mths if they were dry then the rules changed where you couldn’t say that children had to be potty trained to come so our manager put the entry age up to 3 and all the children who came were potty trained anyway.

TheBirdintheCave · 26/07/2023 08:33

We started sitting our son on the potty for morning and bedtime wees and poos at around 18 months whilst we read him books. Having him use the potty on and off whilst he gets used to the idea won't cause any harm. We ended up potty training him at Easter (two years four months) and he was fully dry day and night within about a week :) I definitely think introducing the potty earlier helped a lot as he already had the association of what it was for.

limemarmaladeisbetter · 26/07/2023 08:43

Definitely follow your child's lead here.

It's only in recent years that parents have been leaving children until much older because they think it'll be a quicker experience. Honestly it doesn't always work out like that. I know several bright children who are going to start school in September who are still not 100% toilet trained.

As PP said, I'd take my chances now rather than battling with a 3 year old!

traytablestowed · 26/07/2023 08:50

I'm in the exact same boat OP, except my DD is a few months older. Suddenly nursery told me she'd done a wee on the potty a few weeks ago and I was blindsided! Felt so unprepared. Panicked about what do we do when we're out of the house?! How do we deal with holidays? Etc. Actually posted on here asking for advice (which I got!).
But honestly she did a few wees at home and at nursery, and one poo and then the novelty seemed to wear off after a week or so. A month later she's totally uninterested in the potty again and I feel like I have time to mentally prepare 😂 the potty is still available at home and at nursery so we'll follow her lead. She's not scared of it or anything, I just think her curiosity has been satisfied and she's cool with it now. I think they see other kids using the potty in nursery and want to know what all the fuss is about!

EarringsandLipstick · 26/07/2023 08:55

Mine all TT at exactly 2. 1 DD, 2 DS. All were ready - for me, language acquisition was important so they could tell me, understand what we were doing.

Your DS sounds ready & has started anyway at nursery.

Just keep going. The only thing I'd say is if the wedding etc is very soon, leave it till after that & when you have a few days together - but 3 is fine, so a weekend + Friday / Monday. Nursery will do the rest anyway.

jannier · 26/07/2023 08:58

Use pull ups if he asks take him he may well train himself.

bladebladebla1 · 26/07/2023 13:12

How it that too young? I thought that was normal

endofagain · 26/07/2023 13:17

I would go with the flow and don't stress.
IME they learn easily when they are copying other children, so the nursery has probably done you a favour getting started. It is important to be laid back about it. If he uses the potty well done, if he doesn't, no comment. There is a window of opportunity and every child is different.
Summer is a good time because there are fewer clothes to deal with.

strongcupofTea · 26/07/2023 13:30

BHRK · 26/07/2023 06:53

I think he’s very young for potty training personally, you could be there months trying to get it right. You could try a potty at home and pull ups instead of nappies (but they are expensive). He won’t be dry at night for a while probably. Fwiw mine were 3 when we trained them and they got it very, very quickly.

He's not very young at all. That was the normal age before disposables. 3 is late to start. Mine were dry day and night by 2.2 years old and only took a few days. Every child's different.

strongcupofTea · 26/07/2023 13:31

PurplePetalPip · 26/07/2023 06:47

He's quite switched on and his language is developed enough for his age but he hadn't expressed any indication he was ready as far as I knew. I'm a first time mum so maybe I'm just missing the signs!

I picked him up and since then he's been asking for the potty a few times and has done a couple of wees but also had some accidents when I've decided to leave his nappy off and see how we go.

What to do! Just go with the flow? Keep his nappies for now but if he asks for potty let him sit on it? Can I do any damage if we start doing this now?

If he's ready he's ready and you'll just have to work around him as that's what having a child's about.

Singleandproud · 26/07/2023 13:32

I would start building routine toilet visits into your routine. Make them positive and reward a sticker if he uses it, DD stuck hers to the tiles next to the toilet so she could see them and they were easy enough to remove. First thing in the morning, 30 mins after a drink, before you leave the house, before bed etc not toilet training as such but getting him used to it.

DD had a padded seat that had a couple of steps on it on the toilet and wore pull ups and was quite happy to sit on it by herself eventually she started using it before declaring herself too old for nappys.

bookworm14 · 26/07/2023 13:35

My DD trained at this age - it’s perfectly normal and not early if he is showing signs that he is ready. Just make the potty freely available at home and be prepared to deal with some accidents. I used to sit DD on the potty and read to her or put the TV on - she got the idea very quickly.

Hbradley · 26/07/2023 13:40

Don’t feel you need to be totally ‘prepared’. I think because there are books about it etc, it makes you think you need a strategy etc.

I think if you just need to go with the flow, offer the potty, don’t get upset by accidents it will all be good. the less stress you show about it the better and no damage can be done however you do it, as long as not stressful for them.

caringcarer · 26/07/2023 13:59

My eldest 2 DC were both potty trained before 2 years but they had Terry nappies so could feel wet when they went. Youngest DS wS in disposable nappies and I didn't try to potty train him until he was about 2 1/4 but he was trained within about 10 days. I used pull ups. It's always easier to train in the summer with clothes like shorts avoid clothing like dungarees which they can pull up and down themselves. Offer the potty every 2 hours and 5 mins after a meal. I gave my DC a single smarty if they produced anything on the potty.

jannier · 26/07/2023 17:57

bladebladebla1 · 26/07/2023 13:12

How it that too young? I thought that was normal

Most are nearer 30 months

saffronsoup · 26/07/2023 18:04

Before disposable diapers, 90% of kids were trained before age 2. Developmentally they are ready but it is more work when they are younger as they go more often and need more help. Diapers after 2 are a convenience, not a necessity. If you don't want to train now because it isn't convenient, you can do like most parents and keep your child in diapers longer until it is more convenient.

GratefulGrandma · 02/12/2023 15:37

On my MIL’s suggestion in the morning I started putting 1st son on the potty at about one. He sat quite happily on it by the settee with a little car my Mother had given him. (Yes, I told her it wasn’t suitable but he loved it). He did a poo nearly every single morning. I didn’t try to potty train him properly until he was about two when I thought he was ready and it all went very well. I tried the same thing with my daughter but she wasn’t having any of it, but by about 22 months her nappy was dry in the mornings so I began potty training and she was trained before she was two. The youngest son was a bit trickier. He was potty trained at two for wees but wouldn’t poo unless I put a nappy on him. I’d usually wait 2/3 days and then give in and eventually, before he was three, he decided he was ready to poo on the potty. So I’d say just go with the flow. You can keep checking a nappy to find out how long they go before emptying their bladder and if it’s a reasonable length of time go for it. Just don’t stress over it.

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