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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.

Is it time to potty train?

4 replies

ViaRia01 · 23/09/2023 22:08

Looking for advise on whether or not it’s time to potty train my son, just turned 2 yo.

reasons I think it may be the right time: he will tell us if he has done a poo in his nappy and he knows this means he needs a new nappy. He hates having his nappy changed. In the last few weeks he has shown more interest in the potty in the bathroom and he has managed to do a few wees in there. Today he was keen to do a poo in there - all good except he missed the actual potty.

reasons I’m hesitant to potty train: he has not expressed interest in using the potty other than at bath time when his nappy is already off. He still often poos in his nappy over night, he does not hold his bowel until the morning. He doesn’t tell us when he has done a wee in his nappy (although I think he has some control as he has told us just before he does a wee in the bath).

He doesn’t go to nursery. I’m a homemaker. I was planning to move him into his toddler bed (currently still sleeps in his cot) soon but now I’m wandering if the potty training should come first so as not to introduce too much change at once.

Any opinions, suggestions, info, much appreciated!

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DanceMagicJumpMagic · 23/09/2023 22:46

I don't think you need to go hard with the potty training but it wouldn't hurt to let him use it sometimes if he asks as it means he'll get used to it when the time comes. It's good that he has the awareness. My 2.5 year old sometimes takes her own nappy off and declares she needs to use it and other times runs and hides to poo in her nappy but I just let her use the toilet/potty when she asks. I sometimes give her a sticker. I'm hoping to potty train her in the next half term holiday. With my older daughter I took a more regimented approach with potty training and it was a disaster, I realised she wasn't ready and ended up waiting a bit longer. Once she was ready it was so easy. I'm hoping things will be easy this time round!

ViaRia01 · 23/09/2023 22:50

Thanks @DanceMagicJumpMagic , that’s not really what I expected to hear but it’s probably the most useful and reassuring response possible.

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MeinKraft · 23/09/2023 22:53

My daughter is around the same age and for quite a while she's whipped off her bottom half of clothing and nappy and uses the potty at home, but we still use nappies when out and about as I'm not convinced of her ability to hold it/ tell me when she needs to go. The relaxed approach is working quite well, she gets more and more reliable all the time and now prefers to poo in the potty than in a nappy. Even when they are potty trained they wear nappies at night for a good couple of years usually.

Lizzieregina · 23/09/2023 22:54

I tried with my son when he was 2 and it was a nightmare. He wanted to spend all day sitting on the potty!

I just waited until he told me he wanted big boy underwear (over 3) and that was it. Pee, poo all in the potty, day and night and no accidents or constant asking if he needed to go.

However we did read potty books and when he was getting ready for bed and such he’d sometimes go on the potty, but letting him lead worked for us.

(I took the same approach with his sisters with the same result, no training required!)

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