Please offer some hope

[MagentaSky]

We've just spent the last 5 days trying to potty train our 2.5 year old using the oh crap method. The first day was fine but she got more and more distressed about the prospect of using the potty so would hold out for ages, and by the time she finally did the wee she was really uncomfortable and in floods of tears (though she was always very proud of herself afterwards 🤷). We've decided to stop for now because I didn't want her to get some sort of bladder issue/becoming dehydrated because she reduced fluids so she wouldn't wee.

However now I'm worried that whenever we try again we'll just be hit with the same issue. Has anyone else had similar and was it easier the second time you tried? Did you do anything between attempts that made it easier?

For what it's worth mine took longer than a week but did successfully train. It's bloody hard seeing no progress so I'd try to get yourself into the best headspace possible for the next go.

I read the Oh Crap book and tried the method, and as much as I would have liked, it jsut didn't work for my son. So we had to abandon, regroup and start again. What worked for us was allowing him to recognise when the wet nappy bothered him. At 3, he reached a stage where he asked us to change his nappy after every wee. So we said that unfortunately it is not feasible, so if he would like to keep his nappy dry, he'll have to use the potty. So for a couple of weeks, he used the potty and kept his nappy dry all day long. I NEVER would have thought that's how he'd potty train but we just kind of went with the flow as the "tried and trialled" methods didn't work. No two kids are the same and what works for one may not work for another. Having said that, you do have to persevere. Good luck! They all get the hang of it eventually 😊

Just updating this in case it helps anyone else. We sent her back to nursery in pull ups but the staff took her to the toilet every 30 minutes initially so she got used to it (and did wees there but not poos). Then we tried again 4 months later and apart from one accident at home at the start of the first day, she took herself to the potty to do wees and poos without any issues. We decided to let her decide when to go rather than taking her at intervals in case we put too much pressure on her the first time. Nothing had really changed in that time except she was a bit older and had had more exposure to the toilet. I just wanted to offer some hope to others who have a similar experience to us!

Thank you this gives me hope, we had a very similar first attempt with DD a couple of months ago and I'm just browsing the potty training board looking for advice around what to do 'next time' !!

Just wanted to add to this thread that we have had similar success on round 2, 3 months after we tried initially. Very different second time round!