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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.

Original poster

Toilet training an almost 3 year old

13 replies

sunflowers93 · 04/08/2024 11:25

My son turns 3 at the back end of September and starts nursery school the next day. I tried potty training him a few months back but decided to stop as he didn’t have the understanding of it. I’ve picked it back up but he’s still lacking the level of understanding, he has no issues with going sitting on the toilet however he won’t relieve himself when on there, I have tried all sorts from encouragement with and without snacks to waterplay, running water and even singing songs but nothing seems to be working. Once I take him off the toilet he puts underpants back on and then he wees, sometimes he pays attention to it but it doesn’t bother him and other times he does it and doesn’t stop what he’s doing to notice he’s weeing. I don’t want him starting nursery with very little of concept of toileting. Any tips or suggestions welcome as I’m feeling very deflated at the moment

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WolfMother326 · 04/08/2024 14:04

Hi there. We've just trained my almost 3 year old. I didn't want to, but we just went bottomless for a few days and then moved onto loose shorts, the pants felt too much like a nappy. Also had to pop him on the potty or toilet regularly and get him to sit, usually I read a whole book and he's done something. Clicked after about 4 days bare bottomed and then moved on to shorts. If he doesn't make any progress after 3-4 days he might just need a couple more months?

Original poster
sunflowers93 · 04/08/2024 16:09

Hi! Thanks for your reply, I left him to go bottomless yesterday when I was at my parents house whilst we was outside because it was nice weather, it consisted of him playing then pooing on the pathway 😂when he realised he was doing and I noticed he was doing it he was coming to get me so I could clean it up. But I will definitely give it another go along with book reading. See how it goes throughout next week!

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WolfMother326 · 04/08/2024 21:27

Haha well at least he noticed! I usually go with more gentle child led parenting etc but for this I followed the book What the Crap, you can find free PDFs of it online. It's broken down into steps and the first is a few days bottomless. We went all out, our downstairs is hard floors so we've only been on the lower level. Rolled up the rugs, put a plastic sheet on the sofa and towels on the chairs. The first few days were tough but it got better.

Twolittleloves · 04/08/2024 22:00

I'm not sure he sounds ready yet....they are all so different with it and boys generally slower than girls.

inthekiddle · 04/08/2024 22:25

Little short term reward like a chocolate button for each try on the potty/toilet really helps with this. No pressure, just that it is available. If he's ready it will help, if he isn't it won't and you should stop it quickly if it doesn't.

Original poster
sunflowers93 · 05/08/2024 07:26

WolfMother326 · 04/08/2024 21:27

Haha well at least he noticed! I usually go with more gentle child led parenting etc but for this I followed the book What the Crap, you can find free PDFs of it online. It's broken down into steps and the first is a few days bottomless. We went all out, our downstairs is hard floors so we've only been on the lower level. Rolled up the rugs, put a plastic sheet on the sofa and towels on the chairs. The first few days were tough but it got better.

Well exactly! I guess that’s kind of a win! Haha yeah we’ve been in our kitchen/dining area as that’s all hard flooring and a bin bag and towel on the sofa in there. Think I’ll try the bottomless for the next few days at least and see how it goes!

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Original poster
sunflowers93 · 05/08/2024 07:27

WolfMother326 · 04/08/2024 21:27

Haha well at least he noticed! I usually go with more gentle child led parenting etc but for this I followed the book What the Crap, you can find free PDFs of it online. It's broken down into steps and the first is a few days bottomless. We went all out, our downstairs is hard floors so we've only been on the lower level. Rolled up the rugs, put a plastic sheet on the sofa and towels on the chairs. The first few days were tough but it got better.

Oh and I’ll have a look for them PDF’s thanks for this ☺️

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Original poster
sunflowers93 · 05/08/2024 07:28

Twolittleloves · 04/08/2024 22:00

I'm not sure he sounds ready yet....they are all so different with it and boys generally slower than girls.

I was thinking the same however think I’m going to give it a little longer to see if there’s any improvement, it was completely different with my stepson he cracked it within 2 days so it’s a bit of a shock this time round haha

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Original poster
sunflowers93 · 05/08/2024 07:29

inthekiddle · 04/08/2024 22:25

Little short term reward like a chocolate button for each try on the potty/toilet really helps with this. No pressure, just that it is available. If he's ready it will help, if he isn't it won't and you should stop it quickly if it doesn't.

He isn’t interested in the snack rewards, I’ve tried I think because he knows he can have them anyway he’s not interested in them as a reward. I’m going to give it a little longer to see if there’s any improvement and take it from there, because he isn’t distressed or scared of anything so it’s not like he’s going to form a negative relationship with being on the toilet ☺️

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LoquaciousPineapple · 05/08/2024 07:40

My DC has the same birthday and we just trained about a month/six weeks ago.

We basically went through stages (bottomless, pants only, pants and trousers) not moving on to the next one until DC managed a whole day with zero accidents. For us, that took a four day weekend (I took time off work) but we'd have stuck with it however long it took. We prompted them every 45 minute or so (or 20 minutes if they’d had a drink).

We were empathetic and didn't shame genuine accidents, but we made our expectations clear and told them we were disappointed if they had an "accident" straight after refusing the potty. Before that, they’d just been weeing in their pants and saying "accidents are OK!" so clearly the standard approach wasn't working with them.

We had previously had two failed attempts in April and May so DC already had good understanding of what they were meant to be doing, which might explain how quick they got it this time.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 05/08/2024 08:22

He's not ready. He'll crack it in a couple of days when he is. The role models/inspiration/peer pressure he'll get from nursery will be a huge boost, by for now, leave him. He knows it's an option.

Original poster
sunflowers93 · 07/08/2024 19:29

Thanks for your comments and suggestions everyone it’s really appreciated! We’ve persevered and he’s doing so much better so it’s looking positive x

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WolfMother326 · 11/08/2024 22:57

@sunflowers93 that's so great! Well done.

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