To give up or persevere ..

[toddlermum19]

My little boy is 3 in October and I'm due with number 2 a month later.

A few months ago we began just being bare bum in the afternoons we were spending at home. I never pushed or said anything about it it was just to be familiar. To my surprise he did a wee and a poo (which I didn't realise how big a deal this was until recently) on the potty straight away and was bursting with pride. He did this for a few days in his bare him afternoons. We stupidly didn't go all in at this point, and now he has regressed. And we are annoyed at ourselves.

He is totally aware of when he needs to go, and is now completely emotionally attached to his nappy.

We decided to go cold turkey no more nappies, bare bum at home and travel potty at home.

We are now on day 4. The first few days he was holding everything in completely refusing to go, asking for a nappy when he needed to, throwing the potty in frustration.

This has continued and he held it for 5 hours at nursery.

He's getting upset which makes me want to just try again later, however feel like we are just delaying it and he may become even more attached to his nappy.

Today he has stopped holding it in, and just started going but avoiding the potty. Is this a good sign he's no longer holding it in?? Do I persevere?? The thing is I know he knows what he's doing and worry delaying it further is just extending the issue to when I'll have a newborn!

I reckon stick with it and persevere. It’s a classic battle of wills, probably something that’ll get worse not better with a 3YO because they can be stubborn AF and then you’ll have a new baby too to throw everything off.

I’d offer the toilet as well as the potty, so he can make a choice. Bribery for going- either immediate gratification with a smartie or a sticker chart where he can earn something bigger, you know best what’s likely to work for him. If he doesn’t care about an accident on the floor forget bare bum and let him feel the unpleasantness of wet pants. Make accidents inconvenient- obviously you don’t punish but he should help clean up, put wet pants in the machine, get new clothes himself, help get himself dressed.

Also, I’ve trained 2 and I reckon day 3-4 is always notoriously shit, your patience is fraying and they’re making their last stand! And holding it for 5 hours isn’t overly unusual for a DC with good bladder control that isn’t a big drinker, it is and always has been about normal frequency for my eldest so
don’t be too concerned. Honestly though it’s my least favourite part of parenting. Hang on in there and good luck!

You need to stick with it, we printed out a picture with trains on it. It had an engine and 4 carriages. Each time they used the potty or toilet resulted in them colouring in part of the picture! Day 5 they got a trip to the you shop to buy a new Thomas engine! If however there was an accident mid way, it was a whole new chart and we would go back to the start! It took a while, no shouting, no judgement just sadness if we had to start again!