Is gradual potty training a thing?

[Alysskea]

My daughter is only 20 months but she used the potty at nursery a couple of times at nursery because she saw her friends do it and thought it was cool basically.

We got one for her at home and every now and then encourage her to sit on it to help her feel comfortable doing it.

but then I hear of people hunkering down, taking away nappies (which we’ve not done) and doing it in a week or so. Should we be doing that?

It’s totally a thing. We did it gradually after failing the sudden approach. We kept the nappies (pull-ups) but offered the potty, first once a day at bedtime then regularly. We praised/ paid in stickers for every successful go. For my DS we removed nappies l after a few months because he wasn’t letting go of them willingly. DD was completely dry in nappies after a few months, and very excited to go into underpants.

Do it. Your carpets will be grateful.

That’s how we’re doing it. Currently DD now does all poos on potty at 22 months but still wears nappies and does most wees in nappies. We are soon going to try the whole hog, but we have been very gradual with it.

When I worked at a nursery, we would offer the potty at every nappy change for the ones old enough to grasp the concept and eventually worked it up to full dryness. It took all the pressure off getting it right from the off and a lot of the children were more confident because of it. It doesn't work for all children though so worth a try but don't bank on it ime

I did it gradually but I was a sahm and
was doing all of her nappies/ bringing her to the bathroom with me during the day etc. If I wasn’t I don’t think it would have worked.

Cool thanks for sharing. That’s pretty much what we do. We didn’t plan it but like I said she kind of took the initiative and when in the changing room she saw the potty and asked to use it. When we first got her home potty she didn’t like it but now happily sits with a book. So I do feel like it’s helped. At her age I’m not too worried but if we get to a later stage and she needs a more aggressive approach (for want of a better word) we can do that!

I suppose I unintentionally done gradual potty training with my daughter. I switched to pull ups at about 18 months. Started sitting her on the toilet every night before bath. At first she didn’t do anything of course but we done it anyway. Eventually she would start to do pees. We then built it into the routine more and more, first thing in the morning, before leaving the house, before meals etc. still in a pull up at this point and no big deal if/ when it was wet, just lots of opportunities to use the toilet and lots of clapping in praise when she done anything. At 2 and 3 months (although at this time I had a newborn so potty training was the last thing on my mind tbh. I realised she hadn’t actually had a wet nappy in a few days and was pretty much completely dry and had started taking herself off to the toilet. I told her we were going to put her nappy’s in the bin on Friday after nursery and she would wear big girls pants and that’s what we done. She literally has never had an accident. No dragging to the toilet every 20 minutes, no staying at home for days on end, no reluctance or fear of the toilet, no potty’s. Never wet the bed either. My son who is now 2, I have done the same and he can now pee on demand but pull ups still wet a lot of time but he seems to be following the same path as his sister so fingers crossed!

This is definitely a thing which we did kind of by accident. From about 18 months onward we did much the same as the poster above, and so got to the point where we could put our daughter on the portable loo seat if out and about for a wee, plus first thing in the morning and last thing at night. So far fewer nappies and she used the potty or loo for pretty much all poos.

However due to childcare and job changes we didn't actually commit to going for no nappies until she was 3 over the last Easter weekend.

The biggest thing for us was getting her to be independent so she could take her pants and trousers down herself, and was able to take herself off to the potty or loo i.e. realising she didn't need us with her to go.

Also to mention we kind of freaked out when we read Oh Crap in preparation and it really unhelpfully talks about leaving it too late at 3. In fact due to the gradual intro she had already had, she basically got it in the 2 days at home with a bare bum and potty to hand and then she had about a month of just leggings, no pants.

We decided to just go for it for overnight at the same time armed with Brollysheets and being prepared for extra laundry and amazingly she just got it - helped by fact that she has potty in her room over night, so she uses the potty first thing or last thing without us. Hope this is useful to know.