‘Traditional’ potty training advice?

[Jamjarcandlestick]

DD will be two in September.

I feel ready to give potty training a decent crack and DD is definitely showing ‘signs’.

We’ve had a potty in the bathroom since her first birthday, she wants her nappy changing after having a ‘poo poo’ and she did announce ‘poo poo’ two minutes before dirtying the floor/and points to her ‘wee wee’ puddles in disgust (she hates being wet).

Quite often she’ll choose to sit on the potty when I go to the loo but when I take her nappy off, she doesn’t actually have a wee. There’s been the odd occasion before I’ve put on a clean nappy she’s had a wee on the floor and she says ‘uh oh wee wee’. There’s definitely been times she’s sat on the potty in her nappy and had a wee.

I’ve got a feeling if we don’t do it now she’s almost associating wee/poo in the nappy. We’re also trying for a baby/house is a bit chilly to do naked time in the winter.

I feel like podcasts/books/MN threads are all for kids 2.5yrs+ My mum claims all her kids were out of nappies by 18months with the bribery of jelly babies but cannot remember but else about the process.

Doing a sticker chart for a toy wouldn’t really click. She plays with stickers day-to-day, I think we’d have to do the chocolate button route but modern advice seems to stray from that now.

What was the old school method?

I don’t know about the old school method but “How to potty train in 3 days” talks about starting from the age of 2. But it’s one of those short sharp methods rather than a slow one with gradual build up. Worked well for my kid though.

Go for it. If you can, stay at home for a week and concentrate on nothing else -you'll need to watch her like a hawk and try to make sitting on the potty fun. At this age she'll want to please you, so it's a good time to try.

I did use chocolate buttons with DS1 and it worked like a dream, clean and dry in a couple of weeks at 2 years two months.

However, I had to find a different strategy with DS2, who was two years and four months. The first time I gave him a single chocolate button for doing a wee in the potty he stamped his little foot and demanded 'want packet!'

Go for it! Rewards are dependent on what will be appreciated by your child, mine liked coins though was older and knew 8 coins bought a mr man book! So if you got 7 coins on Saturday you got a bonus to buy a book from Barnes and Noble, she loved that shop

You're definitely not alone in feeling like most of the advice out there assumes you're starting at 2.5+, but it's absolutely possible (and often easier!) to start earlier. Many children are ready around 18–24 months - especially when you're seeing the kind of cues your daughter is giving.

I'm an early years specialist and nanny, and I’ve supported lots of little ones through potty training around this stage. One thing I often share with parents is that early toilet training shouldn't rely on rewards or sticker charts. It can be really calm, practical, and based on building body awareness and routine, a bit more like the old-school approach but without pressure or rushing.

There’s actually a growing movement of parents going back to that simpler, earlier start, just with a bit more guidance than our mums had! If you’re curious about that kind of approach, I’d be happy to point you toward some gentle resources.

Depends on how old-school
you mean!

I think in the 50s and 60s kids were put into a potty after every meal and made to stay there until they did something!

In the 80s it was a bit more relaxed. There were no pull-ups so the potty was introduced much earlier than now with no fanfare but the child was offered the opportunity to use it like a big kid.

Training was done in the Summer when you could just leave off nappies altogether in the house and garden but nappies would go back on at night and for days out but a potty brought along with the child offered it at regular intervals.

Apparently that’s how I was trained (at 2 so that would have been 1986/7).

Oh yes, and the old-school night training method (1980s) was that nappies at night were acceptable up to age 3 but the moment a child turns 4 the nappies are no longer appropriate and it’s a plastic sheet and “lifting” (ie waking the child up for a wee when the parent goes to bed until they work it out for themselves).

Worked for me, apparently. I remember being woken every night for a wee until I was about 7.

That said, though, I still have one DD in DryNites that this didn’t work for at all.

I suppose they’re all different….

I did DS in 3 days at 22 months. He was showing 0 signs but he did use the potty a couple of times a day from around 18 months old just for fun. He didn’t always go but I popped him on so he was familiar with it.

I did the no pants method, added pants without underwear on day 2 and then pants and underwear on day 3. Had a few accidents but we went out all day on day 4 in a pull up and stayed dry all day. About two weeks later he was dry for nights and naps despite being nursed to sleep so we got really lucky.

I would suggest once starting just don’t give up as that’s confusing, I think it’s okay to put a pull up on if you’re going out somewhere and just remind them to use the potty and keep offering it. It was okay for my son anyway, I put a pull up on for the plane as we travelled a few weeks after potty training and he still didn’t go in the pull up. Good luck!