Would I be mad to potty train over the Christmas holidays?

[spottycoat276]

Hello everyone,

My DD is almost 2 and I am pregnant with DC2 (due in May).

For the last couple of months we have been slowly introducing the potty following the ERIC website advice - practising sitting on it first thing in the morning and after each meal, having regular short stretches of nappy-free time etc.

She’s starting to understand what wees/poos are, showing an interest in flushing the toilet when we take her with us and things like that, but at the moment I don’t think she understands when she needs to go so if she goes in the potty it’s because we’ve noticed she’s about to and put her on it.

At some point we’ll need to do some more intensive training to get her out of nappies and the question of my post is - would I be mad to do this over the Christmas holidays?

The reason I’m considering it is, I know it will involve several days of not really being able to leave the house, and Christmas is the one time of year where it’s pretty normal to spend a few days completely indoors as everything is closed anyway, so we might be less likely to get cabin fever!

I’m also aware that children can sometimes regress when a sibling arrives, seeing the new baby wearing nappies etc, so I’d like to have it done well before May if possible so it’s further from her memory.

I am completely open to being told it’s a ridiculous idea though so honest advice appreciated!

My first thought is "Sod that" however if you aren't hosting family and you have a tumble drier then I can see your logic.

are they showing signs of readiness? If not then honestly I would wait a little longer. 2 is still fairly young.

if you think she’s showing signs then theres obviously no harm in trying but if there are lots of accidents and she doesn’t seem to be getting it then give it a break for a few months and try again.

if they are ready it’s so much easier to train than when they are not.

sounds like you are on the right track, plenty of kids train around 18months of age. continue as is and be done by christmas.

We did it after Christmas so in the week and a half before pre school. It was pretty much the only time we could do it for various reasons. It was OK but definitely better to do it in summer where you can just be in the garden. Do you have wood floors or carpets? Could you do it over Easter maybe when she's a bit older?

I think, considering you're wanting to do it and she understands the concept, you'd be better off just booking 3 days of annual leave and doing it now.

Waiting 3 months seems counterproductive.

"Readiness" was a marketing gimmick made up by Pampers. It's not a real thing.

We did Christmas potty training and it worked well for us, for exactly the reasons you've said. The extra washing wasn't an issue, we just made use of the tumble dryer and there weren't an unreasonable ampunt of accidents. My son was just over 2 at the time. HOWEVER... I think it depends on the child - we very much "trained" my son and he toon to it well (but was another year before out of nappies at night). My daughter was the total opposite - we tried twice unsuccessfully when she was the same age my sons was, then again about 3 months later. Was not having any of it 😂 but decided when she was 2 and three quarters that she was ready - practically zero input from us - just did it herself and was dry at night within the week as well. We's had the potty out in the living room for about 9 months and one day when she was naked she just took herself over to it and wee'd!

Anyway... worth a go for your little one! Good luck!

Yes go for it. Those few days in between Xmas and NY would be ideal.
I wasn’t sure if mine understood when they needed to go or not either. I just watched and waited. I had 3 different potty’s on the go downstairs for the first few days when training. So no matter which room they were in, I had one close enough to quickly grab and catch the first couple of wees which helped get them into the swing of things.
Good luck!!

Go for it, or you could just get on with it and do it now. I completely agree with @InMyShowgirlEra's post.

We also did between Xmas and New year. It was absolutely fine but we didn't take the gradual approach - nappies were gone and that was that. 3 days of accidents all the time but day 4 was a huge improvement and by the 6th day she had it sorted. It was a great time to do it for us (and my husband was home which made it easier and you have to watch them like a hawk!)

We did dd1 over a Christmas period and it was fine

Sounds ideal to me. Unless she suddenly wants to do it sooner, in which case go with it.

I gradually potty trained mine with toilet trainer seats and pull ups for a few months then did the final stretch with pants in the Xmas break when I was off work. I didn't host Xmas but my family were around and also off work so I could pop out every day.
It was fine.

Thank you everyone for your comments!

Go for it. If she’s showing sign too it might work. I got my daughter trained at 2yrs and 2 months. I was also pregnant and I was determined I was not doing 2 sets of nappies!
She was showing a few signs that she might be ready but day one didn’t go well. She went through 19 pants in one day 🙈 I was about to give up but day 3 was only 3 pairs and day 3 no accidents, she got it. She also decided to go straight to toilet and ditch the potty after that.
U need to give it a few days to see. With DD2 I tried over Xmas with her, she was just turned 2. Showing a lot more signs than her sister was and I was confident. It didn’t go well and to be honest she didn’t want to do it. I gave up after 3 days. So it also depends on the child and their personality! We did successfully try again a few months later.
Good luck, I hope she gets it quickly 🤞🏻