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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.

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Original poster

Boys Mums - Advice!

13 replies

ladybird30 · 30/01/2026 17:40

So my DS is now 2y 9m and we're attempting toilet training for the 2nd time. First time was a disaster and very stressful for all of us so we pressed paused.

We're now trying again as DS has a slight speech delay, which I think wasn't helping the first time round, but his language skills are improving so we're going again.

However... He's still pushing back on trying anything! I've managed to get him to wear pull ups for bed and he'll wear his big boy pants during the day which is a success compared to previous but he still won't sit on his potty or the potty seat for the actual toilet and he won't potter about half naked, he just freaks about on me. He's also having accidents in his pants but doesn't care...

Has anyone got any tips? We're only week 1 so not giving up but feeling like I'm in a toddler minefield!

I've tried reading potty based books to him, we've got a sit on potty that's also a car, a kids seat and steps for the main toilet, pants with his favourite things on like cars etc, a reward chart. I'm not sure what else to try!

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Hotchocolate4 · 30/01/2026 17:48

Have you tried getting him involved with his favourite teddy wanting to use the potty. “Have you heard that dinosaur wants to learn how to use the potty? shall we put some big boy pants on him? Oh the special Dino alarm (just an alarm on your phone) is going off, that means Dino needs the potty can you bring him over to the potty? Then Dino can have a sticker etc.

If he’s freaking out about going near the potty can you get him use to it by role playing?

Original poster

ladybird30 · 30/01/2026 17:51

@Hotchocolate4 Oh that's a great idea! I don't know why I hadn't thought of that as that's how I get him to take medicine when he needs it. I'll definitely give that a go, thank you 😊

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Elle771 · 30/01/2026 17:52

Had similar and left it til he had turned 3 and it was a dream... like night and day it was like something had just clicked in his brain. Wish we had just waited to be honest!!! He then did it happily (with rewards charts etc) but it was actually enjoyable for all of us at that stage. I felt massive pressure as felt like everyone everywhere says it has to be before 3 but for us it was better just after.

Sorry if thats not helpful though

PluckyChancer · 30/01/2026 17:55

Just wait until he’s ready and try again. My autistic DS was completely daytime dry at around 3yrs within a week of starting again but it took until he was 7yrs to get night-time dry.

Original poster

ladybird30 · 30/01/2026 17:55

@Elle771 Oh that's interesting... I think I'm feeling the pressure as he starts nursery in September and I'd like him to be confident with toileting before he starts, ideally. I read somewhere yesterday that you should start from 6 months!? Crazy... I absolutely wasn't thinking about toilet training when he was 6 months

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Original poster

ladybird30 · 30/01/2026 17:56

@PluckyChancer There's a lot of pressure to have them trained, isnt there? Maybe I'm worrying too much!

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Elle771 · 30/01/2026 18:22

ladybird30 · 30/01/2026 17:55

There is a lot of pressure but having witnessed him both ready and not ready i feel like I would be more confident ignoring some advice in future as honestly it was so obvious this last time that he was genuinely ready in his head...
Its hard with deadlines for pre school etc I know but sometimes a few months really does make all the difference

JournalistEmily · 30/01/2026 18:25

Mine wouldn’t have been able to do it at that age. It was hard going at 3. Those extra few months make aaaall the difference

IdaGlossop · 30/01/2026 18:31

I'm a girl mum but just want to echo the readiness message. At 2yrs 5 months, my DD was a great talker, understood anything we said to her, was happy to sit on the loo with a booster seat and wee and poo, but quite unable to identify when she needed to go. I was very fed up with disciplining myself to be patient with her and with washing wet knickers. (No soiled ones, thank goodness.)

Once I understood that it just wasn't important to her ie learning readiness, I relaxed and waited, while she continued to use the loo when she got up, before and after meals, before bed etc. Suddenly and soon, she got it.

tangobravo · 30/01/2026 18:41

We've just cracked it with our DS who turned 3 in November. Tried it on and off until his birthday, just no luck at all, lots of accidents and drama so called it off each time. Left the potty nearby him all the time and then bought him pants (among other things!!!) for his birthday, which he liked. Made a gentle rule of pants only when at home, but pull-up if going out - by the second day he was dry at home 🤷 gently transitioned to pants to the park, pants to the shop etc and now 3 ISH months later he's absolutely fine and doesn't need prompting! Honestly never thought we'd get there but once he realised it was quicker to go on the potty than it was to be changed he got on board. Slight speech delay here too 👍

AFingerofFudge · 30/01/2026 18:43

Yeah I think it’s important for them to be ready and not push it too much if you get the feeling they’re just not on board with it.
I have 3 boys and they were all “ready” at different ages; DS1 was nearly 3, DS2 was 2yrs 2 months and DS3 was 3y 4 months!!

ThatMintMember · 04/02/2026 10:03

Try not to feel pressurised, they have to be totally ready for it to be successful! I had judgement from others that I was late potty training my son but I did it shortly after he turned 3 and he had no accidents from about day 5! I have no regrets in waiting, he was ready and so was I. Also he went into the preschool room at nursery which really helped as he saw the other children going and had plenty of tries there. Not sure if a school preschool is the same?

Oh also I did a sticker chart where he got a sticker for every try on the potty, a chocolate button and a sticker if he did a wee on the potty, and after 10 wees on the potty he got a toy (he had already chosen it so knew he'd get it once he'd done 10!)

Jrisix · 05/02/2026 07:54

I think it's easiest if you start very early (we started gently at 6 months and were done day and night by 2) or very late i.e. waiting until past 3. My DC is the same age as yours, very stubborn and I can't imagine trying to introduce the toilet for the first time at this age.

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