Am I giving up too easy or is LO just not ready?

[Princessdiaries]

Ex In laws have said I gave up too early but I felt DD was still young. She is just shy of 2.5.

we started potty training and she just was not ready at all. Had review with health visitor who said practice learning the basics without any pressure and keep her in nappies - so sitting on potty/toilet, wiping, flushing, hand washing etc etc

at home have been taking nappy off for DD around the house. When she remembers the potty’s there she says need a wee and will go on it. If I think she needs a poo I’ll sit her on it and she’s gone a couple times - same for toilet.

however if she’s playing or engrossed in something or eating etc she won’t feel the need and that’s when we have the accidents.

i didn’t want to put pressure so have sort of just been waiting until weather is a bit better then was going to take time off work and dedicate a block of time.

did I give up too quickly? Should I have pushed more when she done the poos on there? As after this she then proceeded not to want to go on the potty and took a couple of poos on the floor instead, and when playing she will wet through despite me saying do you need to go etc etc.

this feels like a new minefield so any help is appreciated!

Summer is a lot easier than winter.

i waited for the summer for mine.

She's old enough and is clearly showing that she understands. It's normal for them to be engrossed in play and forget or fail to notice the urge to go. That's why parents spend so much time saying, "Don't you need a wee? Let's go to the toilet" etc. It's up to us as parents to pre-empt until they become better at recognising the urge. Don't give up and go back to nappies - it's going well!

It was a while ago now but I remember that with DD1 at a similar age, we had a false start. I thought she'd be ready but she had lots of 'accidents'. So we went back to nappies.

Then one day she told me she wanted to wear 'big girl pants' and we had a convo about doing all the wees and poos in the potty and paying attention to any 'tingling'. She was ready and we only had one or two accidents.

Some children really do struggle to feel the urges when they are concentrating.

It was a long time before either DD was dry overnight and they both wore pull-ups (bedtime pants) until most of the way through reception at least. It's a long walk to the loo in our house.

Thanks all - so at this point do I need to cancel her staying at her aunties tonight and book time off work? We are quite active, out the house a lot and she also goes to nursery. Do I quickly take time off?

I tried mine at 2.5 but it didn't work out so tried again 3 months later and it worked.

No, you don’t have to overnight train them right now, she can still stay over at her aunties.

thankcyou and I know it sounds silly but what do you do about car journeys? For example on the way to food shops etc - do you put in nappies for the journey or not?

I would stop for now and try again in a few months. There's no rush really - we are trying again now with my 3.5 year old!! 4th time I think, given it a good go each time but she just wasn't ready. She's made a lot more progress now though, thank god as she is going to school in Sept! They all get it at different ages, my son did it in a week just before he was 3 and was dry overnight almost straight away - not so easy this time round. Don't put pressure on yourself or on your daughter, it will happen!

We did. My family are a couple of hours drive away. So for a nip to the shops, we had a puppy pad on the car seat for a while but long drives we put a pull up on .

Thanks so much everyone

No, once we said no nappies during the day we stuck to it. We did no pants, just loose trousers (pants can give the feeling of a nappy). We pretty much cracked it in a weekend, there were a few accidents after, but it’s really not much of a bother. Once you start, don’t go back!!

We bought a travel potty. It has a lid that completely seals. We took that in the car (useful to have in the car anyway for emergencies!) and just pulled over and used that (very rare though). I also used to take it out if we went to places where there were no toilets (parks etc.).