I tried potty training my son at Xmas when he was 2.5 years old. We didn't really get out of the gate because he just held in everything until the nappy went on for naps and bedtime. I upped the fluid intake (he already drinks a lot) and he got very, very distressed at the sensation of needing to pee. We had some dribbles, but nothing substantial. I decided I was out of my depth. I'd thought we'd have a ton of accidents and it would be about awareness and mechanics, but this is clearly emotional and I couldn't find anything on this in the books of online.
I left it a couple of months and called ERIC. They advised that likely he's experienced a bad poo at some point and this has made him wary of releasing. He's regular as clockwork and a twice a day guy, so I don't know when that was, but they said it just needs to be once that it hurt a bit.
They advised a couple of weeks of poo inspections, lots and lots of praise, making sure his poo is soft etc. We've been doing that and he loves it, we say goodbye to the poo in the toilet etc. He's happy to sit on the potty or toilet and all that.
They said after a couple of weeks, put him in pants and see how he goes. I tried it this weekend. Firstly, he was not happy about the pants. It took a lot of pointing out his fave things on them (e.g. tractors) and then putting them on his bear. He loved that, and even put bear straight on the potty. Yesterday I felt we made some progress. He was upset at the wee feeling to begin but with enthusiastic assurance by the end of the day he fully did a proper meal whilst eating dinner, told me as he started it and was really happy with himself. We cheered, cleaned it up and I said next time it goes in the potty.
The poo is entirely different. He's holding onto that for dear life and today we haven't even had a dribble of wee cos he's got a 2 day poo backlog. He did the wee as soon as the nappy went back on for his nap, same as Xmas. After his nap he woke upset, so I've kept the nappy on and he did his poo around his usual time. It's perfectly soft. I praised it highly etc.
I guess I'm just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience and am I doing the right things? Will he get there eventually? I mean, I'm sure he will but ERIC have a story about a 9 year old that had to poo in his nappy on their website and I guess I'm just frustrated. My friends with kids the same age have all managed to potty train there toddlers. I have some friends with older kids who told me to wait until he's 3 and it will be easier, but I'm not sure as he honestly understands it all, he just hates the sensations. Do I just need to keep on with the inspections and praise and be more patient? I am very patient with him, I just don't know if I'm doing the right things.