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Potty Training for dummies !! --- so confused !!!!
Ok, I am in a complete dunce mode about how to even broach potty training with my DD.
We are thinking that it wont be too much longer till she is ready to start training so bought a potty this morning in readyiness. Our reasoning as to why she might be ready soon is she has started to say "bot bot" to us and patting her bottom when she has filled her nappy. (btw she was 2 years old yesterday). Does that sound right to you as a sign to begin ???
I wasnt going to start immidiatly, my thought process was leave the potty downstairs and get her happy sitting in it with her clothes on for a while first. She's not in pull up nappies or anything at the mo, just normal ones. Should I get her in pull ups now ??
How do you start, I mean, day one of potty training what do you do ?? How do I get her to understand "do you need the potty" ? first and foremost ?
Also I wonder if I should wait till the summer or not as her baby brother is due in less than 7 weeks, would his arrival mess this up ?
We are thinking that it wont be too much longer till she is ready to start training so bought a potty this morning in readyiness. Our reasoning as to why she might be ready soon is she has started to say "bot bot" to us and patting her bottom when she has filled her nappy. (btw she was 2 years old yesterday). Does that sound right to you as a sign to begin ???
I wasnt going to start immidiatly, my thought process was leave the potty downstairs and get her happy sitting in it with her clothes on for a while first. She's not in pull up nappies or anything at the mo, just normal ones. Should I get her in pull ups now ??
How do you start, I mean, day one of potty training what do you do ?? How do I get her to understand "do you need the potty" ? first and foremost ?
Also I wonder if I should wait till the summer or not as her baby brother is due in less than 7 weeks, would his arrival mess this up ?
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Replies
He would never tell me that he'd had a wee or poo in his nappy or anything, and didn't mind being in a soiled nappy either! But we got to the stage where if we changed his nappy, say at night before bed, we'd leave it off for a bit and see try to get him to use it then. It took a while at first but about a week ago he got into the habit of doing it more and he started to realise before he needed to go for a wee.
He's been in pull ups for a while and just treats them as a normal nappy so when we do start properly we've got some pants to put on him.
He's two on thursday and I'm hoping to start training properly soon and see how he gets on. We had a couple mornings at home at the beginning of the week when he was really good and did lots of wee's on the potty and has even pooed on it! So I've bought some stickers today and planning on making a chart so that he knows he's done good.
I think if you make a start of getting her used to the potty it won't do any harm and see how she gets on with it. Take it slowly if you have to so you don't put her off and the more you have it out the sooner she'll get used to it and what it's for. x
Being able to tell you that they've filled their nappy is definately a good step - however theres still a big difference between knowing they've done a wee/poo, and knowing that they need to do one before it 'happens'. There is certainly no harm in getting the potty out to get LO used to seeing it/sitting on it and talking about its use, this might also give you a better indication of readiness depending on their reaction to potty. For example if LO just wants to put it on their head and play with it... I'd say hold off a while, if LO wants to sit on it, is happy to discuss wee's poo's and seems to kinda grasp the concept perhaps it's worth starting training.
When I say different ways of approaching it, i mean you can either 'train' them when they're just starting to understand toileting, it might take weeks or even months to get LO dry and is much more gradual, parents might feel more confident using pull ups when out and about etc, tackle home training first, then move onto trips out. OR - you can wait until quite a bit older, when you're sure they can feel a wee/poo coming, can easily communicate this need with you and find their way to the potty/toilet, often waiting that bit longer can mean the child doesn't need as much coaxing/bribing.
Theres no right or wrong way of doing things, but I'm very much in the camp of leave it as long as possible and they'll usually take to it a lot quicker.
Pull ups - you either love or hate them. I think they're too confusing for LO's as they're neither a nappy that they're allowed to wee in, or knickers that they're not allowed to wee in.... kind of a middle man which stands in the way of understanding wet and dry. Complete personal choice on that one though.
Sorry for the waffle on, hope I explained things in a way which makes sense
We started getting her used to the potty quite early only to be told by our old HV that we shouldn't be (Theres a reason she's not our HV anymore).
We used a book called the 'no cry potty training solution'. This had loads of practical advise and ways of trying stuff out. It also had a very useful 'quiz' type bit to see if the child was ready and advising where you went from there according to what the results said.
Good luck
Jen x