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Potty training
A is 19 months old and I thought she'd be well gone 2 before having to think about this, but she has started telling us when she has done a poo, and more recently when she's about to do one, so I don't think I can ignore it much longer!
Are there any good websites giving advice on how on earth to do this?! I don't know if she knows when she's done a wee, but does that come later? I don't want to miss the optimum time to start, but then I don't want to push her if not ready. Please help!!
Are there any good websites giving advice on how on earth to do this?! I don't know if she knows when she's done a wee, but does that come later? I don't want to miss the optimum time to start, but then I don't want to push her if not ready. Please help!!
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I'm not a great to offer advice as I tried to start with Isobelle but she just doesn't seem to know when she's been, even though she's now 2 & 9 months (2 in nappies, lucky me). I was given the Gina Ford potty training book which is really good (not a fan of hers usually but it was very useful). See if your local library has a copy. I would sit her on the toilet or potty when she needs to go & reward with stickers. Among other things the Gina Ford book recommends putting them on the toilet/potty every 15ish mins & then gradually space out the time. Good luck & you find any useful tips please share as at some point we do need to try again!!
Isla has recently potty trained she was 2yr 10 months. The best piece of advice I can give is wait till they're ready so if she is telling you when she needs to go go with it and try to get her on the potty/ toilet in time. We tried Isla 3-4 times before she was ready and she'd refuse to sit on both the potty or toilet and was having multiple accidents. I would also recommend putting her straight in knickers so she can feel when she's wet etc. It will become obvious if she's not ready and if this happens just pop a nappy back on and try in a month or so. I wouldn't persevere as its a pain and very time consuming.
In the end Isla told me she wanted to wear knickers and she was fully potty trained during the day after 4 days, I think we had about 5 accidents in that time. Hope this helps and it goes well x
Thanks both. See my main worry is that she can't articulate herself especially well at the moment given her age, other than telling us when she's about to do a poo, or has just done one if we missed it. So I worry that she wouldn't necessarily understand knickers and wanting/not wanting to wear them, but I guess maybe if she tries she might get it. I suppose we could get some knickers at the weekend (do they even sell tiny ones?? She is a skinny minnie and still in 9-12m bottoms!), and if it's a disaster then so be it and we'll just wait!
Try it & see. Isobelle is pretty small & in 12-18 months clothing (still a few 9-12 months as well) & I think we bought 12-18 month knickers. Beware clothing being even smaller as 1 of the days I put her in knickers I dressed her in a skirt for continence & it felt straight off her!! Good luck & let us know how it goes x x
I'd say it's worth a try, and if it doesn't work try again in a couple if months. We tried with O before A arrived and he understood but wasn't telling us or going of his own accord, so we stooped. We started again 2 weeks ago and left him to it and he just went goes to the potty himself now...what a difference 3 months has made!
My mim tells me I was clean during day at 18 months and I wasn't a talker, so it is possible x
You could start out by just putting her on the potty/toilet before a bath or first thing in the morning. L was very young, about 21/22 months. Basically the cms son was potty training and L just totally copied him, we had just lost William and honestly PT was the absolute last thing on my mind, but he was very keen. At that age he didn't have many words (he had a speech explosion at 25 months) but it only took a few days.
Isaac showed similar interest at 21 months but we were very OTT and clapped and cheered and made a huge fuss and I think it really scared him, so we just left the potty out and he would go to it occasionally, but he was dry day and night by 28 months.
We didn't go straight to knickers, I had them with bare bottoms at home for the first day or 2 then progressed to pants.
Was just coming on here to search for similar topic
I've not been here in a long time, E is now 22m and for three or so months has pooped on the potty when we are at home.
Lots do people suggesting training is the way to go but I'm not so sure, she's very good speech wise, understands the benefits, hates nappies., but not all that sure it's not a novelty that would wear off as she got distracted iyswim. My childminder has said she'll support me, but equally says knowing their pooping is so different to wees (though e says this too). I've not dared try as I really believe in consistency, once you've gone out of nappies you've gone iyswim. So I'm probably holding out till next summer, but keeping the options open and trying to follow LOs lead. She's hating nappies ATM which is making life hard!
If you think she might be ready, you've got nothing to lose by trying. F is 2 years 9 months and is out of nappies during the day (he wears a pull up for bed). We first started trying when he was 2 years 4 months because he was showing all the signs and was really keen on the potty. After 3 horrendous days I decided to stop as he just wasn't getting it, despite showing signs of readiness. I waited a month and tried again. The first 2 days were hard going but by the afternoon of the third day he seemed to crack it and even did a poo on the potty unprompted! He still has the odd accident now 4 months on but I think that's normal, it's usually when he can't tear himself away from whatever he's doing!
My tips would be to start off by having a week or two where you just sit her on the potty before bath. Then when you've done that, clear the diary for a bit so that you can spend time at home letting her wander about with no pants or anything on her bottom half and just keep asking and asking (and telling!) her to sit on the potty for a few days. It is exhausting, and being pregnant I nearly gave up again, but persevere. After a week or so I put him in pants. I will just add that you have to be completely ready too, if not it won't work IMO.
Another tip is to use a reward chart. F liked choosing the colour of the star to stick on it. Also, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but we ended up letting him have smartie each time he successfully used the potty. It certainly seemed to help and after the first couple of weeks he stopped being bothered about then and we didn't give them any more.
I came on here to ask about this too! I read Elizabeth Pantley's No-cry potty training which I found useful. We wrapped up little cheap presents and kept them in a bucket and gave him one every time he used the potty. He hates sitting still so bribery was the only thing that worked! I put him in pants or left him bottomless and put him on the potty every 30 mins. Quite quickly he started going about 2 hours between pees so I knew he had bladder control. He now goes himself, and does poos too (which freaked him out a bit initially but now he's proud!). He's great at home, hardly any accidents for about a fortnight, but he refuses to use the potty at the childminder's and I'm not sure what to do about it, or when to switch to pants for going out as he's only once used a public toilet (which he asked to do, so I'm hoping it'll be ok). T is 29 months btw.
One thing I found useful was to think of it a physical thing, like walking. It takes time and practice as it's a brand new thing.
some good advice there, thank you.
I think we might try with poos rather than wees to start with. She doesn't seem to want to sit on the potty but is very interested in us sitting on the toilet so going to get her a step and training seat and she might be more up for that.
If we crack it with the poos but leave wees for a bit, how does it actually work? Have her in a nappy, but take it off when she needs a poo and then put her in a dry nappy after that?
She has started to have usually 1 dry nappy at nursery in a day, so I think she is close, I just don't know that I am! she's at nursery full time so we really only have weekends so they will be doing most of it and I don't really want to put the onus on them - she's my baby so I should potty train her!
C was 'clean' but not dry before her 2nd birthday (she'd say that she needed a poo, we'd put her on the potty to do it, then put the nappy back on). She was then fully trained by 2yrs 4 months, but actually went backwards with the poos when she was first dry. It took about 3 days to crack the wees and she was clean again within a week. It was so much easier when she was ready to do both. S had just turned 2 and has started taking an interest in the toilet etc. but i'm not even attempting it for a few months as i saw how much easier it was to just leave it that bit longer when the control and interest was finally there. By trying it earlier we lost the novelty aspect by the time she was properly ready.