Potty training
Discussion
Not for me, obviously - age 39, I'm a lost cause by now. But our eldest boy is now 2 years and 9 months so we're thinking we should tackle this.
He'd shown some signs lately, like not wanting to put a fresh nappy on after the first change after getting up or wanting to put pants on instead of a nappy. We have tried a couple of things so far by way of testing the water and preparing to make the transition. Keen to hear what worked for others, what sort of age we should be doing this etc.
He'd shown some signs lately, like not wanting to put a fresh nappy on after the first change after getting up or wanting to put pants on instead of a nappy. We have tried a couple of things so far by way of testing the water and preparing to make the transition. Keen to hear what worked for others, what sort of age we should be doing this etc.
Wow, later than we did it!
What worked for us:
Reward for number 1. Lots of praise, a sticker for his sticker chart to show how good he is.
Bought multipack of cheap die cast planes. A number 2 with no accident worth a plane.
Book called "poo" which was about a young girl that used a potty. He liked that book.
All of this was more 2 year old, so he was more bribable. Avoid telling off for accidents at first - they are accidents not active disobedience. Start on a Friday and you have to follow him about. If he starts hopping about etc, ask if he needs to go. We let him fail if asking was no so he learned, rather than putting him on regardless. It meant (in my mind) rewards were earned not given.
Good luck op, it's a tough weekend but after a week it's a godsend. 2 years plus poo is proper stinky, once he cracks it life gets much less smeary!
What worked for us:
Reward for number 1. Lots of praise, a sticker for his sticker chart to show how good he is.
Bought multipack of cheap die cast planes. A number 2 with no accident worth a plane.
Book called "poo" which was about a young girl that used a potty. He liked that book.
All of this was more 2 year old, so he was more bribable. Avoid telling off for accidents at first - they are accidents not active disobedience. Start on a Friday and you have to follow him about. If he starts hopping about etc, ask if he needs to go. We let him fail if asking was no so he learned, rather than putting him on regardless. It meant (in my mind) rewards were earned not given.
Good luck op, it's a tough weekend but after a week it's a godsend. 2 years plus poo is proper stinky, once he cracks it life gets much less smeary!
For our two we started at around 2 and a half. The eldest took forever to get it (like 4-5 months of mopping up), whilst our youngest went from nappies to potty trained in about a week. So what I'm trying to say is that it depends very much on the child.
What we did is have multiple potties dotted around the house so that one was always available for use. We tried to keep everything as calm and unhurried as possible. In the early stages we would encourage them to just sit on the potty whilst doing something else (reading a book, playing with a toy, watch telly etc). Often they would have an "accident" in the potty which gave them a head start on associating the need to go to the toilet with the potty.
However, especially with our eldest (who is nearly 9 now) we spent several months emptying s
t out of pants...... the joys of parenthood.
What we did is have multiple potties dotted around the house so that one was always available for use. We tried to keep everything as calm and unhurried as possible. In the early stages we would encourage them to just sit on the potty whilst doing something else (reading a book, playing with a toy, watch telly etc). Often they would have an "accident" in the potty which gave them a head start on associating the need to go to the toilet with the potty.
However, especially with our eldest (who is nearly 9 now) we spent several months emptying s
t out of pants...... the joys of parenthood. Edited by RTB on Tuesday 7th March 08:28
Try for a week, and then if it fails, give up for a month or two.
We had success on first child (girl) on summer hols where they were all running around unclothed.
Second one (boy) took three attempts and on the third attempt he got it in 3 days and was immediately dry at night too!
don't rush it or pressure them.
Unless you like the idea of a house full of s*** and p*** I would recommend waiting a couple of months until the summer. This was the way we trained both of ours, and both were clean by the age of 2.
2 weeks off work, plenty of sunscreen and drinks, and get them in the garden all day. Plenty of praise/reward for getting it right, and other than that its just perseverance. Stickers were a cheap but effective way of getting them to buy into it, we made them a chart which they could put their stickers on each time they got it right. Half of the battle is getting them to buy into it, but get it right and they'll be on and off the potty every five minutes "just in case they can go".
Once you're done outside, move them back in and keep carrying on with the rewards until they are basically clean. You'll always get the odd accident, and at times it will feel like you're back at square one, but persevere. We had one instance where we thought our eldest was fine (no accidents for a week and always told us when he needed to go) so decided it was time to venture out and about. Everything was cool for a couple of days, until we were sat having a coffee somewhere and he decided to p*** himself on his seat. Didn't say a word, just p***** himself - and not the normal child size attempt, this was like a full on man size break the seal after 4 pints p***. I'm glad to say we've never been back there!
It's not all that hard, and once you're free of s****y nappies you'll realise the hard work was 100% worth it.
2 weeks off work, plenty of sunscreen and drinks, and get them in the garden all day. Plenty of praise/reward for getting it right, and other than that its just perseverance. Stickers were a cheap but effective way of getting them to buy into it, we made them a chart which they could put their stickers on each time they got it right. Half of the battle is getting them to buy into it, but get it right and they'll be on and off the potty every five minutes "just in case they can go".
Once you're done outside, move them back in and keep carrying on with the rewards until they are basically clean. You'll always get the odd accident, and at times it will feel like you're back at square one, but persevere. We had one instance where we thought our eldest was fine (no accidents for a week and always told us when he needed to go) so decided it was time to venture out and about. Everything was cool for a couple of days, until we were sat having a coffee somewhere and he decided to p*** himself on his seat. Didn't say a word, just p***** himself - and not the normal child size attempt, this was like a full on man size break the seal after 4 pints p***. I'm glad to say we've never been back there!
It's not all that hard, and once you're free of s****y nappies you'll realise the hard work was 100% worth it.
Our daughter is 2 years 3 months and we are potty training her this week.
My wife spent the first two complete days with her in the conservatory (hard floor) playing games with the little one just in her knickers (plus jumpers, etc. to keep warm) and the potty nearby.
Started by giving her lots of drinks all day and putting her on the potty every 15 minutes or so to see if she would go, she gets a sticker on her reward chart every time she does a wee in the potty and after 6 stickers or so gets a special treat (a little bit of chocolate or cheapo toy my other half bought in advance).
We've now transitioned to not putting her on the potty unless she tells us she needs to go and so far it's going really well, only 2 or 3 accidents in total over the past 3 days.
It helps a lot that our daughter's language and communication is brilliant for her age (wife is a speech therapist) so she can understand quite complex concepts and explain herself very clearly.
We've also been putting her on the toilet at bath time for the past couple of months to get her used to the idea of using a toilet instead of going in her nappies.
All in all, I'd say preparation is key, have a plan on how and when to progress things and how to keep your child interested.
My wife spent the first two complete days with her in the conservatory (hard floor) playing games with the little one just in her knickers (plus jumpers, etc. to keep warm) and the potty nearby.
Started by giving her lots of drinks all day and putting her on the potty every 15 minutes or so to see if she would go, she gets a sticker on her reward chart every time she does a wee in the potty and after 6 stickers or so gets a special treat (a little bit of chocolate or cheapo toy my other half bought in advance).
We've now transitioned to not putting her on the potty unless she tells us she needs to go and so far it's going really well, only 2 or 3 accidents in total over the past 3 days.
It helps a lot that our daughter's language and communication is brilliant for her age (wife is a speech therapist) so she can understand quite complex concepts and explain herself very clearly.
We've also been putting her on the toilet at bath time for the past couple of months to get her used to the idea of using a toilet instead of going in her nappies.
All in all, I'd say preparation is key, have a plan on how and when to progress things and how to keep your child interested.
We also found this was must:
http://www.dunelm.com/product/family-toilet-seat-1...
Screwfix also sell them
Both our kids were really hesitant about using the throne until we fitted one of them, I guess its the thought of falling down the pan.
http://www.dunelm.com/product/family-toilet-seat-1...
Screwfix also sell them
Both our kids were really hesitant about using the throne until we fitted one of them, I guess its the thought of falling down the pan.
HTP99 said:
That.
My 3yo grandson is till not potty trained; not for a want of trying, he just isn't interested so the issue isn't being forced.
Very much this. We tried out lad far too early he just wasn't interested funnily enough he's dry overnight more often than in the day there is far more important things to do in the day (playing with cars, trucks etc..,) than going for a wee! My 3yo grandson is till not potty trained; not for a want of trying, he just isn't interested so the issue isn't being forced.
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff