Messing about or ready to potty train?

**scrobble** · 30-03-2012, 03:05pm

M and Z seem to really enjoy just sitting on the toilet, but don't ever appear to try and use it for what it's intended - we think they're just asking so they can go into the 'forbidden' room rather than because they need to use it!

They don't ever tell us when they need a wee/poo - Z will tell us if she's done a poo or leaked from her nappy, and M sometimes gets upset and tells us he's pooed, but usually he just means his nappy is wet. If he wees with his nappy off, he doesn't even seem to be aware that he's weeing - he just stares vacantly at the liquid coming out!

Do you think it's best to take them through every time they ask to sit on the loo (bearing in mind it's very difficult with all three to manage this at present!), or to try bringing potties back into the lounge for them to try again? They keep saying they don't want to use potties and 'sit on big toilet'.

**mrsdunny207** · 30-03-2012, 07:18pm

I'd probably leave it til summer as it doesn't sound like they are completely ready and managing taking them to the toilet every 10 minutes with the baby is a bit

.

**Miss_Jane** · 30-03-2012, 07:56pm

They sound a bit like DD1! She is not interested in the potty but is interested in the toilet. She will say when she's done a poo but not a wee. I was thinking if the weather was nice this weekend, I will just let her run about naked for a while to see what happens. If I ever give her nappy free time, she doesn't do a wee but she will do one within minutes of putting her nappy back on so I think she might be able to hold it for a while.

**scrobble** · 23-04-2012, 03:06pm

Miss_Jane, did you try DD1 with potty training in the end?

We decided to bite the bullet and start off with Z last week, armed with plenty of pairs of knickers, pull-ups for going out, and three potties (Boots had them on 3 for 2 a while back!). I've been quizzing friends for advice, and what seemed to really trigger her interest was going round to a good friend's house and seeing her 2 year old using his potty. She decided she didn't want to wear nappies, but 'pants like A' instead!

Thur and Fri had a few accidents, and she was reluctant to actually sit on the potty when asked, although giving her a book to read seemed to really help. She did a couple of wees on the potty in the day, but had quite a few accidents.

On Saturday we decided to put her in knickers only while in the house, and only use the pull-ups for naps. Something seemed to click and she started taking herself to the potty and sitting down. By Sunday she was using it for everything. She seems to have figured out that if she says she needs a poo after her bedtime story and milk, or just before a nap she'll get extra time to sit and 'try' when in fact we're sure she's bluffing! I'd rather be sure and give her the benefit of the doubt for now!

We have been offering incentives - a small piece of white chocolate Easter egg for every wee, a small milk chocolate egg for a poo, but decided this was too unhealthy and substituted them for chocolate raisins! Now we get "I do poo on potty. I get chocolate raisin/egg now."

**Miss_Jane** · 11-05-2012, 03:34pm

Sorry, I only just saw this! Yes, we did go for it, it was going ok but we have regressed a bit. This week, she's had at least 2 accidents a day. We used a sticker chart initially but then stopped it when it was full so I think we are going to bring it back in.

How are you getting on with it?

**scrobble** · 11-05-2012, 03:50pm

Thanks for asking. Z is all done - just the other two to go now

She's finally stopped asking for chocolate when she does a wee on the potty, and we're just trying to wean off a choc raisin every time there's a poo! She's pretty good about asking while we're out and about if she needs the toilet (although if she finds the bathroom particularly interesting where she is, she pretends she needs to go several times!). We haven't tried night-time without a nappy yet; she's been dry a couple of mornings, and woke up asking to go to the toilet one night last week, but generally her pull-up is still wet when she wakes up.

Mr S was desperate to train M as well, and we tried for 6 days in a row, but although we managed to get him to sit on the potty, he couldn't/wouldn't concentrate unless he had something to watch, and seemed to clench up. He did a couple of poos on the potty and the odd wee, but seemed to have no awareness of when he was about to need to go - he's literally get up from the potty after sitting there 5 mins without doing anything, run across the room and dirty/wet himself a couple of minutes later, but not tell us. We were getting through about 10 pairs of pants a day. So we decided to stop for the time being and try again when it feels like he's more ready and has got used to Z going all the time.