potty learning - is my luck about to change :)

loismustdie

hi all, i feel a little silly postin because i don't actually hav a problem, to be honest my 32 month old son has practically trained himself and im afraid it's too good to be true?
we'v had a potty for about 6 months but other than readin books about it, tellin him alll about it and talkin to him while we ourselves go toilet we didn't put much emphasis on it at all, other than sometimes saying oh you'r doin a poo would you like your potty to which he always replied no and so we never pushed it. about a week ago he just ran inside while we were out in the garden and reapeared a few minutes later with a potty full of wee and his clothes and nappy back in tact. we put nappies on him at night and for about 3 days he was successful 50pc of the time with the wees and all poo accidents which we expected. then however for another 3 days or so seemed to be all accidents so i put a nappy back on him as he was goin to spend the day with my sister. however the folloowin day, sunday no accidents but no poo either,he begged for no nappy that night so we said ok, there was a plastic barrier sheet under his sheet so wouldnt be the end of the world if he had an accident. however since sunday morning he has done ALL of his wees and poos in the potty, no accident even at night, he gets up when he feels the need to go and even when we're out he'l ask for his potty when he needs it.
to be honest im womderin if i should expect a regresssion because it just seems too easy? thanks for sharin any experiences

embee

Lois,

Don't expect the worst! This potty training has all come from your son, he's ready and he's taken the initiative himself. I would also say - take peoples potty training nightmare stories with a pinch of salt. My daughter was very very easy to train too, she was only barely 2 when she was trained but she got it and got it quickly.

I would say however that he's had three solid days of no accidents, so don't put a nappy on him now under any circumstances. No long car trips, no trips to his aunties etc. Get him used to going to the loo in other places too so that he doesn't become too involved with just your toilet to the exclusion of all others!

Congratulations, it's fantastic when they've grasped potty training

loismustdie

thanks embee, it just feels rather strange because i was expectin it to be hard work but he weaned from breast to bottle to cup to solids and also to a big bed well so maybe we're just lucky with him. so as for night time also, would you say if he does hav an accident still no nappy? i still think of him as a baby but i know a lot of 2 an a half year olds are trained. thanks again

littlebug

That's brilliant. My son was the same...there was still the very very occasional accident for a while but I could probably count them. I would say if he doesn't want the nappy at night then don't put one on him. Mine just started taking it off himself anyway. You could put those bedmats on the bed for any occasional accidents.
It was much much tougher with my daughter.... still dealing with it tbh

Birdie086

I genuinly feel like crying reading this thread. I am my wits end and trying to keep in all day is driving me nuts, my son is three years and two months and starting preschool in sept. Tried to train him a few times but he wasnt ready so didnt make an issue of it. Booked this week off worka ages ago just incase he wasnt trained so we could have a full ten days at it. Getting nowhere. He has managed a few pees in the potty but he still hasnt twigged when he needs to go wee himself. I am exhausted from trying not make a big deal of it so he doesnt get upset. Can't wat untill he twigs himself when he needs a pee- I know there will still be accidents but I feel thats the breakthrough he needs. I'll let ye know how we fare.

loismustdie

oh birdie, im so sorry to hear that. you'v probably tried everythin but a few things i read was givin choc or somethin really loved by your little one as a reward? i also read somewhere not to change him straight way, i know it seems weird but that way he will realize it's unpleasant to hav accidents. they say it's easier to leave him without anythin on bottom around the house too but you prob already read all that yourself.
does the preschool insist on him been fully trained, its so unfair because on any forum your on so many are in your position tryin to rush it for playschool,
i hope todays goin well for you and your little man

Birdie086

Thanks loismustdie. This is our third attempt and the eason why it is crucial is because the preschool insists on it. It really peeves me because he has been great so far for evrything else - weaning from breast to bottle, sleeping through the night, giving up the bottle etc. His speech is very clear and he needs to start preschool to develop his social skills - the modern problem of no brothers/sisters, not many cousins and not many kids on the street to interact with.
I have tried the choc idea you mentioned just in a different form. I let him choose two big books of stickers and each time he pees in the potty he gets to choose a sticker for his potty and when the outside of the potty has enough stickers he will get a prize. At the rate we are going that could take a while!!!
Feeling more postitive today though he went in potty but only after eventually i left him on his own and didnt give in to his pleas to get of the potty(thank god he is not bold - or else he would have just got up and ran off around the house regardless). Last night I was just exhausted and being a lone parent is just that -lonely!!
Thanks for your reply and I am going to try your suggestion not to change him so quickly if he has an accident tomorrow.

loismustdie

i hope today goes well for you birdie, your so lucky with your little guy it's a shame you hav to do the potty trainin on the preschool's timeline instead of yours and his. i know exactly why you want to get him to playschool, the social aspect is important. if you were to delay til say january would you have a creche for him while you worked? im only askin because sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in doin the right thing and meanwhile doin your own head in while trying to do what you think you should. sometimes i think people should stand back an say " life shouldnt hav to be so hard, take the easy route if it's not gonna hav any major consequences" society can push us sometimes and stress us out, cant it, and in the grand scheme of things is any of it worth it in the end? but you know your situation and your baba best, just an idea. but you seem to be gettin results so best of luck x

Birdie086

He has just peed the florr for the third time today, gonna leave him for about ten minutes just so he gets the idea of how uncomfortable it is, feel a lttle cruel but maybe the meessage will sink in. I,ve alreay thougth about contacting the school to see will they hold his place for a few weeks but the demand is so high I dont think they will and can afford to pay for a private creche. Caught between a rock and a hard plaace at the mo but it wont last forever.

Ickle Magoo

My wee man hated sitting on the potty - could that be the issue? We put a cork in the loo & he stood on a wee stool & aimed at it - he loved pee'ing after that!

Potty training is a bit of a lottery, my son self-trained night & day by 26months & never looked back - my daughter took a good fortnight just after she was three to catch on completely & another month or so to conquer the nights.

I found it was a case of finding the best motivation - standing & aiming at the bobbing cork for my son & a sticker chart for my daughter. Keep at it, they will eventually click - it's sooooo frustrating in the mean time, I know. I remember having teeth marks in my lips from biting them.

amdublin

loismustdie wrote: »

my 32 month old son has practically trained himself and im afraid it's too good to be true?

It was probably just the right time for him.

Which is probably indicated by his age.

All adds up! Good for you, good for him.

Birdie086

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

My wee man hated sitting on the potty - could that be the issue? We put a cork in the loo & he stood on a wee stool & aimed at it - he loved pee'ing after that!

Potty training is a bit of a lottery, my son self-trained night & day by 26months & never looked back - my daughter took a good fortnight just after she was three to catch on completely & another month or so to conquer the nights.

I found it was a case of finding the best motivation - standing & aiming at the bobbing cork for my son & a sticker chart for my daughter. Keep at it, they will eventually click - it's sooooo frustrating in the mean time, I know. I remember having teeth marks in my lips from biting them.

Tried the actual toilet and bought a special insert to make it toddler size but he FREAKED out. He managed to go twice in the potty today, so hopefully we are getting somewhere. I'm not bothered about night times yet, I will keep putting a nappy on at night time for the mo. Hopefully we will have the day time mastered by next monday or he won't be able to start preschool.
I was very upset Wednesday night when I posted but part of that was feeling sorry for myself and frustation - bringing up a child on your own isn't actually that bad but when going through these kinds of things I just feel terribly alone. One of my friends stayed for the seekend with her kids and was really encouraging and supportive plus I had someone to talk to!!! Feeling much better about the whole thing now and I know we will manage it somehow.

loismustdie

that's great birdie, from other posts i can tell you are happy and positive but everyone feels hard done by at times and when you'r alone it's all the worse, the only consillation you have is that you can bring up your little boy your way without havin to discuss it to death with your partner are you off work again this week? he sounds on the way anyway, well done. will the preschool mind accidents, how strict are they?

Birdie086

Just a little update, still persevering with the potty training, no there yet but I got a little reprieve, the shcool rang today and due to renovations it wont be opening till the seventh of sept which gives us an extra week, so taking some of the pressure off!!

loismustdie

wow that's great, that's really the universe rising to meet you isn't it. so glad it's progressin, the extra week will help ya both. just to answer my original post, we'v had a few accidents here but doin well too, it feels a bit more normal now to be having accidents. oh just in case it helps with any poo issues iv started to make ssure to giv cal his porridge, orange juice and then brown bread as early as possible in the mornin, this way it allows his to do his business before we go out for the day so at least if he does hav an accident it's wee

Birdie086

Glad ye are getting in a routine with it, and glad its going well. Small has weetabix for brekkie so this also means he has his poo in the morning so the accidents are usually wee which isnt so bad.

Khannie

We're going through the potty training at the moment too. Had great progress, star chart, got to the end, thought she had it and bought her a sand pit as a congratulations then it all went to pot. Couldn't get her to pee or poo in the potty at all for about a week! Running around cleaning up etc. Asking every 15 minutes "do you need to go to the toilet" "no" and 10 seconds later pees.

Anyway, instant gratification turned out to be a winner. She gets a jelly if she wees in the potty / toilet. That turned things around very quickly (made it clear that there was no jelly if she didn't make it to the toilet). We also bought her a step in ikea (2 euro) and she loves that. Uses it to climb up onto the big toilet and thinks she's the cheese.

I'd heard of "dora vouchers" working too (i.e. you get a voucher to watch a dora whenever you want if you wee in the potty).

Birdie086

Finally we are getting there, he even used the toilet in dunnes yesterday and up untill the big toilet was a huge no, no!!!!!!! Its taking longer that I thought it would but we are nearing the end of nappies woo hooo

kelle

Birdie086 wrote: »

I genuinly feel like crying reading this thread. I am my wits end and trying to keep in all day is driving me nuts, my son is three years and two months and starting preschool in sept. Tried to train him a few times but he wasnt ready so didnt make an issue of it. Booked this week off worka ages ago just incase he wasnt trained so we could have a full ten days at it. Getting nowhere. He has managed a few pees in the potty but he still hasnt twigged when he needs to go wee himself. I am exhausted from trying not make a big deal of it so he doesnt get upset. Can't wat untill he twigs himself when he needs a pee- I know there will still be accidents but I feel thats the breakthrough he needs. I'll let ye know how we fare.

Hi, Birdie. I know your son's preschool want your son to be toilet-trained before he starts, but the staff don't expect your child to be 100% perfect! My son was trained a year before he started, but he had a few accidents. My daughter, on the other hand was very difficult to train and wasn't fully trained when she started. So I made sure she had very little to drink in the morning and that she used the toilet before she got there and, voila - she never once had an accident!

Just make sure your son has a change of clothes in his backpack and he'll be fine!

loismustdie

hi birdie, how you both set now? is monday the big day? best of luck to both of you x