Potty training

[Blue1202]

Our little girl has just turned 2 and we have started leaving her nappy off as much as we can at home during awake time One thing I can't get my head around is if she should just wear knickers when we're out and about and we take spare clothes with us? We've also got training pants so not sure if we should put her in these instead of the nappy and knickers? We've got a portable potty too so can take that out with us.

She hasn't done a wee or poo on the potty yet but let's us know when she's done a poo in her nappy if we ask her, or she'll say 'dirty'

It's so confusing!!

Thank you

[Seb9]

If she's not using the potty yet, I think taking her out without a nappy on she's just going to have accidents. We didn't risk going out without nappies on until my daughter was confident round the house with knickers on and could tell you she needed a wee or poo and we had enough time to get her to the potty. Until she can tell you that she's needs to do a wee or poo and you can get her on the toilet or potty from being dressed. I would leave her just having nappy free time and encouraging her to go on the potty.

[Blue1202 in reply to Seb9]

Thank you, this is really helpful

[Emdog87]

When we started our little girl I remember being told you should do all or nothing as it can confuse them. So don’t put them in knickers but then a nappy when you’re going out travelling. Portable potty is a good idea and lots of spare clothes. We started at home when we weren’t going anywhere for a few days and she had quite a few accidents, so I decided she wasn’t ready and we then went back to nappies. About 3 months later she said she wanted to wear her big girl knickers, so we started potty again and she was spot on!

If she’s not actually used the potty then maybe hold off for a bit. We had the potty for months until we started.

Good luck. X

[Blue1202 in reply to Emdog87]

Thank you, that makes sense. So ideally, she needs to be confident using the potty at home before getting rid of nappies and changing to knickers, Then it's a case of wearing knickers all the time but taking the travel potty and spare clothes with us when we're out and about x

[Blue1202 in reply to Emdog87]

Would you just skip training pants altogether?

[Emdog87 in reply to Blue1202]

I don’t know much about the training pants, we never used them. But you could carry on, I think if you treat them as big girl knickers and try to explain she shouldn’t pee or poo in them and see how she gets on.

Everyone is different and every advice you read is different too. I got worked with it. But the most useful thing i’d read was, if they don’t start getting the hang of it after 3/4 days, just give up and go back to nappies. Don’t be stressed about it or make a big deal out of it and then try again a few months later. I have friends who would switch and change between knickers and nappies and it took them so long to do. I think sometimes child isn’t ready, you just kind of get to let them lead the way, try to encourage but don’t force:

That’s my view anyway, I know everyone does things different and not children are the same lol!

[Bigblueskies]

Hi

2 years old is quite young but if your child shows the signs of readiness then it’s great! Otherwise be prepared for a lot of trial and error and many accidents. The important thing I had to learn was to be positive with accidents and never sound upset or angry about them.

I found the ERIC advice extremely helpful and it gave me confidence. It’s free and you can find it all here:

eric.org.uk/potty-training/

I tried to use nappy pants and training pants. They can be helpful especially if you are starting young and you need to take the long approach. But for us the best thing was staying in the house for a couple of days and leaving my daughter without pants at all and the potty in the living room. We used nappy pants for when we were out. The trick that really worked was to remember to take her to the toilet every half hour rather than expecting her to tell us when she needs to go. They don’t know the signals for that quite that young.

[Movie3]

As others have said we got confident with using the potty at home, before we got the hang of it out off the house. At first we did use pull ups on car journeys, first trips out (but treated like big girl/ boy knickers/pants). With nursery would use pull ups for the car journey and change for knickers once there. Soon progressed to knickers and always carrying portable potty. Just gentle reminders about asking, especially on arriving somewhere, after meals/ drinks. Pull ups then became only for long car journeys and airport/plane journey as we got more confident. There was a lot of truth in waiting until their ready and not pushing it. So throughout 2nd year, we tried twice, but it was obvious that little one wasn't quite getting the concept, we left for a while and tried again. We left the potty out and about 2yrs 9 months, they got up one morning and wanted to try. We used a rewards chart and stickers which really helped at the beginning. For saying, trying, poo, wee, washing hands. Someone I know, pull ups were the thing for their little one, they loved their grown up character pull ups and didn't want to wet them. I was equally confused at the beginning as so much different advice. But it's a bit trial and error, finding something that works for you both. It is easier when their use of communication and understanding develops a little more, but no set time. We progressed from potty, to step and seat. As others have said stay positive with accidents and just say next time we'll try get it in the toliet. Also don't worry if they randomly regress when you think theyve cracked it. Nighttime is the final hurdle, we started with pull ups in bed once confident with home and out and about. Then progressed to knickers. Good luck.

[Emoly14]

hey, how did it go? We are currently on day 5 of potty training and he’s smashed it so far bare bum. We introduced trousers today which has been a little step back but feeling confident about tomorrow. (Day 6) when did you leave the house? Would love to get him out for a walk soon!!