Discovery Home & Health

my little girl is nearly one and i was wondering when is the best time to introduce the potty? i dont have the first clue.can any one help?
maria

Hi have found the best thing to do is to have a potty around the house not to use, just for her to get used to the idea of it. I wouldn't start letting her know what it is for until she is at least 18-22 months as they say that is when they start to have the sensation that they have a full bladder. It will take longer for night time dryness, maybe up until she is 3. The best advice is not to push her too hard, and don't make her feel like she has done something bad if she has an accident, in other words be patient, it will be a lot quicker in the long run. Also be glad you have a girl as boys are a lot slower, my two were nearly 3 by the time they were potty trained of a day never mind a night.
Hope this helps
Jayjay

I did the same with my daughter. Gave her a potty to get her used to seeing one and then eventually got her to use it. Apparently the longer you leave it the quicker it is to potty train.

I've also got a son who's 21 months old. I have no idea where the potties are now (We had a few), and haven't even shown him one yet. I suppose I ought to think about starting potty training in the next few months because he starts nursery in a year and he's supposed to be clean and dry by then. Some hope!

Debz

Hi my little boy is going to be 3 in just over a weeks time.I started potty traing 2mths ago,even tho alot of my friends who had kids the same age had started a while ago i waited untill i thought he was ready.Which wasthe best idea because he was dry during the day in 1wk and dry at nite within 2wks.Best to wait untill you think they are ready its so much easier xx

thanks to everyone for all the info i will be getting a potty in the next few days
thanks
maria

hi my little boy was two in march 06. He has been dry in day now for 3 weeks. One problem-POOS!!! he hates doing them on the toilet or potty! he will ask to go but then run when i try to take him. Any ideas? i don't want to get angry or cross as put him off even more. I have tried bribery and stickers with no result. spoke to hv but no help.
thanks

Hi

With my first son I tried a few times around the age of 32 months but it kept going wrong so I left it. Then one day completely out of the blue - exactly 8 weeks before he was 3 he said he wanted to try the potty from now on. He never had a single accident after that.

With my second son I figured no two are the same so again started training him around 31-32 months. Guess what - it was exactly 8 weeks when he told me he wanted to use the toilet. Again, he has never had an accident.

However, My eldest is now 7 and is still in night time pants never having had a dry night in his life. I refuse to get stressed about it, my husband was 12 before he was dry at night, my sister was 11 and my niece is only just dry and she's 13...so he'll get there eventually. He's not concerned about it (yet) and I'm not bothered (wearing night time pants means I'm not washing bedding every day).

My youngest went dry at night 2 weeks after he went dry and clean in the day. He hasn't ever had a night time accident.

So they are all different after all!!!

[]

hi i have also been wondering about potty training,my son will be 2 on 1st of may and for the last 4 weeks or so has been telling me when he has wee'd in his nappy,and last night when we were in the bathroom ready for his bath he actually told me just b4 he wee'd on the carpet,so he does actually no when he needs to go would you try to potty train him now or leave him a few more months.my older son was much older than him b4 he was potty trained(38mths)and because he was much older he came out of nappys day and night in 1 go and we have never had an accident,thanx kellyxxx

Hello all,

I agree with the method of leaving the potty out for the baby/toddler to get used to it, experiment to their heart's content, but what I found hillarious and worked is practically showing my daughter what to do. My husband was the first one to show her, he literally sat on the potty and kept repeating to her that we wanted her to have a wee. She loved it too, and copied him. Try it, it could work. Make it into something fun rather than a headache.

Take care all.
Eliza

Hello all, i suppose i was one of the lucky ones, my son (who is 7 now) was dry day/night at 2 1/2, With him i stayed in for 3 whole days and put him on the loo every 20 mins ( even if he didnt go) i gave him a sticker for trying and all the praises.Evenings was a bit of a struggle, but i put him down without a nappy on making sure he went before he got into bed, then i got him up in the evening before i went to bed and tried him again, we had a few accidents but he was dry with in a week. i did try the pull ups but to be honest he thought they were normal nappies so i didnt see the point.
My daughters 3 now and shes been dry since she was 2 also. used to put her in nappies at night but once her nappies were dry in the mornings i took them off her, been dry ever since.When we was out and about i used to put the potty in a back pack, then if there was no loos about we could pop up an alley lol.
All i can suggest for those who are struggling is its all down to perseverance,Dont try and get them clean one day and then put them in nappies the next, it will just confuse them, if you are going to do it, do it when you have nothing going on that week so you can stay in and crack it together.
Good luck Xx