Toilet routines...

I don't know if it is too soon to say that my LG is pottytrianed.....But I think there has been a break through! When we came back from our holiday about 3 weeks ago I decided that I am going to stop asking her or encouraging her to go to the toilet.
(Another thing.... I took her Potty away prematurely. Big mistake on my side.)

When we came back from holiday I put the potty back in her room. She has been going on her own to the potty whenever she needed to. She even started saying "I quickly need to go, there is a "wee " on its way!". This is the FIRST time she has started to say when she needs to go. I guess she was really slow with readiness.

What I am trying to say to other moms: If your child is not showing signs of readiness, for example "saying when they need to go" or you get the idea that they don't get the "sensation" of when it is time to go, DON'T PUSH IT! The chances are that they are not ready yet. I should have put my child in nappies and waited untill she was ready and not when I "thought" she was ready.

Ladies, thank you all for sharing your experiences.

I have thought so many times, "wow, we have done it, she is potty trained!" and then she is back in nappies again. She insisted on wearing nappies again about 3 times after she was in panties. Since I don't believe in forcing a child to pottytrain when I feel ready, this is really a SLOW process.

Because she had the bladder abnormality and operation I am especially more careful not to force her to go to the toilet because of all the trauma she has been through.


The only thing that works to get her to go to the toilet/potty is to make it fun. If I can't think of some clever fun game....well, then things are more difficult.

It turns out she had a bladderinfection this past week. Maybe this contributed in more stubborness with the pottytraining since she was in pain! That is why I believe in following the child, since you never know what underlying physical causes might result in specific behavior.

I remember seeing a few books written on pottytraining. I thought initially: How would you write an entire book about pottytraining, surely it isn't that HARD? Now, I know! Not all children are trained with that miracle method "pottytrain your child in 3 days"!!

LOL mommyN, so true! They wont be in nappies forever

Hi GW and others

Same here... Sarah has been potty training for almost a year now, on and off. She is turning 3 in Sept. Since Feb she is able to use the toilet on her wwn, ie she will be playing or lying down, and off she toodles to either the big toilet or potty and does her thing. But then other times she refuses to wear a panty and wants a nappy. I blame it on the fact that she has a brother who is 14 months younger than her and she is scared she is "missing out" on nappy changing times if she doesnt wear panties.

Sarah can also be dry for hours, and through the night or naps.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Once again, my view is... I've never seen a bride walk down the isle still in nappies, so we have time...

Good luck Tazzy! Hopefully she will follow her big sister and it will be a breeze

I suppose it depends how much your LO is drinkimg during the day. My LG also went through a phase of refusing to use the toilet when I could clearly see that she needed it. Maybe its an age thing. They hate to be told what to do. I just use to force it on her, sometimes with her kicking and screaming. And of course she did need a gigantic wee everytime.

She seems to have gotten over that now but now its time to start all over again with my second baba

I am not too sure what the norm is. My LB turned 3 in May and as of the 16th July he stopped wearing daytime nappies. He normally goes about 4 to 5 (or maybe more) times a day. Even if he refuses to go I put him on the toilet and he generally goes.

As for nighttime, while I kept him in a night nappy and found that 98% of the time he would wake up dry and I would take him and put him on the loo and he would wee. As of Monday I decided to stop the nighttime nappy and have had 2 incidents where he has wet the bed. So now I am not sure if I stopped the nighttime nappy too soon?

This potty training is definitely some hard work.