Toddler Toilet Training help! (merged)

Yorkshire-Lady_3

As childminder my advice would be to talk to your childminder. I spend more waking time with some of the children in my care, and know far more about whether they are ready or not to potty train.
I had one parent ask me to sit her 5 month old on a potty in a high chair at meal times so that she would be 'trained' by a year old. I refused.

15 months is young, but not unheard of if the child is ready.

Communication is the key when dealing with your childs welfare.

Sally x

BernadetteN

I would try and put yourself in your childminder's shoes. How many children does (s)he already look after and what are their ages? How long do you think your child will take at 15 months to train? Does your childminder have to do school runs several times a day? Basically, would you cope in your cihldminder's shoes if you had to devote a substantial part of the day chasing around a 15 month old with a potty and also look after other children and do school runs etc at the same time?

I am a chidlminder and have 4 kids of my own at home 24/7 with a parent (more likely to be able to predict when a child is ready to "train") who all have worn cloth nappies (more likely to train earlier), yet I would have really struggled to train any of them at 15 months old. I could have gone down the "elimination communication route" and trained them from birth but I have a home to run, cleaning and cooking to do, school runs, shopping etc so I didn't think it would be a realistic option. The kids all showed signs that they were nearing toilet training from about 21 months onwards but I waited until they were between 24 and 27 months before letting them "train" themselves.

Unless you have been doing "elimination communication", the chances of your 15 month old being ready and able to potty train are less than half percent perhaps.

Remember toddlerhood is no race and there's no rush to do anything.

kr15snw

If your worried about it being too young then start taking it in steps.

My neice (now 19 months) has just started basic potty training. But for the last 3 / 4 months she has been put on the potty before a bath (so after tea) and asked to go pee pee. Mum / us sit with her for about 5 minutes and tend to distract her with a book or something. For the last 2 months she will go about 80% of the time.

In the last few weeks she has moved on to being put on the potty 3 times a day, around the time her mum would have changed her nappy. We use the same technique of letting her sit there for a while and its now starting to work.

The latest technique is we have asked her to tell us when she has been to the loo. So we now have a 19 month old running up to us going 'poo!!!'. But this is good as her mum plans to move it on to 'tell me when u need to go' in the coming weeks.

I wouldnt think 15 months was too young but I wouldnt expect them to be using normal pants any time soon! But you can get them used to the idea of the potty.

immoral_angeluk

My 2 1/2 yr old won't have her pants on or a nappy and now there's wee all over the house lol. She knows when she's going to wee but it freaks her out and she keeps trying to run away from it!!!!! lol!!!!! She'll happily sit on a potty or toilet but not do anything and strips off at every opportunity.
Help!!! I don't know what I'm doing! lol!

sarahmoon_2

Not much help really but when I was potty training my son he would only pee in a beaker if you held it up to his winkle!!!

immoral_angeluk

sarahmoon wrote: »

Not much help really but when I was potty training my son he would only pee in a beaker if you held it up to his winkle!!!

lol bless his heart!!! :rotfl: :rotfl:

silvercar

Sit her on the toilet and read a book with her. When she can sit there without freaking, suggest a nice reward if she manages to wee on the toilet.
(If she runs away from it, maybe she would like the idea of flushing it away?).

At 2 1/2 she is old enough to understand that either she needs a nappy on or she needs to use the toilet. You need to help her understand that the floor is not the place to wee.

immoral_angeluk

silvercar wrote: »

Sit her on the toilet and read a book with her. When she can sit there without freaking, suggest a nice reward if she manages to wee on the toilet.
(If she runs away from it, maybe she would like the idea of flushing it away?).

At 2 1/2 she is old enough to understand that either she needs a nappy on or she needs to use the toilet. You need to help her understand that the floor is not the place to wee.

She's more than happy to sit on the toilet or the potty although she prefers the toilet and does the whole routine of sitting on the loo, 'wiping' with paper, getting off and flushing the loo and then washing her hands.... but she won't do anything on it. She has done one wee on the potty but it hasn't registered that that is where she needs to wee...?

Ishtar

We found bribery worked for us....My DD whos 2y8m old came out of daytime nappies almost 4 weeks ago. Prior to this she wouldn't go anywhere near her potty, not even with a nappy on - although previously she would quite happily sit on while OH or I were using the loo. I think she started to refuse to go anywhere near it at about the time she realised she was ready to come out of nappies. Sounds silly, I know, but I think she wanted to stay in nappies for a bit longer

Anyway, in desparation (she starts playgroup next month and they weren't keen on nappies...), I picked up the Gina Ford potty training book which suggested using bribery when all else fails.

Now, I personally don't rate Gina Ford's systems (but I know a lot of people do, and with children it really is a case of what works for you) but for me and for this situation it has worked out fine.

You could use reward charts, or whatever you feel would work...we used Smarties, which we phased out once she'd got the hang of it. We're still having a few minor problems with the pooing, but again, we're rewarding with sweeties when she manages to go on the loo.

Just out of interest, do you keep the potty close to hand? It might be that she would be happier if it were nearby. We kept the potty in the kitchen for the first 5 days or so - it's now in the bathroom, but she prefers the 'big girl toilet' more these days.

Hope you manage to solve the problem!
D

conradmum

It's just a phase most kids go through (frustrating isn't it?).
I echo the rewards strategy. Something she likes in clear view that you say she can have when she does a wee on the potty.
And don't freak out about accidents. Just quietly and calmly clean it up without saying anything. Some kids thrive on the excitement and attention of accidents, even if it's negative.:rolleyes: