Hi mums & dads. I have a toilet training question. I'm just wondering what signs you took to know that your child was ready to start toilet training. My son will tell me when he is wee'ing, and if we are outside I manage to get his nappy off and he continues on the grass. Lots of praise etc. Have asked in the past when I know he is doing a poo if he would like to poo on the toilet but he has always answered no. Well this morning he told me he was wee'ing and I asked if he wanted to wee on the toilet and he said yes (shock horror!!). So we got him down to bare bum and went to put him on the toilet (he has a step and a seat to make sure he doesn't fall in), but he started freaking out before we even got on there. We did it calmly with lots of praise, but yeah he got upset. So I'm just wondering if I should keep persisting every time he tells me now, or will this cause an aversion to the toilet? He doesn't turn 2 for another 2 months so I'm thinking he's still too young. Any ideas on other signs to look for? If it wasn't so cold I'd start letting him just wear jocks around the house but it's so freezing here right now so that's not really an option. Any advice would be wonderful, I just really don't want to force the issue if he's not completely ready :)
2 Replies
Start practicing sitting on the toilet when he doesn't need to go, so that he gets comfortable. Maybe try a potty if he isn't 2 yet. He sounds ready besides the being frightened if the toilet so once he is comfortable sitting on the toilet or potty it's a good time. Some boys go straight to standing up to wee so maybe standing on a step rather than sitting. Another good sign that he's ready is that he can stop mid stream if surprised (because your going to need to get him to the toilet or potty). Poos for most kids tend to come after they have gotten wees so the kids ice trained we've concentrated on wees first (and it's much easier to get success). When you do start have lots of jocks available.
My daughter trained at 20 months, she too wasn't so sure about the toilet, now at 23 months she happily sits on there more than on her potty. I would give him a potty to use, have it in the lounge and teach him how to take his pants off. Both my kids started on a potty and it makes sense, a toilet is nearly as big as them! Good luck and well done :)