Toilet Training Toddlers

[whufc]

Ok me and the wife have decided we are going to start toilet training our 22 month old daughter. This is both our first child so we have zero experience in toilet training.

What were your expereinces, tips etc etc. Should we get going straight onto the toilet or start with the potty etc etc

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

[A Mum]

All 3 of mine went straight to the toilet - no potty.
(You have to hold them the first few times - in case they fear falling in..lol)

The other thing that I did (as my mother did too..lol) was once I took the nappies off during the day that meant no night nappies either.
This worked for us - but of course may not work for everyone.

Now - it can get messy

I never ventured out with the kids for a few weeks during toilet training, only because you are so tempted to put a nappy on them that I think it goes backwards.

I'd start by ackowledging when changing nappies that she/he had done 'wees' or 'poos' or whatever so they'd get it into their heads what's in the nappy...lol.

And praise is like the biggest thing ever - the first time my kids asked to go to the toilet (you run to the toilet) and after they'd do wee's we'd make a big deal out of it "Oh wow - good girl/boy" even a treat afterwards - and I even went as far as ringing the grandparents and putting the child on the phone to say 'I'm a big boy/girl - I don't wear nappies anymore - I went to the toilet" ... or similar.

Now the other thing is - of course everyone is different, but, I found my kids weren't ready for toilet training until about 2 1/2 years old - they had a much better understand at that age than any earlier and I think this was part of the success with mine.

I had friends who the minute their kids hit 2 years old they figured they should be toilet trained and had all sorts of problems.

That's just what I did whufc.

Goodluck !!

[whufc]

All 3 of mine went straight to the toilet - no potty.
(You have to hold them the first few times - in case they fear falling in..lol)

The other thing that I did (as my mother did too..lol) was once I took the nappies off during the day that meant no night nappies either.
This worked for us - but of course may not work for everyone.

Now - it can get messy

I never ventured out with the kids for a few weeks during toilet training, only because you are so tempted to put a nappy on them that I think it goes backwards.

I'd start by ackowledging when changing nappies that she/he had done 'wees' or 'poos' or whatever so they'd get it into their heads what's in the nappy...lol.

And praise is like the biggest thing ever - the first time my kids asked to go to the toilet (you run to the toilet) and after they'd do wee's we'd make a big deal out of it "Oh wow - good girl/boy" even a treat afterwards - and I even went as far as ringing the grandparents and putting the child on the phone to say 'I'm a big boy/girl - I don't wear nappies anymore - I went to the toilet" ... or similar.

Now the other thing is - of course everyone is different, but, I found my kids weren't ready for toilet training until about 2 1/2 years old - they had a much better understand at that age than any earlier and I think this was part of the success with mine.

I had friends who the minute their kids hit 2 years old they figured they should be toilet trained and had all sorts of problems.

That's just what I did whufc.

Goodluck !!

Thanks heaps, i really think we will just go straight to the toilet, seems a bit doubling up to teach them with the potty and then to have to teach them to go to the toilet.

Our little one has a very good understanding of what a wee and poo is, she also understands when she is doing poo so hopefully that helps.

We might even delay a little bit more until the weather gets a bitter warmer, we have heard it is easier in Summer rather than trying in Winter.

[Lightning McQueen]

Just make a big deal out of every successful visit, it is a bit easier for boys though, the old ping pong ball works a treat.

[Footy Chick]

Just make a big deal out of every successful visit, it is a bit easier for boys though, the old ping pong ball works a treat.

EH?

[Lightning McQueen]

Just make a big deal out of every successful visit, it is a bit easier for boys though, the old ping pong ball works a treat.

EH?

Gives the boys something to aim at, it wont flush either.

[gadj1976]

We have a girl coming up 4 (Jan) and a boy coming up 18 months.

The girl was actually pretty smooth overall.

In saying all this, we tried training our daughter at about 18 months (we were both first time parents as well - and friends of ours had an 18 month old who was out of nappies) before our boy was anywhere near being around and she was clueless. You'd ask her if she'd done anything in her nappy and she'd look up at you and say "no" when it was obvious she had. We realised it was a bit futile at that early point.

At about 2 - 2.5 we decided she was pretty much ready. When we had pprox 50 nappies left in the carton we'd say to her 'we want you to stop wearing nappies by the end of this carton'. Then we started counting down each time we put a nappy on her.

We also started encouraging her to go to the toilet (she wasn't interested in the potty) every time she did something in her nappy, and kept referring it back to the nappies left in the nappy carton.

However, in the midst of that, our little boy arrived and of course she regressed a bit. So the process was a bit slower. Then one day, it just clicked with her and she decided it wasn't grown up enough to wear nappies.

She's still wearing nappies to bed, however mostly they are dry nowadays. She's progressing out to not wearing nappies to bed, however we're just being cautious.

I really felt like she was feeling a bit left out at child care when all her friends were going to the loo by themselves. That no doubt spurred her on.

I think you'll note when she's ready and at that point they need a bit of a push along. 22 months isn't ridiculously early, but if she's not showing any signs of wanting to get out of nappies, I'd ease into it.

So in summary

Positive reinforcement
Use some sort of mechanism to count down to something special - the birthday of your girl WHUFC?

Ultimately, they'll do it when they're ready - with a bit of coaxing and co-ordination from the parents

Best of luck!

Gadj

[Hondo]

From memory our first (boy) found the whole toilet seat concept scary so we just started taking his nappy off when he was outside and really overdid the praise when he started to wee on his own. Then we bit the bullet with underpants (making a big deal about his "Thomas" pants). After a few wet pants he eventually sorted it out. Now he takes his own pants off and tries to get them back on afterwards.

We tried to force the issue but, as gadj just said, he did it when he was ready. I can't remember now how old he was.

Number 2's however are still a problem for him. He is now 3 1/2. Almost daily we are changing him with number 2's in his pants

Child care helps with the learning of how to use the toilet if your child goes? They have mini toilets and they get to see other kids doing it.

[A Mum]

Just make a big deal out of every successful visit, it is a bit easier for boys though, the old ping pong ball works a treat.

EH?

Gives the boys something to aim at, it wont flush either.

The day my mother-in-law said this to me I had the same reaction as FC and thought she was a mad woman...lol.

Sounds good in theory but I never could bring myself to do the old ping pong ball training.

[A Mum]

The other thing I remember us doing was facing them backwards on the toilet for a while.

[Lightning McQueen]

The other thing I remember us doing was facing them backwards on the toilet for a while.

Big Brother style?

[LMA]

Forget the potty, kids pick them up and move them around too easily. You can get attachments that go on the toilet seat so it doesn't look like such a big hole for the little ones, team that up with a small step. Kids are pretty clever just show them a few times where to go what to do etc with plenty of encouragement and fuss, they'll be an old hat in no time

[fisho mcspaz]

We bought a toilet seat insert + step, they came in the one box. Angus was mainly afraid of falling in but the seat insert helped him. We would make him go and sit on it every couple of hours and if something came out we'd make a big fuss. Eventually he began to recognise the signs of when he needed to go - it took some time but he got there in the end.

[Dirko]

Geez, um my first was pretty easy. We went to Mauritius when she was 1.5 years old and just left the nappies at home (took enough for the plane trip over). Once we got to the hotel told her we didn't have any and she just went to the toilet no worries.

The second my lad I think we were up in cairns so same deal, and my third pretty sure she just followed her big sister when she started walking and never looked back. That sucked as we misssed out on a holiday

So my tip. Go to Mauritius for a holiday.....

[southee]

Southee is a new Dad......his daughter born 2 weeks ago.

First child for us, so this thread could be a great reference point for us in the future.

[Media Park]

I'm just dropping by to say... I won't be dropping in to this thread again...

Little Media Parkette lives in VIC, so I can't help with toilet training...

Good luck though, previous housemates have struggled at two-and-a-half, three years, to get kids doing the business in the correct manner, and place...

[A Mum]

Southee is a new Dad......his daughter born 2 weeks ago.

First child for us, so this thread could be a great reference point for us in the future.

Congratulations Southee !!

[Moe]

We bought a toilet seat insert + step, they came in the one box. Angus was mainly afraid of falling in but the seat insert helped him. We would make him go and sit on it every couple of hours and if something came out we'd make a big fuss. Eventually he began to recognise the signs of when he needed to go - it took some time but he got there in the end.

Same application for the Little Moemen.

[Hondo]

Update to my earlier post ...

We are now having success with our 3 1/2 year old and his number 2's!!

Last night and now this morning he number 2'ed on the toilet.

As I said before, number ones have been fine for a while now. Number 2's = in pants =

Breakthrough, yay!!

[A Mum]

That's very good Hondo