7 Things Nobody Tells You About Potty or Toilet Training

1. It doesn't just require them to be ready, you need to be ready too! We lost a year due to this, and cost a year in nappies (trained at 3 instead of age 2).
2. When they have accidents their SHOES get wet too! Aaron hadn't had an accident in 3 months but due to helping a friend with a house move, he could see that I couldn't go inside to the loo with him so he didn't even ask. His canvas high tops got wet and I had a chance of clothes, but not socks and socks. He was so uncomfortable in them, we had to get an "expensive" taxi home. That was a lesson I never forgot but it never happened again.
3. Being out of nappies doesn't mean being out of nappies. NIGHT TIME is the problem! Especially if they still have milk at night. See point 7.
4. Being able to do a wee in the toilet/potty doesn't mean a poo will be anywhere near as easy! He point blank used to refuse to do a poo in a loo and we used to sometimes spend an hour in there. This took weeks not days to resolve.
5. Being out and about and needing a toilet turns out not to be a big deal - they can hold it for a short while.
6. It is not just a physical process it is just as much a mental one. Bladder control takes time, even when they do get their head around it. What I mean here is, in the early days he once did a wee 7 times in one hour. It was like he either needed to learn bladder control or just get his head around holding it. This took a few days, so I would do the training when you can stay at home for a few days, at least 3 or 4.
7. PULL UPS are too DAMN expensive!!!!! To get round this I used Lidl ones, which I think are 2.99 pounds for a pack of 18. The market leader ones are just far too dear when you are using them every night, i.e. you could spend as much as 15 or 20 pounds a month on just those.

Straight to Toilet Training - No Potty - Day 02 - It's all in the mind

So yesterday, we made a conscious decision to stay at home.  It was snowing and COLD, and the heating was on, so I thought RIGHT, perfect time to commence toilet training with us being indoors for the duration.

I made sure I had THREE pairs of trackies (that are slightly too small) that I did not mind getting wet.  I thought they would get wet via "on the way to the loo" accidents, but no, my son is too old and too clever for that.

If he wanted to go to the loo, he would hold it, till he gets there as he has done in the past when we have experimented flirted with the toilet!

But yesterday he was in Thomas the Tank Engine pants (not training pants - I wanted him to feel the wetness to incentivise him to use the loo).  On the 1st wet through, we got through the following items * pants * socks * vest and * trackies.

So I then dispensed with the socks and vest - heating was on - so the second time we had just trackies to get wet, and the THIRD - gggggrrrrrr!

No bladder control.
No attempt to go to the loo.
No call to Mummy to say needed the loo.

He was proving a point - he doesn't like "panties" as he calls them, and likes his "nappies".

What got me was the 3rd wet was ALSO a number two! Have you ever tried to pull pants down when they contain a huge number two. Aint easy, especially when you're used to nappies.

This was what he looked like when he was wet and ***** for the THIRD time:

The reason he doesn't like panties is because we were sent some training (quilted) pants to review a few months back and they were so tight on the legs that they made him cry, and as a result if you even try to put even ordinary cotton pants on him (not quilted, not training) he screams "they'll hurt me".  It's certainly put us back a couple of months.

But now he is getting used to the Thomas ones. And trusting that they don't hurt him.  I wish I'd never tried those training pants now :-(

Anyway last night I gave up and have had him in nappies all day today - Sunday day 02.

But tonight he has surprised me.

We went for a walk tonight so that he could see the snow and more importantly walk in it, after being indoors all day yesterday and today, and surprise surprise when he got in tonight he had a bottle on my knee and once it had gone through to his bladder he said "Mummy I need to do a poo".

He had enough bladder control (it was a wee not a poo) to wait for me to:

undo the button of his jeans
AND the poppers on his vest
AND take off the nappy
AND put the mickey mouse seat on the toilet
AND position him before he started to do a wee (to which I of course said I thought you said it was a poo!).....

Anyway about 15 minutes later same deal

And 10 minutes after that same deal.

So between 20:50 and 21:30 he'd weed three times.  No wonder his nappies are always so full.

God forbid if we were out and I had to find a loo that many times but like I said he had just had a full 12 oz bottle.

What impresses me is that all three times he told me.
All three times he waited for me to undress his bottom half and set the seat up.
And all three times nothing came out until he was positioned.

SO I think yesterday his mind wasn't on it.

Today, there is a link between his brain and the action.

He's got it.

So I think toilet training is as much a mental as a physical process.

Bless him!

And at 10 p.m. I sent my last tweet to #pbloggers and tried to put him to bed again!
At about 22:15 he asked to do a wee again, and again he did.
Nappy was dry so went back on for the night.

So that is FOUR wees he has done in the big toilet this evening.
All without any effort from me.  He doesn't even have "panties" on today.
He just GETS it from yesterday.

And has decided to go with it.

Things percolate in their little minds.  It's amazing.

So I think we will stay indoors again tomorrow and make hay while the sun shines.

Except
As
We
All
Know
It
Might
Be
March
But
There
Is
Snow
Not
Sun!

The Trouble with Toilet Training

I don't know how many mums admit what a struggle toilet / potty training is...

For me the battle has been all mine.  It's never been about whether Aaron is ready - the worries are all my own, and have been since he was a year old and he'll be two and a half in 7 days!!!!

I visited my Great Aunt a few months ago and she could not believe he was still in nappies, informing me she had my cousin dry by 11 months... No pressure then!

Then last weekend I spent the weekend in Folkestone and my friend literally gave me homework, in the form of 3 Bs which quickly became 5.

1. Bum - get him out of nappies
2. Bottle - get him off his bottles (still on 3 a day)
3. Bed - get him out of our bed (he cosleeps with us)

He said parenting is all about getting those 3 done as quickly as possible.  But ALL 3 of them are my fault and not Aaron's :-(

Later on we made it five by adding on B for behaviour and B for ... can't remember the 5th one...

Everyone had said toilet training is easier in Summer.  I was out of work all Summer so I had the time to dedicate to it, and yet I always had an excuse.  So so so very many excuses.

NOW I have everything: the seat, the training pants, the pull ups, everything! Aaron is more than ready and has been for a long time.  So yesterday he told me about a poo BEFORE he did it, and I sat him on his mickey mouse toilet seat on the big loo, and because it was FREEZING he hopped off.  Our loo is the only room out of 6 that does not have a radiator.

So how bad did I feel then!!!!!  Knowing that this is yet another reason I should have done it in Summer like EVERYONE told me.

Today, because he remembers yesterday's experience, when I took his night time nappy off, I was going to put pull ups on, but because he associates them with the loo (the COLD loo) he would not let me and insisted I put a nappy on him.  I was GUTTED!

At nursery it is VERY warm and he is forever asking them if he can go to the toilet.  But they won't start it till I do so at home...

So I went on a forum today and admitted all of my concerns and fears, and it was so refreshing to have so many mums commenting back that they have left it as late as I have.

No doubt there were some reading who thought "you idiot get on with it, I did it a year ago" but those thinking that, stayed respectfully silent, so there was a cheerful gang of us effectively saying "it's alright mate" :-)

But it worries me, SO SO much.  It is like a weight on my shoulder.

So I think I may get a bit religious and pray on it.  I did buy a book the other day called The Power of a Praying Parent, and I have A LOT to be praying about.



It is so much on my mind, that I want to start praying about everything, to pass it over into God's hands, that when I heard G+ had started communities, the FIRST thing I did was set up a "Praying Parent" community.

The photo for the community, is one I personally took in Malta.

Feel free to join me there, if you are that way inclined.

I know it sounds so silly when some people have REAL problems, but trust me I have some of those too...

Liska xx

Ready For Toilet / Potty Training

It was never ever about Aaron being ready - it was me!  It was always about me!

Now, kicking and screaming, I am reluctantly ready.  Hey in 7 days he will be 28 months!!!!! It is - to be honest - about time too!

My Great Aunt who is normally "don't worry! Don't worry!" about most things even told me my cousin, who herself is now nearly 50, was being toilet trained at 11 months and dry by 13 months.  Eeek, so 2 generations before me, my family was more efficient brave!

So I went off to Argos on Sunday and got this:

But the seat goes UNDER your seat and it did NOT fit in ours.  So I will be needing to get a refund!

Plus I have always known I want to go straight to toilet, bypassing potty, and I knew I wanted a cushioned seat.  When I say I, I mean for Aaron, obviously ;-)

I was meant to toilet train Aaron in Summer, and because I bottled out, delayed, he is now finding the seat incredibly cold, and the above would not help.

Now the beauty of the above is that you get all 3 of those in a set for £9.99.  I should have known it was too cheap to work LOL!  I did get other bargains in Argos whilst there, which I will save for another blog post.  Don't get me wrong, all products are being put to good use, but I won't be blogging about them just yet.

Anyway, due to the seat not fitting our toilet seat, I today went to Mothercare this afternoon, where they are doing 3 for 2 and I bought these:

Please ignore the dust chalky marks on the floor where my floor polish has one funny.

They are pricey to be honest even with the 3 for 2 offer but I justified it by the fact that I nearly bought Aaron Hunter wellies for £28, whereas in Mothercare I got the wellies for £12 and he will LOVE them as he is all about Thomas (by the way why is Thomas now called Thomas & Friends? I personally can't get out of the habit of saying Thomas The Tank Engine!)

So as you can see the above toilet seat goes OVER ours instead of UNDER like the Argos one.  It is cushioned just like I wanted BUT is £16.99.  The potty and the stool are each £7.99 so it was one of them I got free.  I would have preferred if the stool was a half moon shape instead of round, but I wasn't going to walk away on that basis as I have been putting off this potty / toilet training malarchy for long enough!!!!!

I just Googled toilet training for the first time.  I had previously been too in denial to even do that.

The first thing that came up was this Huggies Pull Ups website.  The video is too brief and not at all helpful, but I am delighted by the advice that you CAN train straight through to toilet as intuitively THAT is exactly what I would like to do.

The website says:

Choosing to go straight to the toilet:

Pros:
Your toddler will already be familiar with you using the toilet
You make the transition to the toilet without the middle step of using a potty.
Easy to flush away the 'mess' rather than having to clean it out of the potty
Your toddler may feel more like a BIG KID by using the toilet like other members of the family.
Your toddler will not be so daunted about going to the toilet when out and about without their potty.
Toilet seat inserts are lightweight and portable.

Cons:
Can be daunting
Flushing can frighten some kids
Requires parental assistance to get on and off

Anyway, wish me us luck.

Liska xxx