What was your 'method' - TT little girls

Hi Girls,

I am really starting to feel the pressure to have DD toilet trained (she turned 2 in Jan) but it is not going well.

I tried about 6 weeks ago for a few days and decided she just wasn't ready.

I've pretty much followed the lead of my best friend who has twins 3 months older than DD - she basically took their nappies off (she TT'd one at a time, her DD first because she was much more ready than DS) put them in knickers and for a week sat them on the toilet every 5 minutes. Each time they'd get off the toilet, she'd give them a drink.

Now I mean she did it every 5 mins to the minute, she watched the clock. I just can't seem to do this! I have a one year old niece that I have at home with us on the days I don't work and have other things to do, every 5 mins seems OTT to me. I also think the more I push her, the less happy she will be to sit on the toilet (she's fine with it now and has been for months).

BUT it worked for her. Both of her kids are tt'd and I feel like a loser because my DD isn't. I'm starting to get paranoid when we go out that people will notice she's in nappies and judge me/her.

Today I've gone through about 6 pairs of knickers. I'll sit her on the toilet - nothing. I'll get her off and 2 mins later she'll do a wee or a poo in her knickers. She knows when she's done a wee because she comes and tells me. She also gets very uncomfortable in nappies that are very wet or dirty and starts walking funny.

I'm thinking of switching to pull ups to save the mess but is this the right thing to do??

HELP!! How did you do it?

Lots of nappy free time in the garden!! Bare bottoms work better than pants on. We made sure DD had some little positive role models at family day care, and the other thing that worked super fast, was the mini-M&M bribes...LOL!

Good luck, you will get there!

For what it's worth, my DD was nearly 2 and a half (timed to coincide with the warmer weather) but she had plenty of little friends in nappies later than her. Don't feel pressured by what other people *might* be thinking, that's their problem not yours.

Wow thats a lot of pressure... Matilda is nearly 3 and just started TT. I tried before and although she knew most of what was going on just wasn't doing it. She's hold on until I put a nappy on for nap time & then she would wee :rolleyes: everytime I tried. I would put her on the toilet & it was a game for her, she wouldn't wee at all.

She started kindy where there are toilets her size & suddenly she TT herself in 1 day. It just clicked. I showed up to pick her up & they said we must have been doing a great job over the past week TT. She had done everything on the toilet at kindy with no wet nappies. So I realised I had better do it at home too. We put undies on and talk to her about going to the toilet & we use bribery. She is in love with chocolate and I only give her a smartie when she uses the toilet. Ever since she realised it, she uses the toilet only. We put nappies on for sleeps now & they are wet overnight, but thats all good. We'll get there. I put a nappy on when we go to the park or to the shops but in a week or so I'll get more brave ;)

Don't worry, your DD will do it when SHE is ready. Don't worry what others are doing each child is different. At playgroup we still have 2 that are no where near ready and they will be 3 this month. With Mackenzie i put her on the toilet each night and read her a story but we never had any luck. I also used the terry towling knickers (you can get them from K-Mart or the supermarket) instead of pullups as I think they are a waste of money and not much different from a nappy. I also had a great book called 'Ruby has a potty'. One morning I was in the kitchen and Mackenzie walked out with poo all over her legs - she had pulled her nappy off so I decided that we would make a concentrated effort on TT. We used a potty first and I would give her breaky and a cup of milk and then get her to sit on the potty - once she did one wee she seemed to understand what needed to be done. We also had a huge song and dance, chocolate (small amounts) and a sticker chart. I just put some coloured paper with bluetack up next to the toilet and then we gave her a sticker everytime even if nothing happened. You need to reward for the small achivements as well as the big ones! The day she took her nappy off we only had 1 or 2 accidents and 1 poo accident and then we were pretty much TT. We did stay home for the week and ventured out on quick outings the week after. She has been TT's since July last year but we still have days where she is just too busy to worry about going to the toilet so have accidents - only at home! When we did start going out I popped a towel for her to sit on in the car seat so if we did have an accident the seat would be OK! We started leaving the nappy off for daytime sleeps towards the end of last year and then went night time in January and she has only had 2 accidents at night. Don't feel stressed about how old your DD is - each child will eventually TT when they are ready.

Ashlea was 2 1/2 and I said to her "mummy only has one nappy left and we aren't going to the shops til after your sleep today. You'll need the nappy for your sleep so you'll have to be a big girl and use the toilet until then" I put some little jocks on her and about 10 mins later I walked up the hallway and found her sitting on the toilet doing a wee.
From then on, apart from sleeps and night time she was toilet trained.
I couldn't beileve it!!