WHEN and HOW?

I really have no idea with this! Typical first time mum :rolleyes:

When and how should I tt DS? I'm sort of cool with the whole process once it gets started, but it's getting started that I'm stuck on! How do I know when? Is there a good age to try? Are there things I should be doing/saying now, before we start, to get him used to the idea? He's VERY verbal, so I don't think we'll have communication dramas, and we use cloth always during the day, so he should be fairly aware of what's going on in there.

Others stories would be much appreciated :D Oh, and BTW, I'd like to bypass the potty and go straight to the toilet if at all possible.

I let the boys take the lead. DS1 showed the first signs of being ready by flushing the toilet whenever he did wee or poo in his nappy. So then we started sitting him on the toilet, and once he understood about doing wee and doing poo, knowing when he had done it, when he needed to do it, and being able to do it on cue when sitting on the toilet, we started underpants. With DS2, he has been sitting on the toilet for a long time now as he copies his brother. I tried him in undies over Christmas and he wet a couple of times and didn't seem interested so I stopped. Then on Friday he asked to wear undies to day care. He has been in them ever since (except for night and day sleeps), and we have only had a couple of accidents.

The first things to do are to talk about wee and poo, tell him when he has done wee or poo, show him what you do and talk about it as you are doing it. Sit him on the toilet at usual "wee" times - 5 - 10 minutes after a sleep, after a meal etc, and praise him when he does something (as well as telling him - you're doing a wee" etc). Once he is regularly able to wee on the toilet (and with any luck poo also), you can try undies.

There really is no magic age, it's just about reading the cues. Also, the ability to pull their own pants off is a handy thing to have mastered before you start with undies. GL.

Oh hell, I'm a lazy TTer then! :redface:

I just rip their nappies off when the weather is warm and see what happens! Dp will do a pee down the backyard and DS used to watch. He liked the idea of peeing off the back deck (and on the cat), so once he got used to that he was fine....

PMSL Lulu! I wish I'd thought of that ;)

We didn't ever use the potty, we did buy one but DS wouldn't use it. He was happy to sit on it but wouldn't "do" anything in it. We waited until he was showing signs he was ready, like telling us if he was doing a pee or poo in his nappy. He's been out of nappies for several months now (he's 3 in March) and he's doing beautifully.
I would take him to the toilet every hour or so and sit him on it, plus he goes to daycare 3 days a week and they were great in helping too. Poos took a while, he used to not tell me quick enough and we had several weeks with poos in his pants and on the floor(lucky we have wooden floors!). A good thing to do is take him shopping and buy some of his favourite character undies. My DS has Wiggles, Bob the Builder, Spiderman and Diego, Kmart are pretty good for a wide selection. Let him see you go to the tiolet and explain what you are doing. Most importantly, be patient, it might take a few weeks, it might take a few days, each child is different. Oh and we did the star chart thing too - a small star for a pee and a gold star for a poo. Works a treat!

we did the rewards sticker chart but its been more headaches than it worth!!!

LOL Jols, sorry!

We do already let him watch us go to the toilet :rolleyes: not that it's something you can avoid LOL. And we explain what we're doing, he now says "bye wees" or "bye poos" when it's time to flush. (He also loves to tell us that we've farted, even though we haven't - such a boy :doh:).

I think I've decided to wait until he's a bit older, maybe until spring, he'll be two and a half then. But I'll watch out, and if he seems ready before then, we'll give it a go.

Thank you so much for all your tips, I'll have to remember this thread for when the time comes!

id wait sez!! unless he was really showing signs, wait!

Even MORE excellenter when they announce to the word the business that has just taken place....gotta love 'em!

But I shall expand :p. It had alot to do with the weather, DS spends so much time outside and he thought it was funny that dad could pee on the bushes. We also had a few friends about in the garden around the same time so he liked :rolleyes: being one of the boys, and everyone cheered each time he did it. The cat part came later :doh:.

The we did the ceremonial buying of the undies (how CUTE are they?), and when it came to poo a short time later we brought out the jelly babies....and daddy showed him how to put a little paper in the loo first "so it didn't splash his bum". I think the idea of that bothered him... ALSO many happy dances and clapping.

I AM a bit lazy, but I also didn't do the hourly toilet thing because I don't think it gives them a chance to feel 'full' of wee etc. I can hack a few accidents (no carpet!) and there weren't too many.

I think it was more about him being ready...you'll know when that is ;)

we bought a little potty and around 22mths before his bath we would ask if he wanted to sit on potty 9/10 he would do a pee, we praised him but didn't do a song and dance well behind his back we did :lol:

aroudn his bday (2) we got some jocks and we would put them on 1-2 times a day, we had some hits and misses and well the whole of Nov he practically refused to wear jocks, we are now in jocks most days nappies for sleeps and sometimes he will beg for a nppy generally if I put one on he does #2 we haven't mastered #2 he will wait for a nappy

its only the last few weeks I have been real strict with nappies for bed/nap time only and he is doing so well...HTH

We've just bought a potty because DS wants to use it. He has started to sit on one at my mum's and now at Nursery; even asking to go to potty for his wee. He loves to rip his clothes off too! He can take most of his nappies off already; Nursery put him in pull-up nappies.

He won't go on the potty he picked though. Won't go near it. Typical boy!

He knows all about wees and poos; for over a year he knows that Mummy does Big Girl Wees on the loo and as soon as Liebling wants to do Big Boy Wees just tell us and he can do a wee on the loo too. DH now has to wee sitting down when DS is around because DS is very interested in DH's Big Boy Wees - and he's just at the wrong height to poke his face in the way! PMSL still at that.

I praise DS for sitting on the potty and do a lot of praise for wees on the potty, but otherwise we ignore it. No "do you need to go" every two minutes. He knows when he wants to wee and usually goes to the bathroom for that, so that's praised.

Oh, we also get graphic. "Liebling is doing a wee from his penis" or "Liebling is doing a poo out his bum." Body part naming too!

With the sticker chart thing - the PPP method is to only use the chart for a short period at a time - say 2 weeks, or a month, then stop. It apparently isn't effective longer term.

I reccon the best time is when (and if) you realise they are hiding from you to do the business (much easier to do with poo). Folllow them and talk about doing wees or poos.

Another way is if you take them in the shower with you, if they wee accidently give them a huge praise. You can set this up by giving them a drink before the shower.

Regular potty/toilet sitting never worked for me but give it a go. I hear it works for some ;)

Claire is almost 2 and often does wees and poos on her toilet. (its just a potty, but we call it Claires Toilet because I dont like the word potty). When we change her nappies we have always said "just wees" or "its a poo".

She goes to FDC and one of the little boys there (2.5 years old) is learning toilet, so when she saw him she became interested and started coming into the bathroom when we were sitting on the loo and she'd say "weewee". We tell her "I'm doing a wee" or whatever and we ask her if she needs to go to the toiet too. Usually she gets her toilet out and asks us to help her take her nappy off and then she sits down.

When she does a poo in her nappy, she comes over to me and stands so her bum is facing me and then she points to her bum and says poo. So she knows she has done a poo.

Sometimes she just takes herself into the bathroom when she needs to go and takes off her pants/nappy. Usually she is happy to sit on her toilet and probably about 3 out of 4 times she does something on it. Once she has done something we tell her she's done a wee/poo and tell her she did really well doing a wee on her toilet. She always looks so pleased once she has done it and then she gets up and points to it and says wee or poo. She's fairly reliable and we havent had any accidents on the floor recently.

We usually ask her if she needs to go to the toilet just after she wakes up, before her sleep, before she has a bath.... Alot of the time she is happy to sit on her toilet. We're not constantly asking her about it though because then she wont get the feeling of a full bladder.