Oh Crap Potty Training Fail :(

[babytobe]

Hey ladies,

So I tried the "Oh Crap Potty Training" method the last nine days with my son, and I think im officially giving up for now. I feel so discouraged, but my son is still young (almost 2 yrs), so I know we still have time.

I was just wondering if any of you had better luck with your toddlers when you waited a few more months or longer. My son was showing some good signs of progression in the beginning with pees, but in nine days we did not get one poop on the potty (except for the "end" of a poop as we caught him going). I would watch him like a hawk to try to catch a poop and he seriously wouldn't show any signs of an impending poop until like two seconds before he goes poop. So I was cleaningup poop off the floor for over a week 😣. After nine days I just don't see how this is going to change anytime soon. He also has digressed with the pees. I'm having a way harder time getting him to sit on the potty than in the beginning. The excitement of potty training seems to have passed and now he doesn't seem to mind if he pees on the floor or in his pants. In fact he now thinks it's fun to help me clean up when he goes pee or poop on the floor 😣. He's not trying to be bad by doing this, he just seems to think he's helping and it's great. On the flip side when I ask him where pee or poop goes, he excitedly exclaims "In the Potty!".
I know I had to expect to be prompting him for a while before he would be going to the potty on his own or telling us he needed to go potty, but if I can't even get him to the potty to poo when I prompt him I just don't know what to do!
Suggestions? Encouragement? I really wanted to have him potty trained before my next baby comes at the end of July, but now I don't know if that's going to happen!

This potty training stuff is way harder than I thought it would be!

 

[Fleur29]

Under two is really quite young to be potty trained imo. I don't mean to sound negative but it doesn't sound like he is ready and there is very little you can do until he is ready. It will be so much easier if you wait until he is genuinely ready as you will crack it so much faster at that point. We waited and waited with our dd until she was ready and it was so straightforward, we had virtually no accidents at all (she was 2.5).

I don't mean to sound harsh and it is perhaps not what you want to hear but forcing him to potty train just because you have another baby on the way when he is clearly not ready is probably just going to cause all of you extra stress. I would just wait until he is properly ready.

Good luck!

 

[familygirl30]

Yeah I would just leave it for now, he's still so young, my boy started just before 2.5 and he wasn't ready so I left it and two weeks later he was wanting to do it.Hes still not pooing on the potty/toilet he waits for bedtime nappy, he was pooing at the beg on it but he's not confident with it, he's 3 in june but know it will come

 

[babytobe]

Okay thanks ladies! In her book she says between 20-30 months is the best time to potty tgrain, so I figured 24 months would be okay, but I'm fine with waiting longer if it will be easier later on! I guess it just depends on the kid too. This is my first so I wasn't really sure if he was ready or not.
Thanks again. We'll try again when he's showing more signs of being ready.

 

[familygirl30]

Okay thanks ladies! In her book she says between 20-30 months is the best time to potty tgrain, so I figured 24 months would be okay, but I'm fine with waiting longer if it will be easier later on! I guess it just depends on the kid too. This is my first so I wasn't really sure if he was ready or not.
Thanks again. We'll try again when he's showing more signs of being ready.

So many people told me boys can be a bit later than girls at it, yeah just leave it a bit until he's ready, good luck

 

[staralfur]

Honestly, I don't think potty training has to be hard. Just give it time and wait until he's ready. I think having a new baby and trying to potty train a toddler that isn't ready sounds way more stressful than having two kids in diapers, personally. Try not to worry about having him trained by X age or date and let it come naturally - it will be much easier on you both.

 

[Zephram]

I really would just let it go for now, there are not many kids, boys or girls, who are ready to train under two. It's very young. I also wouldn't worry about some author's imposed timeframes, they have little relevance to the real world.

We tried from when my DS1 was 2.5 and although he got his wees sorted before 3, he didn't figure out pooing on the toilet until around his third birthday. This is totally normal, for a large proportion of kids 3 is like a magic number for potty training. Lots aren't physically or psychologically ready until then.

Oh, and it's not a fail that he isn't potty trained yet! Neither you nor he have done anything wrong.

 

[Thurinius]

Potty training is the hardest bit of parenting. Mainly because it's all down to the child.

Not every child is ready between 24 and 30 months. I was having real trouble potting training my eldest and asked for help from the health visitor. She told me that I was doing everything right but it just needed to click with him. She also said it's true that some kids just don't click with it till they're nearer to four.

I'm taking another potty training break with my three year old. He's got himself in a state about it and gets hysterical at the suggestion of going to the toilet. So I'm taking the pressure off and we will try again in a month.

They do all get it eventually but the journey is sometimes a bit longer than you anticipated
.
good luck

 

[hayz_baby]

I didn't start potty training ds 1 till he was 2yr2m he was completely ready to train and was dry within a few weeks and it was t overly stressful. However this was early and tbh not the norm. But when they are ready it's a much simpler process. Ds2 is now a similar age and isn't ready to potty train at all. We can get him to sit on the loo/potty but he won't go in there yet so we're not training him and this is completely normal.
Encourage nappy free time where you can (At home) with no stress that he has to go in the potty. When they are ready it's much simpler.

 

[susan_1981]

I started potty training my youngest when he was around 2 years 3 months old. I was amazed how quickly he got it. Within a week, he was completely dry and I was just so amazed - especially as my nearly-4-year-old was a nightmare! - then after a month or so, he relapsed. It's almost like at first, it was was exciting to do wee wees and poo poos on potty but now he's over it. He will always do his poos on the potty but his wees, he'll say "mummy I need to go wee wee". I now know that 9 times out of 10, when he's said this, he's already wet himself.

I'm not stressing myself about it. He's still so young as is your LO so I really wouldn't worry. I think I read that a lot of children who are potty trained really young will often relapse.

With my 3.5 year old, we started potty training him a few months before he turned 3. Pooing was always a bit hit and miss (mainly miss). But he seemed ok with the peeing side. But then he just hit a complete relapse. He would wet himself at least 3 times a day and I was so frustrated, especially as he starts school this year. But then it was like something clicked and (aside from a brief relapse for a few days last week after we came back from holiday), he hasn't had any accidents for probably 2 months or more.

 

[StaceyKor]

Both of my girls potty trained under 2 (dd1 was 22 months and dd2 was 18 months). With dd1 we kept her naked from waist down for 3 days and didn't really have to prompt her to go. She took to it right away but had a couple of accidents of day 4 when we put pants on her. By the afternoon she had clicked that she had to wait to have her pants take down. She was completely day time training in 5 days and we've never had any regressions. It took another few months for her to be dry at night (she was about 25 months).
Dd1 was even easier....she woke one morning and said no nappy, pee pee potty...and honestly, that was that. She has also been dry at night since. It's phenomenal. 3 months on and she hasn't regressed at all. She's totally comfortable with using the toilet now but hates being prompted. We have to leave it all up to her to decide when she needs to go. She never has accidents so it's fine.

I think once they are ready potty training is very easy. It shouldn't be a battle in my opinion. Every kid will be ready at different times and I prefer to take their lead x

 

[babytobe]

Ok ladies thank you! 👍 👍
Your experiences are helping me to recognize it is different for each kid and it's probably easier to wait until they are showing more signs of readiness.
The funny thing is, we totally stopped potty training for the last five days, but he no longer likes going poo in his diaper! He's a bit upset about it (clearly not sure where to put his poo at the moment), so I just gently persuade him to sit on the potty to poop if I catch him soon enough, and if not then I just tell him it's ok for him to go in his diaper and we change it right away. I think the increased awareness is just a positive step in the right direction for him, and we'll just put him on the potty when he wants to go for now.
He also asked to go to the potty at church today haha! And he went as soon as he got on it, so that was a nice surprise! I think the no-pressure thing is probably the best thing for him. Maybe I was hovering too much when I was trying to potty train him.
I totally agree now too.....that it would be easier having two in diapers than stressing aboutique potty training if he's not ready. It's funny how your priorities change when you learn things as a first time patent 😉.

 

[bumble b]

I don't think you started too early. My ds1 was dry at 23 months. Ds2 is 25 months & we have had a few hits & a lot of misses lol! He is taking longer but we will get there. I am due baby number 3 in november so i want him dry in the day by then.

Good luck with getting him dry, every child is different but they all get it eventually