Potty Training - Knickers or Pull ups?

[Tilly]

Straight to knickers or pull ups first?

*Those of you that went straight to knicks, would you put a pull up on them if you were going out?

*If you used Pull ups - did this make more of a problem when switching to knickers, or was it quite easy for your little one to make the adjustment?

I thought I might use pull ups first, just to get her used to the idea of still wearing a nappy but being able to pull them down herself to get on the potty.. then switching to knickers when shes confident doing that.

Started getting Bethanie to sit on the potty (she refused for a while, but I think shes a good age now). So far she has only done a tiny drip of a wee and I can get her to sit on the potty for 5-10 mins with me reading her some books, if shes in the right mood. She was a bit scared of doing a poo without her nappy on and will deny shes doing a poo when shes wearing her nappy, but recently i've been laughing and making a joke of "are you doing a poopoo?? " etc and shes started to say she is.

The other day she did a wee on her nightie because she didn't want to do it on her potty - she held her nightie against herself to do it so she was well aware of what she was doing im sure. She says she likes nappy and doesn't want to wear big girl knickers. I've tried explaining that the nappy fairy is coming to take them because shes a big girl and can wear big girl knickers like mummy does.

We officially start "potty training" next week so any advice would be very much appreciated! thanks

 

[Jo]

Good luck with it hun, as she knows what she is doing she is deffo ready

I would use knickers if you are in the house and pull ups when out and about

It is always a good idea to let them choose their own, so they feel like big girls

I found a sticker chart and sweets was a great help, everytime a wee on the potty a sticker and 1 smartie for them and a sticker for the chart, I told Jack though when the smarties were gone out of the tub that was it, and he was really good with it

I always used to take the stickers out with me as well in case he asked to go, continuity is a really important thing I feel with potty training

I got a couple of potty training books from Amazon which show loads of pottys and and children on them

 

[Tilly]

Thanks Jo, thats a really good idea with the smarties. The stickers on the chart don't seem to excite her that much so I think that would be good.
We got a Potty training book too, it's quite good but I just read it for tips, rather than word for word.

 

[Jo]

The books I got Jack were aimed at him, he was facinated with them

 

[FsMummy]

hi we have been poty trainy my dd for just under a month. she is pretty much clean now apart from bed time. i put pullups on her (for some reason she likes the spiderman ones lol) at bed time and i was putting one on her when she naps during the day but she sleeps in knickers now when she naps. i put a pullup on her if we are going on a long car journey (over an hour) but most of the time she goes every few hours. i bought a portable potty called a "potette" and it is brilliant. it is almost flat so takes up no space in your changing bag or under the pram and it has 2 legs that pop down and you put a bag in it (looks a bit like a nappy bag) and the bag has an absorbent pad at the bottom. when they have done thier business you just tie it up and throw it in the bin. its great when i take her to the park i just find a quiet spot behind a bush and thats it, job done! im lucky shes taken to potty training really well and i havent had to change a pooy nappy for almost a month! she goes on the "big toilet" if i put her special seat on it and she likes doing poos on there. the only trouble im having is getting her to pee as soon as she wakes up. she always pees before she sits at the table for dinner, before bed and before a bath and she will happily just stop what shes doing and run to the potty. if she does have an accident she holds it in and finishes on the potty. i let her choose what knickers she wanted and i tell her that they are her big girl's knickers. i clap and tell her shes a clever girl when she goes on the potty and i dont make a fuss if she has an accident, i just say something like "oopsi, shall we try again next time?" and i try not to pester her and keep sayind do u need a wee, do u need a wee. she usually just goes, i only ask her if she needs to when she is playing or really engrossed in something as she might forget to go on the potty. i explain to her what wee and poo is and where it comes froma and she often tells me when shes doing it lol i also just casually say things like "oh its so nice not wearing a nappy isnt it because you dont get sore", or " we dont have to wipe your bum as much when you poo poo on the potty and it isnt so smelly"

sorry thats long but hopefully some of that might proove useful to u. oh yes and once u start, stick to it! my sister has her daughter in nappies for a couple of weeks then knickers for a week and so on just because she cant be bothered and her daughter is 4 this year! let me know how you get on hun. i really really recommend the potette, its great and so handy to have under the pram or in the car when you go out and dd is in knickers or pullups x

 

[Stef]

I obviously arent at that stage yet or been through it but my friend who potty trained her toddler went straight to 'big boy pants'

She said that if they have a pull up on it still absorbs it like a nappy but if they have a pant they dont like feeling wet and so encourages them to controll their bladder and use the potty/toilet & ask to use it. She used to put pull ups on for bed for the first couple of months but not during the day and just always took spare pants about with her. She also bought a Piddle pad for her car seat/stroller.

I think the reward charts a good idea too

I can see the logic in that so I reckon im going to give it ago when we hit the potty training stage

x

 

[Helen]

I've been having a little go with pants this week. Mine have washable nappies so it doesn't make sense to me to try pull ups. Charlotte loves the Miffy "bunny! bunny!" pants I got her and she parades around proudly in them (right up until she wees lol).

 

[mommyof3co]

I personally think pull ups are pointless, it's just another diaper so it doesn't teach them much but to pull them up and down. I think going straight to underwear, or what we did which was letting them run naked when at home...they potty trained very fast, one in a week and one in 2wks fully night and day trained.

 

[FsMummy]

oh yes i forgot to add the pullups we use are the wet feel ones. they have a strip in them that doesnt absorb the wee straight away so the child feels that they are wet

 

[Tilly]

Thanks all

Well we've been properly trying to train her in knickers today and she managed a wee in the morning, was very happy with herself. Since that, the other toilets have been accidents (all wees). She panics and jumps around saying "help me mummy, help help" but won't sit on the potty and do a full wee. We're trying the smartie trick and that seemed successful this morn but since then she is just refusing to sit down - if she does sit down, she says "pssss" and has a little push if we tell her to, but nothing is happening. She then jumps up and has an accident.
Does this sound normal do you think??? I hope so, im feeling quite laid back about it.. a bit of wee and poo isn't really a problem and we've bought her a potette, for when we're out, new in the night garden knickers that she chose and some waterproof disposable change mats for the car seat and her buggy.

By the way, I think we confused her the other day going from pull ups when we went out, then to knickers at home.. so have decided to go straight to knickers, except at nap/bed times.

 

[FsMummy]

i think that all sounds totally normal hun, she will get used to it and she will learn what she is supposed to do. the waterproof things for pram and car seat are a great arent idea they. i think you are doing everything right ie letting her choose knickers and using pullups at night and nap times. dd doesnt have a nappy on at nap time now so we just use them at night and we call them "her special bedtime knickers". what also helps is the fact that i have a 5 year old neice who she adores and i tell her that lauren is a big girl and goes on the toilet and ask if she wants to be a big girl like lauren. 9 times out of 10 when she goes on the toilet she says lauren and big girl so i think that has helped a lot. dd had an accident today at nap time (she slept a lot longer than usual) and when she woke up she said "mummy wet myself" and she sat on the potty and done the rest of her wee on there, bless her. do u sit her on the potty at regular intervals or wait until u think she needs to go? with dd i let her decide that she needs to go on there but she is quite a bit older than your lo so maybe try sitting her on there every 20 mins- half hour till she learns why shes sitting on there? (hopefully she will do more wees and realise that this is why u sit her on there) if she keeps having accidents in her knickers then she will feel it and eventually understand i think. when she does it just try and say something like "oh dear, another wee wee, thats why mummy asks you to sit on the potty, shall we try again next time?" or something of the sort. do i sound like im telling u u have to do all this lol i dnt mean to, iprob sound like a nosey busy body but im just hoping that my advice will work for u as its so much nicer when they are out of nappies (and not to mention cheaper!) i really hope u have some more success!

 

[coccyx]

I would go straight to knickers. My daughter hates the potty and would only go on the toilet.

 

[Tilly]

i think that all sounds totally normal hun, she will get used to it and she will learn what she is supposed to do. the waterproof things for pram and car seat are a great arent idea they. i think you are doing everything right ie letting her choose knickers and using pullups at night and nap times. dd doesnt have a nappy on at nap time now so we just use them at night and we call them "her special bedtime knickers". what also helps is the fact that i have a 5 year old neice who she adores and i tell her that lauren is a big girl and goes on the toilet and ask if she wants to be a big girl like lauren. 9 times out of 10 when she goes on the toilet she says lauren and big girl so i think that has helped a lot. dd had an accident today at nap time (she slept a lot longer than usual) and when she woke up she said "mummy wet myself" and she sat on the potty and done the rest of her wee on there, bless her. do u sit her on the potty at regular intervals or wait until u think she needs to go? with dd i let her decide that she needs to go on there but she is quite a bit older than your lo so maybe try sitting her on there every 20 mins- half hour till she learns why shes sitting on there? (hopefully she will do more wees and realise that this is why u sit her on there) if she keeps having accidents in her knickers then she will feel it and eventually understand i think. when she does it just try and say something like "oh dear, another wee wee, thats why mummy asks you to sit on the potty, shall we try again next time?" or something of the sort. do i sound like im telling u u have to do all this lol i dnt mean to, iprob sound like a nosey busy body but im just hoping that my advice will work for u as its so much nicer when they are out of nappies (and not to mention cheaper!) i really hope u have some more success!

No not at all, I really like the advice.. thank you!
We try to get her to sit on there approx every 15 mins and ask her if she needs a wee. When she has an accident, we say something along the lines of "oh no, nevermind.. it's not nice having wet knickers is it! next time shall we try to get to the potty". She agrees and she seems to understand what we're saying. I make sure I never get annoyed with her if she wees on the floor, it is new to her after all.

We have been reading her books on the potty too and she gets her teddies to go for a wee/poo and we ask what they want to do on the potty. We've also been making an effort to show her how we go to the toilet (shes always seen us go, but we discuss it more with her) and explain that it's normal to do a wee/poo on the potty and all her family members do it. We've been making up songs like "poo is good, poo is fun, poo comes out of your bum" and she loves all that lol.

How old is your little one by the way?

 

[FsMummy]

lol love the songs! mt lo is 2 yrs and 2 months old. everything you are doing sounds great, i dont think there is really anything else you can do tbh, it sounds like u r giving it your best shot. its definately good that you dont get angry if she has an accident on the floor. it can be frustrating when faith wets herself now (because i know she knows when she needs to go) but at the end of the day she is only 2 and i dont show any disappointment or anything and its rare she has an accident. i cant even really remember what i used to do when she very first went on the potty. it has always been in the living room so she is used to it being there and i have just put one in her room to try to encourage her to go when she wakes up (no success there yet though).
getting her to know when she needed to poop was the hardest. she seemed to only realise at the very last minute and she would run to the potty and not get there in time. i used to get her to sit on there if she passed wind and would tell her that sometimes that means she need to poo. other times i would say something like "does your bum feel funny like you need to blow off" lol i have been very lucky as she has got there very wuickly (well we r almost there) the next hurdle for us is getting her dry through the night, i dont know how im going to conquer that one. i already get her to do a wee before she goes to bed but i think she wees when she wakes up.
like i said, i think you are doing everything right and now its just a case of keeping it up and just waiting for her to realise what she is supposed to do.
PS i always would clap and cheer and say "well done" or "clever girl" "you big girl" etc if she went on the potty.

 

[Tilly]

We had our scan at the hospital today so someone watched Bethanie for us, she had 3 accidents but apparently tried to run for the potty and didn't make it. About 1:30pm, she sat down with us and did colouring and did a wee! so that was a great moment. That makes a total of 2 big wee's in the potty in a few days and a few other drips here and there.. not bad I think.

 

[Tilly]

Well since making this we've had lots of wees on the potty and two poos! I didn't think she'd take to it this quickly, or that we'd be getting so excited over poo.. but what the hell, it's so exciting seeing your little one grow into a little girl (but scary at the same time!).

 

[luckyme225]

sounds like things are going well

 

[FEDup1981]

Well since making this we've had lots of wees on the potty and two poos! I didn't think she'd take to it this quickly, or that we'd be getting so excited over poo.. but what the hell, it's so exciting seeing your little one grow into a little girl (but scary at the same time!).

Thats brilliant. I started with Jack on friday, and had an awful first day, but have slowly got better. Today weve had 4 wee's, and one poo so far, and its not quite 12pm, and 2 tiny accidents where he started to wee but stopped himself til he got to the potty!!

Good luck with the rest of it xxx

Jack wants a full present every time he does a wee, (he doesnt always get one) i wish he'd be satisfied with a smartie! lol

 

[emma_27]

Sounds like its going really well! I put Benn in to pants straight away and when we went out and i put a nappy under a blanket in his car seat so he didnt know it was there lol. Benn managed to sort wees out really quick but it took about 2 weeks to properly sort out the pooing lol.

 

[Tilly]

Ah, Bethanie keeps weeing on the carpet today! im trying not to get annoyed but it's a bit stinky yuck lol. I just calmly explain that we don't want to wee on the carpet and get wet legs because it doesn't feel nice, but she runs away when I try to wipe her and won't sit on the potty sometimes! 2 accidents in about 5 minutes, I think shes really trying to hold it. She doesn't get upset or anything when she has an accident though.