[AndreaY]

Stickers, treats, no tempting worked with our 28 month old girl, she refused to sit on the potty. Nor did she feel peer pressure seeing her 9 month old sis weeing in the potty. Even tried the mummy weeing in the toilet in front of her and all I got was clapping and "clever mummy wee wee in the potty!". Was sure she was ready, so finally decided not to follow the books which said it should not be forced. Went cold turkey, 1st 3 days, screaming and crying for her nappy and rather wetting herself than in the potty. By the 4th day, she realised mummy has more patience than her and would not give in, and has weed and pooed in her potty since.

I never scolded her for wetting herself, just quietly explained that she was big girl now and no more nappies, and she is only getting wet and dirty cos she would not wee in the potty. I have since talked with other friends and those who went cold turkey all say it only took a few days of inconvenience and mess and their kids were toilet trained.

[carang]

how is she at night?

i've just tried to wake my boy to take him to the toilet....him crying the ENTIRE time.

"i don't want to! i want to sleep! i don't want to wee wee!"

[AndreaY]

Strangely enough, she has not really wee-ed during sleep since she stopped using nappies during the day. I put nappies on her for sleep but they are dry when she wakes up. This morning was the only morning for the past few weeks that she has wee-ed into her nappy, and that was my fault, cos she woke up and came out of her room, but it was my fault cos I was still busy feeding baby sis so could not get her to the potty in time. Does you son wet himself if you do not wake him? My daughter does not really drink much for about 2 hours before bed ans we try to get her to wee before bedtime, so that maybe why she does not need to middle of the night.

I must say though, I find it quite cute when she is in a rush to wee 1st thing in the morning and then points at what she has done and say "Oooh, a very big one"

[carang]

my son sleeps like a log... he doesn't wake up at all, even if he's wet, which is why i am waking him up to go. i'm hoping that he'll get used to getting up to do it and then do it naturally after a while.

the lollipop bribe seemed to work as he got up last night, twice to wee and didn't wet his bed. he also slept later (much) than he normally does... he usually wakes around 6 but this morning it wasn't until 7am! YEAH!

[wanfamily]

Andrea, (and anyone else that has gone cold turkey or has any advice...!) When you went cold turkey, did you buy regular knickers or those training pants?
Having a bit of a mad time with mine at the moment. Read all the books on potty training. Unfortunately the 'window' when she seemed just right for it, happened to coincide with 3 months of madness - me having another baby and moving home and country (a big no no in the books). Now we're in a nice routine, but toddler stubborness seems to have set in. She knows when she wants to go, but finds the nearest private space and does it in her nappy there. When we ask her to go to the potty, she screams something like 'no, I'm doing poo poo in the cupboard!!' and if there's a door nearby, she'll slam it shut to stop me going near her. She also seems to enjoy having her nappy changed 'cos it's just like her baby brother. Thinking of just stocking up on detergent, going shopping for big girl knickers / training pants??and not arranging to go out much for a week or so. Ahhhhh!

[aussie mum]

i got bored at home during the typhoon last week so decided to potty train my son (2 yrs 4 months). I have a 5 week old baby as well so all potty training books suggest that it is not a good time to start.....

I went cold turkey - straight into regular underpants on wednesday. he wee'd and poo'd his pants until Friday morning - when to be honest I was thinking I might need to give up as he didn't seem to have a clue what potty training was all about. On Friday afternoon we went to visit a friend of his who is recently potty trained. That afternoon when she went to the toilet. so did he. we haven't had a single accident since. we now reward him with stickers and lollipops to keep up the motivation as sometimes he says "had enough toilet!"

He does prefer the toilet to the potty. We have one of those soft toddler seats on the toilet for him.
I also went out and bought the baby bjorn potty which is far more comfortable for them.

we put a nappy on him for naps and and at night and I can't believe how dry they are when he wakes. Its incredible.

[Kly]

Like most of the replies here, I too went cold turkey with my son (2yrs 3 months).
I chose a week when we had no activities and made my husband do all the food shopping (we have no helper) and prepared myself for a week indoors.

The first two days were a nightmare with me spending all day mopping up the floor and feeling really frustrated. However, by the third day, things were improving and my son managed to wee in the toilet sitting on a soft toddlers seat. Everyday improves a little and by day seven he is fully trained.

The main things is you really have to promise yourself to be patient and strong and really go through with it even when you feel like giving up. I was literally crying and felt like giving up after day 2 as there didn't seem to be any improvement but I kept saying, one more day, one more day and it does get better. So hang in there. Some children will take longer than others so don't give up.

My problem now is trying to teach my son to wee standing up. Even after numerous demonstrations by my husband, he still prefers sitting.
Any suggestions?

[Kly]

I forgot to add that I decided not to use training pants but just let him roam around in his trousers so that he could feel how wet he was when he wet himself.