Ready or not?

[Midge25]

Am in a dilemma about whether to have another go at potty training my dd (2 1/2). She has, for some time, been asking for nappy changes, always immediately after she's done a poo, and occasionally when she's done a wee. There hasn't been much sign of her alerting us to the fact she is going to do a poo/wee in advance, though. She tends to turn her back/go into another room when poo-ing, and when I am changing her nappy she is quite distressed by smell/look of the poo although myself and dh do our best to reassure her that it's completely natural, everyone poos etc. Generally she's quite fastidious about 'dirt'. She comes in the bathroom w/ me occasionally, and this am passed me some toilet roll and offered to wipe my bum!!!

Dd is in f/t nursery and is due to start pre-school room in Jan (although I should add there's no pressure from staff for her to be potty trained before this date, and in fact the staff have said that some of the children, who are around 3+, still aren't.)

We tried to begin the potty training process about 3 months ago (when many of the signs above were also present) and nursery supported this training when she was there. She did a few wee's in the potty at nursery (altho none at home) but very rapidly lost interest - nursery staff then suggested putting her in knickers so she would be aware of accidents/feeling of wetness. Whilst dd not keen on the wet knickers thing, she didn't seem to make the link between this and the need to go to the potty/toilet. We eventually decided to wait a few months and try again...and are now at that point.

We keep potties around the house but she's not at all keen to sit on them (even in nappy) and seems quite tense/'hunched' iyswim. Don't want to push it, and make it a psychological battleground, but am wondering if she will respond better to being on a booster seat for a toilet...could sell it as being 'like mummy/daddy' then?

Am also wondering if others with children in f/t nursery have found it easier to take them out for a week whilst they do th beginnings of PT?

Or should I just wait...?

Sorry about long post - any suggestions gratefully received

[trying2bbetter]

I was a first time potty trainer with my dd now 3yrs 3mths so put it off as long as poss. We started at 2yrs 9mths, put her potty in the living room and left her in knickers and t shirt. Then every hour we put her on the potty. It took a week til she was regularly using the potty, around 3 weeks til we were almost accident free. We don't have carpet on the floor so tha helped a lot and just had a mop to hand. We also offered treats (though I know some will gasp in horror at that idea). We started with a small marshmallow or jelly baby every time she went on the potty, then cut it down to every time she went on on her own, then to every time she did something. She quickly moved on to normal toilet (we never used a booster seat) and forgot about the treats. She always uses the toilet now.

Our dd wasn't at nursery during that time, but I know the nursery she was going to before were very keen to help with pt.

We had a lot of pressure from family from around 18 mths to start pt but held out. I only started when I did as I was expecting another and thought it would be nice to have her out of nappies at least during the day when the new baby arrived. Otherwise I would have waited longer. I really don't see why there is so much pressure to pt early but somehow its seen as good parenting!

Dd is still in nappies at night and prob will be for a while.

Advice... I would say try again but if you get lots of resistence, wait a few more months and then try again. Just because all the "signs" are there doesn't necessarily mean she's ready. And you're not a bad or lazy parent if you wait.