What am I doing - I have no idea!! :)

[~LoriMum~]

Okay, so I hadn't even really thought about TT DD - it had occurred to me it would happen one day, but as she's my first I had no idea what was going to happen when it did. Here's where she's at right now (2 years, 3.5 months):

• If she's wearing a nappy she'll use it and won't want to take it off to go use the toilet even if asked to
• If she's bare-bummed she'll happily take herself to the toilet all day for both wee & poo (and I also get her to sit there before she goes to bed and often she does a wee)
• If she's got knickers on (have only done this at home) she forgets she has to pull them down and sits down on the toilet with them still on! Or if she has a dress/nighty on, she forgets to pull it up out of the way.
• She will happily use a toilet elsewhere apart from home under these same circumstances
• She still wakes wet most mornings, so night nappies are still a must
• She often wakes wet from her day sleep

So what should I be doing (I use SHOULD in a very relaxed sense!!)?? Should I really start doing knickers at home so she gets the idea of pulling them down, or should I keep doing the bare-bummed thing at home (obviously this won't work while out, though)...? Should I start taking her out/sending to day care with no nappy and just knickers (and a change of clothes!!)... how do I know when she's ready to take that step? Do I just have to try it and see??

Although my parents (and everyone I know around their age - no offense intended to anyone here who might be my parent's age) seem to think that by 2.5 they should be TT I am pretty relazed about it and happy to let her set the pace, but I just don't know when/what to encourage more, etc etc.

Any pointers from those who have been there done that would be greatly appreciated.

[johT]

i would keep practising bare bummed at home.then slowly introduce baggy pants or knickers. does she take herself to the toilet or do you help? i think helping and showing pulling down pants could be practised, maybe make a game of it??
once she masters that, then try outings in pants but keep reminding her shes wearing them and offer the toilet.
id definetly keep the nappies only for sleeps and outings abit longer - but id get daycare helping with TTing - maybe wear big TT pants that get wet so she learns its not a nappy....f she doesnt 'get' it you might wanna wait abit longer...of course you could deal with the mess and try it at home for a while first??
i took this slow approach and once they mastered each step i upped the challenges lol. so after that we tried small outing in knickers. now bree only wears night nappies but currently poo's in them so we go through 3 at night at times and i often find her asleep dirty!

[betty]

I think she is a bit confused which could indicate she is developing toilet awareness but not quite ready to go all the way yet. Just be patient and talk and read books to increase toilet awareness.

[tiffanysmummy]

It sounds to me like she's got a really good understanding of going to the toilet and bladder control. I think given a choice, most kids will continue to wet a nappy rather than take it off to go to the toilet, so I'd keep nappies just for sleep times at this stage and wear knickers the rest of the time, even when going out.

We found Tiffany went to the toilet with her knickers on initially too, so kept reminding her every time she went to take them off before getting on the toilet. We took dresses etc off so they didn't get in the way. She's now mastered holding the dress up, and takes her knickers off in her bedroom and brings them to me to put back on when she's finished. We'll work on getting her to put her knickers back on when she's ready and able. They like to be independent with toileting, but it needs to be a gradual thing.

It sounds to me like she's ready for knickers at daycare too, except for sleep time. I'd think that daycare would be happy to accept her in knickers at the stage she's at. She sounds like she's doing really well and is basically trained.

As for sleep times, I've read, and am now experiencing that they will eventually start waking up dry more often than wet. We've stopped nappies for day sleeps and have had no accidents so far but are continuing them for nights. Now she's dry just about every night, so could probably go without, but I just bought her a heap of cute nappies, so am happy for her to keep them a bit longer yet. (Unfortunately she outgrew our nappy stash just as she day toilet trained and so I've had to buy all new nappies, just for sleep times.)

Only you know if she's really ready for knickers full time, but she sounds like it to me. I hope whatever you decide, that she is successful with it.
Good luck.

[~LoriMum~]

Well, we went out this morning and I decided to give her the choice of knickers or nappy - she chose nappy. But then when she went to bed after lunch she would not have a nappy on - she wanted knickers. We'll see what happens when she wakes!! I told her she had to remember she had knickers on when she woke so not to do a wee till she got to the toilet.

She does take herself to the toilet when she needs to go - I do ask her about 50 million times a day anyway (!!!) but usually she says no. Then every couple of hours she'll yell out - "I have to do a wee/poo on the toilet" as she races to the bathroom! I usually go with her in case she needs help, or if I have my hands full I tell her to let me know if she needs my help and I'll come in.

I do also remind her if she bare-bummed or happens to have knickers on that if she needs to do a wee or poo she has to go to the toilet, and so only about 2 accidents in the last week. I might try her in knickers if she wants (I'm giving her the choice as knickers are so very new to her!) otherwise bare-bummed at home, and will give her the option when we go out. I thought I'd see how she went the rest of the week at home before changing aything at FDC (she goes on Tuesday, so we have a few days till next time).

This has really come out of the blue and I was so unprepared for it!!! It all seems to be happenign so fast! All her pants are going to be falling down now without her nappies - she's such a skinny mini!!

Thanks so much for your advice

[johT]

leggins are good for skinny minis
and adjustable waists.
jade used to wear the thick terry training pants rather than knickers as they held her pants up abit more...

[~LoriMum~]

Thanks for those tips Joh! Might have to invest in some leggings and/or training pants!

BTW, DD woke up dry from her nap - I asked her if she needed to go to the toilet before we went swimming (had a class at 3pm, so had to get her out of bed straight into car and race off to swimming!) but she didn't.. and unless she weed in the pool she didn't go until we got home just after 4pm (and this was as I took off her nappy to let her go bare again - I didn't realise she was going!). So we got through a nap and a 10 minute car ride with only knickers.

She's so proud of herself!!

[johT]

yay great
i think bree pees in the pool she does the same LOL

[~LoriMum~]

I'm just wondering if training pants are something I should look into or not? Would they be useful for outings or might they just confuse her?? Are some training pants better than others?? (Joh, your answer might be biased heer - I just saw your B4B auctions!! )

[johT]

lol!! yeah you need to buy them PMSL
i meant thoses cheapthick terry knickers that do nothing lol - not really sure WHY they are TT pants other than they are easy to pullup/down and sorta contain poo as they leg seals ok...?
i did use the blueberry training pants near the end in the car for long trips (like to our shack 1 hour drive away!) but bree treated them as a nappy