Journey To The Toilet - (almost) 17 Months

 

Background:
We started our journey to the toilet fairly early, at just 7 months we started introducing the potty. I decided to introduce the potty early and get Jydan use to sitting on it as my motto was 'It's easier to make a habit then break a habit'. Getting him use to not just doing wee's in his nappy, I thought would make toilet training alot more easier later on.
But by 8 months Jydan was put on Iron Liquid. The iron gave him... well lets just say iron liquid and toilet training.. the worst combination!

Six months later...

We reintroduced the potty again at 14 months, you can read our Journey To The Toilet - 14 Months post HERE. And it worked really well!! We were back at square one with introducing the potty, but because it had always been around, it wasn't a strange object & he was happy, and really excited to sit on it

. At 16 & 1/2 months I decided to go from introducing the potty, to actually training! He spent his days without a nappy on (except for nap and bedtime) and we started training him to go to potty, just like  a 2.5 year old.

 

Pottytraining.com.au:

 

I follow www.pottytraining.com.au ... So worth taking a look at! Such an informative site to help with early toilet training. When I signed up she even personally called me! How good is the service?! I highly recommend taking a look at their site! 

 

I'm using a few tips from all different sites as well, I picked what I thought was best for Jydan and myself and went with them.. and it's working brilliantly!

 

Six Top Reasons Why I Decided To TT Early:

• 'Ready' signs actually happen long before two. Jydan's first ready sign happened when he was just 6 months old actually. I didn't want to ignore them, and in return making toilet training harder in the long run teaching HIM to ignore them too. I believe that we are born with a natural instinct to be toilet training. Leaving a child in nappies for too long can teach their body to ignore this instinct.
  
• I wanted to start before Jydan learnt to 'hold on' to his wee and teaching himself to 'go' in his nappy. While he was still doing wee's every 20-30 minutes (and has now learnt to hold it for the potty).
  
• It's easier to CREATE a habit then BREAK a habit.
  
• As I've wrote before, we are trying for #2. I know how hard 'early days' are.. I'm not completely sure how I could look after a brand new bub and toilet train a 2-3 year old aswell. Besides that, I don't want to be washing two lots of nappies.
  
• I don't think "Terrible Two's" & toilet training would be a great combination. The tantrum's are bad enough now as it is!
  
• And lastly, but most importantly, I knew that my son was capable and ready.

Our Progress:

After Jydan had a toilet training regression last month, I decided to step up our toilet training up. From introducing the potty, to going nappy free! It's going better then I thought, so I thought I would write his 17 month old post early!! (He isn't 17 months for another week).
There were days where I thought 'Why am I bothering???!' There were accidents, It's a new skill being learnt. Like walking. Babies aren't going to get up and walk without falling. Jydan still falls three months on. Like riding a bike, using a spoon.. skills take time to perfect. But each day there was progress. Even if it was only minor, I could sit back and go '5 less accidents today' 'dry after naps' or 'dry after going out' ...And that was enough to know that I was doing the right thing.

 We are currently on day 5 ... or 6???... And have mastered going out and about nappy free! Jydan had mastered it on probably the third day, but I only had just got the courage to put him in underwear out. Nap times he is also waking up dry. Although we have just changed his naps (from two naps to one) so I'm expecting this to confuse him a bit (although I'm sure he's alot smarter then I give him credit for!).

Jydan went from weeing every 20-30 minutes to being able to hold and control his bladder. He now wee's about every hour - hour & half instead.

We are still looking for his signs of needing to eliminate; crouching, holding himself, grabbing at himself, stop playing, sit on the potty for a while, he can start to get really agitated when he needs to go and sometimes, but rarely, he will ask for the potty. These signs happen about ten minutes before he uses the potty.

We are using a timer (the oven timer, it's long and loud and lets face it, that's where I spend alot of my time!!) after an hour or so of him going to the potty, and every 10 minutes after that until he goes again. Then again, set it for an hour, then if he doesn't go, every 10 minutes after that. Each time it goes off it's "POTTY TIME" and we all yell out 'potty time' run around, and make it super fun getting on the potty. That's the key I think, making the whole process fun! Which can be very exhausting for mum and dad.. let me tell you!

Once he's on the potty, I give him the choice of however long he wants to stay on for. 5 seconds or 5 minutes, no matter then length, if he hasn't gone, I put him back on in ten minutes anyway. We read books, books and more books, paint, play drums, build blocks, stick stickers, play with water and all sorts while on the potty.. again, making it a fun experience.

So yes, he is still relying on us to tell him when to go and he hasn't made that link of 'when I need to do a wee, I should go to the potty' but he has made the link that 'I wee in the potty'. Which I think is the most important link anyway.

Yesterday we only had one accident, the day before we didn't have any accidents until after two pm (we were both tired and very 'I can't be bothered' by then) and today we haven't had ANY so far & it's four thirty pm!

I think that's pretty much all for now. But I think he is doing an AMAZING job!! I would say that Jydan is 90% day toilet trained. In just five days of solid toilet training!! And it won't take us long to complete it!



 I'm going to write a post about all my tips and what you will need for 'early' toilet training.