Potty Trained!

I am now happy to say that Nikki is potty trained. He might not always remember to go and have a little accident (he is only two - playing takes so much concentration...) but he is now at the stage where he can wear pants and trousers and stay dry, rather than confuse them with nappies, and go 'on demand' - like when I know he's had a lot to drink or we are going for a walk.

We went out for a walk today, and although we were gone for nearly two hours, he was dry. I will admit to taking a potty with me, though! He just won't pee standing up!

We have been full-time potty training only 2.5 weeks - I think that is fairly impressive. Once he got over his fear of the potty, then figured out how to go when he wanted rather than needed to go, it fell into place really quickly.

The method we used can be broken down thus:

• Lock yourself in the house for three days.
• Bare bottoms at all times. Pants feel like a nappy so should be left off until they are confident using the potty.
• Constantly ask 'where does wee/poo go?' and answer 'in the potty!' - one time Nikki stubbornly insisted it was on the floor!
• Lots of fluids and dry/salty snacks (to encourage drinking) or watery snacks like cucumber and watermelon.
• Keep a close eye on your child - when he starts thinking about peeing, say 'wee goes in the potty!' and put him on. Praise him for sitting there and get massively excited if he goes. If it goes on the floor, firmly say 'wee/poo goes in the potty!', put him on the potty to see if that's all, and get him to help clean up the mess (I simply made him fetch the cloths, unless it was only a couple of drops, which he could clean)
• After a couple of days, put on trousers/skirt (no pants!) for a short walk.
• Once you are mostly accident-free, put on trousers at home.

At least, that is mostly how I did it. Except for the locking myself in the house - not easy when you're on your own and need to buy food! Here is the link to the article I used.