Our Toilet Training Experiences.   Ok I have 3 cherubs one is 4 one is 2 and one is almost 1….   With my first cherub – a girl I tried at around 2yrs to toilet train without a lot of success. She was interested

enough, to pull all the toilet paper off the roll and fill the toilet and she was interested enough to flush the toilet but not interested enough to actually go…I then had cherub number 2 and our world became a little more hectic as number 2 was quite a handful of a baby (another story…) So Number 1 cherub went back in Nappies…  

When she was about 3 we tried again…This time I had great success with the wees in the toilet, she got that really quickly but Poos was a different story…She was still in nappies for naps and night and she would hold onto her poos until her nappy was put on and guaranteed with in 10 mins I would have to change her…I think in the end it was perseverance and me being more stubborn than her…Making sure I put her on the toilet at around the ‘poo’ time…She eventually got it…She was about 3 and a half….and within a couple of weeks of getting it we were out of nappies at all times…But it was not a fun time for anyone…Frustration from both of us…  

Now cherub number 2 was about 15 months and all this toilet thing with her sister had got her interested about the toilet and yes we tried but her mind body control was not quite there…So Rather than setting up for lots of failures I left it and then about 23months she was very persistent to try again…So I thought about it and thought about it and my biggest concern was not remembering myself that she had no nappy on as I also had a baby as well…

What was our answer…A KITCHEN TIMER….A FEW DAYS AT HOME… TRAINING PANTS – NOT PULL UPS…A RIBBON ON THE TOILET ROLL HOLDER…PATIENCE.HUGS…AND A BUCKET FOR THE ACCIDENTS… Yep that is all….  

So on the day we decided to start I got her up in the morning and told her she was going to be my big girl and start to use the toilet, the only time she was going to have nappies was for sleep times. I showed her how to get up on the step toilet ( a seat with a step that sits over the big toilet) and I showed her the Timer I said to her that I was going to set the timer to go buzz every 15 mins….When she heard the timer she was to run to the toilet and try to go…and mummy would run with her….So that is what we did as soon as she finished on the toilet we would re set the timer for 15 minutes…and when it went BUZZZZZZ the whole house was running to the toilet…that’s right the almost 4 yr old was right into this and trying to get her sister to use the toilet and cherub number 3 (a boy) thought is was a great game – chasey to the toilet…(Trying to keep only one in the toilet at a time is still my biggest challenge. haha….)  

Ok now I was told when I was trying to toilet train number one that it should be every 20 to 45 minutes that you try. That is a huge gap in time for a little body and I found that 15 minutes was great…It was short enough for her not to forget what we where doing and short enough for her to stay tuned into her body and what it was trying to do… Now I am not going to tell you that we did not have any accidents we did (and 2 months after starting we still do occasionally – but don’t all kids when they are excited about things) She was wearing training pants (the ones that are fabric on the outside and a plastic lining on the inside) not pull ups as they just like nappies and she also hated them because the sides would keep ripping when she was trying to pull them up and down on her own. By the end of day two at the 15 min timer thing She was beating the timer and running to the toilet on her own every 12 to 15 mins and most of the time doing a little bit…By day 4 I did not have a problem with her going to the toilet and was basically doing it on her own…No more timer….She was more inclined to go and do something if I was near by but not standing over her…  

Poos were my next thing and I think she was also holding out to do them in her nappy because it was safe…She did not understand where they were going or what was going to happen…I let her do her poos in the nappy and then we both went to the toilet and let them go ‘PLOP’ in the toilet so that she heard the noise and she knew what was going to happen…It took a few days of this and her trying to do poos and then leaving the toilet and doing them in her pants and then going thru the ‘PLOP’ routine for her to get that it wasn’t going to hurt and that it was ok to do and that doing them in her pants did not feel very nice. The first time that it happened in the toilet we were all very excited and there was lots of excitement and cuddles etc…She has never had another poo accident, just the occasional wee, which she stops as soon as she starts and lets me know that she has had an accident and needs to finish in the toilet …  

I now have cherub number 3 to go and he is a boy and I have been told they are much more difficult to train…but I am not so sure, he already thinks the toilet is a great place and I have caught him twice head first in the toilet already… (Everybody goes in there why not him (He thinks….Hopefully he will still think it will be great when I start to train him…) It is hard to keep the toilet door closed when a 4 and 2 year old are in and out of there all the time and they can’t reach the handle…hmmmm…  

Now the only other thing that I have found helps is a bit of ribbon tied to the toilet roll holder to the length that you want the cherubs to pull the toilet paper off to… If they have a guide they find it easier to work out how much toilet paper they need (saves a lot of it being flushed down the loo….) Also wipes for poos are better than toilet paper until they get the hang of wiping bottoms on there own…  

So to summarize, what you will need,  

A FEW DAYS AT HOME

A KITCHEN TIMER – SET EVERY 15 MINUTES

TRAINING PANTS – NOT PULL UPS A RIBBON ON THE TOILET ROLL HOLDER

PATIENCE, HUGS

AND A BUCKET FOR THE ACCIDENTS  

I hope this helps you and you have as much success as we have had with cherub number 2…By the time her 2nd birthday came she was not in nappies at all during the day including nap times and with a week of her birthday we are completely nappy free. I know all children a different and ready in their own time but please let me know how you go I would be interested to see if it works for others…  

Cheers Spinnychic