I've neglected my blog but I have so much to write about now Isla is 2 and I have a new baby who's 6 weeks old so I am reliving all of the hard baby stages again.
One thing that is fresh on my mind is the battle of potty training. I was absolutely dreading the day because I didn't understand how my baby (then 21 months) who only knew being in a nappy and weeing when she liked, would suddenly understand that she couldn't do that anymore. All without language and her fully understanding what words even meant. The idea was a massive headache and I would have put it off for longer if I hadn't been pregnant with baby no2. We were in lockdown so James was home and we were forced to be indoors everyday so I thought it was a rare and perfect opportunity to start the process.
My mum had always drilled it into me that we were potty trained before we were 2 years old, so I knew it was possible and normal in our family to train them before they fully understood words etc.
We had a good starting point, Isla started to use the word pop pop and pointed to her nappy. That and wee wee. So we started off by putting her on her potty every hour or as regularly as we could and said wee wee. She didn't understand for what felt like an eternity and she would wet herself throughout the day but we placed her on her potty after an accident and said wee wee on potty. Repetition is key. I read you shouldn't tell them off while they're learning as you don't want to scare them. Better to ignore the accident and place them on the potty and just explain they need to wee on a potty. However once Isla knew what to do and went on the potty consistently then out of the blue had an accident, we did start to tell her off because it was pure laziness and she just enjoyed being naughty sometimes, so a bit of discipline worked for us.
We had many many many accidents, some more gag worthy than others but luckily her dad was home to help with all that :) We were 2 or 3 in and she was still having accidents but also a lot of successful moments. I felt like giving up when I would hear how other children took a few days or a week to train. I thought maybe she wasn't ready and a lot of people will say no she wasn't but honestly I don't think a child is ever ready. My mum encouraged me to keep to it so I did because I didn't want to feel like a failure and also have to start this all over again and have a newborn to worry about too.
It took her around 4 weeks to go accident free. We would have to put her on the potty throughout the day rather than wait for her to tell us. But from 23 months she would tell us when she needed to go and we helped her on to the potty. Now she is 25 months she goes without us having to help her or ask. She has started playschool where there are proper little toilets they use and has started to ask for the big girl toilet so now she goes on a proper toilet with a little toddler seat all by herself. I was worried about the potty to toilet transition but naturally they want to copy what everyone else does so that was something I didn't have to force upon her. I have heard that children can struggle with no2s and potty training but Isla didn't have an issue, it was all the same for her. In fact she struggled to go in a nappy so it helped her constipation problem massively. At the risk of making you gag, she used to do little ones and often in a nappy because I suppose she could feel it and stopped but on a potty she fully emptied her bowels. Once they are out of nappies you feel such a relief for them, it must feel so much better.
My biggest advice to anyone who wants to potty train at any age,
-Repetition is key and do not compare how long its taking to other children! They all learn in their own time and Isla took longer than most to learn but she got there and she was out of nappies before her second birthday which I a really proud of.
-Take a potty with you wherever you go! We used a normal one in a plastic bag, she's used it whenever and wherever and she's never had an accident while out.
-Puppy pads are good for protecting their carseats and pushchairs from potential accidents
-Get ready to go through a lot of little knickers or pants. For the first 2 weeks Isla just wore dresses with no undies, then we introduced underwear which she soiled ALOT. Underwear and socks got changed constantly.
Night training is another kettle of fish which I am happy to leave until she is older or until she refuses to wear a nappy but I am hoping to crack this before she is 3, if anyone has any night training advice I will be happy to hear it!
Good luck to all the babies who are about to be potty trained, once they are out of nappies they will never look back :) x
