Back story. I tried potty training with my son in January. He did well at first when walking around the house naked but as soon as I put trousers on (no underwear underneath) he treated it like a nappy wouldn’t use the potty. Ended up with him holding his wees and poos until he had his nappy on at nap time so we stopped training as he obviously wasn’t ready.
I tried following the Oh Crap! method but it’s not realistic for us. We can’t send him to the childminder for a month going commando under his trousers.
I’m looking for potty training tips please as I am not back to work until Monday so would like to try training again from tomorrow? I have plenty of pants for him and I also have a few pairs of the extra absorbent potty training pants.
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Hello!
We just started 1.5 weeks ago with our son. I did follow the oh crap method loosely with nothing on for day 1, then commando for day 2. We moved to underpants for day 3. Honestly wish we had just started like that cos it felt like each day we were teaching him something new!!
He was SO excited to wear undies, we had been talking about them for a while, got his favourite characters etc. Things that worked for us:
- set timer for every 45 mins (increased to 60 mins after a few days) and put on potty
- made it seem exciting to go on the potty ("let's go see how Bluey and Bingo are doing!!" (On his undies), "I'll tell you the dinosaur story while you're on the potty")
- a wee / poo dance of his choice EVERY time
- a travel potty and using this in the boot of the car (SO exciting haha)
- a portable toilet seat topper for public loos (again, he loved using this).
We learnt after day 1 not to rely on him to tell us AT ALL and just make sure we put him on the potty all the time. Only 1 accident since then

thank you so much for the tips. I’ll definitely give that all a try. How do you manage going out? Do you put tons of spare pants and trousers in the bag and get him to sit on the potty before you leave and when you get to the destination? I’m going to put a nappy in the car seat and sit him on that so that if he does have an accident then hopefully it won’t reach the car seat.

Hello,
With my LG we didn't do bare bum or commando at all, she didn't like that. Went shopping with her for new undies. She chose the pants herself and was more than happy to wear them straight away. And travel potty, the carry me one. She loved it so much she took it everywhere and that was the only one she used to start with. Was taking it to nursery as well. First few days i was asking her every 30-45 min to go on potty, soon she was asking herself. Nursery helped as well as other children were going potty. Few accident on the go but that's part of it.
Hope our experience helps a bit 😁

@Amy we didn't leave the house/garden for the first 2 days, then we went and played out near out house on day 3 and from day 4 have been out all day everyday! I packed spares (including socks!) but I just stuck to the timer! So if it had been say 40 mins since he last used the potty and we were about to get in the car then I would get him to go again. If it had only been 10 mins and we would have another opportunity in 30 mins I would wait. I thought about putting a puppy pad in the car but I knew he would kick off so I haven't bothered, but so far all drives less than 30 minutes. No accidents outside the house so far - in fact he told me twice yesterday he needed a wee whilst we were out! And we are always in proximity of toilets or have the carry potty with us.
I think our son was just so ready, so overall it's been fairly easy. Hopefully you find it much much easier compared to January!!

We started 10 days ago, and my LB (2.7 Oct baby) would not be naked, so we went straight to character pants. The first 2 days were him realising he was weeing and getting him straight to the potty, then the next 2 days were difficult; not listening and peeing through his pants on the potty. Then since day 5 he's doing good because of CHOCOLATE BUTTONS AS A REWARD! Sticker chart was useless. Knows when he's going and let's me know, pulls his pants down. Added trousers Sunday day 7, and by day 8 he didn't wanna use the potty and wanted to go straight to the toilet! Everytime I'd ask if he needed the potty he wouldn't use it unless he needed it or wanted a choc button 😂 now he will only go to the toilet if he needs it.
I read oh crap! Potty trg too! Have you added a reward? Can you try pants instead of trousers? I do like the absorbant pants, but it was hard once or twice knowing if he'd gone, but they are good for the car!

that’s all really great to hear thank you. We have one of the My Carry Potty’s so we will take that with us and I’ll buy a portable seat topper too. I was pretty much in tears in January so I hope he’s ready this time. We don’t have plans for the rest of the week so can stay in if we need too.

that really helps thank you. My son goes to a childminder and he’s the second youngest out of 6 children so there are others children that he sees use the potty. The childminder tried to get him to use it in January but she had no luck either. I know that if it goes well this week then she will continue next week and has said if it goes well then send him in in pants.

I did try rewards. I tried chocolate and letting him flush the toilet (he got excited about doing this) but by the end of the week in January he was just holding it all in. I’m really hoping this week goes a lot better and that the wait means he’s now ready. It’s good to know that others are going straight for pants and having results. I guess I’ll just have to keep sitting him on the potty every 30-45 mins until he learns when he needs to go.

Another one for the favourite character pants! Straight into pants for both of my twin boys (did them separately) and it worked amazing for them as they were excited to wear them. First 2/3 days really tough but just got to keep consistent. Not sure if wrong advice but both my two they didn’t like the timer, I felt like it put them off and was getting overwhelmed with it, so I did trust for them to tell me but kept asking ‘do you need a wee wee?’. I did however make sure they tried before we were doing anything/going out when you’re ready to go out of the house which was about day 4/5 for both of them. Chocolate as a reward and getting them excited to flush it down the toilet and their own ‘duck kids soap’ xx

How many wees/poos did you all get in the first couple of days? Currently on day 1, had 3 wees in his pants so far and that’s it. I’m sitting him on the potty every 30 mins. Just concerned and stressed that he doesn’t seem to be doing any wees/poos in the potty?

The first couple of days I think I might have caught one or two dribbles but that was just me watching him and putting him straight on the potty. Both of them did their first ‘big wees’ on the potty for my mum when I was at work for the afternoon, I always feel like someone else coming in new can always help xx

that’s good to know. Day 2 yesterday and my son did 4 wees on the potty but all with his dad. He doesn’t seem to use the potty with me being there. Hope we can continue today.

I potty trained this may half term. Monday-Wednesday was awful. Constant wee dribbles. Wednesday I ditched pants he was using them as nappies, Thursday shorts with no pants for 6 days ( including at the childminders). With only 1 wee accident the Friday morning and poo accidents. Reintroduced pants no wee accidents only poo. He still wears a nappy for sleep