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miss muffit
20-02-2008, 10:51 AM
Hi and good morning .... whats your view?? I have just started looking after a 16 month old boy, his mum said to me yesterday that he has done 2 wee's on the potty in the last 4 days and she now thinks he's ready for potty training... by the way he doesn't speak yet.. well baby babble! K:) :) :)

crazybones
20-02-2008, 10:56 AM
Give it a go. Some can do it this early but unusual. My son is 2 yrs 2 months and I dont think he is ready yet. Health visitor told me at 2 year check they think the average age for boys seems to be 2 years 4 months. I am going to wait for the weather to warm a little bit before trying. He tells me just before or just as he is doing a poo though and screams blue murder till he is changed.

Annie x

Sarsar3NCH
20-02-2008, 11:13 AM
Little girl I mind was 'potty trained' at 18 months but really it was down to mum and me taking her at set times as her language wasn't there. She is now 2yrs 4 months and now I would say she is properly dry during the day as she will now ask to go.

She was in washable nappies, which made mum want to try early.

I am of the belief that if you have to 'train' the child then they are not ready and you are setting yourself up for a long few wet months. If you get mum to wait it will be a lot easier in the end as the child will be dry much quicker.

Others may have differing advice though

Sarah

angeldelight
20-02-2008, 11:17 AM
All my children were out of nappies at that age - due to the fact I had them all close and could not cope with 2 babies in nappies haha

They were ready though and took to it straight away - we never ever used a potty though - just straight to the toilet

The babies I mind though would not know what the hell I was on about
They would just look at me in that way that babies do haha

So yes it is def down to the little one - what do you think yourself ?

Got to say I also think if a child is not ready then do not even go there yet

Good luck with tackling the mom if you do not think baby is ready

Angel xx

miss muffit
20-02-2008, 11:34 AM
Hi thanks for your comments ..No i dont think he is ready ... I must admit my own son was dry at 16 month during the day and 18 month at night, but then it was just him and me, I have others to look after at the same time as I explained to mum maybe best to wait for the warmer weather she did seam happy with my comments. Just wanted to know what all your thought were on the subject. K :) :) :)

sarah707
20-02-2008, 12:16 PM
My son was a lazy little s*d and was just 3 when I took a sodden nappy off him and said ... enough! He went straight to the toilet and never looked back, day or night.

My dd was 2 and easy to train... she just pottered off to the loo - doing it in summer definitely helped though

I didn't use a potty. :D

Pauline
20-02-2008, 12:35 PM
I'd go for it if he seems ready, if he starts having lots of accidents you can always go back to nappies for a short while.

P.S. just going to move this to the minding chat section you will get more replies there, as this part is for questions about using the forum.

Kelly
20-02-2008, 01:49 PM
I have a little girl who is 2yrs 6mths and I feel she is ready for potty training and I have mentioned it to the parents, and she will use the potty but they do not seem bothered, I mentioned that she would need appropriate clothing "when we start potty training", but nothing yet! I would love them to turn up and say 'we've been at it all weekend' but I do not want the sole responsiblity of potty training their daughter and want them to take some of the responsibility. I know that they will put a nappy on her as soon as she leaves my house and I am not prepared to put in the work from Mon-Thurs for her to turn up back in nappies Monday morning.

Should I wait for the parents to now decided when she is potty trained?

Spangles
20-02-2008, 01:53 PM
My little boy is 3 at end of April and he's still in nappies, he's not ready yet. I've had two other little boys both aged between 2 and 3 and they were still in nappies.

Our health visitor said average age for boys is between 3 and 3 1/2 and a rare few aren't even ready until 5! She said there's no point forcing them to do it, they have to be ready or it will take ages and ages and it will be so stressful for everyone. She said if the control and feelings aren't there yet you can't force them to be.

I think it's totally different for all children and you have to really take their lead, they'll show you when they're ready.

ma7ie
20-02-2008, 02:03 PM
My daughter is 2yr 2mth and is showing no signs of wanting to use the potty at all. She'll sit on it for a couple of seconds and pretend to do a wee but to no avail. We've bought a couple of "Potty" storybooks and I'm not concerned because she is advanced in lots of other areas. I'm just going to wait until the weather is warmer and she can go nappyless.

Marie x

Banana
20-02-2008, 02:09 PM
Hi

Miss Muffit - I personally think it is too young when they cant speak but im not an expert. You get these books saying you can potty train your child from any age.... yeah sure you can, just depends on how successful it is.

Example. I trained Belle when she was 2yrear 4 months, 3 days it took. No pull ups, straight onto the toilet but a potty was there if she preferred. I waited until I knew she was 100% ready and it made the whole process so quick and easy for everyone. Put her in pants on the friday, spent the weekend making sure she was comfortable with it all and then come the monday she was happily going alone and no accidents (bar the odd one).

Mindee A. Parent wante dto start training her on 2nd birthday. No ready, not speaking much, in pull ups. Whole process took 4 months from pull up to pants and then there were loads of accidents. Stressful for the child and me but parent was too stuborn to wait until child was 100% ready. Eventually child was dry but took an age to get there and I just dont see the rush in forcing it. It doesnt mean your child is smarter than others because of how young they are when they are trained. Its important to keep everything calm and happy! 16 month - I think it will be a lot of needless hard work and stress.

Kelly - It is not your job as a childminder to initiate potty training with a child. You need the parenst to be 100% behind you for it to make your time and effort worthwhile. I think the best way forward is to sit with the parents and explain that you feel thier child is at a stage where she is ready to train but you would not do it without there support and also suggest that it is started over the weekend so that when child comes to you all you are doing is carrying on with thier teachings.

Good luck to both of you and let us know the outcomes

xxxx

fionamal
20-02-2008, 02:27 PM
Both of mine were 100% dry by the time they were 2.5. Son was quicker then daughter as he had watched her go through it all. they never used pottys it was straight to toilet. It only took son 1 week to train and daughter was about 2 weeks so its deff worth waiting until they can tell you.

My friends daughter was 3.5 but only took a long weekend and that was her 100% dry.

Every child is different but think it should be when they are ready and can tell you that they need to go.

mustbemad
20-02-2008, 04:06 PM
Hi Miss Muffit

I agree with Banana. In the past, I have felt under pressure by parents expecting me to work miracles with kids who were not ready. It takes far too long, is very stressful for minder and child and achieves nothing.

Also, you have your furniture and flooring to consider, it is your home after all and you can't close for the night and leave wet sofa to the cleaner , as in a nursury! (as I explained to one parent after 6 accidents one day, when she accused me of only being bothered about my carpet!)

Since then, I give parents a policy which asks that they begin toilet training during their annual leave, pref 2 wks, when they have the time to devote the care and attention required when accidents are at their most frequent. If all goes well, and child is ready and parents are relaxed about the process, then I will support them after the holiday. Job done!!

Oh and don't forget to make them aware that child should at the very least be able to say 'wee wee' to let them know!

Wx

miffy
20-02-2008, 04:13 PM
I think parents often expect us to perform some miracle by which their child will become dry overnight with no effort involved on the parents part whatsoever!

I agree that parents should begin the potty training but only once the child is ready - I agree with Lana it is so much easier to wait a little longer and get it over in a few days than try before they are ready and spend months in the process

Miffy xx

Lou
20-02-2008, 05:12 PM
i totally agree with Lana.

Every child is different and ready at different time.

THe earlier you try to do it if they are not ready they will take much longer.

I had a situation with mindee (some might remember) mum took her out of nappies on her 2nd birthday, she brought her on the monday and said she is dry now.

After a few weeks ofher basically poooing and weeing EVERYWHERE IN MY HOME i sat mum down and had a long chat with her which went in one ear and out the other!!! She kept saying well she is fine when she is with me, prob because mum just sat her on the potty every 5 mins!!! THAT IS NOT BEING DRY!!!!

My humble opinion is a child is dry when they recognise they ned to go and ask to go.

Anyway this child is now 2yr and 10 months and i would say she is prob only just dry but mum always says oh she is soo clever she has been dry since her 2nd birthday.

I just ignore it now. but i have to say i think it has done her more harm than good, if she ever has an accident she gets distraught!!!!

In my humble opinion 16 months is FAR too young, how are they going to say "I need a wee????"

Twinkles
20-02-2008, 05:32 PM
THe earlier you try to do it if they are not ready they will take much longer.


After a few weeks ofher basically poooing and weeing EVERYWHERE IN MY HOME i sat mum down and had a long chat with her which went in one ear and out the other!!! She kept saying well she is fine when she is with me, prob because mum just sat her on the potty every 5 mins!!! THAT IS NOT BEING DRY!!!!



I have pretty much the same situation. C's mum insisted starting potty training when C was only 17m. Tbh it was just catching wee's, not training.( mum was taking her every 15mins)
She is now 2yrs and still no where near dry. She got so upset that mum had to admit defeat and put her back in nappies.
I suggested she try again when we have the warmer weather + she will be on maternity leave over the summer. She looked at me as if I'd gone bonkers 'I couldn't do that I'll have a baby to look after!!'
I just looked at the 13m old and 6m old that i have whilst looking after her daughter and grinned ..I was speechless!!

crazybones
20-02-2008, 05:43 PM
I have pretty much the same situation. C's mum insisted starting potty training when C was only 17m. Tbh it was just catching wee's, not training.( mum was taking her every 15mins)
She is now 2yrs and still no where near dry. She got so upset that mum had to admit defeat and put her back in nappies.
I suggested she try again when we have the warmer weather + she will be on maternity leave over the summer. She looked at me as if I'd gone bonkers 'I couldn't do that I'll have a baby to look after!!'
I just looked at the 13m old and 6m old that i have whilst looking after her daughter and grinned ..I was speechless!!

I was 39 weeks pregnant when my eldest (2 days after 2nd birthday) decided he wanted to be without nappies. Within 3 days he was dry during the day and within a week I was taking a dry nappy off every morning. I went into hospital a week later and had a caesarian so it was a good job he did it that quick. No way I could have got down on the floor to mop up. :eek: Second son was almost 3. They are all ready in their own time.

Annie x

mum2two
21-02-2008, 09:13 AM
It doesn't matter if he can't speak in my opinion.

I tried ds when he was 20 mths. He couldn't talk. I had a thurs & fri off then the weekend, so thought I'd give it a go. Thurs was a bit of a nightmare, but Fri he started holding his tummy and going 'uh uh'. He found his own way to tell me he needed a wee. Got the potty out & he did it.

I must admit though, he found it quite difficult to get to grips with it with pants on, and that was a good 5 or 6 weeks getting the hang of that, but it was summer last year, so in the garden, not a problem!

By the time he turned 2 he was going out in pants, and not having any probs. He's still not dry at night, some nights his nappy is so full it starts leaking... but like others have said, they all do it in their own time. He'll do nights when he's ready. Day's are the main thing.

Plus, whilst potty training him, I also did the other little one I mind, who's 5 weeks younger than ds. I think it helped her seeing him doing it that she wanted to copy. So I did do both at once, and both done before they were 2.

Kelly x