Potty training - taking a break

Thought this might help others so I’ve made a post. So we started potty training last weekend as we had bank hols off work and my daughter was off nursery. We had done a lot of groundwork - talking about the potty, reading books about using potty, naming feelings when we wee/poo, process for using the potty (wiping, washing hand etc) Things started really well - we did pants off the first day and had one wee on the floor. Second wee, my daughter started to go and then rushed to the potty herself. She then had two more wees in the potty - from us spotting her signals (clutching her dress and saying “cuddle!”) so we put her on the potty. She then did one poo in the potty after a lot of encouragement. We rewarded all of this with stickers and high fives and referring to books showing the characters using the potty. Second and third day things were ok with barely any accidents but my daughter was becoming more and more reluctant to use the potty by herself and eventually she started crying saying she didn’t like it 😢 So we have taken a break from using the potty and gone back to nappy pants for a couple of months. We weren’t in any rush to potty train but my daughter seemed to be ready and willing - so we went for it. What we hadn’t accounted for was for her to be emotionally ready to use the potty - and so we have taken a pause. Just wanted to post as thought it might help anyone else before starting out or having to take a break. I felt a bit defeated stopping because we had such a good start, but I think the books make you think it’s a couple of days and done, when it’s really a lot more about timing it right.
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Thank you for sharing! I’ve booked a week off in July ready to tackle it.. but my HV said he may not be ready.. so scared to start! X

Thank you for sharing, this is very useful.

@Lucy it’s honestly not that scary! I was worried the house would be destroyed 🤣 but we had towels down and just kept her in a contained zone! Hope it all goes well for when you get started x

I’ve got 2 weeks off at the moment to potty train my LB and it’s very hit and miss. Just going with it and seeing what happens as he seemed ready. It’s difficult though as want to go out and do things with him while I have the time off and he isn’t ready to go out in pants yet so feel like putting on a nappy to go out I’m pausing it each time and not being consistsnt. 🤦🏼‍♀️

We're about 3 weeks in and persevering. She's quite happy to go on potty or toilet, and 8 times out of 10 she'll tell us, take herself or we see her signs and take her. But if she's upset about something else or really distracted, she will still have a leak. Some days going out she's good, other days she has multiple accidents. When we leave the house we encourage going, when we arrive somewhere, we encourage going, an hour in we encourage going and before we leave. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but definitely further along than when we started. Was tempted to pause but we felt so far into it! Definitely taking longer than I thought it would

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