Bye-bye nappies!

We recently made one of the milestone ‘leaps’ in Bubs’ development, waving goodbye to nappies (sort of) and saying hello to miniature, Thomas the Tank emblazoned pants!  I had approached potty training with more than a little trepidation.  I’d been thinking that Bubs was ready for a while, but as we were living in temporary accommodation (with carpeted floors throughout, I hasten to add) and I’d read it was inadvisable to potty train in the middle of other upheavals such as home moves, new babies etc., I decided to wait an extra few months.  During that time I worried that by waiting til we had moved into our new home we might somehow miss the potty training ‘window’ but faced with the thought of cleaning poo stains off my granny’s carpets I decided to hold off anyway.

I didn’t really do much reading around the subject and decided on our approach to potty training pretty much just from talking to my mummy friends about their experiences.  I would, however, recommend Gina Ford’s ‘Potty Training In One Week‘ book as a starting point if you’re completely clueless.  As with most things Gina, it’s a bit rigid in its approach but used as a guide with a healthy dose of common sense thrown in and I think it could be helpful.  In particular I liked the section on signs to watch out for when deciding if your child is ready to start training.

Indications that your child may be ready for potty training are:

• He/she is over 18 months of age.
• The nappy is frequently dry when you get him/her up from their lunchtime nap – this indicates some bladder control.
• He/she is aware when doing a poo (going very quiet, or telling you etc.)
• He/she can understand simple instructions.
• He/she is keen to help with taking off clothes such as shoes, socks and trousers.
• He/she can point to various body parts when asked.
• He/she can concentrate for 5-10 minutes on a single activity; a book, toy or DVD for example.

The day before I took Bubs out of nappies for the first time I went to my local art shop and bought a big piece of coloured card, some craft foam and some velcro to make a star chart – I used a jigsaw piece as a template for the stars and they can be attached and removed easily by putting a small piece of velcro on the back of each.  Bubs and I had a good talk about his new chart and I explained that whenever he did a pee or a poo in his potty he would get a star, and whenever he had a full row of stars (six in our case) he would get a sweetie as a special treat.

The next day we got him up and fed as normal and then instead of changing his nappy, I took it off and put him in his lovely new pants!  I didn’t bother with trousers for the first few days to cut down on laundry.  The first two days I kept asking/reminding him at about half hourly intervals that if he needed a wee he should tell me and then do it in the potty.  When he did go, he got lots and lots of praise and of course a star on the chart! I put a nappy on him at naptime.  The first day he had just two accidents, one whilst playing and the other whilst watching TV.  The second day was the same, two accidents.

After those first two days I felt like Bubs really started to ‘get’ it and he began to tell me when he needed a wee – sometimes he would change his mind when I tried to put him on the potty but mostly he actually peed when he said he needed to.  And that’s been pretty much it ever since!  About four days in I decided to try putting him down for his daytime nap without a nappy and he has been fine, no accidents.  Around this time I felt confident enough to go for short trips out because I knew he could control his bladder for up to two hours at a time.  I also started putting him on the big loo at home so that he would be confident using a toilet instead of a potty when we are out and about.  Thankfully we have had no accidents out in public and since the first two days he has only had two accidents at home.  I’m waiting to see if the novelty of potty training will wear off and he will start getting a bit lazy with it but so far I feel like we’ve got off really lightly!

The night time nappy is still a fixture for now; sometimes when we get him up in the morning it is dry but this is very inconsistent at the minute.  I’m delighted not to be changing stinky nappies any more though and the cost of using just one per day is negligible so I’m very glad to have reached this stage and I’m happy to wait until Bubs shows clear signs of being dry at night before I start leaving his nappy off at bedtime.  In the meantime we are planning to take the sides off his cot very soon and hoping his transition to a big biy bed is as trouble-free!  My baby is definitely not a baby any more!