Potty training before 2.5 - what to expect?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, OP here again. Really appreciate the encouragement, but not sure what to do right now. We’ve gone all in since Monday and yesterday he did great self initiating (bottomless), so started block 2 today. Today he’s been in pants or shorts and had four accidents and hasn’t initiated unless he’s bottomless again. He has said “uh oh” when he’s started to pee his pants, then we quickly relocate him to the potty and remind him to go to the potty and pull down his pants when he feels like he needs to pee. Poop has only happened in diapers right before nap or once in pants, though he was able to finish in the potty. He’s asked to wear a diaper several times.

We leave this weekend for our two week trip. Should we just plan on using the potty at my in-laws’ house and diapers/pull-ups out and about? I don’t want to lose the progress we’ve made but I’m fine slow-walking this rather than stressing or rushing something that is just going to take some time. He’s back with the nanny in August so it’s not like he can go commando for a straight month like the book suggests.

So, what would you do? Stay in block 2, go back to block 1, or stop and try again later? DS is 27 months. Thanks so much.

[Anonymous]

Every child is different. It might "click" for yours in the next few days, or it might not. Pull ups might be confusing, or they might not. DD got sick on Day 10 and we put her in a pull up to take the pressure off, and she still used the potty.

Maybe see how things are looking on Friday? Honestly I think it is lunacy to potty train within a week of a big trip where you expect to be out and about, but I am on the less adventurous spectrum of parents. Traveling with a toddler is stressful enough.

[Anonymous]

In terms of the poop, we also have an infrequent pooper. Fortunately DD usually poops after dinner so we would take her pants off then so she would get the chance to practice pooping naked. It seemed like it would never click for her and then it just did about a week in.
Don't stress about the underwear. If he has to wear underwear, he has to wear underwear. We put underwear on on Day 6 ahead of her first day at daycare. It was not an issue. Loads of kids potty train while wearing underwear. Oh Crap's obsession with this is a little weird.

[Anonymous]

Use the potty at your in laws and keep your child in loose shorts when out and about. Don’t go backwards. Get a travel potty.

Tackle the poop in diaper when you get home though.

[Anonymous]

Just keep pushing through the worst part, you will be glad you did.

PS Don’t give him diapers to poop in.

[Anonymous]

Yeah keep at it. 2 days can be monumental in potty training.

Fwiw we still put my day- trained 26mo in diapers for sleep and for long travel just in case. He manages to avoid getting confused. This worked for my dd too. Oh crap is great except when it creates stress or guilt if you do a modified version. We've modified for 2 kids now and both were fully trained (except for sleep) pretty quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In terms of the poop, we also have an infrequent pooper. Fortunately DD usually poops after dinner so we would take her pants off then so she would get the chance to practice pooping naked. It seemed like it would never click for her and then it just did about a week in.
Don't stress about the underwear. If he has to wear underwear, he has to wear underwear. We put underwear on on Day 6 ahead of her first day at daycare. It was not an issue. Loads of kids potty train while wearing underwear. Oh Crap's obsession with this is a little weird.

OP: Thank you! So, what’s the advantage of underwear if he wets through it and pants? I’d need to bring multiple changes of both when going out, right? If he continues to have accidents in the comfort of pants I do imagine it would increase with underpants…

[Anonymous]

I'm struggling with it too. Kid does fine naked, but you put anything on him at all and he pees in it (including commando). He doesn't seem bothered at all be being wet or, when we tried underwear, peeing on the Sesame Street characters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In terms of the poop, we also have an infrequent pooper. Fortunately DD usually poops after dinner so we would take her pants off then so she would get the chance to practice pooping naked. It seemed like it would never click for her and then it just did about a week in.
Don't stress about the underwear. If he has to wear underwear, he has to wear underwear. We put underwear on on Day 6 ahead of her first day at daycare. It was not an issue. Loads of kids potty train while wearing underwear. Oh Crap's obsession with this is a little weird.

OP: Thank you! So, what’s the advantage of underwear if he wets through it and pants? I’d need to bring multiple changes of both when going out, right? If he continues to have accidents in the comfort of pants I do imagine it would increase with underpants…

We only did underwear because daycare requires it. I assume because it is more likely to hold the poop instead of it falling on the floor which becomes a health issue, other kids might step in it before they can clean it up (urine is sterile so less of an issue). If he is just with you, yeah stick with just pants, but if he has to wear underwear for some reason, I would not stress. It might slow down the process, it might not.