[maxshim]

Started TT DD on Saturday just gone. She is 37 months old today. So far it's been going relatively well - she is weeing without any issues or accidents (although we haven't been outside the house without nappies as yet) and for the past couple of days just takes herself off to the potty unannounced when she needs to do wee if there's noone in the room with her. No poos on the potty as yet, but one did "slip out" while she was out in the back yard the other night.

The issue for the past couple of days is that she wants to sit on the potty constantly! It was in the loungeroom on Tuesday, but I found that during the afternoon she just sat on it constantly. On Wednesday I moved it in to the toilet thinking that the relatively boring surroundings in there might spur her on to leave it and go and do something else in between uses, but although she is sitting on it less, she is still in there quite a lot.

Any suggestions for how I get her to leave it? At the moment all I can think of is to say "if nothing comes out in 5 minutes you have to get off and go and do something else and then come back if wees or poos are coming".

Also - any suggestions for first outings without nappies? I have some "training pants" for her which are towelling and a little bit absorbent. Perhaps I just put those on her and venture to the cafe down the road for a quick trip or do I just bite the bullet and go somewhere more adventurous and assume we'll spend three quarters of the time in the toilet?

Thanks in advance.

[talia08]

ds has just started using the potty this week. Following a post on eb I was reminded in some of the replies that Im the parent and its up to me to set the boundries that I am comfortable with. So I would yes reinforce, no its time to get off and try later. One of the posters to my question suggested using a timer. I went and bought a $2 one from reject shop and set this for about every 40 minutes (I found any longer and he was peeing himself to start with), he actually loves this concept and its been helpful.
Re first outing without nappy, I tried this yesterday, informal visit to toy library. I waited until he had done a wee in the potty just before I left and just risked it with the underpants on.(He had also just an hour before done a big poo so I wasnt expecting that neither). We were gone about 40 minutes and he stayed dry. Good luck.!

[hunter4]

I'm a believer of letting the kids decide when they're ready so when my DS went through the wants to sit on the toilet all the time stage I just went with it. I personally refused to sit in the bathroom with him for that long so after a few minutes I'd say I had something else to do and would leave and after a while he got bored and stopped it of his own accord, but if you feel its a problem then as you say set a time limit, or even a timer and let him know that it's time to hop off.

As for first outings I'd suggest making the first couple of outing to places like the park, playground etc where it really doesn't matter if they have an accident and just make sure you have something to clean up any accidents (a terry cloth rag or something) and a change of clothes. For my DS I also realised that everytime we went somewhere new i had to let him know when we went in that yes there was a toilet here if you need to use it and even point it out.

Another good idea is to have a potty in the back of your car if you're going out in the car so if you're somewhere where there isn't a toilet handy you can pull that out.

[Jemstar]

I would just let her go for the moment. You don't want her getting any negative connotations with it. I tank you'll find that once it's not on her mind so much it'll stop, you've only been TT since Saturday.

[mibi]

I would just let her go too. It's better that she's happy to sit on it, rather than making it a problem. It's still very early days. You'll find that once the novelty has worn off, she'll won't sit on it so often.

[mibi]

I would just let her go too. It's better that she's happy to sit on it, rather than making it a problem. It's still very early days. You'll find that once the novelty has worn off, she'll won't sit on it so often.