Donald started his toilet training on 27th Apr 2007. Within 2 months, he could stay dry during day time and even during naps.
On 30th July 2007, he went diaper-free for the 1st time at night. Next morning at 6.30am, he wet his bed and woke up crying. I talked to him and asked him what must he do if he wants to pee while he is asleep? He replied “wake up!”. Ever since then, for a week now, 7 full nights, he managed to stay dry! Even when he woke up, I asked him if he needed to pee, he could still hold his pee and tell me “no!”
Seriously, the whole process wasn’t as difficult as I had imagined it to be. I had expected smelly sofas, wet puddles on floor, huge anxiety when we go shopping etc. But no… it was quite simple. So here is my record:
Daytime Pee Training
- Brought him to buy “big boy pants”, he chose Thomas the Tank Engine design.
- Made the mistake of bringing him to pee every 15-30mins. Even when we went shopping, I brought along lots of small plastic bags and initated him to pee everytime.
- Talked to Carin, who had toilet trained her 2 boys. She said that this way of keeping him dry will not teach him to HOLD his pee, which is the whole idea of toilet training. So she suggested to ASK him every 15-30 mins whether he needed to pee, and if he does need to, while bringing him to the toilet, keep reminding him to “hold..hold…hold“
- Got Daddy involved to teach him how to ‘pull, hold, aim and shake“.
- He did wet himself on a few occasions, and I think twice I was visibly quite upset with him, so he was quite taken aback and wanted to wear back his diapers. So I apologised to him and told myself that he is still undergoing training, I am the adult here, I can handle mess…
- After that, I was quite relaxed. I adopted the “if he wants, good! If he doesn’t want, then no hurry, no pressure…anyway it is more convenient for me” kind of attitude. And Voila! Things got EVEN easier. Donald started taking the lead, he initiated when he wants to be in his big boy pants, he announces when he wants to go pee. He even insisted to wear big boy pants for shopping even though we insisted that he wasn’t ready! (funny right?
) - Of course there is this concern of using public toilets. I have to carry him off the ground while he pees, so that his “jewels” doesn’t touch the toilet seat. (daddy actually made the mistake once, and allowed donald to rest his “jewels” on a filthy toilet seat. he came back and complaint to me about the filth and the possibility of germs crawling up donald’s arse and I rolled my eyes at him and told him that he was suppose to carry donald up!!!!)
- As for long car trips, we will stop by the road so that he could pee in the drain or grass. I am still trying to master the technique of him not dripping the excess on his shoes and pants..I do push his bum forward, but some still gets on his crocs…*scratch head*
Nighttime Pee Training
- Didn’t intend to train him so early, but 1 night, he insisted to wear only his big boy pants to sleep. So I promised him that he can do that from the next day onwards. So I quickly went to Ikea and bought the waterproof fitted sheet for his single bed and also a king size one for our bed, just in case.
- Prepare him in advance on what to expect and what to do when he needs to pee at night.
- 1st night, he wetted himself, I just had to take off the waterproof sheet, change him, and back to bed he goes. Now he knows how it feels when he wets the bed, and he doesn’t like it! So he knows that he must wake up when he needs to pee.
- 2nd night onwards, he stayed dry!
Poo Training
- Initially he was quite resistant, because he was used to poo-ing in his diaper. He did it twice in his big boy pants, and I had to explain to him that Thomas the tank engine doesn’t like his pants to be dirtied!
- Anyway, he passes his motion quite infrequently, so I am less worried that he will do it at the wrong times.
- He likes the combi toilet seat, which can be put on top of the adult toilet seat. It has a handle in front which he could on hold to, like sitting on a horse.
- I realised that I need to sit there and observe him. Because he tends to tell me that he is done after he passed the 1st stool. But when I sat there and looked, I could still see some more about to come out. I guess he is scared to push anymore cos it was painful as they were hard. So I sat there, encouraged him and pushed together with him, and a lot more came out.
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I think the easy success of it hinges on a few factors:
- Don’t be pressured into starting toilet training too early.
- Relax.
- Surround yourself with experienced friends
You will have alot of people coming to you, telling you that their so-and-so was already dry at 1 year old, few months old etc. Nod with a smile and let it slip out your other ear. Let your child take the lead, he will display signs of readiness, like being able to tell you that he just pee-ed or poo-ed, wanting to imitate his dad or his friends….
The more kan cheong you are, the more likely you will over react to expected mistakes. Once you relax, the process will run smoothly by itself. Everyone becomes dry overtime, be it early or late. Worse case scenario, they stay on diapers for a tat longer than you would like, so what? A longer period of convenience for you then!
I had the privileged access to several friends, as well as the asiaparents forum, to tap on their experiences.
That’s All! If you need to discuss more, feel free to leave comments below!
Have fun!
Further to this post, Donald still wetted his bed at night, like maybe another 5 times? And subsequently, remained dry.