How did I do it?

Oldnproud

hollysteers

Never heard of waiting for toddlers to decide themselves and it doesn’t sound good. DD was keen to use the potty, so no trouble. Son a bit longer and I remember spotting and tossing a piece of poo behind the sofa when the priest turned away?.
Heartily dislike disposables except for travelling etc., disgusting things as well as expensive.

I'm curious - why do you find disposable nappies nore disgusting than tradiional terry ones?

They pollute the environment and I can’t bear to think of them rotting in bins ? and the expense. With terry towelling they went straight into a bucket of sanitiser, washed and used again.

hollysteers

Never heard of waiting for toddlers to decide themselves and it doesn’t sound good. DD was keen to use the potty, so no trouble. Son a bit longer and I remember spotting and tossing a piece of poo behind the sofa when the priest turned away?.
Heartily dislike disposables except for travelling etc., disgusting things as well as expensive.

My twin grandchildren were both dry by 21 months. There were lots of discussions for months beforehand about the toilet and what it was for with the small people watching and learning. Knickers were bought and one day one GC said she wanted to wear them. No accidents from day 1. Her fraternal twin followed a couple of weeks later. It didn’t take long for nighttime to follow and no accidents. BTW both parents were working full time.

I was very surprised at how easy it had been after remembering my DD1 although I know she was dry by 2.25 years as her sister was born and I didn’t want double terry nappies to wash.

Boys generally seem to take longer than girls.

There were two potties in their current favourite colours so no arguments.

Both my boys were born in the summer. So the start of the summer when they were near their 2nd birthdays I would put them in terry towelling pants and spend a lot of time in the garden.

I had a breakthrough when the eldest said he wanted to pee 'like Daddy' [standing up] which meant by passing the potty and standing in front of the toilet on a step. He felt so grown up he would also sit happily on a booster seat over the loo for the 'other' [when told his Daddy did that!].

Did the same with younger son. Both dry and clean around 2 years old after 2-3 weeks or so.

I do think smugness can come back to bite you, my DD was dry day and night by aged 2 and I thought everyone with older children still in nappies was lazy. I started the boys at the same age, it took 2 years before they were in any way, reliable. They weren't at nursery and were with me all the time. With hindsight they just weren't ready and I should have put them back in nappies and waited.
Thankfully I had a relaxed Mum who didn't judge me for it.

I’m amazed so many of you seem to remember in detail when your children and/or grandchildren were out of nappies. I’m not sure - it wasn’t a priority at all. I remember one of my boys more or less training himself during the day by the age of two, but I think he was well over three by the time he was dry at night. That was my younger son. I don’t remember when the elder one was dry.

I didn’t find terry nappies a problem. They were soaked in nappy buckets of sanitiser, then machine washed. I did have what would now be called a utility room, where they could hang to dry if it wasn’t fine enough to hang them outside. They didn’t look as neat as modern disposable nappies, though - much more bulky.

Grandma70s

I’m amazed so many of you seem to remember in detail when your children and/or grandchildren were out of nappies. I’m not sure - it wasn’t a priority at all. I remember one of my boys more or less training himself during the day by the age of two, but I think he was well over three by the time he was dry at night. That was my younger son. I don’t remember when the elder one was dry.

I didn’t find terry nappies a problem. They were soaked in nappy buckets of sanitiser, then machine washed. I did have what would now be called a utility room, where they could hang to dry if it wasn’t fine enough to hang them outside. They didn’t look as neat as modern disposable nappies, though - much more bulky.

Grandma70s im with you on that , it was never a priority back then and terry nappies are no problem at all, I use them for my 2 year old DGS , hes no where near ready for potty training and not worried as it will happen when he's ready

One of my DGDs just decided herself that she was not going to wear nappies and was dry day and night afterwards. Nobody trained her she just decided .
By the way teachers are saying they are getting primary school children still in nappies . One child still had a dummy and another could not ask for a drink , he did not have the language.

I think DD was trained by the time she was two but it probably helped that she'd been able to spend all summer out in the garden with no nappy on. DS took longer and it was years before he was properly dry at night. That seems to have just been him because his son has had no problems.

I truly don’t remember. About two, I think. I ran a business from home. Bit unusual 33 years ago but had au pairs and junior nannies to help. It meant I was always there even though running an international dating agency. My clients could wait 10 minutes to meet their dream partner whilst I helped my son potty train. Result, we are very close but not in each other’s pockets.

First was dry the summer after she was two. We left her without nappies during the day. I seem to remember leaving night time nappies till a bit later, when she woke up dry regularly. Second child was earlier, but had encouragement from the first.

Mine were both dry before they were 18months, I did it during the Summer when it was easier to get the washing dry.

No washing machine at that time. I had to keep my eyes on them though to make sure that they used the potty and not the lawn! I guess I was lucky to be able to be at home with them until they went to school.

I remember grandma70 and liamsnana because I used to record stuff like that in their baby books, first tooth, first steps and each ‘growing up’ happening and I ve got a photo or 2 of them sitting on their potties I lived away from my family when they were little and photoed everything !! Used to send the negatives away to Bonusprint and wait a few days for their return excitedly seeing my photos and because I wasn’t nearby there’d be a description on the back (all my photos came back when mum and dad died )

I didn’t have a washing machine in those days and when my first was born I was in HK in the middle of riots the Chinese shut our water supply off and we only had four hours of water every fourth day That’s something you can’t forget
Terries were a problem then, my eldest was around one

I know exactly when my second eldest grandchild was nappy free as I looked after her for a week while her mum and dad had a belated honeymoon she was 15 months old and out of nappies

LtEve

I do think smugness can come back to bite you, my DD was dry day and night by aged 2 and I thought everyone with older children still in nappies was lazy. I started the boys at the same age, it took 2 years before they were in any way, reliable. They weren't at nursery and were with me all the time. With hindsight they just weren't ready and I should have put them back in nappies and waited.
Thankfully I had a relaxed Mum who didn't judge me for it.

That is the same pattern that my DD and DS flowed, LtEve, and I soooo wish that I had put my son back into nappies for a while. But the pressure was on in those days, wasn’t it?

Followed, not flowed ?

JackyB I was given a lot of (second hand) Muslim nappies in the mid 70 s by a German friend and used them fir my two now mid 40 s dds, and noticed a couple of months ago they though even thinner, they are still in use as general wipes and it took me back to times gone by.
As to nappies in general, my older dd was out if them around 18 months as her sister was due and I didn’t want two in nappies; it was a huge Pfaff at that time, buckets of stinky towelling nappies in the kitchen, yuk.

All my 3DDs were clean at 18 months night and day. Then, my DDs in turn, gave me my 5DGC over the years, while they went away, to do the same.
At the time of my DDs, my local primary school here in France, had places for under 3s if they were clean, which was an encouragement for both mothers and children.

Ours were all very young , about 12 months old when they were clean and dry. Mainly because of those vile big cloth nappies that would chafe them. They were intelligent enough ,even at that age, to want to be comfortable and dry.

My younger DD was clean and dry before her 1st Birthday. Purely because she hated being in a wet nappy.
I remember going to a village toddler group and she would insist that I took her potty. The other Mum's and toddlers (except for one other little girl) looked at us as if we were a bit weird.
Even now she is 50 she is incredibly fussy about personal hygiene,

nanna8

Ours were all very young , about 12 months old when they were clean and dry. Mainly because of those vile big cloth nappies that would chafe them. They were intelligent enough ,even at that age, to want to be comfortable and dry.

My lot must have been very dim or I was lazy ! I had 3 in nappies at night but one dry by day , at the same time , the 4th was even older having CDH she was in plaster of Paris neck to toes for ages then splints
The eldest was a January baby , so it was the summer after he was 2 before I started trying to get him dry, and by that time I had his sister and was expecting no 3

My daughter tells me that research has shown that children with an unrecognised allergy are likely to be bed setters much later than children without. Interesting as she was a bed wetter until at least nine or ten and later found she had a milk and gluten intolerance.