Eve loves cats
We slowly started the process of potty training this time last year, when Eve was one and a half. The first 2-3 months were tricky but then she got on really well with it. Of course there were 'accidents,' but that's all part of it. About four months ago she started getting upset at bed time and didn't want to wear a nappy (which was the only time that she wore a nappy; she has been nappy free for a long time during the day). I tried her without a nappy that night, but she had an accident. Because it was cold weather I postponed the idea of no nappies at night until the summer. Also, Eve was having the occasional accident during the day and I didn't feel that she was quite ready for it.
Now that it's summer potty training is easier, as washing dries that much quicker. Two nights ago after Eve's bath I told her that she wouldn't wear a nappy in bed that night. She looked at me with a worried expression and asked for a drink. The idea of it confused her. She thought that she had to drink lots so that she could use the potty before bed. I tried to explain that she only needed a sip like usual, but she proceeded to glug down lots of water.
She sat on the potty whilst we read stories (for ages), until I finally gave in and asked her if she wanted to wear a nappy. She said yes, so we went with that. On Sunday night I attempted it again but this time I didn't mention anything. I put the potty next to her bed like usual, put her to bed in just a vest (easier to change her if any accidents), and didn't tuck the duvet in (I was hoping she might be able to get out of bed and use the potty if she needed to).
We love the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair.
It wasn't unexpected when we went to bed and checked on her, that she had had an accident. She was very good about it and sat sleepily with Daddy whilst I changed the bed and her vest. We put her back to bed just in a vest, and Daddy told her where the potty was.
Eve slept all night and didn't wake up till I went into check on her in the morning. However, as I was worrying about it, I woke up to the slightest noise through the night, thinking that it might be Eve. (I shouldn't have worried and could have had a peaceful sleep, doh...) Eve's bed was dry when I went in to see her, and I was over the moon about it. I could tell that Eve felt proud of herself.
Does anyone else look at these kind of photos online and think - 'I wish!'
Eve had an eventful day on Monday at nursery and walked all the way to the playground with a couple of her pals (she walked all the way there and back without any accidents, even though her carers said that she needed to use the potty). When I got her home that night she was very tired, refused to get in the bath (but was filthy, mud all over her face) and lots of screaming and crying ensued. I finally got her through the bath time ordeal and into bed. She had used the potty during bath time at about 7.30pm.
Diggin' in the crates with Dad - very pleased she stayed well away from the Tony Christie record ;-)
I have read and been told that some people pick their child out of bed about 10 or 11pm and put them on the potty to get them through the night. So, I tried this technique on Monday night; and won't be doing it again.... Of course, she was exhausted from the long day and the craziness of bath time. I think she was asleep with her eyes open, and was waving her arms, pointing at the end of her bed like something was there. She made a crying sound that I've not heard her make before, and seemed delirious, which was quite upsetting.
She was obviously not going to use the potty, so I put her back to bed. She was frightened at being woken up and asked me to sing her nursery rhymes. I sang to her until she fell asleep.
I woke up at 6am to hear her singing. I went to her room, and she said, 'no mummy,' which meant that she wanted to stay singing in bed for a while. I figured she would have told me if she'd had an accident, so I went back to bed for half an hour.
Image copyright http://blog.thisisgold.co.uk/
I guess the next step is using the toilet. Eve has refused in the past when I've offered to help her try it, but I'm sure she'll be using the mini children's ones at nursery in no time.
Using plastic nappies for the past year and a half really bothered me. I'm so glad that I'm no longer sending nappies to landfill (8 million go to landfill each day in the UK alone / it takes 500 years for a nappy to decompose). My initial plan when pregnant was to only use washable cloth nappies, but of course, as you gain experience as a parent you realise that sometimes you have to expand your thoughts to accommodate things that you don't want to do.
We had to use disposables for the first month of Eve's life as she was too small to fit in the cloth nappies that we had bought, but we used the re-useable cloth nappies (Bum Genius - brilliant things) for a good 9-10 months. At the age of 5.5 months poor Eve got chronic teething pain which lasted for a year (droopy eyes and lips, very swollen face). It progressively got worse, until at 10 months we had to say goodbye to using cloth nappies. Eve was waking at 2 hour intervals during the night, demanding lots of milk to comfort her (along with a steady supply of medicine). The washable nappies just couldn't handle the amount of liquid, even if I changed her through the night, so leaks in bed were frequent. I was exhausted and was looking at the prospect of going back to work full time a few weeks later. At that time my mental health was my priority so I headed out to Asda to stock up on nappies.
Working full time, with very little sleep around that time was tough, and I knew there was no way that I could summon the strength to be washing soiled nappies (that had been sat at nursery all day) each night. So that unfortunately was that. But I feel happy that we gave it our best shot, and kept our nappy consumption as low as we could. (We even used washable cloth nappies during a week's holiday in Greece when Eve was 8 months old).
We're four nights down now, the first three went really well, but when we went to her room this morning she'd had a fairly severe 'accident' during the night and said that she had a sore tummy. She was very good about it and happily got on with her day. I shall say no more, but I wasn't expecting that at 7am. One of those random things, sods law I guess.
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Enjoying the sandpit in the park
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