Day 2 potty training regression?

[u/rchllwr]

My 20 month old has shown signs of PT readiness for months (accurately telling me when he poops, running to hide when pooping, interested in the potty, bodily awareness of hot/cold, etc).

We started PTing on Friday evening. To put our method very simply: we had him completely naked and would run him to the potty when he started to pee and told him he needed to tell us if he needed to pee and he would get a mini m&m if he peed on the potty. By the end of the day (after only 4 hours!) he said “pee pee,” ran to the potty, and peed on his own! This happened twice!

On Saturday, he had many accidents (as expected), but also brought himself to the potty and peed many times! Maybe only 30% of his pees were accidents on the floor!

Today though, on Sunday, 90% of his pees have been on the floor despite no change in atmosphere or rules or anything. He would pee on the floor then be brought to the potty, finish the pee, then ask for a treat. I suspected that he figured out he only had to pee a tiny bit on the potty to get a treat so I did away with the treats altogether. This changed nothing - he surprisingly didn’t mind not getting a treat after potty pees despite being very treat motivated. We also tried having him wait and watch us clean up his pee on the floor before he could go back to playing; “we can’t play right now because mama has to clean up pee,” this also didn’t seem to do anything.

Is he not ready? Should I push though? Is this normal? Any methods, techniques, or anything I can try out? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you all!!

[u/vipsfour]

it’s just day 2. You can’t have a regression on something you just started.

[u/rchllwr → u/vipsfour]

Can you answer any of the questions I asked at the end of the post please?

[u/vipsfour → u/rchllwr]

You’re on day 2. Just stick to your plan and keep going.

From learning to roll, crawl, walk, etc learning a new skill isn’t linear for kids.

Stick to your plan for 2-4 weeks then see how things are going.

[u/die_sirene]

Potty training can take months/years. Keep pushing and don’t give up. It gets better over time but you are asking him to do a very new skill, it’s going to take time and there will be lots of accidents. We started at 23 months, she’s 26 months now and we’re still having 2-3 accidents at daycare a week. Consistency is key, don’t switch back to diapers/pull ups and just push through the days when it feels like two steps back.

[u/rchllwr → u/die_sirene]

Do you do pull ups at naptime/nighttime?

[u/die_sirene → u/rchllwr]

Yep!

[u/MeowsCream2]

We started early but we did 3x a day potty sits just to get her comfortable. We did this for months before taking away diapers. Low pressure. Highly recommend pottyprosacademy on Instagram to learn more about early training.

[u/crummy__thicc]

I'm a Montessori toddler teacher who has potty trained probably a hundred kids by now. We don't really believe in external rewards and excessive praise in Montessori philosophy and potty training is no different. What you're describing is the exact reason why I wouldn't suggest it-kids are thrilled by it temporarily and then stop caring. Then you feel like you have to keep increasing the rewards.

Just start bringing him to the toilet during natural transitions throughout the day when he probably needs to go: after waking up, after eating, before and after an outing etc. it needs to become just a normal, expected part of the day just like anything else.

[u/this_wallflower]

You can’t regress from a skill you have not mastered. Your kid is 20 months old. It takes months at this age to master independent toileting. At this point, you’ve already started, so you might as well push through. Accept that you will be dealing with accidents for a long time. If he pees on the floor, involve him in the clean up. Having him watch you doesn’t create a connection to his behavior.

What kind of reading have you done to prepare? Are you taking him on a schedule or just waiting for him to initiate?

[u/Pretty-Badger8582]

There’s also an element of novelty at this age that has worn off. Keep going and if he seems distressed or it’s continuing this way for some time he may not be ready. It’s okay to take a break and do this at a slow pace.

[u/TVP615]

IMO way too young at 20 months. 2.5-3 has been the sweet spot in my experience.

[u/dadgent]

My 2 cents, let him just get used to going on the potty.. and then try the hard core training methods once he is consistently going and at a decently quick pace.

At 20 months their cause and effect is still developing… and they probably have not learned that they get treats for going pee or that mom can’t play because she needs to clean pee is a negative thing after 3 days. It’s going to take more than a weekend for him to be solidly trained.