So as you all know our big girl is now fully trained.  Between here and snapchat loads of you have asked how we did it and if I've any tips. Now I'm no expert, I've only ever done one child and it took over 2 years but we got there so if I can help anyone else of course I'm happy too.  I wrote down a few things that hopefully will help ye too.👇👇👇

Daytime.

✔ Get all the help you can.

I didn't have the nerve to try her at home myself. I honestly didn't even know where to start but Kirsty's school was 100% on board and so that was 4.5 hours I didn't have to do it each day. They made it part of her schedule and it became a habit for her to go. Ask your childs teacher/ creche assistants to start as soon as you do. I had some schedules you can print off Google. We had them in each toilet and toilet icons on her PECS book and every bathroom door. Kirsty is a visual learner so that helped her too.

✔ Skip the potty if possible.

With kids that have additional needs, or are still non verbal it can be hard to move from the potty to the actual toilet. We never used a potty so we never had to worry about Kirsty being confused.  Some kids can just associate toileting with a potty alone and you'll be facing a brand new battle trying to introduce the real toilet.

✔ Rewards and Motivators are a huge part in this process.

Even getting Kirsty into the loo was a task for us. We set our timers to 20 minute loops and we went in every time they went off. She couldn't understand why she was in there and she'd cry constantly. I brought in everything I could to entice her in from her dummy and teddy to the Ipad and chocolate buttons. Hygiene wise it wasn't the best I know but needs must, and it helped to keep her arse in there. 😂
Anytime we got lucky and she did go the rewards were given instantly.

Oh and Remember.👇

⚠ Motivators have to be just that, motivating. If they can do without it they will. I used Kirsty's dummy as ours and the loo was the only place she could get it.
(What a mean Momma. 😂)

⚠ Rewards have to be quick and short. We used buttons but only one at a time.

✔ Time, time and more time.

Training a child that can't speak, to listen to their body takes time. It needs to become part of their routine until they understand why and learn from their body about needing to go. Although it's easier to spot that they are about to poop, it's much harder for pee. There were usually no signs and we wouldn't even know she needed to go until we saw the puddles or wet clothes. So we had to just make it routine.
Like I said above, we brought her in every 20 minutes at the start. She screamed and cried and often sat there and as soon as we took her out, peed on the floor in front of us, but still we stuck it out. I started from 1pm after school and aimed to get to 6pm before putting the pull up on for the night.  Some days I got there, other days I got to 3pm and gave in, but we did it for sometime each day. Believe me I had plenty tears myself. It was exhausting.
Anytime she went I showered her with praise. If she wet or soiled the floor we cleaned it without any fuss. I don't give the accidents any attention, even negative attention is attention to kids and can have the opposite effect of what you are trying to achieve.
Eventually we were getting to 8pm before the pull up was going on. It just takes time and lots of it. Time, patience and plenty spare undies.😂


Night time.
(this is from a previous post so apologies for the repetition if you've already read it. 😊)

✔ Wait until they are ready.

We learned this the hard way.  Last year we tried Kirsty at night for 2 weeks.  She wet the bed 2/3 times a night, every single night.  She was still having accidents during the day so I don't know what we were thinking but it definitely wasn't the right time.
This time I did my research and I read that if a child goes 2 months without an accident during the day it's a good time to try at night. I left Kirsty's pull up on all summer, even when she was going in by herself.  I waited until I knew she had the understanding. And even though she was 100% trained at daytime that pull up was still full every morning and we didn't know why. Was it a comfort thing or a habit? I thought night time wasn't on the cards for a long time yet.

Then she woke early one morning, around 3am and when Brian checked it was dry. She didn't go until around 7 that morning so we knew she was physically capable of holding it at night.  The next morning was the same thing, only it was 6am when she woke. We realised she was waking dry and then going in the pullup so we knew it was time for it to go.

✔ It's not recommended to wake your child and bring them to the toilet.  Apparently it slows down the process of them learning to hold it subconsciously during sleep. We never did it as Kirsty barely sleeps as it is so waking her is never an option but it's each to their own so do what works for your house.

I hope this helps guys. Good luck to anyone starting.  It was a long hard process but so worth it.


Xxx
Elaine