Potty Training Doesn’t Have To Be Hard, Here is What We Did!

Potty training are two of the most stressful words in a parent’s life! We have all heard the horror stories. There are multiple books and tips on the best method. All kids are different, so take everyone’s advice with a grain of salt, as we are all trying to help based on our experiences. I hear many parents tell me that they want to potty train their kids at a certain age. The best advice I was given, was to wait until you start  to see signs that your son is ready.

According to Pampers,  here are some potty training readiness signs:

(https://www.pampers.com/en-us/toddler/potty-training/article/when-to-start-potty-training-signs-your-child-is-ready)

1. Your child shows an interest in learning to use the potty and wanting to be more independent. For example, he might show interest by asking questions if he sees a family member going to the bathroom.
2. Your child can understand and verbalize words about using the potty. For example, he might say “my diaper is dirty” or “I need to go pee pee.” He might even tell you he needs to go potty even if his diaper is already dirty or wet.
3. Your child can make the connection between having the urge to pee or poop and going to use the potty.
4. Your child can follow simple instructions and likes to copy your behavior, including bathroom habits.
5. Your child can keep his diaper dry for at least two hours.
6. Your child can get on the potty, stay on the potty long enough to pee or poop, and get off the potty.
7. Your child can pull down his own diapers, training pants, or underwear.

For us, the main signs were our son pulling off his diaper, saying it was uncomfortable and showing an interest in the potty. We were also lucky because he saw some kids in daycare using the potty. This all happened at two and a half years old.

Once we felt he was ready, we choose a weekend and loosely followed a three day potty training method we read about. We took off his diaper and kept him in just a shirt. We bought a potty training toilet and plopped it in front of the TV in the living room. From there, we had him sit on the potty every 20 minutes the first two hours and then once per hour for another three. We put him in a diaper for his nap and after his nap, put him in underwear, but kept making him go every hour. We also put him in a diaper to sleep, as most kids do not wake up if they have to go potty until they are five. By day two we only had one accident, and moved the training toilet into the bathroom. Day three we started using the big boy toilet, and the rest is history. Well not entirely, we still had an accident every now and again.

Another great tip that my Mom and Author of “Help My Baby Came Without Instructions” gave me was – Put your child on the potty backwards and give him a dry erase pen to doodle while he is sitting. (most toilet seats are white) I thought this was genius!

Some parents sail through the potty training to go pee pee in the toilet and then have an issue with their kids being afraid to poop. We did not have this issue. However, some of my friends did and said they incentivized their kids with things like candy, and that worked. Others said keeping the diaper off, meant that at some point their kids had to go bad enough and went in the toilet. Although one had a son who decided he would rather go on the floor! Also, know there will be setbacks. when kids are little, sometimes they get so excited and distracted by what they are doing they hold it until it is too late to go to the bathroom. Persistence, positive reinforcement and modeling the behavior will help. If your child is in daycare, ask them to help.

I just read a great tip that you might want to use – Put your child on the potty backwards and give him a dry erase pen to doodle while he is sitting. (most toilet seats are white) I thought this was genius!

Good luck! You can do this!