Timing
When it comes to potty training, each child is different. Some children potty train sooner and quicker than others and that is ok. You can start putting your child on the potty early and see how they react. If they just don’t understand the concept yet, take a break and try again in another month or so.
Eventually your child will start showing signs that they are ready to potty train: less wet diapers at night, asking to use the potty, interest in what you are doing when you go potty, etc.
Potty Training Tools
We made potty training fun by using a few products to make it a good experience. Around the time that we introduced potty training to our son, he was really into alligators. I found the cutest alligator potty training seat and he loved it! For our daughter, she just seems interested in anything new so we are using the same products we used for Charlie.
I first started training on a seat that I could bring around the house with me so that I can constantly put him on the toilet anywhere in the house. If I was preparing dinner, I would put the potty seat in the kitchen and have him sit there with me.
We aren’t quite potty training our daughter yet (she just turned one last month), but I put her on the seat a few times just to see how she feels about it. I think these pictures show that she didn’t really mind, but I could tell she didn’t understand what we were doing.
For our son, once he started going potty in the alligator seat more regularly and got the hang of it, we purchased a seat that goes on top of our actual toilet. There are so many fun ones to choose from including ones with buttons for music
The bottom line is, you are potty training a young child. Make it fun and make it a positive experience.
Here are a few fun potty training seat options for your little ones:
Stories
When we started potty training our son, I first introduced him to the toilet. I explained how it works, what it is for and even why our bodies need to go “potty.” As I mentioned above, we purchased fun potty seats to keep it interesting and exciting but there are also several great books to help you introduce potty training to your little one:
Set a Timer
Getting your little one in the habit of recognizing the cues of having to go potty takes time and practice. Set your timer for every 20-30 minutes and put them on the toilet. Sometimes they may go potty, sometimes they may not. The key is to get them to constantly thinking about going potty so that it becomes a habit.
Night time protection
Although your child may not have any accidents when they are awake, many children still have accidents when they are sleeping. You can either go cold turkey and not put any night time protection on your little one or use diapers or pull ups while they sleep.
I chose to put pull ups on my son for several months after he was day time potty trained. I felt horrible when he would pee the bed at night and I had to wake him up, change the sheets and his clothes and help him fall back asleep.
I was tired, he was tired and I feel like it made the experience less positive for him. I noticed that the more we practiced during the day, the less wet diapers he had at night and eventually he was 100% potty trained.
Some parents choose to go cold turkey and that has worked for them, but I am personally an advocate for providing night time protection until they are ready. Sleep is so important, and I did not want to interrupt that and have a grumpy, tired toddler the next day!
Be Patient
Potty training doesn’t happen over night and even when your child is potty trained, they may still have accidents. Remember to be patient and not make them feel bad or “in trouble” for having accidents. With anything new, there is a learning curve and potty training is a big skill to learn.
Always praise your little one and if there are accidents, make sure they know it is ok and that they are doing such a good job. Eventually they will get there, practice makes perfect!
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