Easy Tips for Potty Training | Building Your Own Method
Potty training is a topic that all parents think about, talk about, anticipate, worry over,
and most develop their own methods that work best for them and their child. If you are
just starting to think about potty training, here are a few tips to build your method off of!
Picking out your Potty Training Potty
There are so many different types of potty seats available. You can get a small potty chair that sits next to the regular toilet, or you can get a smaller seat that fits on the big potty.
When first starting out, it is much easier for your child to have their own potty chair. Most toddler will only want to go to the bathroom while someone else is going, so having the smaller potty seat makes this much easier!
Some potty chairs come with a removable seat cushion that will fit onto the regular toilet when you child is ready to “move up” from the little seat.
Training Underpants
All kids are different, and while some potty train great using pull-up disposable training pants, others do much better while using cloth training underwear. Have a few of each kind to try with your toddler so you can figure out which they do better in. Kids in cloth trainers do tend to potty train a bit faster but they are messier — so it is really a personal preference for you and your child.
The Incentive
Some kids take to potty training right away, where others take a bit of convincing. For those that need a little bit more of push, there are a few different incentives that you can offer.
Depending on your child and what you think will motivate them, you can offer small candies (M&Ms, skittles, etc), small toys, stickers, do a victory dance, or any other celebratory thing you can think of.
The Potty Bag is a great solution. You can put a variety of items in the bag including small candies, lollypops, stickers, small inexpensive toys and games, and allow your child to pick one out after they go potty.
Most kids will catch on pretty quickly, but only if they are ready to learn this skill. If your child isn’t showing any interest in the potty, don’t push it! Take a week or so off and try again. It will be much easy (and less frustrating for all of you) if you child is ready and excited to learn.
Do you have any potty training tips to share??
My daughter saw another child with a potty watch and asked me to buy one for her. I found it at Buy Buy Baby for $10. You can set it to play a short tune every 30, 60 or 90 minutes, as a reminder to use the potty. She took to this very quickly and kind of ended up potty training herself! We really hadn’t planned to push the issue yet, since I’m due any day with baby #2. I would be surprised if we don’t have any regressions, and so far she only goes pee on the potty, but she’s now wearing underwear all day and her only accidents are when she has a BM, with little effort on my part!
I’ve been putting off the potty training with my second. She’s already 3. But with my older sons activities we are hardly home long enough to stay a whole day close to the potty. I need to get on it though, I think she’s ready.
Every kid is definitley different. Helpful things to remember!
Very helpful points! I’m dreading the whole potty-training the second time around. Putting it off as long as possible!