After searching the Internet for potty training tips, I realized a lot of blog posts and books promise that your toddler can be potty trained in 3 days. I even saw a book that promises to help you potty train in LESS than a day! I am sure that works for some little ones, I really am, but based on conversations with a lot of other moms, I would say that most of us have to put a lot more work into potty training than that.
Pre-Potty Training Tips
First, there is the pre-potty training. We started this at 18 months after reading The No-Cry Potty Solution. I didn’t want my daughter to be scared of the toilet so I let her in the bathroom with me, although let’s face it, do any moms really get to pee alone? She loved the toilet. She loved flushing the toilet. And that was great because I had read the sound can be very scary!
I taught her the toilet vocabulary like pee, poop, toilet paper, potty, flush etc. I wanted to get her really familiar and comfortable with the toilet. I started talking to her about it I changed her diaper and if I knew she was going in her diaper I would make her more away by saying, “Are you making pee pee in your diaper?” and so on.
I thought about starting actual potty training at 18 months but I used the readiness checklist in the book by Elizabeth Pantley (I love her) and I felt that my toddler wasn’t ready yet. So we kept getting ready.
Potty Training Books for the Trainee
I bought this hilarious book, Potty by Leslie Patricelli, and even though I have read it about 100 times so far, I still enjoy it. It is really simple and easy to understand but it totally drives the point home. It is easy to manipulate the verbiage so that you can stress certain steps or use different words.
I also purchased The Potty Book for Girls which my daughter likes but it is not my favorite. It seems geared more toward a 3 year old and it shows completely independent potty training training. Meaning the little girl does everything herself while her parents eat cookies on the couch. However, it still takes you through the process and the pictures are great because they show a pee pee accident, hanging out on the potty waiting for something to happen, taking the diaper off etc. And I do love that it rhymes because it builds phonemic awareness.
Potty Training Readiness
There can be a lot of pressure to potty train but it’s important that you are aware of your child’s readiness and potty train when they are ready, not when your friends’ kids are ready or when your mother-in-law thinks they are ready. Here is a potty training readiness checklist from BabyCenter.
I felt my daughter was ready when she turned 2. Perhaps earlier but we were in the middle of a big move and things were chaotic. So we started potty training her and it went really well. She went several times in the potty chair and on the big potty with a seat but then it crashed and burned. It didn’t work for a couple reasons – we kind of winged it instead of having an organized plan and we weren’t consistent enough. So we decided to stop and try again with a clean slate.
What’s the Plan, Stan?
When I was 99% sure that she was ready, I devised an organized plan.
- I reviewed my potty training book and some articles I had bookmarked and pinned
- I went to Walmart and the Dollar Store and filled a bin with prizes I knew would thrill and excite
- I bought juice to encourage lots of pee pee action
- I bought some M&M’s to encourage just sitting on the potty since it was going to be happening every 15-20 minutes (or so I thought)
- I got the potty seat cleaned and ready by the big toilet
- I got the potty chair ready to bring into her bedroom so we could start immediately – catching the morning pee pee is a great way to start a potty training day!
- I washed the training panties (I got 4 but I could have used a couple more)
Ready, Set, Go!
I talked to my daughter the day before and explained that she was a big girl and that tomorrow she was going to say bye bye to her diapers and start going pee and poo on the potty like mommy and daddy. She was very agreeable, her favorite thing to say right now is, “Oh, ok!” I elaborated a bit and mentioned it several times. I went to bed thinking this was going to be great!
Well, the next morning was tough. Even though she tried to go on her potty chair first thing, nothing would happen. Then she got really defiant and thought it was funny to be completely disagreeable about the whole thing. She had two pee pee accidents (somehow missing our wall to wall carpet, much to my relief) and one poo poo accident. Clearly I was not watching her closely enough but what can I say, I’ve never done this before! When she told me she had pooped, I got her on the potty and without her knowing, put the poop in the potty. Then I made a big deal about how she went poop in the potty and she got a prize. I think I even convinced her she had done it! We called Grandma and everything. I was hoping that this would get her “back in the game” so to speak.
Despite pushing fluids like crazy, I could not get her to go before nap-time (except while she was in the tub, oy) which I even pushed back. I put her in a diaper and felt pretty discouraged that despite a great amount of effort, NOTHING had worked for my first 7 hours of organized, full-steam-ahead potty training. I was bummed.
Day 1 – Success in the afternoon
By some miracle, she woke up from her nap with a dry diaper. I knew I still had a chance of being successful! And boy was I. She did have a mini accident but then she ran to the potty and filled it up! The prize box came out and she had fun choosing one. A couple hours later, she ran to the potty and did it again. Another prize! I could not believe it. The morning was such a bust but now she was actually recognizing the urge to urinate and getting on the potty herself – which we kept in whatever room we were in. We called Grandma again and made a big deal out of it. She was so excited and proud.
Day 2 – Mixed results
She woke up the next morning with a dry diaper and we kept her near the potty by reading books to her. All of a sudden she ran to the potty and peed. Another prize, more praise, we were a very excited family. (Who knew urine could be so exciting?) Then there were a couple accidents when she was with Daddy followed by success.
Day 3 – Wonderful!
The next day was even better with only one poop accident. She consistently wakes up with a dry diaper from both morning and naptime – I was feeling great!
Day 4 – Mixed results
The morning wasn’t great – two accidents despite watching her like a hawk but then success. The rest of the day went great. But we are struggling with getting her to poop on the potty. She likes to have privacy during bowel movements so I put her in her room with the potty but she didn’t use it.
Days 5 to 9 – Getting There
She is really mastering going pee on the potty but I had to google “poop training” to get some ideas. I have decided to get a special potty just for # 2, putting it in a private place with some books, and making a big deal about her new “poo poo potty”.
Day 10 – Voila!!
This morning, she told Daddy that she had to go poo poo and she went on the potty for the very first time. We brought the prize box back out, which we hadn’t been using as it really wasn’t necessary, and she got to choose two prizes from the box. I didn’t even get to set up my poo poo potty! I feel that we are pretty much set with the potty training after lots of prep, a failed try, and 10 days. I am sure we will have an accident here or there but I am really happy. Especially thinking about all the money we’ll save on diapers!
Potty Training Tips for Out of the House
I was pretty worried about leaving the house with a newly potty trained 2 year old but it wasn’t too bad. We went to Walmart and my little trainee picked out a Disney Cars foldable potty seat which comes in in a plastic bag that snaps closed. I also picked up some Clorox wipes to keep it sanitized. Hand sanitizer is also a must – the foaming ones are great. We tried at two different stores and the second time, she was able to go. Yes! I did not want to be chained to her home potty so I was ecstatic even though it public restrooms are nothing to get excited about. We can also use the potty seat when we visit grandma or friends.
Conclusion
Potty training is not easy for many parents but it can be a lot of fun. I was really dreading it but when I saw her excitement over successes, I knew that I needed to have a positive attitude. The prize box was very helpful but I think the most important part of potty training was the PRE-potty training. She was totally prepped and ready to go. The second most important thing was just jumping up and down and cheering when she used the potty. I never expected potty training to be such a bonding experience but it was. Remember, every child is different. You may have to start earlier or later or use different methods. Just be consistent and positive and you’ll get there.
Feel free to leave your best potty training tip in the comments!
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