After mentioning on an Instagram post about how Baker is potty trained, I had a handful of people mention how they’re needing to potty train as well, or have been trying to and asked how we did it, so I thought I’d share what’s worked for us!
Obviously I've only had two babes, both the same gender, and from what I hear potty training can be so so different when it comes to boys vs. girls, just like every kid can be so different! I know there are a ton of tips & methods out there, but luckily for us it wasn't too hard of a science to figure out. hopefully it will be that way every time if we ever have to potty train again.. ha ha!
1. plan a day that you're going to start. there were a few times we'd decide on a whim that we were going to give 50% and attempt to potty train that day, but that never stuck. I believe in picking a day that you're going to start, so you can plan for it and commit to it! you can also start to mention it to your toddler (ie. talk about how when the diapers are all gone, they're going to start wearing underwear and going on the potty)
both times we have chose the week after Christmas, so we could get through the holidays without the stress of constantly taking them to the toilet and when we knew we could most likely stay home.
2. buy/order the tiny underwear. we never even had our girls pick theirs out, just bought whatever I could find in the right size (since both of ours potty trained at 25 and 26 months, we needed tiny sizes!). I feel like this is a given, but I kind of believe in going all-in. have the underwear on hand with no diapers to go back to.
organic cotton underwear is a great idea since they're going on your little babe's body. I never bought these until just the other day, when I needed to get more for my littlest. (as you can see Baker was wearing typical Minnie Mouse underwear probably bought at target)
I wish I would have bought these way back when Blakely started potty training, but now that I know we'll just buy them going forward. see the pack we bought here.
3. buy/order a training potty. I've heard a lot of kids are scared of regular big toilets, so I'd go with a kid sized toilet on the ground vs. one of the seats that go on the big toilet. my youngest used a training potty for the whole first year, whereas my second never really cared for it and has preferred the regular toilet.
this one was our favorite training potty. it comes in multiple animal options and we've found them at Walmart, Target, and our grocery store. great price point, easy to clean, and fun/not scary for your babe!
4. on the day of, first thing in the morning throw away that last diaper and take your babe potty. even if they don't go, have them at least sit on it. keep it light and make it seem exciting, but without much pressure. reiterate that since the diapers are all gone, they're going to start going on the potty now. (like mommy/daddy/older sibling does)
you can have books at the potty, a couple toys, sing songs, whatever you may need to help them feel comfortable just sitting on this new strange thing they're on.
potty book options: here, here, here, here, here, here
5. set a timer to go potty every 7 minutes. we played around with every 5 minutes, but I feel that was just too short and for us the pee always came shortly after 5 minutes. have them sit on the potty for at least a minute. whether they go or not, set another 7 minute timer.
also have them drink lots of water to help keep their bladder flowing!
6. do not fret over accidents! pee on the carpet? say "uh oh! we were supposed to go on the potty. let's go sit on the potty now." and calmly clean the pee up afterwards. it can feel discouraging, but try not to show any frustration with your child. they are just learning this new task that's very new to them, and getting frustrated will make it feel harder for them. (I say this from experience - there was a lot more frustration with our first, I think just due to lack of experience!)
7. congratulate/praise them for every step along the way. sat on the potty? hooray! tried to push? hooray! peed in the potty? obviously, hooray! make them feel like they are doing such a good job at just trying so they feel confident.
what about prizes/rewards?
this one is a controversial. I remember reading plenty of posts/articles from people that say heck-to-the-no, and then there were people that said it's fine. with our first, we had a prize basket. I went to the dollar store and found candy in our pantry that I put in a basket, and she got a prize anytime she went on the potty. I actually feel like I even remember giving her prizes anytime she SAT on the potty in the beginning. just like an infant that takes a pacifier though, you at some point have to basically wean them off of the prizes without it being a huge deal and resulting in a meltdown every time.
with our second, we just did lots of praise and never did prizes (except for a tiny treat for *pooping on the potty). now having done both, I would say no-prizes is the way to go, but also if it's what you gotta do, then no shame!
8. once we feel that they are doing well with the 7 minute timer, let's say it's been a few hours with no accidents in between the timers, we will up the timer to 10 minutes and then keep it there. once they're doing really well with that, up it to 15 mins, then 20 mins, etc. this happens over the course of a few days to a week for us. but since every child is different, maybe you'd need to keep the 7 minute timer for a few weeks. some kids have smaller bladders, so maybe you'd need to keep the 10 minute timer indefinitely to avoid accidents. I'd say just see what works best for your toddler!
what about car-rides?
ha ha! with both babes I have kept a training potty in our trunk. and anytime we get to a parking lot, before & after going into/leaving our destination, I have them go potty in the toilet. my husband was pretty mortified over this with our first and didn't want to be seen with us when my toddler had her little bare butt out and was going potty in our trunk, but now he's totally used to it and is unphased. ha ha!
my toddler will pee in the potty but not poop!
from everything I have read, this is completely normal. both of my girls went through it. both went through a little bit of constipation from refusing to poop for a few days, and both had poop accidents from holding it in for so long. but we just persevered and they both figured it out! with both, when we know they haven't pooped in awhile or we know that they need to, we put them on the potty and offer to let them watch a video or show on our phone. our go to has been this Daniel Tiger Potty Video. this way they can sit on the potty long enough for their body to relax. and the other thing that I read someone recommend when we were potty training our first, that I swear made a huge difference with both of our girls - is having them wave and say bye to the poop when it's being flushed down.
pull-ups. yes or no?
our first never wore a single pull-up. I didn't ever even consider going there, because I had heard people say it is confusing with them being so much like diapers. and also - she often woke up in the mornings with a dry diaper. so I felt she could handle not peeing when asleep, and I just happened to be right. maybe we got lucky.
our second though, does wear pull-ups to bed. she never took a binky as a baby (my oldest did and loved it through toddlerhood), but rather nursed until I had to wean her and then immediately always took a bottle when going to sleep. so she'd fill her bladder up every night (my oldest didn't do this since she had a binky), resulting in full/wet diapers in the morning. and even though I felt she was ready to potty train during daytime, I just knew that she wasn't quite ready to make it through the night dry. so from day 1 I put a pull-up on her at naptime and bedtime. we called them her 'night night underwear' and still said "make sure you don't pee/go potty in them, okay?" and even when she does wake up with her pullup wet, we still immediately take her potty on the toilet, and just toss the pullup without saying anything. because since it happened in her sleep, she really doesn't know she peed in them.
with all of that being said... we obviously began weaning off the bedtime bottles, and it is helping with the wet pullups. she even typically wakes up dry after naps now and goes potty on the toilet right when she wakes up. so I don't feel like the pullups are confusing at all for her, since we talk about them like they are just special underwear! we will stop using them once she's a bit bigger and makes it through the night dry, but for now I'm not worried about it. I would definitely avoid using them in place of regular underwear during the day though.
obviously I'm no professional when it comes to children or their development, and I'm sure there are many things I could have done different that may work extremely well for others, but I wanted to share the steps that have seemed to work great for us! hope they help those needing them!
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