Hi, hello! Let's talk about potty time. This is a big topic among a lot of my mama chat groups right now so I thought it might be helpful to compile the different nuggets of advice I'd gotten + how it's going with us in this process. A bit of context for you: our child is now almost 2.5 years old and has been exhibiting "signs she was ready" since about 18 months, but a majority of friends said wait until the new baby comes to tackle this because it can be a process, a lot of work and really draining. Also, my daycare recently has gently begun doing the work so the bums were lining up. I also want to caveat that there are lots of methods for potty training and whatever works for you and your child is the best method. :)
First, some signs bb is ready for the potty & you can start talking about it.
- awareness of wet diapers
- hiding to pee or poo
- interest in bathroom behaviour
- waking up dry from a nap, taking off diapers during naps
Here's the quick and dirty (pun intended!) guide to the prep work for the week of completely doing diaper free time:
We purchased two potty "types": the Baby Bjorn and also the Bumbo Toilet Trainer. *General advice was to have a few potty's around the home if you have stairs so the child and you can easily access.
Over the last few weeks we've moved away from diapers during the day to pull-ups. For naps and night-time we still do diapers (sleeping & waking to pee is part 2 of training I assume). Last week, we started dressing her in "big girl" undies during the day so she can start to feel accidents without diapers.
In our home, we've been very open ourselves when using the bathroom, showing her how we do it & talking her through the process. We talk a lot about what we are doing, why we are doing it & explaining body parts as well.
It's been almost 6 days now of basically allowing our child to run freely naked around the house while we ask her every 20 minutes "do you need to use the potty"? With each successful use of the potty comes sort sort of positive re-enforcement (a sticker, a cracker, an episode of paw patrol (for the poops). It's been a process, meaning accidents happen a lot and sometimes she'll still ask to have a diaper but consistency and patience have been the #1 actions we've found helpful. When we are out and she's dressed we'll throw her in training undies and continue asking her if she needs to use the toilet. We have brought the potty but have no expectations around it actually getting used. Today was the best day so far as most all of her body actions have been on the actual potty which feels like a massive win. As the day progresses and she starts to get busy and engaged, the potty becomes less top of mind so it's work to stay on-top of it. Definitely grateful that I have my husband home while we are doing this.
Here are some additional general nuggets of wisdom on how to tackle potty training:
- girls are usually easier to train than boys
- hold on training if a major life event is happening (new baby, moving, ect)
- listening to your child and feeling out their personal needs and comforts goes a long way; no book or blog can teach you better than your instinct.
- start and commit, don't do diapers once in a while or pull -ups after you move to trainers. We sort of made this mistake and really committing to each next step is key.
- praise and excitement when success happens - your child will be really proud of this milestone and that is super exciting.
Is this helpful? Let me know in the comments!