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I started potty training our 22-month-old almost two weeks ago. We just went straight from diapers to panties. (We do pull-ups during nap/bedtime). It didn’t take long for our girl to catch on and start going on her own.
Here’s what we’ve been doing and what we’ve learned along the way.
How to know when your kid is ready
Your toddler is tugging at his or her diaper.
If your toddler is tugging at his or her diaper when they are wet. If your toddler is noticing when they’ve peed and start to tug on their diaper as if they aren’t comfortable being wet, then that may be another telltale sign that they’re ready to start potty training.
Your toddler is taking diapers off.
If your kid is taking his or her diaper off, then they are probably showing signs that they are ready. The day before we got started, my girl took off a dry diaper to pee on the floor. In fact, that is what inspired me to just go ahead and start the very next day.
Potty training tips
Introduce the concept first.
Before you and your toddler take the leap and just start potty training abruptly, it might be a good idea to introduce the concept of using the bathroom to your child before you start. You can “brainwash them” by allowing them to watch cartoons that talk about potty training, reading books together that mention potty training, or by just bringing them in the bathroom with you and explaining to them what you’re doing and why. Integrating potty training into their everyday lifestyle and routine can begin to help them realize that using the bathroom is just a normal thing that people do (because it is!). It may also help them be more accepting of the concept once you officially start potty training them.
Get equipped.
Before you get started, you wanna make sure you have the essentials. What I used in my girl’s potty training journey were: the seat attachment for the regular toilet (P.S. This foldable one is great for travel), a potty chair, training panties, pull-ups, and treats.
We also kept cleaning spray and extra towels nearby just in case.
Start early.
When potty training, it’s all about giving them many “potty opportunities”. Whatever you decide to do or whenever you decide to start, it’s better to begin first thing in the morning and continue throughout the day. As soon as your toddler wakes up, take them to the potty and give them an opportunity to go first thing in the morning. Then give them an opportunity to go every hour or so throughout the day. Since using the potty is an all-day thing for us, help them learn that it’s an all-day thing for them too by starting early.
Go naked.
Take a weekend and go bottomless or full commando. Allow your toddler to go bottomless all day every day with the exception of wearing pull-ups during naptime and bedtime. I know this might be a scary thought at first. I know I was most concerned about the cleanup process and how messy things could get. But you might be surprised. For us, it actually wasn’t that bad. On the first day, my girl only had four accidents. All of them were pee accidents, so it was a relatively easy cleanup process. She popped in her pull-up during nap time. Within the first full week of training, we only had a total of three poop accidents. Being bottomless or naked helped our toddler catch on fast and start to go on her own every time she felt the sensation.
Pick a spot.
My advice would be to pick a general area in the house that you’re going to spend most of the day in and keep the potty visible in that room. I found it work better by keeping the potty in the same exact spot so that she could remember where to go whenever she needed to go. However, if at any point you need to move the potty, make sure your toddler is aware of its new location. Whenever I moved it, I would ask, “Where is the potty?”. This helped our girl be aware of where she needed to go just in case.
Time it
Once you remove the overnight diaper, start timing your toddler’s frequency. We learned that it took about two hours after the first diaper before she went again. And then it seemed like she went every hour after that on the first day. So with that information, we set a timer for every hour or so, stopped what we thought we were doing, and said, “it’s potty time” (according to my calculations lol). As the training progressed, we noticed she would hold it for longer periods of time.
Give a reward.
Now I know this might be a controversial idea. Some parents would say it’s not necessary because adults don’t get rewarded for using the bathroom. However, I found it to be extremely helpful to do on the first day to get our girl excited about having to go. Because we gave our daughter a treat on the first day, I found her at times taking initiative and sitting on the potty all on her own just to see if anything will come out.
She got warmed up to the idea of going to the potty and she started taking initiative halfway through Day 1! I believe the treats were a big motivating factor for at least learning the basic skill of recognizing when she had to go and then going. She felt proud of herself if she was able to use the potty successfully. After the first day, we didn’t do treats anymore. We just clapped for her if at all. However, I think it was a big help in getting her to understand the basics.
What we’ve learned
They’re learning many skills at once. Learning how to recognize when they have to go and then going to the potty is one skill. Learning how to communicate is another. And figuring out how to pull their clothes up and down are all separate skills that coincide with potty training.
She first learned how to go on her own and without always being told. It took another week or so before she started verbally telling us when she had to go. Before then we were looking for signs like the potty dance or just reminding her to go every hour or so.
Currently, we are working on the skill of dressing and undressing. We still have to practice pulling her pants and panties up and down independently so she won’t need as much assistance going if she has clothes on. But I’d say she has the two basic skills down. Just working on the last skill of dressing and undressing.
Potty training is still a journey. Expect to still have accidents as they are developing the skill. However, a silver lining is that the accidents should become less and less. I’ve also noticed as the days gone on, we’ve had to make fewer trips to the potty because she’s learned to hold her bladder for longer periods of time. We started out going every hour, now we maybe just go 5-6 times a day.
We’re just on week two of our journey and so far the main skill of knowing when to go was learned the very first weekend we started. As you can see, it didn’t take long for our little girl to catch on. I’m sure it won’t take long for yours to catch on too… especially if they want to learn!
Hopefully, it’ll help you with your toddler’s potty training journey. Sending you all the love and luck!
Curious to know if you have started the potty training journey and how it’s going for you? And if so, what have you been doing or what tips can you share down in the comments below!
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