Potty training - how do you do it?!

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I'm hoping to potty train my daughter who is 3 next month.

The issue is, I'm so unsure how to do it. How can I explain to her that she needs to wee/poo in a potty/toilet now instead of her nappy? Do you use a potty or go straight to the toilet? Do I need to keep her naked from the waist down in the house for a few days to begin with or can I put her in pants straightaway? Even when she's got the hang of it does she need to wear nappies overnight? Do I need to take a potty with me when we go out in case she needs to wee before we can reach a toilet?

I'm feeling so confused by it all and would really appreciate some guidance - thank you!

No advice but I hope to potty train ds in the summer so following with interest.

Following for tips as we're going to give this a try in April with our two year old.

I bought the “Oh Crap Potty Training” book and read that before we started. I didn’t follow it to a T but it gave some helpful ideas. There is also a FB support group related to the book where parents can ask questions. I spoke to DS about potty training and tried to “prepare him”

I took the week off work and made no plans to leave the house (but this was personal preference and unnecessary in the end as by day 3 he has pretty much got it) and had DS naked from waist down and let him play as normal. When he started to wee I would put him on the potty and he soon made the association that wee belongs in the potty. We found a rewards chart helped make it a bit more fun.

We decided to only day train so he is still in pull ups/nappies for bed and I think I will wait until he naturally becomes dry at night but many people night train at the same time.

I would get a portable potty for when you’re out and about (and plenty of spare clothes) I got one off Amazon that folds up.

Good luck!

Just trained DC2 so this is fresh! Make sure you have no plans for a week. Go naked from waist down if practical, otherwise pants/knickers only. Have potty available. Set timers for every half an hour and pop them on until you get to know how long they can hold it. Big praise for every success. Don't make a big deal about accidents. Don't be put off if you have literally zero success for the first couple of days, that's quite normal. If you do go out buy a potette or similar or take normal potty if not too tricky. You'll get to learn their body language fairly quickly.

It took a week for my DD to be reliable and even then we still had accidents every so often. My DS got it faster and only had wee accidents for 2 days, never since (so far) but poo has taken longer and we still get the odd accident. Both were similar age to yours.

Patience, don't stress and lots of stickers, small treats worked for us. Every child is different. Just find what works for you. Good luck!

Thank you for the advice! Did anyone go straight to the toilet? Or is it better to start with potty first and then switch to the toilet when they’re a bit older?

Another vote for Holy crap potty training book it was really useful. I think starting with a potty is best as it's at their level and some kids are frightened of the toilet.

www.amazon.co.uk/Princess-Pollys-Potty-Andrea-Pinnington/dp/1409302199/ref=asc_df_1409302199/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310871971371&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=7634805556794671046&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045108&hvtargid=pla-464285013306&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

This book really helped. Other than that we just waited until DD one day declared that she was now using the potty. Took about 48 hours for her to be almost completely dry. I'd like to claim credit but she just liked to do things on her terms.

I sent my daughter to my mil and she promised the child a big peppa pig soft toy and dd was potty trained within days. Pure bribery and respect for elders.

We started with potty but after a couple of weeks introduced toilet for first and last wees of the day (while waiting for bath for example) and gradually increased from there. But you just go at your child's pace and what they're happy with.

Nursery did the hard work for us and we followed their guidelines at home. They took DT’s to the toilet every half an hour. Lots of praise for successful visits and no criticism when there was an accident. They also had a bell to ring for every wee and poo in the toilet. Seemed to work. Took about a week with the occasional accident afterwards - usually if they were very occupied playing.

I bought a potty which looked like a little toilet! I tried doing the technique of putting her on the toilet every half hour or so but it didn't work for us. I tried the 5 day toilet training and by day two she was pretty much trained! She's only had a couple of accidents since.

I trained my DD in the summer as we planned to go the whole week with nothing on waist down. As soon as she started giving signs of needed the toilet I just put her on the toilet and praised her even if some went on the floor! Obviously this way you do get accidents on the floor, but it wasn't many before she realised to go on the toilet. Don't scold for accidents and even if they've finished their wee on the floor, still put them onto the toilet to show them it's where they need to go 😊 My DD was about 22 months old at the time and it honesty only took a few days before I was comfortable taking her out with no nappy on (put a towel in her car seat in case, had one accident)
I read about using nappies some of the time confusing them so I only used them at night. I now use the seat you add onto the actual toilet seat, but only recently.
Good luck 😬🤞🏼

She's also dry at night now at 27 months!

This

Your dd is old enough to be bribed. I have 4 dds and they were toilet trained in 2 weeks flat at aged around 2. I and my parents who helped look after them (triplets), used bribery and it worked for us. Good luck.

@Dracarys1 i have just potty trained my dc2 also and did the exact same as you including setting the timer. She's got the hang of it after a week.

I told her the day before we started training her and explained she would no longer be in nappies. We also didn't put her in nappies at night because we didn't want to confuse her.

Just a little tip put a dry night's mat on the mattress then a sheet over it and then another dry night and another sheet.... If there is an accident in the night you just take the top sheet and pad off and don't have to re do the bed.

Good luck!

Couple of things that we found helpful.

Get a couple cheap pottys so you can keep them in a couple rooms at the start.

Move them closer and then eventually into the toilet as they get the idea.

Let them see you going to the toilet. And talk loudly and positively about it.

Praise -lots of it - prepare to be very excited about pee/poo

Don't stress or fuss about accidents. But good tip I got was try to aviod language like 'it's ok' if they have an accident. Instead say 'remember pee/poo go into the toilet etc etc. but in happy positive way.

Find out what motivates them. We had star chart with incentives at 10, 20 stars etc etc.

Clear the diary of you can.

And again...good luck!!

oh and if you're looking for something to put under bed sheets buy puppy pads. Way cheaper!

Thank you for the replies. Do I need one of those toddler toilet seats for when she goes to the loo, to stop her falling into it?

DS had a potty shaped like a car which helped.
DD was sent to my mother in law who bribed her with peppa pig merchandise.
Summer is easier!

My girls are 24 and 20 but its still a stage I remember well.

Do not use pull ups. Firstly because kids need to now when they are wet and secondly pull ups are plastic and sweaty. Dd1 got a rash from them very quickly.

Yes take a potty with you everywhere you go. Pop it in a plastic bag and hang it over the buggy handle. Use a puppy pad thing (can’t remember what the child versions are called) on the buggy seat.

Have a toddler seat on the toilet, children have a fear of falling down the loo. And have a step stool in front of the toilet.

Praise every success, ignore any accidents. If you can do it on a quiet week at home all the better. Expect a lot of accidents in the first few days. If they are not ready don’t push on for weeks , just go back to nappies and try again a couple of months later..

At nearly 3 I'd imagine she'd find a potty quite small and uncomfortable. I'd go straight to using the toilet

Just been doing potty training with my son who is the same age.

Same as others stayed home for first few days reminded every half an hour. Puppy pads on sofa and around the potty. Stickers for a reward.

Books about using a potty helped as did an usborne one about poo and where it goes as they can fearful about doing a poo.

My carry potty has been great for out and about as you can just shut it and deal with the contents when you can! I tend to just hold my son when on a bigger toilet out and about. We have a toilet seat he puts on the toilet at home and a potty downstairs

positivelyparenthood.com/topics/potty-training/

This course might be good I did her webinar and was helpful as I had no idea where to start

I hated Oh Crap and thought it was a load of rubbish XD

It also didn't work for DS2 (I tried it anyway despite the scepticism because I wanted "a method".)

What worked for us was basically:

• Get some books about potty training - friends often have them to pass on because they are basically useless once you've trained. Read these to introduce the idea.
• Let her see you use the toilet, explain what you're doing and that big girls use the toilet and she will one day.
• Buy some underwear, preferably with characters that she likes, or let her choose her own.
• Get hold of lots of spare clothes and easy to pull up/down. (Doing it between sizes is a good idea because you have twice as many clothes)
• Buy or get hold of a potty and/or an insert for your toilet, and a step.

Then you can either do a more directed, parent-led intensive program where you block out a couple of days that you won't need to leave the house, optionally feed her a load of sugary enticing drinks like fruit shoot or capri sun, and then either leave her bottomless (I did think Oh Crap had some good info about how you'll start to spot their "potty signs") or put underwear and trousers/skirt on but keep bringing her to the toilet or potty every 15-30 minutes and get her to sit there for a few minutes by singing a song or reading a book. When she does something in the potty, praise. If you like you can do a small reward like a sticker or single chocolate button.

If she has an accident don't shame/punish. Try and get her to the potty ASAP (this is why a potty can help since you can move it around based on the room you're in) and try and catch at least a little bit on the potty - you can count that as a win.

Over time you get better at spotting and she gets better at holding on so you have fewer accidents and can phase out both potty and rewards if you've used rewards. If you're doing v intense with naked time and/or frequent potty visits then it should only be 2-3 days with a lot of accidents, you'll generally have a huge improvement by day 3/4 and be able to go out and about etc. You should expect accidents and short notice toilet needs for a little while though so may wish to plan trips out around the amount of time she's reliable for and/or easy access to nice, clean, child friendly toilets.

Or if you are happier with a slower approach you can just show her the underwear and the toilet/potty and give her the choice. This tends to lead to a later or less consistent start but fewer accidents and you don't need to do all the prompting or stay inside for days.

I would not bother with pull ups personally because they just feel like a nappy. We did switch to these at night though so that he can get himself ready for bed.

I did the big little feeling method and cracked weeing without any accidents within a week (not the three days they said, but we move!!)
bare bum the first day, encourage potty.
any accidents just remain neutral, no negativity, just repeat- oh you missed, wee goes in the potty
when she went in the potty no ott fuss, it’s overwhelming, just- you wee’d in the potty, you must feel proud

then day 2, continue as day 1 but introduce pants (they say no underwear but she really wanted to wear PROPER knickers, so we put them on 🤷‍♀️)

day 3 you can venture out for a short walk with the potty.

she cracked it, but by day 7 I’d say she really had it nailed. Zero accidents and was taking herself to the potty by herself and pulling her knickers and pants down- I was actually quite surprised how well it went! Still need to crack pooing though 🙄🙄

I highly recommend just chill mumma's course. We potty trained my work 2yr 4mo old in Dec and she got it in three days. The course focuses on teaching then their body signals, rather than just regularly putting them on the potty which we found very good. It also doesn't require them to be naked from the waist down which my DD would've hated.