Potty training without chocolate buttons?

[ViaRia01]

I’ve heard a few times recently that bribing child with a chocolate button for every successful attempt on the potty is good approach to potty training.

I’m just wondering whether anyone has found that it didn’t work for them or it wasn’t necessary as the child was just ready and willing to use the potty without bribery?

I’m not totally against the chocolate buttons but is it necessary? Is it fool-proof? I’m usually quite laid back I think but I have to admit I’m a bit daunted by the idea of potty training!

Same here.

We gave lots of positive reinforcement when DD successfully made it on to the loo or told us she needed a wee etc but no actual bribes or physical rewards

I have very recently gone through this. I started trying at 2. We nailed wees quite early on. My child is now 3.5. I was getting completely despondent with sticker charts. Promises of toys. A cartoon. It was all going awfully. We got through so many pairs of pants. Then.. they just woke up a couple of weeks ago and announced they were going to use the toilet for poos now and we haven't had any accidents since. I am completely baffled by this but am not going to question it too much!

Probably thought potty was a bit ick! 😂

We had a few attempts at it and used chocolate buttons, then a star chart, then stickers. She just didn't get it and every time we ended up giving up because she was upset, we were stressed and everyone was miserable. One day just after she turned three she went out into the hall, walked back in and said mummy I've wee'd in the pot can you help me wipe please. And she's been doing it ever since. No idea what happened. Part of me thinks she wasn't doing it because she knew I wanted her to and she likes to torment me, but her dad says that's me being paranoid.

I bribed dd1 with coins)she liked buying books,8 coins bought the next book in the series, also excellent at maths aged 3.

Dd2 did it without bribes

Bribery (sweets, reward charts, stickers, money) isn't the best way to motivate children. It can work in the short term but it means they're doing the thing for the wrong reason, they're incentivised to game the system (lots of toilet trips, say), and once they lose interest in the reward, the behaviour can slip.

Ultimately, you want kids doing the thing because they come to see that it's the right way and its in their interests. Consistent reinforcement is better. Most children quickly understand that if they need to go, then they need to be on the potty or the toilet. (We used the Oh Crap book and it worked fine within a week or so.)

We did stickers, but actually because I started a little late (DD just turned three) she was done in a couple of days.
She had the odd accident over the following six ish months (holding it for too long at nursery mostly, because she was shy or didn't like the forest loo or had her snow suit on and it took ages to get it all off and get the attention of a teacher). When she had free access to a loo we didn't have any issues.
Is your little one showing signs of readiness?

I've potty trained two children, the week they each turned 2. I didn't use stickers or treats. The entire house does a very fun potty dance and song when they successfully make it to the potty. They absolutely love it. I read Oh Crap! and she talks about wanting your children to listen to their body rather than being motivated by treats and that resonated with me. I always take two weeks off to potty train and by the end of the two weeks they were self initiating and letting me know when they needed help with getting their trousers down and both children went back to childcare without any nappies.

I do think they were both ready to be potty trained and that helps massively. Good luck!

We didn't use food as a bribe. But we potty trained just after 3 so DC was definitely ready. I did have stickers I was going to use but it wasn't consistent and to be honest DC was fine without the 'treat'. We just did lots of praise and encouragement. We went cold turkey, removed nappies totally and introduced the potty which he didn't like (perhaps it didn't feel like a proper toilet to him) so he went straight on the normal toilet. We had many accidents the first week, a few in the second and then it was done!

What I liked about the chocolate button method, was that for every missed potty I got the chocolate button. Stickers not so good at making up for cleaning up.

No chocolate buttons required. Just waited till Spring/early Summer and had a lot of indoor nappy-off time. Potty at the ready and when we went on walks I had one of those collapsible potties but that was a bit of a faff. Was just under 3 and ready was the main thing - loved their new pants. We went straight to no nappies at night too - lots of piddle pads and two lots of sheets so you could strip the wet one off and have a clean one ready. Good luck!

Oh yes the new pants was also a massive thing for DD. I took her to choose them and we must have had 30 pairs the first year of every design imaginable but I didn't care because it was a huge draw for her.
Also, I think nursery must have been doing the ground work as a few of them came back after the Xmas holiday (when we did it) having trained and she just loved going to the loo with her friends.

Eldest DD had chocolate button rewards and potty trained in a couple of weeks. Youngest DD wasn’t interested and took a lot longer to potty train but that was mainly because she had weeks of inconsistency (different people looking after her each week). When it was back to me and my mum, it took 2 weeks to be dry day and night.

We put them both in dresses with no nickers or nappies and had regular trips to the potty/toilet until they started saying they needed.

we just potty trainee out 2.4 year old and I never gave her anything, but we would clap and jump every time she did it in the potty.

This is true

I trained my first daughter with stickers and it was a nightmare and my second daughter with no rewards (followed the Oh Crap Method and started earlier) and it was easy. Not sure if it was the method or the child that made the difference.

I’ve never used chocolate buttons or stickers or anything else. Mine all potty trained by simply being verbally encouraged and praised. I’ve never known anyone in RL who actually does use chocolate buttons. Surely it’s isn’t practical when out and about?

We only used them for the first few days when we positively weren't out and about. We picked a week when DD1 was on a school trip, so no school runs to do, and just stayed in until we'd cracked it more or less.

It was one Smartie for a wee, two for a poo when my two were potty/toilet training. For all of the few weeks it realistically takes, I think they deserve the treat...

For DD, a pack of "Hello Kitty" pants was sufficient to make her laser focused on getting out of pull ups- that was all the bribery needed

With DS I could have offered him an all expenses trip to Disney with fast passes and unlimited ice cream and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference.

Ds had a sticker for a wee and chocolate for a poo but he was nearly 3.

Dd has just turned 2 so we are using chocolate for anything done on the potty as she just needs that extra bit of encouragement plus with 2 kids this time it just makes things easier / simpler.

What’s impractical about a packet of sweets in your handbag? Also it doesn’t literally have to be chocolate buttons. Haribo is the same principle and they don’t melt if that’s a concern. But you don’t stick with it forever, 1-2 weeks and the habits have been created so you just give them a nice desert after dinner instead or something, then they forget about it altogether. It doesn’t work for all but for some kids they’re perfectly capable of training but just need a little motivation and it does the job!

We didn't. We just clapped and praised! She was out and about accident free after 2 days

My kids were all potty trained at around two years old if I recall correctly. I was a stay at home mum for the last two and remember lots of no pants and lots of playing in the garden while they were learning. Definitely didn't use any sweets or charts as they weren't a thing then (my kids are between 22 and 28) but wouldn't be opposed to it if it works. Just lots of praise and lots of patience. And I do remember nice summers with decent weather so minimal clothing required which helped enormously.

Thanks everyone, lots of useful (albeit conflicting) experiences. I’ll buy the oh crap book and see what that’s all about. I think lots of praise and encouragement might be the best but we shall soon see!
We have a sticker chart for general behaviour but he doesn’t seem very motivated by it and it’s very much still me driving that, after several weeks.