Share your top tips with Penwizard on encouraging your children with their potty training for your chance to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher! NOW CLOSED

[KathrynMumsnet]

The team at Penwizard have asked us to find out your top tips to encourage your children with their potty training.

Here’s what Penwizard say: "We all know potty training can be a tough time for both toddlers and parents. That’s why in our new personalised potty training book we guide children step-by-step through the process to help them understand what’s involved and help parents motivate their child. But we want to hear from Mumsnet posters what tips and tricks have worked for them whilst handling this delicate process and any advice they would pass on to first time mothers”.

So what are your top tips? What do you wish you’d known about potty training before starting the process? Do you have a reward system in place? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who posts their comment on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky Mumsnetter will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Please note: your comments may be used anonymously elsewhere on Mumsnet and by Penwizard on their website, marketing materials and possible elsewhere, so please only comment if you are happy with this.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

p.s. if you would like to find out more about Penwizard’s new book click here.

Always wait til your child is ready. Don't compare to other children they are often ready at different times.

Rather apt for me today as am having a bash at potty training my little boy having read and read pirate Peter potty to death and am now bribing him with sweets to at least sit on the potty!

Trust your instincts. Some kids, even boys, are ready at 18 months. Some are ready at 4. It isn't a race. And take it slow - being able to pee on a potty when bare at home is an achievement, then move to pants at the child's speed.

Don't try to train them at night. They either have the hormone or they don't, you can't teach the brain to produce it.

I think the main thing is clothes that can be pulled down easily (by them as well as you!) and slung In the wash a million times so trackie bottoms for our boys. Lots of praise - my ds2 showed everyone in the house at the time his number 2's and we all had to admire it! Gross but it worked for him!

I bought books, sticker charts, pants, vests with no poppers, a singing (Thomas the bloody tank) potty, toddler botty wipes, the lot.

In reality, we needed washable door mats (3.50 from sainsbos) and milky ways chopped into tiny segments for the reward!

We are potty training right now and the reality is he's wearing a t-shirt and Gruffalo crocs. And it's working! nothing to do with my mum who lives with us, oh no

I bought a book to read with my daughter before starting potty training and used chocolate coin rewards for every success on the potty. I also bought a toilet seat with steps and she liked this more than the potty and she felt more grown up.

Don't rush it, let them learn, make it fun, it'll drive you mad, but then again what child doesn't!

just go with the flow (pun not intended) they are all different, and don't be afraid to take the potty EVERYWHERE - I didn't bother with training pant - straight in to pants and a plastic bag to deal with wet clothes - and plan to stay at home for a few days when you first start. and remember car seats do wash and its not the end of the world!

If you have a daughter, my tip is to sing this song with them when they're on the potty.

"If you poo in the potty
You won't get a sore botty
No you won't!
No you won't! (Deep voice)

If you wee in the loo
You won't get a sore Minnie moo
No you won't!
No you won't! (Deep voice)"

Bonkers but works and really helped my daughter to feel relaxed on the potty!

Mine never used a potty we just went straight for the toilet ..one of those special insert seats ,,a huge text book as a step ,, and a ping pong ball to aim at.

Wait until they are ready, but try and build it into routine before you start the whole thing. Dd always goes first thing in a morning and before a bath at bedtime, that was she's already familiar with the principal.

If they get hung up on something but its not too much of a faff let them carry on. For dd it's that she uses tissue to wipe after she's wee'd (just like mummy) it takes seconds but she loves that as she feels very grown up.

We used a reward chart which worked a treat, but only because little man was ready. You can try all the treats & potty songs in the world, but if they're not ready.. you might as well save your money/breath! I felt really pressured to potty train because other kids of a similar age had already mastered it.. but they all reach different stages at different ages - when they're ready, they'll do it - just be watchful & look out for the signs!

Both of my children potty trained very easily. We sat them on the potty at each nappy change as soon as they could sit sturdily but put no pressure on them to do anything. After time it became natural for them to use the potty themselves and once nappies remained dry and clean we moved into pants that they chose themselves. Staying dry overnight took a little longer for my DS than my DD but this too came in time.

We are still struggling here - at nearly 3.5 DD is still not interested. We've tried bribary, new pants, books, potty, training seat, she will always opt for nappies given the choice :(

• Take them on a shopping trip to choose their own pants.
• Use a disposable changing mat to protect their car seat.

Every child is different, relax!

I told them they were "very good" just for sitting on potty even if nothing else happened. As soon as they heard that and relaxed, things fell into place quite nicely.

Stickers, OTT praise and a lot of patience! I didnt think pull ups helped, my DC just used them as a nappy instead.

All children are different - what works for one won't necessarily work for the next. And that great potty training book? Your child hasn't read it. My top tips are:

• Be prepared. Get lots of pants, extra leggings/trousers etc. Far more than you would usually need.
• Try to train in the warm weather if possible. Much more comfortable to have a bare bottom in a warm house. Damp floors dry much better in warm weather.
• if you have carpets & can't take them up, get a number of pieces of cheap fleece to lay over the floor. It's moderately water-resistant initially, which will allow you a few seconds grace to quickly drop a cloth onto the spill, then deal with your child, & come back to deal with the spill later. Of course it's an enormous boon against poo accidents. Also cover sofas etc with fleece, for the same reason. Fleece washes well & dries quickly (but don't put it in a tumble drier).
• Use Napisan or a similar laundry disinfectant in all washes with soiled clothes.
• Keep a basket in your main room with spare pants, baby wipes, disinfectant wipes, a couple of cloths for wiping up spills, and some kitchen roll. Much better than running to fetch fresh supplies every time.
• Kids respond well to bribery.
• If your child is especially stubborn about using the potty, bribe everything at first. Sitting on the potty, sitting for 10 seconds, etc. Then gradually move the goalposts & only reward actual wees, voluntarily sitting, when they tell you they need a wee etc.
• Some kids are ready far earlier than others. Some are trained by 2. Despite having introduced the potty at 1 year, our daughter is only just trained at 3.2 years, and we've not yet ventured out without pull-ups, except to nursery.
• Praise all successes. Success can be a wee on the potty, or just trying to get to it (even if they don't quite manage to get there in time).
• Don't make a big deal of failures. "Never mind, you can try again next time".
• If they are old enough, get them to come to the toilet with you & see you empty the potty down the toilet. Then you both wash your hands. Some kids (my DD included) love washing their hands, and can grow to love flushing the toilet. Make it an incentive to use the potty (or toilet).
• A good potty training book (for your child) - we got Pirate Pete's Potty.
• Crocs or jelly shoes for when they are wearing pants out & about. You need something you can rinse, dry & put straight back on.
• For any poo messes: Pick up what you can. Then, use biological laundry powder, dissolved in water, to sponge it out. Then liberally sprinkle sodium bicarbonate on the wet area, leave to dry over night. Vacuum it up in the morning. You may need to repeat for very bad spills. This also works for sick.
• Always take a couple of changes of clothes (and potentially one for you) & something to carry soiled clothing in, whenever you go out.
• Get an appropriate sized, sturdy potty. The child might be using it for a while, and it must be disconcerting to have a flimsy one wobbling underneath you if you are trying to figure it out. Taller potties are available for bigger toddlers (search for a potty chair).

Don't rush you little one, they will do it in their own time.
Once trying, expect loads of accidents, don't tell the child off for this.

I know a lot of people say pull - ups or training pants can confuse children but for us they worked wonders. We just used them as we would regular pants and changed them if they did get wet but it really took the worry and stress of accidents away when out and about.

Cloth nappies without the padding worked well as an alternative to pull-ups at times for us too because they had the cloth feel of pants but still had a fair bit of absorbency for accidents.

As I was less stressed by using pull-ups and our cloth nappy version of pull ups, the potty training went a lot more smoothly!

We also have one of those fold-up potties which are SO handy as you can take them everywhere and can dispose of the potty liners rather than having to find somewhere to tip away wee and poop. Even used it in the lift of the eiffel tower!

Wait until they are ready. We started too soon with ds1 and it took ages with lots of accidents. Ds2 and ds3 started later and both "got it" within 48 hours.

A chocolate button every time they do a wee or poo.

Mine were both dry within 24 hours and I truly believe the chocolate buttons were the reason for this!

My biggest tip is not to stress about it - your anxieties get picked up on and never help.

Also letting them choose their own favourite character pants, and buying one of those hugely expensive potties that plays a tune when it gets wet. I laughed at people who wasted money on such things with DS1, but we were given one for DS2 and he was dry within days. I give absolutely all the credit for this to Thomas the Tank Engine!

well i agree with you guys your toddler has to be ready also i have a funny tip actually i had a terrible time getting my eldest to potty trin untill one day it my dog louie was doing a poo in the garden and i said "look dannny see louie doesn't wear nappies " ! the next thing i know i was washing the dishes and spotted my little boy pull his pants down and poo in the garden like the dog did !! lol something must have clicked by watching the dog poo though as from that day he stated using the potty lol :) x