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MNHQ

Share your tips on potty training with ASDA - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

339 replies

PoppyMumsnet · 06/07/2016 10:05

Teaching toddlers how to go to the toilet is one of the unavoidable tasks all parents must face - but it needn't be something you dread. There are many who've already been there, done that - and their learnings are invaluable.

So if you're smiling smugly from the other side, share your top tips for parents embarking on the potty training journey. What advice can you offer to make the experience less stressful - maybe even fun?

So, what words of wisdom can you share? How did you know when your child was ready to start training, and how did you integrate it into your everyday routine? Maybe you discovered clever strategies for introducing a potty or tricks for simplifying the transition from nappies to proper underwear?

How did you encourage and praise little ones for a job well done - or respond to the (inevitable) accidents without undoing all their good work? Do you have any potty training tricks for when you're out and about?

Whatever your top tips for successful potty training are, share them with Asda below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 ASDA voucher.

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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Share your tips on potty training with ASDA - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED
OP posts:
itmustbemyage · 06/07/2016 20:17

If you can, spend a week mostly at home ideally in warm weather them running around with bare bum with you ready to shove potty under them. ( I took time off work).
My tips would be plastic tablecloth over the carpet/ flooring under the potty - as they do get tipped over sometimes also take the child to buy a special book or toy of their choice ( doesn't have to be expensive) that they only get to look at / play with on the potty my son would sit for ages playing with his special toy even if he didn't really want to use the potty.

CheeseEMouse · 06/07/2016 20:32

We did lots of making the potty seem really normal, so asking if she needed it before her bath etc for what seemed like ages. Suddenly it just clicked and she could use it on demand. Nothing special, just time. I doubted the "when they are ready" advice - how would I know? But as it was it was obvious.

Also, as she was getting into the swing of it smarties for bribery, but that stage didn't last too long.

NerrSnerr · 06/07/2016 20:54

Wait until they're ready. There's no hurry! Ensure childcare providers are on board too.

MunchyMunchkin · 06/07/2016 20:58

Wait until they are ready and it should go a bit smoother. Try and force it and you'll be cleaning up puddles all day long.

Summer is easier as they can run around naked. Less barriers to the potty/toilet.

Rigbyroo · 06/07/2016 21:01

Definitely wait until they are ready, don't push it. Wait until you are also ready and able to jump up and sort out messes quickly. Ideally not with a new baby.

Eva50 · 06/07/2016 21:03

Don't start training because everyone else's child is dry day and night/clean at 6 months/can ask for the potty in three languages. Wait until they are completely ready and it will be so much less stressful.

Purplehonesty · 06/07/2016 21:20

Wait for summer and let them run around with nothing on their bottom half

Take them to the loo/potty every hour and get them to sit down on it.

Praise praise praise! We had the potty dance that I did when they did something and a choc button if they asked to use it and produced anything!

Took a week with both of them and then dry.

I started ds at 22mo and dd at 18mo as both were showing signs of wanting to use the potty. I'd had it sitting out for a while and they had pretended to use it etc.

Dd was dry day and night in a week but ds was only dry at night much later.

Natsai1 · 06/07/2016 21:23

Don't rush it. Most kids are ready to potty train at age three so don't feel pressured into starting early. Boys take longer than girls so don't worry if you have a boy. Also invest in waterproof mattress protectors and bed mats if you want to go straight to pants

BabyGanoush · 06/07/2016 21:23

The key to our success was to involve older siblings or older friends/cousins.

Toddlers look up to the age group above them, if you can get a 4/5 year old to coach him, he will learn much quicker.

Potty training my second child was a dodle. I promised him a smartie every time he did a wee or poo on the potty/loo. For fairness, his older brother would get a smartie too.

This resulted in the older brother coaching the little one to pee on command! Hilarious but true.

get siblings involved!

lottietiger · 06/07/2016 21:45

Buy lots of potties! I found it really useful to have one upstairs, downstairs and in the garden. My son was never interested in reward charts or stickers but was more keen on the fact that teddy was on the potty and had done a wee. Teddy had a lot of wees at the beginning :) he especially liked pants with pictures on, they made him feel like a big boy, even now a year on he is very choosy about which pants he wears. We used the dry like me pads at night to start with which are great and save a wet mattress but went cold turkey during the day.

M2676 · 06/07/2016 21:45

involving her siblings was a success for us, but when she is ready... i kept the potty visible for her and she was using it in no time,stickers too relly helped us tremendously

Pickofthepops · 06/07/2016 21:45

Definitely use older sibling - my 8 yr old is not so sure but bless him he knows his 20 month old sister copies everything he does :-)

allybird1 · 06/07/2016 21:47

A good potty training book, we had 'princess polly's potty' sound book. A singing toilet - the kind that praises your accomplishments (Thomas the tank engine is a good one for boys). Lots of time, patience and changes of clothes. :)

waitingforwombat · 06/07/2016 22:24

Definitely wait until they are ready - we had a terrible time when we first tried, and then a few months back in nappies my dd told me "only babies wear nappies, I want pants" - and went onto potty train herself. Having a slightly older friend who was slightly disparaging about baby nappies and dd hero worshipped helped too!

She then decided that the arrival of dc2 would mean the baby would need nappies and so ditched them at night - and had only dry nights since!

voyager50 · 06/07/2016 23:50

If you have a garden, try and do it when the weather's warm so any accidents (including tipped over potties) are outside!

Encourage them to look at a book whilst they are sitting on it or read a story to them while they are on it just to get them used to it before you properly start training them.

Gcalgske · 07/07/2016 00:29

Poo goes to poo land was a saviour for a our little 'poop refuser' here. Spent a good few weeks having to wish poo well on their journey.

Also allowing her to be ready and do it in her own time helped.

purplepandas · 07/07/2016 01:25

Ignoring others who think they know your child better than you. Agh, they don't.

catgirl2 · 07/07/2016 04:44

We had success with a simple star chart. Loads of praise and lots of excitement about 'big girl pants'. There are also a few good childrens books we read on the subject - Pip and Posy and the little puddle and Lulu's loo

Quills · 07/07/2016 08:02

Try and clear a space of a week or so where you don't need to be too far from home, offer them plenty to drink so they have a frequent urge to use the potty, and most importantly, read their signals and go at their pace. Don't force it if they're not ready yet - every child is different.

WhizzPopper · 07/07/2016 08:26

We introduced the potty early in from around a year old or maybe earlier, just had it out in the room and encouraged her to sit on it in an evening before or after a bath. Eventually we got a wee on it every now and again which was highly praised.

When we started training numbered milk bottle kids were used to reward every time she went on the potty for grandma to swap for 20ps when she had a decent amount. We then went and chose a toy or some sweets or a book with her reward money.

It was very easy, only one or two accidents and she was excited and happy to try as she got a token. We had tried previously and she wasn't ready, just running around weeing all the time so we stopped after a day and left it a few months.

It's not a failure if you decided to go back to nappies if they're not quite ready.

Theimpossiblegirl · 07/07/2016 09:01

We kept it fun, lots of praise and positive reinforcement. I also had a free week so I didn't have to be anywhere in particular. This really took the pressure off. We also had a 'no more nappies' song.

There's no shame in postponing it and trying again another time if the child is really not ready, it's not worth getting stressed about.

My DDs were both dry during the day quite young, but it took another year for them to be dry through the night, with night time pants, lots of lifting once they had been asleep an hour, sheet covers etc.

OhIfIMust · 07/07/2016 09:03

Once they seem ready, ask them regularly if they need the loo. Praise them when they successfully go to the loo, reward with stickers or favourite treat when they successfully go to the loo. It's good to work in a mix of potty and toilet if you can - makes trips out a lot easier.

Gazelda · 07/07/2016 09:23

We had a potty upstairs, and another downstairs. So there was always one to reach when the sudden 'I need a wee' arose.

We quickly moved the upstairs one into the bathroom, and then said to DD that rather than the potty she might as well use the loo (with trainer seat).
She was at full time nursery, so had seen other children using potties and loos, so I waited until she started asking about it and grabbed the opportunity. I took a week off work so that we could stay around the house/local, but within a couple of days I was confident enough to venture out.
She had the odd accident for the next few months, so I always had spare clothing with me.

BathshebaDarkstone · 07/07/2016 10:00

Start them when they're ready.

DD wasn't impressed by stickers, she'd only go on the potty for cold, hard cash! Grin

weevle21 · 07/07/2016 10:28

We introduced the potty months before we intended to potty train fully. Then when we had plenty of time during nappy changes we would ask if DS or DN wanted to have a wee on the potty and they would sit on before getting a clean nappy back on. This got more frequent as time went on, but if they refused we just said 'ok nappy on then'. They learnt how to make a wee in this time, then when we decided to go cold turkey they only had to master the 'holding it in' part.