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

[PoppyMumsnet]

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

Standard T&Cs apply

Don't stress about it and wait until they are ready - when you think they are, make it as fun and relaxed as possible. Our youngest son liked the idea of being grown up enough not to wear nappies so we reinforced this by letting him choose some special 'big boy pants' in the shop for wearing in the day when the potty was out, and by making him know that accidents were all part of the process so that he didn't get upset and discouraged. Good luck

My son is almost 18 now, but on his 2nd birthday I decided that that was the time to potty/toilet train him, so I left him wandering in just a t shirt and every 10 minutes asked him if he needed the potty; no accidents at all, but by the next day, he was on the toilet instead of the potty and by day 4, he was completely trained during the day. I kept him in nappies for 6 months more during the night and then would just lift him to the toilet before I went to bed myself and he did a sleepy wee and then back to bed. That is a lovely memory as he always reminded me of a sleepy Mole sitting slightly wobbly asleep on the loo :)
Dd started just a little older than Ds, but I was busy helping nurse my dying Dad, so did not have the time to dedicate to her, so abandoned it until I had time which was at 2 years, 8 months. Much the same as Ds really, but straight to the toilet. Great memories for me weirdly!

definitely let the child take lead & as long as there is a potty always available they will use it when they are ready

We encouraged ours to sit on the potty just before going in the bath every evening, just to get used to sitting there. They were undressed anyway for the bath! Then we did that a few times a day- upon waking in a morning, before and after lunchtime nap and again before bed. Then when they actually did something on the potty we started sticker charts so they could see their progress! Plus extra stickers for them to wear and to show everyone else how clever they are!

We had the potty in the house for a few months beforehand and kept telling dd1 what it was for then at 2.5 went cold turkey (she had chickenpox so had to stay in the house anyway!), she hated being wet so learnt quite quickly and got a chocolate button if she used the potty.

Hi I'm new to mumsnet looking forward to finding out some great advice, tips etc. Could anyone help me please on giving any information on the area of Great Wyrley in south Staffordshire? Me my hubby and 3 children 2 girls aged 6 and 4 and 2 year old boy should be moving into the area and have no idea what it is like, schools, housing etc,,, any info help advice wouldbe greatly appreciated ☺x

I'd say:

• only start when your DC is old enough / ready
• use sticker charts as praise / reinforcement
• have lots of change of underwear / clothes on hand
• let DC choose 'big boy / girl' pants
• be patient!

Best time to potty train is the summer. Try to set aside a couple of weeks where you are not going too far or plan to go to places where there is a toilet near by. Also take your potty with you because some children dont like the toilet. Take plenty of changes of clothes something light and quick drying. Dont worry if you're child is not ready just try again at a later date.
Dont worry if they have a few acidentsits not a big deal.just give praise and rewards for a wee in the potty and just say never mind about the accidents.
We took our potty everywhere with our daughter because she wouldn't go to the toilet.
Sticker charts are a great way to reward a child for going to the potty but also reading stories about potty s and getting some nice pants with their favorite character on.
Try to keep the potty plain or you could find your child tipping it up to see the picture. Not good with wee and poo all over.

Trust your instincts. Don't force the issue. Saying that once you take the nappies off you can't put them back on is complete twaddle. Lastly they will at some point wee on their shoes. Make sure you either keep them in crocs or trainers which are machine washable. That last point I cannot stress enough!

The thing that really motivated my little girl to potty train was seeing one of her slightly older friends wearing pants. I'd tried a few months earlier and she just wasn't ready so I'd echo the advice to let them tackle it at their own pace.

Buy a waterproof mat for under the potty. Boys may miss and sometimes if they sit for a while on the potty it sticks to there cute tushies!!

We had “Tinkle Time” – it worked really well and was good fun. You set the timer on your phone for when you next want them to go to the loo (make sure to choose a nice tinkly alarm tone, Chimes on the iPhone is a good option) then when the alarm goes off you shout “Tinkle Time!!” and all rush off for a tinkle on the potty or toilet. Pretty soon my daughter was yelling “Tinkle Time!!” herself whenever she heard the chimes and dashing off to the potty herself. I liked that I didn’t have to nag her about going, it was fun so she didn’t mind interrupting whatever she was doing to go to the loo, and of course I didn’t forget to take her when I was busy with other things so we had very few accidents. At first Tinkle Time was every 30 minutes, but I slowly started spacing the alarms out til they were an hour apart, and now she doesn’t need the reminder at all.

One of the things we found helped was when going out for the first few times in pants and not wanting to revert back was to put pants on under some pull ups that way they could feel the dampness and let us know without us having to do a full clothing change.

Potty training in the summer is slightly easier.
I let mine choose their potty in the shop so they were quite excited about using it.

Waiting until they are ready is the biggest challenge- we had lots of competitive parenting round here and it was hard to hold out. I think they really need to understand commands and be talking quite well before you should start with them, or they get so frustrated trying to understand.
Gradual build up. We had a potty training book to read together and played with the pants on our heads (!) for weeks beforehand.
We had lots of options - different types of potties, training seat with integrated step, step and childs loo seat. I'm glad because she chose not to go on the potty at all and started straight on the loo.
Picking what they really love is important. DD loves her dolls - so doll got a potty and we 'trained' dolly together first, so DD knew the routine of asking to go, pulling pants down, weeing, wiping, flushing, washing hands. We also introduced a sparkly sweet jar for each successful attempt (and that sealed the deal completely!). Sparkly sweetie jar was a jam jar with lots of glittery pink stickers.
Best tip I have is a shower curtain as a throw over your sofa cushions - it has saved a lot of soul destroying cleaning of sofas. (You can also get incontinence pads from the chemist for small chairs/car seats - again, saves on washing!)

My tip is to use elimination communication as then you don't need to potty train. It's worked for us anyway.

Wait til they are ready/ask, and bribe with choc buttons.

Patience patience patience. Only thing that's worked with dd2. Oh and gin for me.

It's definitely about waiting til they're ready. Themed pants help too - something with their favourite character on.

My best advice is to know that all children are different, so even if you read thousands or articles and tips, they still might not work.
My son is potty training at the minute, and I tried everything. Bribery, positive reinforcement, stickers, charts, the lot! But he refused right up until the moment he decided to do it, then we were off!

The best advice I had was to make a fuss of all achievements no matter how small. So we did - we would do the Midnight Margarita dance from Practical Magic but make it the Poop Dance. Every time any wee or poop was created in the Potty we would dance that poop around and sing the Poop dance just like Sandra. It was absolutely genius advice tbh.

We didn't use a potty at all. DS was at nursery that had small toilets and it was easier to use a padded toddler seat for the toilet at home and a little set of steps.

DS liked being a 'big boy' using the toilet like us and it was easier when we were out and about and he could use the toilet. Also we didn't then have to make a further transition from potty to toilet.

When my children are absolutely ready for potty training, I made two small decorated jars, one was filled with milk chocolate buttons, the other with giant white chocolate buttons. I would reward a wee with a small button and a poo in the potty with a big button. Up until that point, I never gave my children chocolate at all, so believe me when I say that potty training became a very fun and exciting time in our house and made the process smooth and quick to establish.
Teeth were thoroughly brushed three times daily I must add.

I'm sure it's been said lots, but take your time, don't do it too early, wait till they are ready - doing it too soon is hassle for everyone!!!

Try not to worry about it, your child will eventually get it and it doesn't matter if they are not as fast as others.