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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:
Hs2Issue · 09/07/2016 07:30

I used bribery & then realised they were more than ready as when I offered an ice cream for doing a wee in the potty she rushed straight over to do one.

Belmo · 09/07/2016 10:19

Chocolate buttons - one for a pee, two for a poo!

Leeanne2205 · 09/07/2016 14:26

Wait till it's warm weather at home for a few days l.p..
Buy little pants she loved pickjng and stioo does what oppants she gets to wear each day,we used my girls doll that can sit in the toilet and pass water got my little one to do this with her doll then she said she would try it.
Do it when they are showing signs they want to and are ready..
When it happens make a huge fuss we used jelly babies every time she had a we she got to have one thus onkh lasted a week she forgot about the sweet as we were cheering and clapping .
Try not too get stressed as accidents will happen the next chapter in our babies growing up.

cather · 09/07/2016 17:43

A portable potty so they can still use the potty when you are out and plenty of praise. I let mine choose their pants and encouraged them to choose a character pair and I encouraged them not to get Thomas The Tank Engine or Bob the Builder wet and this seemed to work!

MakeTeaNotWar · 09/07/2016 18:43

Wait wait wait until they are ready. Don't get cross if there's an accident.

Catsgowoof · 09/07/2016 19:29

wait until they're ready, so much easier than any kind of bribery strategy.

Ntinyn · 09/07/2016 22:14

Read the book Oh Crap Potty Training and just go for it but don't be afraid to adapt from a prescribed method to suit your needs. Eg it didn't suit us to stay at home for a whole week so we stayed in a few days and the day I had to go out I put a pull up on over the knickers as she was still having accidents. She wee'd herself in John Lewis and got really upset as she could feel herself in soaking wet pants but it saved our dignity not having to clean up wee from shop floor.

WaverleyOwl · 09/07/2016 23:35

Wait till they are ready. Bribe with sweets of choice. Be prepared for accidents. Hire a Rug Doctor when the worst is over. Don't panic, they all get through it. Wine.

100milesanhour · 10/07/2016 00:07

I knew my son was ready when he started shouting wet and pulling his pull ups off every time he did a pee. He was changing stripping off and pulling the pull ups off several times a day so i ditched them and decided to go for it and it worked.

A pee in the toilet got him a cranberry and a poo in the toilet got him 2 cranberries.

Any accidents were cleaned up and he was reminded that if he needs a pee/poo then the toilet is there for him to go in.

Mummageddon · 10/07/2016 06:36

Wait until they're ready. For my DC it was seeing other children using the potty at nursery and talking about it just after 3rd birthday.
Play down the accidents and give massive praise when they get it right.

Precious2012 · 10/07/2016 06:49

Ive been through this 3 times (still 1 to go!) the first took to it really easy i sat her on the potty every 30 minutes in front of Lazytown and she got it in two days, the other two were not so easy.
It was with the help of nursery, we had a lot of accidents the first week. Sitting them on the potty first every 10 minutes, then 30 minutes, then timing it to when they had had a drink to when to try. I was also told not to use the easy up nappies as this confuses them.
It really is just a lot of patience and persistence and praise, even now the youngest has the odd accident.
One more to go!

TracyKNixon · 10/07/2016 06:59

We dyed the toilet water with red or blue food colouring. When it changed to orange or green my little ones loved knowing that they had caused it!

RageAgainstTheTagine · 10/07/2016 07:06

I would put dry toilet roll in the potty, and ask them if they could make it wet. Also, I'd been talking up 'wee town' and its sister city, 'poo topia' whenever I went to the toilet, and would casually suggest that their wees and poos could also go and join mine for the party etc.

mave · 10/07/2016 07:13

Don't force them if they're not ready. When they are keep them at home for the first couple of days and don't go back to nappies!! Take lots of clean pants if you go out! I trained both my kids in a few days.

Faith1976 · 10/07/2016 07:16

Don't worry about accidents as they are inevitable. To begin with try just after breakfast, lunch and tea time or when you know they are most likely to want to go. I went straight on to knickers and never used pull ups as pull ups are like nappies and sends mixed messages in my opinion.

Spencer1234 · 10/07/2016 07:27

We tried a few times before succeeding as my son just wasn't ready. We knew when he was ready as he was asking to sit on the potty himself. Once we made the final decision to go for it we stuck to it, never again put nappies on him during the day & after a few days of hard work he got the hang of it. Getting cool pants with characters on helped him be excited & we never used pull ups as I think they confuse the situation.

Jools999 · 10/07/2016 07:35

Some great comments here - it certainly is a personal experience! The best advice is to chill out about it - kids are unique so one child might be ready before another. I left the potty all over the place and just waited for my daughter to eventually use it - she still need a nappy on to go for a No2 though (behind the sofa - for privacy but we could still smell it!). Don't get too anxious about it because this will transfer to the little 'un - it all 'comes out' right in the end :)

ThemisA · 10/07/2016 07:36

Make sure they are ready and understand when they need to do a wee. Choose a potty they like and that is comfortable. Wear clothes that are easy to pull down and up. Never show any irritation at any accidents. We put Teddy on the potty each time and gave star or each success/effort and I bought a few treats which they could exchange for their stars eg. 10 stars will buy you a small chocolate bar.

glenka · 10/07/2016 07:37

Never force them they have to be ready.

Ganne1 · 10/07/2016 07:41

Be patient, don't hurry the little ones, and be full of praise when things go well!

hiddenmichelle · 10/07/2016 07:48

Lots of pairs of cheap pants and wait until they are ready - it is not a competition!!! Months of frustration or just a few weeks??? Do not rush them!

tiameg · 10/07/2016 07:50

I bought cheap potties and had one in every room, so my babies never had far to look for one. Letting them run around at home with no pants on also hellped too.

stimpy1 · 10/07/2016 08:12

I am going to sound like an awful parent but I found after about a month of being dry each of my three kids starting having accidents. With my first I would rush off and change him however he started doing it more often, probably easier for him than walking upstairs to the toilet so I started leaving them in wet pants, just for few minutes but they didn't like the feeling and soon stopped wetting!!

hdh747 · 10/07/2016 08:31

Wait till they are ready. With my daughter, I took her shopping for 'big girl pants' and let here choose her own. We put them in a drawer together to save for when she was big enough to say she needed to wee. A few weeks later she got them out, announced she was a big girl now, and so we used them. She was literally dry, day and night from that day on!

Patience is all. My son took a lot more patience and made some mistakes. Like the time he had a poo in his Thomas ride on toy rather than the potty - just explain calmly where it needs to be done next time.

Ask them regualarly if they need to go. It is easy for them to forget when distracted.

Lots of praise when they get it right. A supply of wet-wipes or disinfectant for the mistakes. And don't let the comments of other parents or grandparents etc undermine you.

maryandbuzz1 · 10/07/2016 08:37

Don't try and force the issue but have the potty around so it is not a strange contraption that is brought out all if a sudden. Wait until they are ready and use positive reassurance.