Potty Training

Let’s Talk About It

For all those preparing, in the throes of potty training or just curious about the process, let me just start with this-

potty training is definitely a marathon and not a race.

However, I have seen some pretty amazing stories of people potty training their kid over a 3-day weekend. This is not that story lol.

After Kinsley’s 12-month checkup, her pediatrician recommended we start to introduce the potty. Now I know what you’re thinking because I was thinking the same thing lol. Kinsley can’t even walk yet and you want her to start potty training?! That actually wasn’t what she said, but that’s what I heard lol. Anyway, she asked us to go and buy a potty, sit it next to ours and start to introduce the idea of what the potty is and how it works. She said it would create a natural interest in the activity of going to the potty because at that stage babies start to put two and two together on how things work, like cause and effect. Mommy goes and sits down on that big white thing and then I hear a tinkle and then a flush. Hmmmm what’s that about? And our doc was right. Once we noticed she was actually taking to the idea we began sitting her on the potty when she woke up and it worked. She was naturally going pee on the pot at 13 months. I found this to be a great recommendation to ease her in and gain interest, but we didn’t start actively potty training until she was 18 months.

December 2019

There was no pressure behind the potty before this point. It was there for when she wanted to emulate our behavior or fresh in the morning now that she had associated using the bathroom with her morning routine. I feel like her transition was gradual, but also natural and not a fight.

Let’s get into it. Here are 4 tips and tricks that worked for us.

BE READY

And I don’t mean you, I mean your kid. As parents we get caught up in comparison as if there’s some race we are all in. Don’t worry about other children’s milestones and their timelines. This will only drive you crazy, prolong your process, and I imagine be that more painful than just waiting. Every child is different and there is no point at all in rushing it or pushing them when they simply aren’t ready. They say to wait until your child shows signs of being ready by taking off their diaper or showing interest in the potty. Our doctor’s suggestion made the process really a natural progression for Kinsley and I’m super grateful for her recommendation.

BE PATIENT

Potty training can be daunting enough, let’s not make this a negative experience for your child. Have fun with it and be patient! Your child is learning something very new and different. While the act of relieving themself is not foreign, the identification to “use the bathroom” is, so be patient. Even you were potty trained. I found the one thing that tried my patience was after Kinsley understood the concept of using the bathroom and knew she had to go, it was getting her to tell us she needed to pee. That took some time and us asking “need to go pee pee, need to go pee” 100 times, but when she got it she got it.

BE PREPARED

We basically Elmo’d everything. in preparation for this time we got Kinsley a few potty books (this one and this one). Here she could see even her favorite furry red monster, Elmo, has to go pee pee. We got an Elmo potty cover and stool for upstairs (here) and a real life little potty (our favorite is this one). Between the cover, stepping stool and little potty this created a sense of independence for Kinsley and she soon wanted to place the cover herself and step up up on the stool to go wash her hands after, all by herself. The little potty emulates a real potty, even with a cushioned seat and side flush! It was so easy to assemble and an easy clean up as well. Beyond its ease on us, baby girl truly takes her potty seriously. Now that she is bigger she even likes to dump her goings into the big potty to flush. It is so perfect because Kinsley is territorial around her potty and knows she can just go right into the bathroom and get on her pot without any help.

Of course we did a lot of cheering after each pee pee and poop, which in turn started Kinsley cheering for us when we went to the bathroom. Sooo funny hearing a two year old say, “yayyy mommy you did it good job” when you go pee lol.

Lastly we stocked up on cute and fun undies. For Kinsley it was Moana and Disney characters. We would say don’t get Moana wet, we don’t want her to drown lol. This made her excited about wearing them and was helpful as we transitioned from no diaper.  I recommend these and these. Especially in the beginning the cushioned panties are a nice replacement from the diaper initially until your kid gets potty training down fully. They may sprinkle a little bit here and there as they are learning.

BE COMMITTED

No more diapers! For us we also never introduced pull-ups. We took the diaper off and switched them out for panties. (Can I just say kiddo panties are so precious lol) Kids are smarter than we think and not too many of them want pee all over there legs and clothes. So eliminate them and they’ll adapt quickly.

Also EVERYONE has to be on the same page and be committed. You can’t drop off your kiddo to grandmas and she’s not willing to follow along with the Potty Plan, sneaking her into diapers. Kinsley goes to daycare and so the training continued there. Her daycare provider was pleased with us beginning training at an earlier age and encouraged us to stick with it. She reported back to us how many times she peed or pooped at daycare and never strayed away from the plan.

In this time of quarantine we don’t frequent outings with Kinsley so we haven’t had to worry too much about her peeing in the car. We just make sure she goes before drop off to daycare in the morning. On the off chance we are out and about I take Kinsley to the bathroom on the hour to ensure we don’t have any accidents in public. 

April 2020

I hope you found something useful from the information above. Tell me what are your potty training tips and tricks?

Love Ya, Mean It

Nateanah