Children can be ready to start potty training anywhere between ages 2-3, but parents can start the journey as early as they wish if the toddler is showing readiness. So, let’s talk about how to potty train toddlers and say goodbye to diapers!
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Is your child showing potty training readiness?
- Are they able to stay dry for at least two hours?
- Do they show signs when they are about to pee or poop, such as freezing, squatting, finding a hiding spot?
- Are they able to follow simple commands?
- Can they pull their diaper up and down without assistance?
- Do they show signs that a wet or soiled diaper bothers them?
- Do they ask to use the adult toilet?
- Do they ask to wear big kid underwear?
My advice would be to first purchase your preferred toddler potty training seat. There are many options, whichever you choose, stick with it. Consistency is best. When choosing a training seat, keep in mind the space you have to work with and the ease of cleaning the seat. Potty training tends to be a long process, and will not happen overnight. From this point on, you will want to have a plan in place for how to keep things positive, even when stress levels rise, and how you will say goodbye to diapers to ensure your child understands this is a permanent change.
Tips
- When you ditch the diapers, use the time to switch over to training pants during the day
- Always use the proper medical terminology names when referring to body parts to avoid confusion when they start school
- Encourage trips to the bathroom with a chart to potty train that provides a reward with stickers
- Keep a book or toy dedicated for the bathroom to encourage longer sitting periods when trying to get them to poop
- Learn your child’s cues so you can rush them to the bathroom to show them what said cue means
- Use every bathroom visit to teach them about proper hand hygiene
- When traveling, always pack 2 changes of clothes, including shoes
- Also when traveling, take your child to the restroom when you arrive at destination and again before leaving
- Remember, it’s always okay to pause the training if there are other big life changes, too much resistance to the point of fear/trauma, or major illness that impedes the entire process
Types of Potty Training Seats
- Traditional Potty Training Seats – miniature chairs with an opening for your child to sit on and use the potty
- Toilet inserts – space savers that attach on top of adult toilet seats
Best Method for Potty Training?
Child-Oriented Training
First introduced by pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton in 1962, with this method, you would follow your child’s cues of their readiness to go at every step of the training. This is the most supported method by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Purchase the potty training seat they will be using for the child to familiarize themselves with it being around, and encourage their curiosity by seeing if they want to sit on while fully clothed, and explain to them what the it is for. The next time they poop in their diaper, empty the contents into their potty and once again talk them through the purpose of all toilets. From here, you would work your way up to going without a diaper for short periods time and regular visits to the potty. During Child-Oriented training, if your child ever shows signs of resistance, it is recommended to take a break for about a month and then try again.
Parent-Led Potty Training
With this method, the parent takes the lead usually planning ahead and purchasing the training seat and choosing intervals at which the child sits on the potty and tries to pee. You can start with small intervals such as 10-15 minutes and work your way up to 1 to 2 hours and so on. It could also take place after every meal, when they wake up for the day, wake up from nap, and right before bedtime to encourage routines. Try to encourage independence with visits to the bathroom, as this method can make it more difficult for the child to understand bodily cues when being directed by the parent.
3-Day Method
This method was originally developed in the 1970’s by behavioral psychologists Nathan Azrin and Richard Foxx. The concept here is for the parents to dedicate 3 days of letting your child roam the house naked for them to learn bodily cues. At this point, you will load them up with plenty of fluids and take them to the potty at regular intervals. On day 1, they are naked, day 2 is for pants with no underwear, and by day 3 they are fully clothed. You will need patience and lots of cleaning supplies on hand as this is the quickest way they learn from all the accidents that will surely occur.
We chose to do this method during our summer vacation, where we did not leave the house for a full weekend and knew we had time to watch him like a hawk!
Night Training
Your potty training method can be phenomenal and hopefully it is, because we all deserve short potty training journeys, but truth of the matter is….night training will take much longer. Children typically do not stay dry overnight until age 5-7. Bed wetting is very common, and nothing to be shamed about, despite the age. Always keep plenty of mattress protectors on hand, and stay in training pants overnight for as long as needed for your child to be developmentally ready for the next stage in the training.
Conclusion
There is no right or wrong when it comes to what will work best for you and your child. It never hurts to purchase the preferred potty training seat in advance and have it nearby for whenever your household is ready either. There are many tips and different approaches to the 3 common methods, but the one constant among them all, is to be the role model with encouragement for your child. Do not rush the journey, even if the method you choose takes longer than expected, all children will learn how to use the restroom in their own time, night training and all.
