POTTY TRAINING : ADVICE AND RESOURCES

When to start?

Deciding when to start potty training is touchy. It never seems like a good time to start potty training. Either there are travel plans, events, or just busy routines that prevent the start of this FUN ritual. Most toddlers will start sometime after 2 years old. It all depends on how you and your child want to approach the whole thing.

How to start?

A good technique is to start having your toddler sit ontop of the toilet with the seat down while you get the bath ready, or while you get ready, or just to read a book. Let him/her become comfortable with just being around a toilet. Some kids will be curious and want to sit on the toilet and try and some kids will need a little more encouragement.

What technique should we use?

Some people use stand alone potty seats. Some use just the seat that sits on the toilet. Some have boys sit down to pee, sit down facing backwards, or stand. What one mother told us is that she distracted her son by doing goofy dances across the doorway while her son sat on the toilet. He giggled and want to see more crazy dancing which prolonged his time on the toilet until he did what he needed to do. It then became a celebration! It's up to you how much fun you want to have with potty training!

How long will it take?

Some people go cold turkey... from diapers straight to underwear. Most of the time, these situations allow the child to learn in at most a few weeks. Of course, the parent will be doing a lot of laundry with a lot of accidents.

Others will opt for the inbetween diaper pull up. But some will say that it's just like having a diaper on and it takes much longer to potty train.

Ultimately it's up to the parent and what feels right for their child. There's not reason for anyone to feel pressure. It just prevents the desired outcome. Who wants to do something that you think you HAVE to do?