When do you start potty training? Tips and tricks.

Ahh, potty training. The two dreaded words for every parent. My question today is when do you start potty training? Is there a certain age you wait for or do you take your cues from your kids? Should potty training begin earlier for girls and later for boys?

There are so many opinions out there that for a first time mom like me, it can be really overwhelming. When do I start? What method do I use? How long is it going to take?

I honestly think that every single child is different and while there are thousands of ideas out there, I think it’s important to get a head start on doing your research. My son is 19 months old and I don’t think he is at all ready to begin this process. I’m hoping to begin teaching him the joys of the toilet when he turns two and yet I have begun doing my research. Here is a list of potty training tips I think every mom could benefit from reading.

All about the bribes. Offer to reward your child with a treat each time they use the potty.
Lots of encouragement. Show your child affection, support, and positive reinforcement during the process.
Patience is a virtue. You may think (and want) your child to be ready when they are a certain age, but the truth is, they may not be. Be patient and if your child really isn’t ready to potty train, put it off until they are and try again then.
Buy a practice toilet before you start. Get your child familiar with the concept of going on the toilet when they are young. It will make potty training easier.
Devote a whole weekend to potty training. I’ve heard lots of success stories from other moms who have done this. They focused their entire weekend on potty training and their children made great strides and benefited greatly.
Be a broken record. Remind your child every 30 minutes to try and use the bathroom.
Cut the liquids early enough before bedtime to help avoid accidents at night.
Put fun books by the toilet to give them something to read while practicing. This will also help them stay on the toilet longer.
Invest in some fun potty training books or videos to further help your children.

Now that I’ve shared some of my tips, leave me a comment and tell me your best tip for potty training! Have you used any of the tips I mentioned? How did they work?

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Cara

Monday 10th of December 2012

Kim S. Is there a book you read about this? We also cloth diaper and it would be very nice if we could train our little one to use the potty instead of having dirty diapers.

Amanda

I don't believe bribery is a good method. To reward a child with something for doing what you ask them, seems to set them up for some hard lessons down the road. IMO We praised and cheered and despite being told age 2 "was too young" we successfully daytime trained in 2 weeks, by simply not leaving the house for 1 week, than making short excursions the 2nd week. For accidents my child had to help clean up, could have been getting supplies, spraying the cleaner or even holding the bag for trash.

Naked!! I kept my daughter naked, well she sometimes wore panties but no bottoms when I was home with her. She would feel herself pee and not like it. Skip the pull ups they were a waste, just a ploy for the companies to see diapers longer for each kid. Always stay consistent and make sure if there is another parent or person involved they are doing the same things you are. Lucky me my husband was deployed and that helped a ton! I will add she was fully potty trained at home and not school. Took longer at school...i'm guessing just how they change the kids and didn't do as much "potty training". She was completely potty trained before 2 and has less than 5 accidents ever. She is 4 now and going strong. Now I have a 15 month old boy.....wish me luck!

Kim S.

We started putting our little one on the potty at 5 weeks old! Every time we change her diaper she gets put on the potty. She will go "number 1" almost every time and she goes "number 2" in the morning or at night. I can count on one hand how many "number 2" diapers we have had. My question is, why get the child used to going in a diaper and build that habit for the first years of their life then expect them to completely change? Why not introduce the idea early on and make going on the toilet a normal thing? She is now 7 months old and can keep her diaper dry between changes and during naps (1-2 hours, sometimes.. not all the time...) and like I said before, poopy diapers are limited. I should also mention, we use cloth diapers and it make clean-up SO much easier. :)

We started putting our little one on the potty at 5 weeks old! Every time we change her diaper she gets put on the potty. She will go "number 1" almost every time and she goes "number 2" in the morning or at night. I can count on one hand how many "number 2" diapers we have had. My question is, why get the child used to going in a diaper and build that habit for the first years of their life then expect them to completely change? Why not introduce the idea early on and make going on the toilet a normal thing? She is now 7 months old and can keep her diaper dry between changes and during naps (1-2 hours, sometimes.. not all the time...) and like I said before, we could count on both hands how many poopy diapers we have had to change. I should also mention, we use cloth diapers and it make clean-up SO much easier. :)