Many parents often times pressure their children to start potty training their child before they are fully ready. When you try to start potty training before your child is ready, it can cause unnecessary stress for both you and your toddler. With all three of my kids, I waited until they were fully ready to potty train before I even attempted it. A few weeks ago, my youngest son decided that he was ready to start potty training. One afternoon, he came up to me and told me that he needed to go potty. So we ran to the bathroom and I sat him on his potty seat. After a few minutes after I sat him on the potty, he actually used the potty for the first time. After he finished using the restroom, we celebrated with hugs and kisses and I gave him a reward (two gummy bears). Potty training my son is a bittersweet moment for me, he is my last baby and potty training means that he is turning into a big boy. Over the last two weeks, he has done a great job and has even started using the potty at daycare. I feel that he isn’t quite ready for big boy underwear yet because he is still having a few accidents.
My son loves to spin the roll of toilet paper so that it makes a pile in the bathroom floor. Does your toddler love making a mess with the toilet paper too? I am trying to teach him that he doesn’t need to use the entire roll of toilet paper when he cleans up after using the restroom.
Disclaimer: The opinions reflected in this post are my own and I was not compensated for writing this post. All the opinions this post are based on my own potty training experiences.
Diapers Help Make Accident Clean-Up a Breeze While Potty Training Your Toddler
I have not decided whether or not to make the switch from diapers to pull ups or big boy underwear yet. I want to wait until he has fewer accidents before making the switch. I think using diapers while he is still learning how to potty training because it will be easier to clean up after he has an accident, especially number 2 ( I know TMI). Most mom’s will agree that teaching your child to go number 2 in the restroom is a bit more challenging and it might take a bit longer for your child to get the hang of it. If your child is anything like mine, he loves to go hide in a corner or play while he is working on a number 2. I am not ready to worry about cleaning up a number two out of big boy underwear yet and it isn’t my idea of fun.
11 comments
Thanks for these tips. I’ve been taking potty training very slow because I’m not sure my 22 month old can handle it. He’s even reluctant to go to the bathroom!
I would give him a bit more time. My son just turned two in May. My older daughter wasn’t potty trained until she was about 3.5. She was deaf and communication was a barrier and I waited until she was ready. It worked out great.
I switch to both big girl underwear and pull ups. I normally put her in pull ups when we go out as it can be difficult to find a toilet when she needs it..but if she is at home or in school then she uses big girl underwear.
With my kids each were a little different…at about 20 months my daughter was pulling off her diaper…so we switched to pull up for about two months and then went right into big girl pants-used the pull-ups for another month only at bed time but 90% of the time she’d wake up dry. My son on the other hand had pull-ups from age 2-3 at 3 it was nights only for a good six months before it was big boy pants only. AND the waterproof liner was a MUST!!!!
We immediately made the switch with both boys, and it’s worked for us.
We are currently potty training. We are doing our best not to pressure our little guy.
I waited to potty train my daughter until she was 2 and I used pull-ups for her. I feel that I waited too long to get started. She was actually showing signs of being ready around 18 months, but I thought that was too early. For my son, I started him when he was around 21 months and went straight to underwear. He learned much quicker and had fewer accidents (very few) than my daughter. However, I did use the bedliners for a few months with both kids just to be safe.
I’m with you, we waited until the kids all had more experience and could communicate. I’d burn through dirty undergarments so quickly, it was exhausting, not good for the environment and the stress on the kids was just unnecessary. Each kid has their own time, and I think it’s great that you’re not rushing!
We are just starting out with the potty training. He’s been doing great in the mornings and that’s about as far as we’ve gotten. He does go to school for a few hours in the morning and sees other kids using the potties – that seems to have encouraged him to want to join in.
My kiddo will be 3 next month and we started potty training last month. He did AMAZING for the first 2 weeks – only 1 accident! For the past 2 weeks though, he has totally stopped going in the potty. He doesn’t want to go near it! I use pull-ups for now, but am thinking about changing that.
Sometimes a child will regress momentarily or they will get busy playing and forget to tell you that they have to potty. I have tried putting big boy underwear on my son a few times so that he can feel when he wets in them. Good luck Stacy, he will get it down. My oldest was almost 4 before she was fully potty trained.