I thought I would write about our experience with potty training – the highs and the lows. This was my first time with the whole potty training thing and to be honest at first when I was planning to start training Adem I found it quite daunting at the thought of it, but these things have got to be done I totally got stuck in with it… and it wasn’t half as bad as I thought it might be. phewwww a big sigh of relief.
I was lucky it didn’t take my son long to get the hang of it but at the start he really really didn’t like it and even worse he didn’t like having the ‘accidents’. I don’t think he knew which one was worse at the beginning.
When he was about 14 months old I got a couple of potties and had them in the bathrooms so he would get use to seeing them and I would sit him on the potty when I went to the toilet. This is a really good tip. There is no specific age to start the training process but 2 years old is a good age to officially start as they seem more ready and willing. We were on our holiday when he turned 2 and got him used to wearing the big boy pants in the hotel room in the evenings while we got ready which he really liked. So once we returned home I started the process gradually.
I have a few friends who have older toddlers so I was able to ask for some tips and advise as they were ahead of me in the stages of potty training. A great idea which I also saw online was potty training charts. This is a great way to reward them as soon as they have used the potty and washed their hands. We used stickers for the chart…. which Adem loves! And he would also be allowed a treat. This works a dream for most I think as it gives them 1 or 2 incentives to use their potty as they get the rewards…they always remember the rewards!!! This makes it into a more positive experience and this is when they start to communicate better with you that they need to use the potty.
Communication is key! Expressing to them the process and making it fun, checking with them if they need to go regularly is so important. I found that after a week of potty training he got the hang of it but he would sometimes forget to tell me whilst he was playing and suddenly he would go quiet. At this stage I would constantly be looking out for his body language that would signal to me that he needed to go – he is good at holding it in by this point. Big tip is to try not to make a big deal of the accidents and keep the whole process positive. Just say to them – ‘Never mind, don’t worry’ then pop their clean clothes on. Always have spare clothes for them in different changing stations of the house and in your bag for when you go out. At the start there is always going to be lots of ‘mess’ to clean up so have lots of toilet roll handy dotted around the house. Adem didn’t like seeing the little puddles so he would want to help me clean and say ‘Dont worry Mummy Adem clean’ which totally melted my heart. He is a tidy boy and likes to help me clean the house so I am lucky there.
During this whole process I have also been weaning him off the boob also so a double whammy – see my previous blog post – So he has grown up a lot during this process. Currently he only has his milk before his nap – sometimes he falls asleep in the car and will go 2 days without milk.
After about 2 weeks of potty training i started napping him in his big boy pant and he has not once (fingers crossed) had an accident in his bed. which i am so proud of and i am sure he is too. So when he wakes from him nap i put him straight on the toilet and he goes then and he gets 2 stickers – one for using the potty and the other for napping in his pants – I make sure to tell him that too which he loves and gets excited about. The next stage is to put him to sleep in his pants at night time – this stage i am a little more wary about but as he doesn’t have milk before bedtimes and he hasn’t for about a month now he should be fine and he hasn’t had any nap time accidents. Also every morning he wakes up he has a dry nappy and uses the toilet straight away…so I am going to implement this asap and see how we go.
I think that the biggest tip is to not force potty training on them and to let it happen more organically because when you force it they get upset and wont go. Let it become part of the routines like brushing the teeth and washing the hands etc.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about our experiences.
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I also have all of my recommended potties etc on my Amazon Influencer page under the section ‘Potty Training’ https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/aliceshealthylifestyle
Lots of love
Alice x
Alice's Healthy Lifestyle 