Potty Training 101

I’ve been contemplating charting on the unknown territories of potty training for a while now. With Sophie turning 20 months, I decided to do some preparation and give it a shot.

I picked up two books for myself- the no-cry potty training solution by Elizabeth Pantley and Potty Training Girls…the easy way by Simone Cave and Dr Caroline Fertleman. I like it that both books takes on a gentle approach to potty training after all learning to go to the potty should not be a stressful experience for the child and parent!

Some useful tips that I’ve picked up are:

• There are no hard and fast rule on the age to start. Knowing when to start the potty training is when she is ready. Signs include her ability to communicate her need to go or when she knows she has peed or pooed in her diaper.
• Introduce words associated with going to the potty (and make sure they are socially acceptable if your tot says them in public!).
• Your attitude and your patience sets the pace for your child’s toilet training journey.
• Toilet training has nothing to do with nighttime dryness.

Recently I learnt a neat trick for making Sophie use the potty. I’ve heard so much about using the sticker chart but it sounded like I have to give her ALOT of stickers if I want her to be potty trained. So I decided to give her a ink stamp on her hand instead, a reward that she was introduced in her gym class. It worked out well as the stamp was a tiny and could be easily washed off when she washed her hands after she used the potty! I give myself a pat on the back for such brilliance.

These are a few more ideas in the books to get the child to the potty.

• Don’t ask if they would like to go to the potty (they’ll likely say no). Just hold them by the hand by tell them that they are going to the potty.
• In the same way, offer potty choices:” Do you want to sit on the potty before or after your snack?”, ” Do you want to walk to the potty or run to the potty?”, Do you want to get dressed first or use the potty first?”
• Make it into a game by chugging to the potty like a train, or flying there like a aeroplane or become a lion, or dance, or hop… You get the idea.
• Read books about going to the potty.
• Make a potty poster on the steps to using a potty (I’m going to try this one!)
• Offer a reward for using the potty and offer extragvent praise when they make a deposit with sticker charts, potty prize treasure box, stamps on the hand

Story books on going to the potty for the little one

As Sophie attends a full day child care, I’ve only managed to get her started on sitting on the potty in the mornings after she gets up and another time before her bath in the evening. Though she has not made any deposit for the past week or so, I’ve continued to give her a stamp on her hands as an encouragement and also as a distraction so that she’ll last longer than 10 seconds!

For this week, I’ll probably read her books on going to the potty and make a potty poster and see how that goes…Wish me luck!

Do you have any tips, resources  or experiences to share on potty training?

 

Tagged: potty training